musings about food, travel, creativity and life
* I began this year vowing to read more books. I was thinking “quantity.” Then I started reading a travel book about Italy and food and I just had to slow down. Why was I rushing through what was beautiful writing about topics I love? […]
This past week, I must have had writer’s block. Many themes, ideas and rough drafts emerged, but nothing seemed to come together in the right way at the right time for my traditional Saturday morning blog posting. I’m not sure what that was all about, […]
Our first day of 2020 included a walk on the grounds of a nearby monastery. As we walked over the snowy paths, noting little tracks of other critters who had visited there before us, I had ample opportunity to mull. What would I like to […]
During this interim week between Christmas and New Year, I like taking time to let everything settle, to be quiet, to reflect. I like to follow the advice of a quote I used with my students in a creative writing class I taught years […]
‘Tis the season of many emotions. Certainly this time of year can bring joy. There are parties with family and friends, Christmas Carol sing-alongs, and, if you’re lucky, tuba concerts… really–just imagine 200-plus tubas playing “Silent Night” in the Rotunda of a state Capitol! But […]
There we were on our way to the small Wisconsin town of Mineral Point, when John decided he’d like to buy some of his favorite beer–Spotted Cow–straight from the source. So we found our way to the New Glarus Brewing Company and had a fun, […]
“Yes.” It has arrived! The holiday season and the “first wine of the harvest”–Beaujolais Nouveau 2019. I first became familiar with Beaujolais Nouveau when a friend and I were writing a wine blog–and doing all the necessary research that that involved! A tough job. I […]
It all started within an hour of my last blog posting. A friend gave me a card that said, “Enjoy the little things.” My psyche must have taken that to heart because this week was a quieter balance point to all the “around the table” […]
“It’s not what’s on the table that matters, it’s who is in the chairs.” Over the years, I have often seen this quote. As a food lover, what’s on the table is important to me. But “who is in the chairs” is equally important. To […]
Children’s picture books can be delightful uppers that make us smile and touch our hearts. As I was weeding my small collection this week, I put the following aside as “keepers”: Paddington by Michael Bond, illustrated by R.W. Alley: This story of a jaunty stowaway […]
Last weekend, the student in me was one happy camper. I attended two cooking classes. One was on croissant making, held at Sur La Table in Carmel. I love eating croissants, pain au chocolat especially, so why not learn to bake them? Right! After the […]
Orange is the color of the season. Our local Earthbound Farms Market is a center for natural sculptures of all configurations of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. And I wanted to join the fun by bringing orange to the table this week. I did […]
Last weekend we were in my hometown of San Francisco. On Sunday, we went to the Ferry Building for lunch. After our grilled cheese sandwiches from Cowgirl Creamery, John headed to the bookstore and I drifted to the Glassybaby shop. You know what’s coming. I […]
One day last week as I was picking up our take-out dinner from our local taqueria, I ran into a former student. We hadn’t seen each other in decades. After some initial greetings and hugs, he asked, “So, are you living the good life?” Whoa. […]
This week I’ve been culling my book collection. In the process, I’ve rediscovered one stunning book that was given to us by our niece many Christmases ago. It’s Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe. The hungry gypsy in […]