little victories

Ben took his first nap at home on Sunday. His little Ikea bed is the reason why. It has a blue cat and black dog in the headboard, and a puffy duvet with purple dogs, green trees, white mountains, crescent moons and stars.I found myself at the table with a cup of coffee and the [...]

the (maxipad) medium is the message?

Dear reader,
I’ve been up since one and am between press releases, so I’m grouchier than the average bear. Let me warn you in advance that this post is graphic, but not sexy. You may want to wait for something else.
What is the last thing a woman needs when she is having her period? My [...]

Stone fruit’s Ms September, raw and baked (recipe)

One of my favorite fruits awaited me in my csa crate this week, tucked into a crumpled brown bag. The farm has one Italian prune plum tree, and my halfshare resulted in a pound of the humble beauty.
I can, and have, eaten a pound of ripe prune plums in one sitting, to dramatic and not [...]

a sad 5th anniversary

Our management meeting was just starting; we were at a site in Cambridge, and our small group was wrestling with network connectivity issues in advance of reading the agenda, when Eric pinged Ralph on IRC. Something terrible was happening in New York. We could only read Eric’s transcription, which stopped with an “Oh my god”.
In [...]

roadside delicacy in seaside towns

Ten years ago, I learned about a vacation roadside delicacy in Woods Hole. My boyfriend at the time showed me that the rugosa bushes on every walkway held snacks, once the blossoms passed. The rosehips swelled and ripened from green to yellow, to orange red, and finally to deep red. A sharp eye and careful [...]

Bakeries I love, West Coast

A loaf of Hominy Bread from Ballard’s Tall Grass Bakery prompted me to write this post, as bakeries are one of my favorite places. The smell, the heat, the often wonderful people who work at them… man. I didn’t know that Seattle was an epicenter for the artisan bread movement, but I know it now, [...]

(mainstream) pasta salad improv

We were at Henrik’s family summer house on the nw coast of Denmark for about a month. Dining and cooking provided challenges, as Ben has a milk protein allergy, I am a vegetarian, and my mil has a nickel allergy. (You wouldn’t believe all the foods that have it.) Asian cooking is out; so were [...]

what I did on my summer vacation

I sprained my ankle, flew through Kastrup airport six times in 3.5 weeks, and was a surprise witness to my son’s eardrum rupturing on the flight home, about 8 hours into the 19 hour journey. I wrote blogposts in my head, having left the laptop at home. I have notes to tell you about the [...]