One night, in the tender and exhilarating years between legal adulthood and full frontal lobe development, my roommate and I made a post-midnight run to Denny’s. We enjoyed our shared…
Last weekend we drove through the Oregon wine country and meandered down gravel roads, stopping at a few acres of land for sale and dreaming. Today I pulled weeds in…
From the beginning of me, there was writing. In the earliest years of grade school, I would make little books of stapled-together printer paper and construction paper. They’d chronicle life’s…
“No man is a failure who has friends.” I learned this lesson early from Clarence, the wise/silly old angel character in perhaps my favorite movie of all time, It’s a…
In January, my annual seed-ordering frenzy commenced, and the promise of green, new life was enough to get me through the ensuing cold and rainy months. (Who am I kidding?…
Really, what other kind is there? The act of eating stuffing, by its very nature, is indulgent. Pouring gravy over bread is not an everyday occurrence in most of our…
Someone I know was walking her dog this morning, breathing in the crisp, fall beauty and wondering what today holds for her country. Like most today, she was in the…
I’ll be honest, here: I am not a pancake person. If we’re going to talk weekend breakfasts, I am way more into the savory than the sweet – and on…
One of the first posts I wrote on this site chronicled a simple, hearty, skillet meal eaten over the Christmas holidays, and paired with leftovers of a real-food take on my…
Though warmer weather has come to stay with many of us, we are still more or less in the April-showers time of year, and nothing beats a slow-cooked, hearty meal on…
I put fingers to keys this morning to document the results of an adventure. My mom and I were invited to tag along with an expert morel mushroom forager, so of…
Spring is springing around here. Though it’s not official yet, the signs are everywhere. My daffodils have been blooming for a while now, the crocuses are up, I have one…
I understand we are two months into the Year of Our Lord 2016, but I started this post two months ago today, and would still like to share it with…
Gnocchi is one of my favorite pastas to make, because it’s so versatile. It adapts for whichever season you’re in, and whatever flours and starchy vegetables you happen to have…
In writing the lead for this post, I realized much of what I write begins with at least a mention of the weather or the changing seasons, and how it’s…
Due to the unseasonable warmth of the last few weeks, Portland gardens and our surrounding farms are still producing end-of-summer treats like zucchini, chiles, and tomatoes. It makes for a nice…
Today the love of my life turns 30. If you’ve never met Joseph, you are missing out. He is one of a kind. I’ve never met anyone who is as…
Summer is over, you guys. Here in the Northwest, we’ve got that wonderful, crisp-aired morning thing going on, which I just love. Nights have cooled down to the comfortable sleeping…
It’s the inevitable time of year when I am caught between two worlds, mentally and urban homestead-wise. One is the enjoyment of jumping into the river on scorching days, the…
In the wake of unspeakable, increasingly more common tragedy, can we please encourage the media to stop publicizing details like the “glint of his gun” and the nuances of his…
“An’ then this feller, he got drunk on the rubbing alcohol he stole, and he come up to the porch and hollered, ‘Let me in, or I’ll come in!’ And…
A heat wave in a land with very little air conditioning may bring out the pioneer in a better woman, but MY theme for today is “I don’t wanna.” I don’t wanna go outside,…
From-scratch bone broth is soooooooo trendy right now. A former staple food for any family who could get their hands on the requisite bones, it went out of fashion when…
As the clock of the year ticks toward summer, and the weather has already arrived, I am finding so many little things to be thankful for. Many of these little…
Fresh strawberries just scream, “Summer is coming! Summer is coming!” Also, “Eat me! Eat me NOW!” Equally. I was shopping at my produce place the other day, and ran across…
Ahhh, the farmers market. Home of hippie musicians, delightful artisan goods, and all things organic, it is also a prime source for new culinary adventures. Last week at the People’s…
Whew. The whirlwind of the past few months has settled down, and as we approach the Ides of May (not a thing, I know), it’s time to breathe once again.…
I really like pasta. Brown rice pasta, whole wheat pasta, einkorn pasta, spelt pasta, sprouted pasta – even delicious, delicious white flour pasta. I don’t regard the white stuff as an…
A day off. An abundance of fresh eggs, beginning to overwhelm. What’s a girl to do but some grainless baking? When you bake using a flour that’s made from nuts,…
I have two aims here. Really, the first one is a crafty way to accomplish the second, so – I have one aim here. I am writing to share a…
“You’re telling me you can eat almost an entire turkey in one sitting?” “That’s right. Because I’m a Tribbiani… and this is what we do. We may not be great…
When I was a senior in high school, I worked at Taco Bell. I had spent the previous four years working as a soccer referee/basketball scorekeeper/day camp coach for the…
Because sometimes grown-ups need cookies, too. Though your kids will enjoy these cookies, you will appreciate them for their many attributes, including but not limited to: their quality; their sweetness…
In my social media feed, and on the internet in general, I’ve noticed a growing surge of folks using their sacred powers of free speech to share deeply personal or…
Wooooo! It’s Valentine’s Day, and I can help you bring the spice. To your dinner. I’m not trained to help you in terms of spice in other departments. That e-course…
February in Portland has become one of my favorite times of year. The weather is delightfully unpredictable – today it’s a bit stormy; yesterday afternoon was brilliantly sunny for a…
A practice I’ve held, on and off, throughout the years, begins when I’m craving a particular restaurant meal. Instead of running for instant gratification, I put the ingredients of said craving on…
Oh. My. God. I’ve been binge-watching Friends since it came out on Netflix a couple of weeks ago. Lines from the show are creeping into my every-day language with frightening…
I’ll start with the bad news: If you are dairy-averse, this is not the recipe for you. Mac and cheese never is, I guess, but this recipe incorporates a particularly…
Kombu-what? Kombucha is a fermented tea drink traditional cultures have been brewing for thousands of years. Some say it originated in China in the Tsin dynasty, around 200 BC, and has since…
Now, you wouldn’t normally expect a post with “meringue” in the title to begin by talking about mayonnaise… so let’s crush some expectations. If you want the one-sentence version: I…
2014 has a few more hours to give us, and then in uncharacteristically sunny and freezing fashion, it will leave us to the beginning of another year. I’m a sentimental…
No matter how you try to spin it, it’s an unavoidable truth that ricotta is a gateway cheese for we, the DIYers. It began innocently last summer when, still in…
This salad is the antidote to gloomy fall and winter days; in fact, it’s a celebration of the cold weather’s ability to produce beautiful, gem-like root vegetables. There’s salad to…
Happy weekend before Thanksgiving, everyone! We’re so close to the official onset of the Christmas season, which always brings me a sigh of relief, because I get to mainstream…
Yesterday, rushing out the door to arguably the biggest day of my career thus far, the slippery steps outside moved or something, and I took a fall. Nothing makes you…
My contention today is that the two words in the title of this post represent concepts that aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. It’s a controversial thought. Today’s rampant and destructive fat-shaming…
Summer is definitively over, but this year’s uncharacteristically warm beginning of autumn has encouraged the consumption of extra bell peppers, tomatoes, and other end-of-summer delights. We’ve eaten a lot of…
Cream cheese guilt is real. I know; I’ve been there. These days, I am not into food guilt. In fact, I think it’s the devil. It comes from food fear,…
Well, I’m up earlier than I should be, given the hour I went to bed and also given my childlessness. (I try to cherish these sweet years that allow me…
Yard Sale Mandoline 