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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
But the day was darkening outside, and as I finished that first bite, as that first impression faded, I felt a subtle shift inside, an unexpected reaction. As if a sensor, so far buried deep inside me, raised its scope to scan around, alerting my mouth to something new. Because the goodness of the ingredients – the fine chocolate, the freshest lemons – seemed like a cover over something larger and darker, and the taste of what was underneath was beginning to push up from the bite. I could absolutely taste the chocolate, but in drifts and traces, in an unfurling, or an opening, it seemed that my mouth was…
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Wordless Wednesday – Look what came in the mail?
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Jefferson’s Macaroni and Cheese
The other day, Ted mentioned that it might be fun to try the original Macaroni and Cheese, the kind that Thomas Jefferson brought to America from France. I’m a big fan of Mac & Cheese. I even like the Kraft stuff, though my favorite is the White Cheddar box. I tried to make homemade Mac & Cheese once before, and it was a disaster. The problem was that I didn’t use a recipe, and I didn’t understand the dynamics of M&C, so I just cooked some noodles, melted some cheese, and mixed. Gloppy, disgusting mess. Luckily, my audience that time was 7 year olds, and they didn’t care. So this…
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The Chosen One
Kyra is the 13 year old protagonist of The Chosen One, a young adult novel à la the polygamous compound from Big Love. Kyra is the 5th of 20 children born to 1 man and his 3 wives in a cult-like compound, where the message of fundamentalist Mormonism has gone from marginal and alternative, to cruel and insane. It seems that on this compound, people who believed in the way of polygamy lived a decent life following their belief, in which a man cannot obtain entrance to Heaven without at least 3 wives, and a woman cannot obtain entrance without bearing children. The benevolent prophet of this sect has died,…
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Chicken Piccata
We recently found ourselves on a bit of a red meat kick. Steak one night, lamb another. Hamburgers. Ribs. So then I found myself wanting to figure out something lighter, but I didn’t want to make roast chicken or chicken and dumplings. Or fish. So, what to do? The thought popped into my head, what about Chicken Piccata? So I went looking, and since Piccata seems Italian, I turned to my friend Giada for a recipe. Giada rarely disappoints, and I found a wonderful recipe, here. Chicken Piccata Ingredients 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 cups…
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Brave Girl Eating
“These days of keeping Kitty close represent an oddly peaceful interlude in the surreal world we now inhabit, Jamie and Emma and I and this new Kitty, with her pointed chin and enormous eyes and will of iron. I try to remember my daughter as she was just a few months before, dancing through the house, laughing and affectionate, talking on the phone or going out with friends. Already this new Kitty, gaunt and tense and slow-moving, seems normal. Human beings can adapt to anything, from infinite riches to the horrors of Auschwitz. I don’t want to adapt to the way things are now. I want to scream, howl, tear…
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Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts
One of my Christmas gifts this year was a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. The first issue came today, and the cover has a delicious looking recipe for brownies. Happily enough, we had all of the ingredients in the house, so after a day that started with a walk and breakfast at Noah’s, and progressed into a viewing of The King’s Speech, Ted decided to make the day even better by mixing up a batch of brownies. Results? Are they the best brownies ever? Ted would have liked a more milk chocolate taste, but he enjoyed the nutty element. I thought they were just about perfect, though perhaps some chocolate…
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Brunette…
So here I am with my new hair color…pretty brunette, isn’t it? It’s about halfway down on the blonde spectrum, believe it or not, but gosh, that’s a dark blonde. I’m one of those blonde’s who had white blonde hair as a young child, dirty blonde hair in high school, and started coloring it for fun not long after. Fast forward 20+ years, and I don’t even know what my real hair color might be anymore. I mean, you can look at your roots, but the sun and the environment sure seem to affect that. At least a bit. So I’ve been coloring my hair for these last many many…
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Chicken Enchilada Soup
Everything I ever needed to know I learned on Facebook. Case in point, my FB friend Donald posted something about his dinner, which was going to be Chicken Enchilada Soup. Mmmm, I thought, that sounds good. I looked online and found some recipes, but they all seemed to be copying the recipe from Chili’s, and included Velveeta and Cream of Chicken Soup, both of which struck me as being pretty non-Mexican, and kind of turned my stomach. Donald had the ingredients he uses, but no amounts. The ingredient list was: chicken, corn, onions, black beans, RoTel tomatoes with chilies, black olives, enchilada sauce, chicken broth, cheese, cilantro, and tortilla chips.…
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Wordless Wednesday ~ OCD Verson
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Freedom
In Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Freedom is something devoutly to be wished, and yet turns out to be a trap in and of itself. It turns out, over and over again, that the trappings and constraints of life are preferable from freedom from these trappings. The story is told in the third person, telling the stories of Patty, Walter, Joey, and Richard, as well as their families around them. Patty is the damaged basketball star daughter of a WASPy NY family, who travels to college in Minnesota on a sports scholarship. Walter is the good son who helps his parents to tend to their motel on weekends and summers, which his…
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Thank You, 2010
I know that 2010 was a very difficult year for some of you. Some of my friends had a horrible year, full of divorce or death or almost death or loss of jobs, or several of these things all at once. I do not in any way want to discount their pain. Some years truly suck. But some of my friends had a joyous years of birth and babies and marriage and engagements and health. I want to recognize that as well. That while some people are suffering mightily, others are celebrating and living a life of happiness and joy. And when you’re in the midst of despair, it somehow…
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Life After Yes
There is something about mothers. Whether your own or someone else’s, whether Northern or Southern, liberal or conservative, they spill bits of wisdom as they walk. They just know better. Depending on the day, this can be infuriating or enlightening. Quinn is a 26 year old Manhattan lawyer who has just become engaged to Sage, a banker from down south. They’re living in Manhattan, and the time has come to plan their wedding. Which seems like it should be a happy time, but this is early 2002, in New York, and Quinn’s father was killed in the attack on September 11. Sage is a caring man, and gives Quinn a…
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Split Pea and Ham Soup
My friend Cherry often makes ‘lucky’ food on New Years Day. Seems like it’s often black eyed peas in some form or another. I remembered that this year, but I don’t know if I’ve ever had black eyed peas. I started looking for recipes, and decided I wasn’t sure. So I looked for other lucky foods, and it seems like the color green is good (the color of money, hence prosperity), pork and fish are good (because they move forward), and chicken and lobster are bad (because they scratch or walk backwards), and you want to go forward in the new year. Also, beans and peas are good luck (perhaps…
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Fall-off-the-bone-tender Baby Back Ribs
(Picture found along with a totally different recipe, here) Ted found a recipe for homemade barbecue sauce on foodnetwork.com, and decided to try it with chicken on the grill. Um, it was amazing. Truthfully, I think it was the best barbecue chicken I’ve ever had. We’ll definitely be making more of this sauce. He got the recipe from Giada, here. Balsamic BBQ sauce 1 cup balsamic vinegar 3/4 cup ketchup 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are…