I understand how she feels, the need for the right ingredients. For me it was often about health, the thought that one thing could make a difference. Like the article that linked rice with arsenic from soil in Texas and Louisiana. I’d be standing in the rice aisle, squinting without my glasses, looking for the source of where the rice was grown. Sometimes it was listed. If it was the arsenic soil. I’d scrap my plan for dinner. Stuck in aisle three.
pudding bridge
(excerpt from the winter of rice and dal) I can pinpoint the moment when my dread of cooking abated, when I stopped saying the sentence “When my kids grow up and leave I am never cooking dinner again.” The meal that holds all the pressure-- from research that declares it as the most important family time … Continue reading pudding bridge
“You Should Read This Book”
We have this occasional exchange, usually at night, my husband and me. “You should read this book,” he or I say, whoever gets to their bookmarked page first. And then we go off to our separate lands on the pages in front of us and leave it at that. We know it is probably unlikely. … Continue reading “You Should Read This Book”
Wool as Witness
I wasn’t yet five when I arrived at my first knitting shop with my mom and her knitting bag of confusing shapes that eventually turned into a sweater. The shop was tucked into the side of a hill and the door seemed perched on a slope. I noticed that there wasn’t a sign from the … Continue reading Wool as Witness
Facing My Fear of “Not Getting It”
It’s hard to admit that I often dread the process of learning new things. I worry that I won’t get “it,” whatever the “it” is. This is why I quietly cringed recently when my son opened up a birthday gift from his brother, the board game Settlers of Catan. I knew he would eventually ask … Continue reading Facing My Fear of “Not Getting It”
This is a True Story About a Cat
I got my first cat, Tiger, when I was five, after three long years of waiting. Five was the age my mom said would be old enough to help. Around this time I also started my search for the meaning of life because I had come to understand the meaning of mortality, a frightening concept. … Continue reading This is a True Story About a Cat
Stopping by a Kitchen on a Winter’s Morning
I wondered if I had miscalculated as I stood in June’s kitchen after dropping by unannounced at 7:15 am. She was still in her pajamas, which were actually her husband’s old boxer shorts. Her house was on my way home from taking my youngest to school. I knew she’d be awake because her husband … Continue reading Stopping by a Kitchen on a Winter’s Morning
Granola
Homemade granola is easy. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large bowl mix a container of oats and a combination of nuts that you like. I use about a cup of sliced almonds and two handfuls of chopped pecans or walnuts or both. Sprinkle in about a half teaspoon … Continue reading Granola
The Price She Paid for Fear
She used her finger to draw an imaginary line down the rental car’s backseat, an objectively minor act of dominance by any standard. It was more a suggestion of what she wanted. An invisible plea: You stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine. She knew, of course, that it was unlikely to keep … Continue reading The Price She Paid for Fear
How I Found the “Merry” in Christmas by Suddenly Letting Go
Every year, in early December, my husband and I have the same conversation: Him: Can we not overdo presents this year? Me: Sure. Him: But you say that every year. Me: But this year will be different. I promise. By middle December, I start to feel panic rising. “The most magical time of the year” … Continue reading How I Found the “Merry” in Christmas by Suddenly Letting Go
