In college, I worked as a residents’ assistant for two years. It proved to be one of the hallmarks during those four years. During the year I manned a freshmen hall, I developed a bit of a… reputation. Whenever I was on duty, my ears would perk up to the sounds of clinking bottles or… Continue reading Writing Tips: The One Trait Every Writer Needs to Have
Category: Notes from the Kitchen
Kitchen Diaries: Lessons from a Sourdough Bread Loaf
Early Friday morning is an exquisite pocket of time. Perhaps it’s knowing that the sprint is almost over and only five hours stand in the way of what shapes weekend hours from the weekday ones. The kitchen comes slowly to life on Friday mornings, rising with the sun. Usually I am already bedecked in bits… Continue reading Kitchen Diaries: Lessons from a Sourdough Bread Loaf
Rick Bayless & Negra Modelo Take Us on a Mission District Walking Food Tour
Photo by Irvin Lin of Eat the Love Tis the the season of Julie Andrews singing about her favorite things. If each of us composed our own version of the song, what would be the items you might use to replace “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens?” When the folks at Negra Modelo hired… Continue reading Rick Bayless & Negra Modelo Take Us on a Mission District Walking Food Tour
Augustus Waters, Oblivion & Gathering the Last Bits of Thanksgiving from the Table
Not that long ago, Nathan and I set off from our coast to the other one on a whirlwind trip to New York. One afternoon at a restaurant situated on the edge of Greenwich Village, a friend and I caught up over kale salads (with tempeh bacon for me, tofu for her). Our conversation strung along easily,… Continue reading Augustus Waters, Oblivion & Gathering the Last Bits of Thanksgiving from the Table
Baseball Poetry and Anniversaries
Let’s set the record straight. I didn’t grow up in a baseballer family. Far from it, my dad would root for soccer teams and instilled the love of football in me from a young age. For reasons unknown (voracious reader, hated to go outside), I never tried out for soccer. Many years later, I found… Continue reading Baseball Poetry and Anniversaries
In Praise of the Small Kitchen
When we began looking at Oakland apartments, we found one that was not listed as a studio and went for the asking price of our San Francisco apartment. After that, I began color-coding listings on an excel spreadsheet by interest and neighborhood. Like a boss, I reached out to each contender, as if sending out cover letters… Continue reading In Praise of the Small Kitchen
On the Plate in August: Books to Read
Hello and happy Monday! With only a stitch of summer left, I’m woefully behind in sharing some of my summer non-required reading because what do you need more of than more books to read, right? Onward. I’m obsessed with cake right now. As such, I would be sunk without this seminal book that you probably… Continue reading On the Plate in August: Books to Read
Star in Your Own Rock Opera
If you ever find yourself in the middle of a rock opera, strap yourself in for one doozy of a ride. Maybe you’re puzzled by the idea of a rock opera and wondering if it too has a fat lady who sings. The answer, like most things in life, is maybe. What you can count… Continue reading Star in Your Own Rock Opera
Keeping the Eye on the Butterfly
If Billie Jean had been a nurse, she would have had Dr. Michael Jackson as her attending. Somewhere between the jangled nerves of being in the radiology department, my mother had forgotten the name of her surgeon. When asked, she quickly quipped, Dr. Michael Jackson. Her doctor whose surname was not Jackson left her in… Continue reading Keeping the Eye on the Butterfly
Sometimes It’s Enough
A chill pervaded the air that afternoon, sending my husband and I to spoon hot Japanese curry over sticky white rice. Earlier that afternoon, my phone vibrated as the small screen lit up with a message from my Mom. I put off making that call until I could find the right type of quiet for… Continue reading Sometimes It’s Enough
When the Bread Hits the Pan
People in crisis do funny things. Some take up smoking. Others find their solace swirling through chipped ice in a glass tumbler. Still, many attack the elliptical with the full thrust of their being, working it out on a contraption that goes nowhere. You’ve heard of the funny bone, perhaps have wondered about the wish… Continue reading When the Bread Hits the Pan
What We Really Need
On a cover of last week’s New York Times, a jagged thunderbolt line of people spanned one edge of the above-the-fold photo frame to the other. They waited in line for food and staples like bread. That image tugged at me long after I had left the corner store, quickly exiting with a dozen eggs and a… Continue reading What We Really Need