I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
My children Jacob and Ari must have been about 5 and 7 when they came with me to work. I don’t recall why they came to school with me. Perhaps it was Bring Your Child to Work Day or maybe their school was closed for …
In June I passed the two-year mark of my personal chef business. As a second career and retirement job, it could not be going any better, far surpassing my expectations. I currently have six clients throughout Long Island in whose homes I prepare meals (and …
As summer approached and the Philadelphia weather got warmer and more humid when I was young, we looked for ways to cool ourselves down. It was rare that we found a pool as they are hard to come by in the big city and I …
My children – Jacob and Ariana – are great and I have many wonderful memories from when they were young. But parenting is not all roses; there were times when their behavior left something to be desired. Raking leaves in the fall and shoveling snow …
Fruits and vegetables at big, corporate supermarkets usually look flawless. Think of picture-perfect apples and tomatoes, straight green beans all the same size, impeccable heads of lettuce, and flat snow pea pods with nary a twist, turn, or bump indicating a maturing pea inside. But …
In the 1970s and 80s, the Camp Onas Pioneer Trip lasted four days, consisting of two parts. It started with two days hiking on the Appalachian trail ending at the Delaware Water Gap. With full backpacks carrying sleeping bags, water, food, and other gear, 15 …
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 …
