December 2012

Broccoli Slaw That Never Got Stir Fried

December 31, 2012

This time of year we start making promises to ourselves. But maybe some resolutions are made to be broken. Or the breaking brings us a happy accident we hadn’t bargained for. In honor of that kind of trickery, I guess I should call this an “unmake.” My best intention when her post first came out […]

Read the full article →

Christmas Sushi

December 21, 2012

It wasn’t Christmas when I first had this sushi. But it felt like Christmas. My friend Clark had invited me over for dinner. We live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in town; my house was built in the summer of 1897, and he lives a half block from my house in the oldest apartment […]

Read the full article →

The Little Things Make a Big Difference

December 18, 2012

When my son began to skateboard at about age 10, he idolized the makers of a home-grown skate video made in our town.  Luckily these nearly young men were worth idolizing, and took their role of bringing young skaters along quite conscientiously. I still remember the Thanksgiving Travis, Michael’s favorite, handed him down the gift […]

Read the full article →

Holy Shadow Cookies

December 15, 2012

Sometimes people help you out without knowing they’re doing it. Just in the course of doing what they like to do, they bless you with a surprise that helps or heals you, unaware they have done so. Rachel Naomi Remen retells a Sufi story in her beautiful book Kitchen Table Wisdom about just such a […]

Read the full article →

I Want To Live

December 12, 2012

Sometimes you don’t know something until you say it out loud. And sometimes you don’t know you’re going to say it out loud until you hear yourself saying it. In a leadership workshop a friend once took, she told me she learned of different thinking-through-conversation styles. One was to not plan at all, just talk […]

Read the full article →

Wonder Woman at the Window

December 8, 2012

We’d been having days with high winds. Gusts up to 40 miles an hour. One day the previous week Romeo and I literally got pushed along past the University Fitness Center. We were our own version of Pooh and Piglet on a “blustery day.” By the end of that day, the wind was still blowing […]

Read the full article →

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Broth

December 5, 2012

If I’m going to make a pot of soup like I described in the previous post, I always like to deepen the flavor a little bit by adding broth instead of water. But packaged broth can be expensive, and have too much sodium for me, or even hidden oils. . Over the years I’ve read […]

Read the full article →

On Waiting

December 1, 2012

Advent is here, the liturgical season of waiting for rebirth. When I was growing up our family always had an Advent wreath. I remember the green boughs encircling a stainless steel holder for three purple candles, and one pink one, lit the third week, that meant we were “getting close.” I also remember my Dad […]

Read the full article →