Those of us who cook typically aren’t content to keep it to ourselves. Our communal tradition of food demands some sort of audience—whether it’s coworkers peeling back the foil of a still-warm coffee cake or strangers liking the Instagram shot of your pad thai (#nom). When such sporadic appreciation fails to satisfy our egos, we tend to go big—and go home.
In other words, we throw a dinner party. Continue reading
Today I’d like to raise a glass to second chances.
Last Labor Day Weekend, Jason and I were playing highway hopscotch with our Honda Civic and a rented Penske truck, vying to be the first to cross the state line out of Texas. A cross-section of either vehicle would have made both Tetris aficionados and IKEA stockholders (if there are such things) beam with pride. Sweaters snuggled with salad plates, socks hunkered down in nests of cable cords, all of us bound for a new home in Nashville we’d seen only in a Craigslist ad. No matter. Goodbye death trap highways, soulless subdivisions, and sweating through Halloween. Hello fall foliage, rolling landscapes, and living so close to home we’d barely have to stop for gas. After meandering from Indiana to Ohio to Texas, I was certain Tennessee would be our last stop. Continue reading
Girl and Apron 