Having already submitted strong opinions about a variety of sandwiches, it should be of no surprise that I have a certain mindset when it comes to the BLT. The beauty of this classic sandwich is that it is unassailably straightforward: bread, mayo, bacon, lettuce, tomato. One night a few years ago, I came home to […]
When June rolls around, I am often filled with a longing for the summers of my youth, spent swimming at the nearby pool, riding my bike, or reading a book. Today I watch the kids I know, in homes where I work, or those of friends and family, grow healthy and sun kissed and worn out […]
When I was a kid I was always made to dress up for occasions that seemed entirely without cause for any formality, like going shopping downtown or a meal with my grandparents. I resented such efforts vehemently, partially because I didn’t understand how a dressed-up Maggie made any difference to the shoppers at Elder-Beerman’s or […]
On a recent road trip through West Virginia with my sister Kim, I had a life-changing experience. This is somewhat hyperbolic but not entirely. Though I grew up in nearby Ohio, I hadn’t given the food of West Virginia even one moment’s thought. But I reflected quite a lot, as we weaved through […]
Here in San Francisco, we require functioning furnaces throughout the summer months, when fog and gusty winds surround the hills of the city and make for some cool weeks. While our temperatures certainly aren’t freezing, they do mean that despite the abundance of tomatoes, sweet corn, wax beans, and fresh stone fruit of all kinds, […]
Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise: cassoulet is merely another version of what we in America call baked beans. And like baked beans, cassoulet is a humble dish at heart: beans simmered and then baked with odd bits of pork, maybe a piece of mutton, likely some duck. A few sausages never hurt anything. Don’t […]
There are those among us who like brussels sprouts, a fact that has confounded me for some time. I was certain that these hideous vegetables were beyond redemption and put on earth to torture kids who were required to clean their plates. Eventually I began to regard them with a little less disdain. Friends ordered them in restaurants or […]
Birthday cakes should be layer cakes, and for the second time in as many years I found myself with cakes prepped, but the birthday gathering cancelled. Nestled in my freezer were three layers of lemon cake (baked last week; you’d never know they’d been frozen, and this is the secret to wedding cake construction across […]
As it turns out 2015 was a year in which I fell short on my writing goals. I began to study French in earnest during the summer, and I am somewhat frustrated to say that this seemed to exhaust whatever energy I had for creative, intellectual work. My hope for 2016 (you’ll notice I […]
I’ve been working on a general piece about Paris for months now, largely because I suspected I’d have nothing new to add to what’s already been said about this grand place, and this made me reluctant to commit. Finally I realized this: despite the reputation that precedes the City of Light, I arrived there […]
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