While in New York last week, I discovered spaghetti wrestling. Silly me, at first I thought they were two separate entities — spaghetti, as in something you eat and wrestling, as in something you do. Spaghetti wrestling offers both. You are, no doubt, more worldly than I and already know this sport of sorts involves…
Orange Crush
It is Sunday afternoon, I am in my frock, ready to go out. I am waiting for my husband, who’s been out running errands, to pick me up. He is a smidge late. I am used to this. The phone rings. “I’m okay,” my husband says, “but I’ve been in an accident.” My heart and…
Kidney Pie
You cannot grow a kidney from a kidney bean. If you could, things would be a lot easier for Ms. X. Ms. X is the wife of a friend of a friend. Ms. X needs a new kidney or she dies. That’s the deal. This friend, let’s call him Mr. P has said, okay, take…
Ghent — On Board for Vegetarian Day
On Board for Vegetarian Day Can you legislate a meatless life? The folks in Ghent are trying. According to a United Nations report, livestock is to blame for nearly a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions. The mayor of Ghent has taken this to heart and has launched Veggiedag, in which civil servants and school children will…
Roadwalker Gumbo
Once upon a time, there was a Pulizer Prize-winning author, a woman who drank Jack Daniels, shot ducks and wore diamonds with equal nonchalance. Her name is Shirley Ann Grau and she was my magical guide around New Orleans a few years back. “I’m quite a dull, conventional person,” she warned. This was a lie….
Earth Month Special: Stone Soup
Jesus, it is said, made wine from water and fashioned loaves and fishes from thin air. The rest of us must acquire foodstuff by more conventional means. But being Earth Month and all, I’m hoping miracles are on the menu. I did not wake up on Earth Day feeling the presence of miracles, I woke…
Of Cabbages and Kings
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of Shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — Of Cabbages — and kings — And why the sea is boiling hot — And whether pigs have wings.” Lewis Carroll — “The Walrus and the Carpenter” We may get to the winged pigs,…
Thai Confetti with Basil and Mint
We were in the weeds, a kitchen term meaning we’d fallen woefully behind. All the Common Threads kids had. Their bus was leaving in 10 minutes, they hadn’t finished making the spring roll filling and were closing in on panic. It was then we sustained our first injury. Rudy II in my group (there are…
Chaos, Conspiracy, Carrots
I comfort myself by believing in chaos theory, that seemingly unrelated events are linked. A garden in Milwaukee can have consequences for a girl in Miami. There is a great shiny matrix of connection, something that binds us all. You just have to be open to the signs. There’s the rub. But I’ve been seeing…
Heretical Vegetable Tagine With Turnips
What you’ll probably never see on a Gourmet cover — “Our top ten turnip recipes!” Face it, turnips are no one’s favorite vegetable (are they yours? Talk to me.). And yet they’re as much a part of the vegetable kingdom as the more popular potato, they’re almost indestructible, they last for ages, the staple of…
