How not to eat at AWP 2012
This week I’m flying to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Chicago (a conference for writers, teachers, and book nerds of all varieties). It’s the first year I don’t have to sit at a table and force flyers into writers’ unwilling hands or present a paper that I’m only 20% sure … Continue reading
Valentine’s day: Double rainbow coconut cupcakes
I’ve never cared much about Valentine’s Day, one way or the other. I don’t moon over a romantic evening or loudly proclaim that it’s some corporate bullshit designed to play on our tender emotions in order to get us to buy diamonds and chocolate. I’d rather get worked up over something important, like getting blue-shelled … Continue reading
Finding order in kitchen chaos
Everyone has their own way of finding order. Maybe you wash your hands until they are cracked to keep from catching something. Maybe you vacuum the entire house every day. Maybe you fold your underwear and sort them by color. Maybe you organize your books by size. Each is a way to find order and … Continue reading
On faking it: Dinner etiquette with a picky eater
If you’ve read this column for any period of time you’ll know that onions and mushrooms are my sworn enemies. People who aren’t picky eaters tend to think I’m just being stubborn, and that they are the one who will convince me to drop my sword and end the fight. No, I don’t like onions, … Continue reading
Homemade chicken and dumplings soup
It’s strange to string up Christmas lights around a window framing palm trees and sunshine, instead of cloudy skies and snow. Listening to Christmas music on Pandora just felt like a sham. I wonder how parents in San Francisco justify Santa’s sleigh. There’s nothing for his runners to skate over in California but fresh asphalt … Continue reading
Holiday party food and foibles: grown-up edition
Sometimes I forget that I’m a grownup. I still feel like I’m only 21. Every now and then, something will remind me that I’m no longer the target audience for Ke$ha’s music. This week I had drinks with someone born in 1990. I get cranky about the music that’s popular—why is it all club music? … Continue reading
Giving thanks
Inside her annual Halloween card, my grandma had included a little paper slip of the Thanksgiving Day schedule, carefully typed and bolded. Because my grandparents were planning to go to Florida over Christmas, they wouldn’t be hosting our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, and would instead double up on Thanksgiving. We’d eat Thanksgiving dinner at one … Continue reading
Winter in California: turkey white bean pumpkin chili
It’s that time of year when the first snowfall makes everyone lose their minds, as if they’ve never seen snow before. People in Massachusetts had an actual reason to lose their minds when some areas got over a foot of snow at the end of October. My family in Massachusetts was without power for days. … Continue reading
Trash or treasure: Halloween candy edition
Good morning and Happy Halloween, dear readers! Since most of you aren’t kids, instead of a pillowcase full of half-melted candy, you’re left with makeup cementing your eyes shut, glitter in your hair, welts from your push-up bra, and a headache that even painkillers can’t quite dull. Why were we in such a hurry to … Continue reading
Broccoli robbed
If you read between the lines of my last few posts, you’ll notice that I haven’t really been cooking. Not only did I move from one ocean to the other, but I also started a glamorous new lifestyle — freelancing. By glamorous, I mean that it’s an effort to put on pants in the morning … Continue reading
