What I Find Fascinating

20 Sep at 6:47 pm

Being A Grown-Up

One of the reigning passions of my life has been travel. Since I was eighteen, I’ve seen much of France, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, glimpses of Mexico, China, Japan, India, Israel, Spain, Tanzania, Peru, Ireland, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Oman,…

19 Sep at 3:30 pm

Fine-Grained Blueberry Coffee Cake for the Week-end

In the Kitchen, at the Table

My dears, this cake is a DISCOVERY. Particularly marvelous when costly blueberries begin softening…the perfect way to enjoy them. The recipe is my way with “German Blueberry Kuchen” from Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook (1972 edition). The blurb says “Delicate, fine-grained…

2 Sep at 5:32 pm

Barbara Kafka and Innovating

In the Kitchen, at the Table

I was on my way to telling you about a fun new way to roast chicken when I discovered Barbara Kafka had died. If Kafka’s name doesn’t ring a bell, I’ll ring it for you: Barbara Kafka wrote cookbooks. La…

19 Aug at 11:32 am

Flaws

Taking Stock

This morning for no plausible reason I looked at myself in the mirror and thought I might take stock. List my flaws. I mean, after valiantly slogging along all these years and with a fair amount of travail, my body…

7 Aug at 12:51 am

Goddess of The Chase

Taking Stock

It struck me when I realized that within the space of two days, I seem to have gained a friend—a kindred spirit—and lost the very same. Recently a reader of these scribbles who grew up with my little The Birthday…

10 Apr at 5:05 pm

Perils of Watching A Movie In A Hotel Room…

Aging Ain’t for Sissies

So there Bill and I were celebrating his 92nd birthday at a Marriott hotel in San Francisco, at the end of a long day, pleasantly weary, wanting to watch Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon. I navigated through the user-unfriendly menu on…

19 Feb at 2:09 pm

Lemon Marmalade Than Which There Is No Whicher

In the Kitchen, at the Table

This morning at the market I was reminded that these late winter days are still Citrus Season. Time to make marmalade! Lemon and lime marmalades are easiest and surest because they can be put up purely themselves. Orange and other…

7 Feb at 6:05 pm

Making Vegetable Soup

In the Kitchen, at the Table

Here are the basics…have fun with it…make enough for two or three nights…and if you can, use organic ingredients. Cut a 3- to -4-inch red* onion in half, peel, trim away root and stem ends, slice 1/8th inch thick, maybe…

27 Jan at 4:12 pm

On Not Getting Rid of “Stuff”

Aging Ain’t for Sissies

There are those in our family–on both sides of the aisle–who are pressing us to “get rid of stuff.” They themselves, in their sixties, are getting rid of “stuff.” Why are they doing that? “So my kids won’t have to.”…

20 Jan at 3:48 pm

What Is Love Anyway?

What I Find Fascinating

Hey, what is love anyway? I keep asking Bill, “Who loves you more than anyone was ever loved?” and of course he answers, “I’ve no idea…” And just now, asking him, it occurred to me, What is love anyway? What…