My step grandmother always called them tor-till-a chips, with the second syllable rhyming with hill. She lived in Missouri, but was born, and lived for the first half of her life in Germany. She was rather persnickety, and very set in her ways. When I was a child, my mother and I flew out to […]

Last Saturday, a dear friend dropped by unexpectedly and delivered a fabulous, edible present that was local– very local. It wasn’t honey, or fish caught in the Sound, it wasn’t even a vegetable that he had cared for and grown on his patio. It was something that he had foraged. I’m not even sure why, […]

I have officially packed my winter clothes away. Brian and I had a bread salad with dinner on Sunday night. I am nursing blisters on my feet from wearing shoes without socks for the first time in months. Spring is in the air– and that means rhubarb! I picked up my first few stalks of […]

I know that I’m a day late, but for all of those readers who are observing the Passover holiday, and eating only non-leavened bread products– you have an entire week to eat plenty of matzos. One whole week with nary a slice of bread to be seen. Truth be told, it’s been several years since […]

I was at the heath food store recently, perusing through the many bags of Bob’s Red Mill products when I spotted a bag of graham flour. Graham flour? Graham crackers, I thought. So, I grabbed a bag and went home. Some may think of graham crackers as a childish food. And I suppose they are. […]

I was in California visiting family for a bit. When I got back, I promptly got a cold. Isn’t that always the way? It’s funny to go back to California; it is not my home anymore. And it finally has stopped feeling home– at least my home anyways. But I lived there for so long […]

In elementary school, did you ever start an avocado plant from the pit? I did. I remember waiting for weeks, as the stone steeped in tepid water, for the roots to burgeon, and a spindly plant to sprout. But I don’t really remember much past that point. I don’t remember planting the pit in soil, […]

In September of ’09 there was legislation passed in New Haven making it legal for residents to own chickens. Bring on the urban farms, and the fresh eggs! I recently wrote an article for The New Haven Advocate, our free weekly, arts and entertainment paper, all about it. So I can now tell about coop […]

Would you like to see a little bit of my kitchen? I am always curious to catch a glimpse of other people’s homes. The New Haven Register did a piece on me and the book, complete with a photograph of yours truly kicking it in the kitchen. (And yes, that’s an electric stove!) The article […]

Hello Everyone, I will be spending a few weeks in California this summer; I can already feel the (dry) sun on my back! While there, I will be giving two readings. On Thursday, July 30, I will be reading at Village Books in the Pacific Palisades, at 7:30 pm, and the following week I will […]