There is something particularly special about the smell of New York when the weather is warm. The garbage left out on the street leaves a patina that some try to wash away with a hose but to little effect. Instead the smell is diminished and altered slightly, but enough lingers to lodge in your sense memory. Or at least it did in mine. Add to that the smell of fresh fruit in the corner market bins and the general smells of morning (and fish if...

This morning was the first day of school for the boys and an important one for sure. New state. New school. No friends yet. So, what’s a mom do? Ask them what they want for breakfast! (Because food is love, right?) Thing 1 is pretty easy—as long as there’s no gluten, he’s probably okay with it. Thing 2 has gotten progressively pickier over the years. We started running down the list of options last night and all the...

Gluten-Free Tuesday: Vegan Apple Doughnuts | Serious Eats : Recipes Oh, how I recall the glorious smells of the Autumnal Apple Harvest. Oh how I’ve wept for losing out on donuts. I absolutely understand I won’t suddenly find a pick-your-own-apples place that’s awesome enough to harbor gluten-free apple cider donuts, but perhaps now I can make myself a batch to take with, in some sort of insulated container or something, and...

For reasons that will continue to elude me, videos wont embed at the Madame Defarge site, so… I’ll put them here. Without further ado, Sections one, two, and three of What Would Madame Defarge Knit?

So we’re living with our current house guest, Irene, and so far she’s only JUST started to be noisy. As a preemptive food strike, I started making a stunning shepherd’s pie from the best recipe EVER! I think I’ve written about it before but it bears repeating. Kell’s Pub in Portland makes this and has generously put the stunningly tasty recipe online for free...

Recently I was interviewed for USA Today’s article 10 years later, those who left NYC look back. During the course of the interview I was struck by the kindness and generosity of the three people with whom I made contact at the news organization—the reporter, the videographer/photographer, and the web video editor. Seriously smart, funny, kind people who didn’t fit the casual stereotype of biased media in any regard. They were...