THE SUNDAY COLUMN -
Need a Knife? Just Cut to the Chase

12 May 2013 | Will we be doing anything barbarian at dinner?
MA is setting the table and is a practical man. For example, we've had many conversations over the years about why it's necessary to include a spoon. If you're not using it, why bring it out? Why not the knife/fork and call it good? OK - You think that's a dull concern? Two responses: 1. Me too; and 2. When you build a life with someone, that life is filled with concerns big and small... [more]

THE SUNDAY COLUMN -
The Perfect Water Bottle: A Homecoming

5 May 2013 | Attachment to mere things can be such a distraction from life's essential elements. But how my heart leapt for joy at the arrival of a plain brown box containing one of my key accessories: a water bottle. I'd been without it for so long. More than three weeks. And now, reunited... [more]

THE SUNDAY COLUMN -
Care and Feeding During Finals Week

28 April 2013 | Winter coat on Wednesday; sunburned arms on Saturday. The snow is gone (fingers-crossed), the daffodils are up and some animal has eaten the tops off all my tulips. (I’m lookin' at you, deer and/or rabbits!) Time to move into the best part of the Mitten. May is coming. But first, finals week... [more]

THE SUNDAY COLUMN -
Reclaim the Pressure Cooker

21 April 2013 | The pressure cooker has returned: in odd ways. After the chaos of last week, I heard a radio essayist talk about reclaiming the pressure cooker. Remove it from life threatening acts and return it to the kitchen. If it were only that easy. Just days earlier, after last Sunday's end of my ever-again attempting risotto, one of my life's cooking gurus* suggested a pressure cooker... [more]

Irony the Duck