During the Age of Glass, everyone believed some part of him or her to be extremely fragile. For some it was a hand, for others a femur, yet others believed it was their noses that were made of glass. The Age of Glass followed the Stone Age as an evolutionary corrective, introducing into human relations…
It is hard for many of us to look forward to cooking a meal that's just for ourselves. It's not just laziness, but some feeling that it's not quite worth the effort when it's just for us. That we're not worth it! [...] When people say they take the time to shop and cook well…
Most people think of Sunday as a day of rest. Throughout his childhood, however, Tengo had never once viewed Sunday as a day to enjoy. For him, Sunday was like a misshapen moon that showed only its dark side. When the weekend came, his whole body began to feel sluggish and achy, and his appetite…
The counselors conferred in low voices out of the king's hearing, speaking of the state of the king's mind and vanity, the innate interest of the task, whetherthe taskmaster would be able to recognize a solution, and finally whether their combined lifetimes would suffice to write the required book. At last they turned to the…
...Dr. Luce introduced the concept of "periphescence." The word itself means nothing; Luce made it up to avoid any etymological associations. The state of periphescence, however, is well known. It denotes the first fever of human pair bonding. It causes giddiness, elation, a tickling on the chest wall, the urge to climb a balcony on…
“Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.” -Annie Dillard I'll be honest with you: not many of the recipes I make and post on this blog go through an experimental "let's try this and see how it tastes" test run. And this isn't to say that everything I touch automatically turns to gold.…
Living is an inherently emotional business.-David Brooks ("Social Animal")I'm home sick with the flu and, even though I realize that whenever you and your body are in pain, you can't help but feel like this is the worst you've ever felt in your life, I really do feel like this is the worst I've ever…
Dining with Dostoevsky 