I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
Several weeks ago, out of nowhere, Bob Dylan’s song, “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” got wedged in my head. I couldn’t get it out. On repeat, it played internally for weeks on end. Even though it’s a great song, this earworm …
Most of my memories from Bodines, a tiny village in central Pennsylvania about 20 miles north of Williamsport, are only fleeting: talk of rattlesnakes in the field behind the house after the hay was harvested; walking on railroad tracks abandoned after Hurricane Agnes and its …
At some point during the Passover Seder – the spring meal celebrating the Jewish exodus from slavery in Egypt – a piece of matzo is broken in half and hidden. The children in attendance search for this afikomen, the finder receiving a prize. Seder guests …
The dilemma of taking salads to work or school for lunch is how to carry the dressing without it becoming a tragic mess. It turns out to be even more complicated when your child throws their salad into a backpack for extra jostling, even if …
When my children Jacob and Ariana were little, they used to spend a good amount of time hanging out in our bed. They would come on in the morning if we didn’t have to move too fast, especially on weekends. They might watch a little …
When I was a kid at Camp Onas many years ago, to change things up, we used to have theme weekends. The counselors would pick a movie, TV show, or an era – the 1950s or 1960s for example – and all the activities would …
I must have been traumatized as a kid. Or perhaps it was Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, which Marci and I suffered through when we lived in St. Thomas in the mid-1990s. I am extreme when it comes to preparations for a disruptive event, especially when …
When Jacob and Ariana were graduating from high school and moving away to attend college, I was contemplating my mortality. Top among my concerns was the thought that if I died, my children would no longer be able to enjoy many of the dishes they …
After several months of living in a cramped studio apartment in St. Thomas, Marci and I moved to a first floor apartment that was part of the Harmer Family’s home. It was a great improvement: much larger, a decent size kitchen, nice dining area, and …
As my wife Marci’s birthday approached a couple of weeks ago, I asked her what she wanted to do about dinner. She could choose any restaurant for a proper celebration, of course, but immediately responded that she wanted me to make a Bolognese over fresh, …
