Secret drawers were a must-have growing up in my mother’s house, and I passed the tradition on to our children, who filled theirs with every memento and tidbit of those fast years. Looking back, isn’t it those very secrets that define our individuality? Cooking is no different. Any cook willing to play a bit will stumble onto something uniquely theirs and quite often keep this ingredient a secret.
Secret Ingredient
06 Jun 2013 16 Comments
in Food Tags: balsamic, Saratoga Olive Oil Co, secret ingredient
Backyard Blooms
30 May 2013 17 Comments
in Life Tags: spring in Vermont
Right out my front door the brilliance of the azalea causes me to pause, take a deep breath, observe their magnificence, and then, slowly, move into the day’s demands. For Spring is fleeting bursts of brilliant blooms that blossom for oh such a short time and then blow about in the blustery breeze vanishing before your eyes.
No matter your geography, I hope you can smell the sweet sweetness in your backyard, park, or neighborhood…From the low lying tiny blooms to the grandiose flowering trees, Spring delight is everywhere you find yourself.
I encourage you to take in the delicacy of the bloom, the aroma of the spray, and the blush of the plants photographed from my backyard and revel in this ephemeral season for a brisk moment.
Bread Loaf Revisited
23 May 2013 14 Comments
in Writing Tags: Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College
May is a month of commencement speeches and graduation parties and time to reflect on how far you have come since your own such celebrations. Still, there is nothing like physically returning to your alma mater where you studied ad infinitum through the night, prayed the printer worked 15 minutes before class, made best friends by lucky circumstance and earned every drop of ink on your diploma. For me, last weekend’s fortuitous return to Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English recreated powerful emotions and rich memories from my four remarkable summers earning a master’s degree in English there.
