I am always hungry for Ireland and love all things Irish — the Pogues, U2 back when they didn’t take themselves so seriously, almost any Irish author, and I am fortunate beyond words to know Darina Allen and Tamasin Day-Lewis, two of Ireland’s culinary muses. Darina Allen who runs the splendid Ballymaloe Cookery School in…
Mushroom Risotto
Those of my ilk were once considered Pythagoreans, as in Pythagoras. Best known as ancient Greece’s math geek extraordinaire, Pythagoras was also into music and philosophy. It’s believed his own personal ethos abjured killing and eating animals, a practice followed by vegetarians for generations to come. The word vegetarian itself had to wait until the…
Smashing Pumpkins
Here, in all its splendor, is this year’s Halloween jack o’lantern, a tradition my father and I have practiced, oh, for decades (and yet our skill set has scarcely improved). I’m so happy I took the picture because as solid as it was when we carved it and as formidable as it looked Halloween night,…
Charmed, I’m Sure
I have always been a hard sell when it comes to magic. Back when I toggled my first loose baby tooth, my parents explained about the Tooth Fairy — your tooth falls out and the Tooth Fairy appears while you sleep, takes the tooth and pays you for it (your original Cash for Clunkers concept)….
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…
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…
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