Easter Morning
I’ve been told that repeating the same ritual twice makes it a tradition. Today we visited Conimicut Point in Rhode Island, making it our new tradition to spend Easter listening to the crash of waves. Here’s the poem I wrote when we spent Easter morning in Rockport, Massachusetts. Toward Daylight We face the sun we cannot see because nothing we have done can stop the dawn from arriving. Morning comes in the thin film between ocean and heaven where everything is water, every- thing is radiant. Here in the rapture of making room for a new day there is no place …
A Formal Change, inspired by Emily Dickinson
After great pain a formal feeling comes– (to read Emily Dickinson’s entire poem, click here). The day before my birthday in January, we buried my grandmother. On that same day, January 30th, my granddaughter was born. For more than fifty years, I have been my grandmother’s only granddaughter. It is difficult to explain what a privileged position this was. She was my mentor and confidante. She taught me how to live. Now, more than ever, it is important to live what she taught me. A crisis of grief has forced me to notice that life goes on. Death and birth …
One gourmet's request: soup, bread & cheese–with beer, please!
To make this gourmet peasant soup: To broth, add what’s on hand (perhaps smoked sausage, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions and cabbage). Stir in pleasing seasonings (thyme, just a pinch of caraway, some salt & pepper, a smidge of celery seed). Serve with good bread (home-baked if possible), cheese and beer–maybe Leinenkugel’s Canoe Paddler. Marketed as a heat-beating summer refresher, its hint of rye and white pepper also goes well with cabbage soup in winter. What does it take to be a gourmet? To be a gourmet is to enjoy life’s pleasures–the simple and the extraordinary. To use all of our …
One gourmet's request: soup, bread & cheese–with beer, please! Read More »
Don't Become a Writer–Just Write Your Story
You have a story to tell. Just write your story. I appreciate the dedication of hardworking career writers, those who have spent decades studying and practicing the art and craft of writing. I love literature. I wish everyone could write it; but it takes talent and dedication to write literature. You don’t need to write a literary masterpiece. You just need to get your story into print. And you should. So forget about writing The Great Gatsby or Angela’s Ashes or The Liar’s Club, and just write and print your little book. Write for yourself; you’ll feel great satisfaction in having …
Not your same old ordinary potato dish
I love potatoes, which might not surprise because you know me as a lover of food. There are dozens of ways to prepare potatoes–here’s one of my recent favorites: Braised, Pan-roasted Potatoes (serves 2, or double or triple it) 3 smallish Red potatoes 1 teaspoon Chicken base to make 2 cups weak broth (will cook down and condense) 2 Bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme flavorful oil, for frying (a couple of tablespoons) Scrub potatoes and submerge them in a small pot with the chicken broth, bay leaf & thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for 22-28 minutes, …
How to turn a memory into a plot for your memoir
Making a story is a process. It is built in stages, just like constructing anything from a quilt to a bookshelf to a house. Stories do not just roll out of pens’ tips or spill from keyboard-tapping fingers. Stories are drafted and then edited and then revised and revised until the right words and right sentences make the right paragraphs arranged in the right order to communicate, to a reader, a story. Maybe it sounds complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s get started: First, some motivation and inspiration–You should write your stories because you are the only source …
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Old-fashioned cookies for Christmas–it's not too late!
Someone forgot, or didn’t have time, to bake the cookies? With a few minutes of set-up, we whipped up four batches of old-fashioned cookies (grandmother Ida’s recipes, b. 1903) in less than 3 hours. Here’s the chef’s strategy for putting out a feast of impressive treats in a hurry. Review the following recipes to make sure you have all the ingredients on hand. (You’ll need 2 pounds of butter to make all 4 recipes). Measure all ingredients for each recipe, and prepare your set-up (the picture above will give you an idea of what set-up–also known in French as mise en …
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Share Your Story
This week I led a workshop sponsored by our local library, called “Share Your Story.” When asked whether I would teach an ongoing course, I regretfully declined. But the class’s 26 participants have inspired me to re-invent my blog. I have a passion for helping other people write and publish their stories, because I believe it’s important. I’m talking to YOU. Teaching this workshop has made my passion even stronger–because the people who attended are so incredibly fascinating and wonderful. Their stories need to be written and published. And so, I’m making it a goal to blog, twice monthly, about …
It's my party and I'll fry if I want to….
I’ve given myself permission to love what I love, without guilt. I love fried food more than any other treat. MMMMM, french fries, onion rings, jalapeno poppers, cheese curds, beer-battered mushrooms. Do I indulge in what I love? You bet, with moderation. Treats make life a whole lot more fun; and fun is essential for a good life. Of course I know that too much of anything wrecks our health and deprives others of their share. I’ve course I’m against gluttony and self-indulgence. We know the long-term consequence of too much fried food is weight gain, possibly obesity, with its …
Cranberries 2 ways and for fools
I’m not talking to fools; I’m talking about them. Fools are those delightfully simple and comforting fruit & cream desserts, cleverly named by the English. For reasons I know nothing about, they come up with fanciful monikers for what they eat at dinner. Sausages and potatoes (Bangers and Mash), soup (Cock-a-leekie) and desserts (trifles and fools) . The recipe for fools is simple, puree some fruit (I especially like strawberry or mango) and sweeten to taste; whip some cream and sweeten to taste, carefully stir the whipped cream together with the fruit (about 2/3 cream to 1/3 fruit, by volume). Pretty up a fool for a dinner party by serving in …