2016 has been a strange year so far: a blizzard, a tornado watch, the rise of Trump, the death of my computer, a wedding! I keep thinking that I've finally found my footing, that a return to normalcy is nigh, but then I somehow end up tripping over my own two feet in snow that…
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;…
The Strawberry receives as warm a welcome in June as does the primrose of spring, and for the same reason. -Edward A. Bunyard (The Anatomy of Dessert: With a Few Notes on Wine)Lately, I've been struggling to lose myself in novels. I don't know if my mind has been too preoccupied with the ongoing (and…
I'll be the first to admit that, when it comes to food, I'm terribly susceptible to kicks. In my third year of graduate school, when I taught the horrible 8-9 a.m. section of a reading and writing class, I used to get up at 5:54 a.m. everyday to make myself stove-top oatmeal with banana and…
“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.…
While she stands alone among the dripping vines she cannot make a connection that she knows is there. There is a blankness in her thoughts, a density that feels like muddle also, until she realizes: the Annunciation was painted after rain. Its distant landscape, glimpsed through arches, has the temporary look that she is seeing…
It's all so familiar and clear,My eye's accustomed to every turn; I'm not mistaken- I'm at home;The wallpaper flowers, the chains of books...-Valery Briusov ("At Home"; in the photograph to the left, that is indeed Briusov, posing underneath his desk...In case you're wondering why, it's best not to ask questions; I mentioned several posts ago…
“'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.”Henry David ThoreauThough a sad but true fact, this past week I was grossly ill--the victim of congestion, a scratchy throat and a slight fever. I don't know how it happened. I exercise regularly, never touch anything on a bus if such a thing can be avoided, wash my hands…
Dining with Dostoevsky 