Good morning, everyone, and happy Saturday. I hope that those of you who celebrated yesterday had a lovely holiday. I woke up this morning and realized with a smile that in spite of the fact that I’m 33, I’ve retained my childhood tendency to wake up melancholy on December 26th. There’s something so wistful about watching the holiday season pass by, even if the holidays tend to bring up a lot of complex emotions for many of us. I try to see the melancholy as…

Good morning, and happy Sunday. I’m thrilled to see that so many of you are interested in the Hamilton Beach 6-quart slow cooker giveaway–keep those entries coming! And I was even happier to see that so many of you liked my masala lentil recipe. I’ve got leftovers in my fridge and my freezer, and I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s the first of November, and I’m absolutely astonished at how quickly the fall has been flying by. I tend to feel as…

Hello friends. As you can see, the Thanksgiving recipe roundup I promised for yesterday didn’t come to pass. I got hit like a ton of bricks with a nasty stomach flu on Thursday night, and I’m still in rough shape, though things have taken a turn (I hope) for the better this morning. So, no blogging for me yesterday. I’m going to do a nice little Thanksgiving recipe roundup on Monday in lieu of my regular menu plan Monday post, though, so it’s still…

Tomatoes were my favorite food as a child, and my attachment to them has never really gone away. I look forward to them being in season all year long, and I celebrate their appearance more than any other summer produce. Unlike many vegetables, for which I’ll have a strong preparation preference (broccoli steamed; cauliflower roasted; spinach raw) I’ll take tomatoes raw, roasted, sautéed, or sauced. It’s all (so, so) good. Tomatoes are finally teeming at markets near me, and I’m gorging in the…

Happy weekend to you, and happy Easter to those who are celebrating today. This is less my holiday than Passover, which I celebrated on Friday, or Greek Easter, which my mom and I will celebrate next Sunday, but I’m spending time with the idea of rebirth. A year ago today, Steven moved out. It’s a strange anniversary to commemorate, but I’ve been surprised at how much feeling it brings up. Memories have been coming and going, and I even had my first dream…

Sorry to be posting weekend reading late, everyone! The last two days seem to have flown by–but not too fast for me to bookmark a couple of outstanding recipes and compelling reads. We all know that I can’t resist an avocado toast recipe. This one–slathered in homemade dukkah–looks almost too awesome to be true. While we’re on the topic of spice blends, za’atar is one that I wish I used more often, because it’s wonderful. These hemp za’atar sorghum crackers with parsley hummus…

“When you don’t know what to do or how to move forward, stand still.” This is a piece of advice that my mother gave me during my post-bacc years. That time in my life was marked by a lot of indecision and agonized choices–most often, the choice of whether or not to keep going with my program for another semester or not. I’d receive yet another poor score or a discouraging comment or simply be hit with a spell of burnout, and I’d doubt what…