When I was little, I had my own specific list of likes and dislikes. A hard pass on raw tomatoes, creamed onions, sweet winter squash, and anything licorice-flavored. A definite green light on fresh peaches, sticky orange sweet rolls, homemade strawberry ice cream, barely-blanched sugar snap peas, cucumber sandwiches, Grape-Nuts cereal with cream, buttery-tasting Club crackers with thin slices of bright orange Cracker Barrel cheddar, buttered bowtie pasta, pats of butter melting on warm-from-the-oven potato bread, and really just butter in general now that I think of it.
Read moreCHOCOLATE PUDDING MERINGUE TART
Useful things to remember:
Always write a thank you note immediately. It will otherwise languish on your to-do list, and sending them late is really just impolite.
You can absolutely go swimming past October 15 and it will feel wildly invigorating as both an early morning wakeup and a post-evening-run cool down.
SPICED PEAR BREAD
Actor Hugh Laurie (yes, he of the sardonic British wit and House acting fame, although I know and love him best for his role in Jeeves and Wooster) apparently put out a blues album a few years ago. Who knew he had such versatility?! We all contain multitudes, as it turns out. Upon being asked why he went out on such a limb, career-wise, he said this: “It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
Read moreSWEET POTATO RYE BUNDT CAKE
The words “wind advisory” showed up in bold, angry red letters at the top of my weather app yesterday evening—the fine print below warned against small crafts on the water and recommended securing loose objects and driving with caution. Around sunset, a rainstorm whipped through the trees in minutes, soaking everything with fat droplets and turning the sky a brooding charcoal. But I glanced out the back window and noticed the syrupy golden glow of the setting sun seeping through a few spots where the clouds had parted.
Read moreTAHINI FRANGIPANE BABKA
While we’re on the subject of extremely lovely things (we were, weren't we?), I’ve long been collecting a list of words that are too beautiful not to say or write over and over again, and here are some for you. Celestial, cotton, sultry, papaya, crisp, freesia, eclectic, marigold, smoky, lush, vellichor, effervescent, delicacy, frangipane. (More on that last one below.)
We can’t talk about gorgeous words without poetry, really, unless we’re talking about someone turning to you to say “I love you” for the first time. Or the fiftieth time. Or a two-year-old’s babbling, bubbly speech, their words tripping over giggles. Or the lyrics of Nathaniel Rafeliff’s “Time Stands” as he belts out the song to a completely empty Red Rocks Amphitheater. Or the product page of McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream limited releases: central Coast wildflower honey from the hives at San Marcos Farms stirred in rich, sweet cream then studded with chunks of our housemade sweet & salty cornbread cookies. Or Timothy Liu’s poem “The Lovers”:
Read more