In the opening scene of the musical Oliver!, the orphan boys are served a meal of gruel, then watch hungrily a

Most people can tell when it's rhubarb season because they go in their back yard garden, and see rhubarb growi

We were invited to spend Christmas with friends, and since we'd had loads of fun celebrating a very English st

Perspective is a wonderful thing. It is not, however, something that teenagers have very much of. I have only

My friend Toby over at Plate Fodder suffers from a dire affliction: He has an advanced case of Food Fad Fatigu

No one can hide from the truth forever, so here is my truth: I am a very poor excuse for a food blogger. Some

Summer arrives, and with it, boredom and fresh fruit. This is an annual occurrence: Many of The Child's friend

Ten months ago, in a burst of enthusiasm, I offered to foster an abandoned dog for a rescue, sight unseen. He

Mother's Day arrives, and with it, a tray full of breakfast and gifts: Coffee, an egg sandwich, and a set of o

Income taxes are due, so my almost-divorced friend throws a poverty party; I am assigned to bring a dessert. I

When she was alive, my grandmother appeared to be behind her times, clinging to her old-fashioned ways of doin

Our evenings settle into a routine: I drive The Child home from school, and we review her assignments together

I didn't cook the first Thanksgiving meal I hosted. My roommate and I had my mom's old dining table, and my gr

I moved into my second apartment somewhat slowly, having learned some - if not all - of the lessons of my firs

This is the way the summer begins: with a whimper. This is the way the summer ends: with a bang. The Child's s

I've learned a lot about gardening in the past three years. Things like this: Neem oil applied with a sprayer

The Child and I drive to IKEA, again. Two years after The Departed's possessions were removed from our home, w

An old school friend posted a brief rant on Facebook last week. He's been in the midst of a divorce for a whil

The Child was on a school trip this week, leaving me on my own. Although it feels like I should have taken the

On Mother's Day, The Child and I brunched at a waterfront cafe; we sat outdoors and enjoyed the sunshine and t

My Father stayed with me for a month, maybe more, when The Departed left. He changed the locks and helped me s

I've been playing around on Tinder lately. If you're not familiar with it, it's a dating app that distills onl

So many food blogs seem to have a theme: Baking, healthy eating, gluten-free, paleo, food on a budget. And the

The first time I made marmalade was more than 20 years ago; it involved an expensive can of mix from Williams-

The Child informs me she has discovered punk music; Green Day is now the soundtrack of choice for our morning

When I first moved to Seattle, it was July. I stayed with a friend on the Peninsula for two months, commuting

At the beginning of The Child's second year of middle school, she unfriended her best friends from the first y

I had a plan for Christmas. It involved boxes of cookies and treats, delivered to neighbors and shipped off to

I don't really remember much of my mother's cooking, which is odd because it's what I grew up eating. We could

An amazing thing happened this week: I lost five pounds without trying. I don't want you to think I did someth

Last year, we spent Thanksgiving with Mr Faraway's family, but though he and I have chatted from time to time,

We all have things we wish for, but for the past two weeks, my normally long wish list has shortened down to o

The one downside to removing the wall unit is that the amount of shelf space available to house my cookbooks w

Earlier in the year, I spent some time with some of my older cookbooks, in particular The New Basics Cookbook,

When I moved to Oregon, I was delighted to discover I could pick two things on the side of the road: hazelnuts

Last year, I added two raised garden beds to my back yard, loaded them up with compost and other organic enric