(Foolishly?), I have begun making most my Christmas gifts in the last few years.  I’m realizing how much TIME it takes, and that it’s not necessarily much cheaper.  I picked Emily up for our Christmas date last night.  When she asked me how I was, I said, “I’m not in the Christmas spirit.”  I haven’t [...]

Alright already!  Enough not-so-subtle hints dropped about my Mom’s cranberry pinwheels!  Sheesh.  It’s fun pretending I’m annoyed, but my Need to be Needed tendencies love it.
My Mom’s been making some version of these cookies on our Christmas baking day for a few years now.  This year, she used fresh cranberries and pecans.  Other years, she’s [...]

Don’t egg my house.  If you follow In Praise of Leftovers at all, we’re clearly in a holding pattern  here.  It goes: squash/apple/galette/pizza/squash galette/apple cake/squash soup/squash bread and REPEAT.  If you don’t like squash, maybe you’ll stay for the self-deprecating humor?  Please?
After my trip to Gordon’s, I’ve still got squash hanging around.  When my Mom [...]

A couple weeks ago, I had a chicken salad sandwich at Oddfellows (my office) on Capitol Hill.  I ate lunch at 10:30.  That’s a mom for you.  I had gotten up early and done a million things already, so it surely felt like lunchtime.  At the counter placing my order, none of the breakfast things [...]

Love of nuts runs in my family.  You may have noticed I’m not shy about them.  Our friend Richard (Mary’s other spouse) always makes fun of me because I once put in Mary’s recipe book, “Never underestimate the power of nuts.”  He thinks that’s hilarious.  It is a little hyperbolic.  Okay, Rich. It’s funny.  For some reason, [...]