We please our fancy with ideal webs/Of innovation, but our life meanwhile/Is in the loom, where busy passion plies/The shuttle to and fro, and gives our deeds/The accustomed pattern. -Shakespeare (Henry VIII), qtd. in Eliot’s Daniel Deronda If I told you that I had spent the last three weeks, in between yoga and pottery and…
(Greek) light acquires a transcendent quality: it is not the light of the Mediterranean alone, it is something more, something unfathomable, something holy. Here the light penetrates directly to the soul, opens the doors and windows of the heart, makes one naked, exposed, isolated. - Henry Miller (The Colossus of Maroussi), qtd. in Tony Perottet's…
Herbal and verbal, Daniel said. Language is like poppies. It just takes something to churn the earth round them up, and when it does up come the sleeping words, bright red, fresh, blowing about. Then the seedheads rattle, the seeds fall out. Then there's even more language waiting to come up. -Ali Smith (Autumn) Almost…
The stuffing was pleasantly salty, flecked with celery and onion and rich with the flavor of broth. It was, in short, exactly as I remembered it. I told my grandmother just that, letting her know that I had missed these flavors during our Thanksgivings apart. Never mind that I could have made her stuffing myself;…
Every year, when fall rolls around, I get stars in my eyes, thinking about how wonderful it would be to make apple and quince jelly, applesauce, quince paste (or membrillo, as it is often called) and all kinds of fall-inspired desserts, from apple squares to salted caramel apple pie. Then, when the reality sets in,…
Last year, on the night before Thanksgiving, I was suddenly struck by the mad desire to make something real for dinner. Never mind that I had a cheesecake to bake and egg whites to whip, all I could think about was removing some of the excess food from the fridge and cluttered counter tops--Delicata squash…
In the aftermath of the academic interview I had recently, I felt the need to treat myself to a little something out of the ordinary. I remembered that Rene Redzepi, the chef behind Copenhagen's Noma, would be in town to promote his new cookbook, A Work in Progress (you can also watch the book trailer,…
Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. -The Song of Solomon The last three weeks have passed quietly; in a way, things have been more calm and peaceful than ever. But beneath this calm, there has been a constant stream of change. After months of false starts,…
Yesterday I really sang for my supper. By the end of the day (in sum total, two days of preparation), I was Exhausted, Spent, Ready to Fall into Bed and Appreciative of my more than comfortable mattress. More importantly, however, I was pleased that the first Thanksgiving that we had ever hosted had been, by…
I can’t help thinking about next Thanksgiving’s big loop, about what we’ll cook and eat. Down by the creek the night herons are calling to each other raucously, and I can hear the rasp of the breeze in the marsh grasses. It is the soundscape of the Eastern Shore. – Bernard L. Herman (Saveur, Nov.…
Dining with Dostoevsky 