It's getting late in the day. The evening sun filters down in spirals and shafts of fading light. Soon, dusky shadows will appear. Right now the sky is suffused with pink, the sun melting in golden streaks into the rapidly oncoming dark.
Read moreSALTED BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE RICE KRISPIE TREATS
Where are you right now? Are you sitting in a loud bar, skimming your fingers over the polished wooden counter, playing with a cocktail straw, debating the merits of a spicy habanero margarita over a sweet rhubarb gin fizz? Perhaps you're waiting for a friend to arrive, and while you wait, you quietly take it all in: the reflection of the neon signs in the glass windowpanes, the closeness of a dozen bodies pressing in for the bartender's attention. Conversation buzzes around you, shouts and laughter and murmured confessions from the couple to your left. The deep thrum of the bass, the thread of the pop song hanging high over the sounds of the room.
Read morePEAR & CARDAMOM CAKE
How much time do you spend worrying? Not about the big things -- I'm talking about the little, anxiety-producing moments all day: The barista making your morning latte lukewarm, the woman one seat over on the subway talking too loudly on her cell phone, your computer restarting three times and losing your work.
Read moreDARK CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
Some days I'm on the precipice of tears all day for no discernible reason. Just teetering on the knife's edge of crying: bursting into chest-heaving sobs, or maybe those quiet tears that trace their way slowly down your cheek. There's no source, just a swelling tide of emotion that threatens to swamp you. It only needs a tiny push to spring forth. Spilling my salad accidentally could make me weep. Or putting on the laundry only to forget it and discover the sodden, wet mass of it hours later in the machine. Or seeing a stray baby-sized mitten on the side of the park path.
Read moreON COOKING
As it turns out, there’s a very fine line between striving for your best and perfectionism, between pushing yourself and being hard on yourself.
I’ve spent most of my twenties walking that line, often finding myself on the wrong side of it.
Have you felt that dogged determination to succeed? Has it brought you good things? For me it has, at times. If you’re settling for the attainable, how can you soar to unexpected heights?
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