When you become a mom, you moan almost daily about the mess your kids make. Then they go to college and come back during holidays, leaving a mess, but are finally so grateful for your cooking, you totally forgive them. Then they move back after graduation, become your friend, resume the mess, wonder what to do, then tell you they’re moving to Seattle. Then they actually have the…
I love fall. If it’s autumnal bring it on. But not when it’s 95 degrees outside. The stores here have been filled with pumpkins and cinnamon brooms for over a month, like southern California is Canada. Who wants a pumpkin spice latte when you’re bathed in your own sweat? Our weather doesn’t have the decency to change until at least October, but last night I slept with an…
My father was always in the garden, even this time of year, picking the last of his beefsteak tomatoes, or digging around and pulling out the dead plants. He loved it. I remember shortly after my kids and I moved in with him after my divorce, I asked my daughter to go out to the garden to tell him dinner was ready. He was 95 at the time.…
Christmas thoughtfulness IS friggin’ exhausting! After writing like crazy for the past three weeks to make sure all my commercials were done at work, I leaped into frantic home decorating mode, then shopping mode, then wrapping mode, then cookie mode, then elf delivery mode. And now with about 12 cookies left and people I still want to gift, this elf is beat! But I ended up baking with…
If you’ve ever wondered how you can help Veterans — there’s a way, and some dedicated people are doing it every day. I just ran into some a couple months ago. I walk my dog every night and in mid-September, I was walking past a local park and saw it all lit up at ten o clock at night. There were flags planted in the ground, and…
Risotto is one of those things I don’t usually make because I always worry about the carbs. But, I just made it on Halloween night and it was creamy, delicious heaven. Not only did I not gain an ounce, I actually lost a pound, so go figure! Maybe it was because this had so many veggies in it — spinach, zucchini, mushrooms and leeks — and it was…
This is the second in my series of blog posts about not aging gracefully. I remember the day I became invisible. I was in New York City. I was 55-years-old, walking down Broadway, and couldn’t get a soul to look at me. Not one person. My first thought was, Wow, I could rob banks now and it would be months before I’d be captured because I don’t register…
A friend of mine sent me a link to a website where a woman talks about growing older gracefully now that she’s in her 60’s. God bless her, God bless anyone who can be graceful about growing older…I just don’t happen to be one of them. I look in the mirror and pull my cheeks up a little and think, Yeah, that’s how I should look. But you…
I admit it, I am a judging judger. I try not to judge people, but there are people who you instantly click with and people you don’t. Some people I instantly make decisions about, based on what they wear, how they speak, how many nose rings, tattoos or piercings they have, or what their political party is. It’s not good.…
When I was young, my mom went through phases in her food. There was the red wine and onion phase, the hot dog phase, the chocolate chip phase and the peanut butter phase. Although the hot dog phase made for some interesting combos, like the hot dog pizza she made once, it wasn’t her most shining culinary moment. But her chocolate chip and peanut butter phases still fill…