I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I ...
A Particularly Delicious Lemon Cake
Because the goodness of the ingredients—the fine chocolate, the freshest lemons—seemed like a cover over something larger and darker… Let me start by saying that I’ve never really liked cake. While other girls dream of three-tiered wedding cakes with fondant flowers, I imagine sitting by a ...
Jack Kerouac’s Apple Pie
"I ate apple pie and ice cream—it was getting better as I got deeper into Iowa, the pie bigger, the ice cream richer...that's practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of course." I set aside years of well cultivated hostility to team up ...
Little Women Christmas Breakfast
Last week I drove home to Ohio: twelve hours from Boston to Columbus, snow covered New England trees giving way to long stretches of farmland and grain elevators. I never thought I would be homesick for Ohio until I left it. For years I vowed to get out, convinced that some life affirming ...
The Boxcar Children Stew
My favorite game to play when I was a kid was homeless. I realize how terrible that sounds, but in my defense I lived in the suburbs. I didn't have a lot going on. Also, I was eight. I put peanut butter sandwiches in a bundle with a flashlight and my Tamagotchi (you know, the ...