Let’s just get this straight, first off: You won’t like this week’s book. I read James Baldwin’s book — actually it’s more of an essay, or a couple long letters — The Fire Next Time just because I’m up for hearing people out. Baldwin is a black writer and an angry man. One can see why. We know blacks have suffered generations of indignities [...]
This is a cookie for the indecisive sugar fiend. When you visit the recipe site, you will find a more beautiful sample of the finished product. I used a rather large cookie scoop, and cookies that big take 17 minutes to bake! As for the review of the extra-large book that I know you're all waiting on, I can report that I passed [...]
Oh, those Super-Bloggers, the ones with the big cameras. They dangle their decadent brownies in front of us. Sometimes those brownies turn out terrible. I'm happy to report: this is not one of those times. Twix Truffle Brownies came together pretty easily, even the potentially ruinous step of spreading the "truffle" of crushed Lorna Doone cookies over the brownie layer. You will find yourself [...]
Two stories: When I was a tween, I tagged along with a sister to Taco Time. I’m no big fan of tacos, but when I looked up at the menu and saw the Taco Burger, my mouth began to water. I was the kind of tween that was too young to babysit, and had never heard of an allowance, so my pockets were empty. [...]
Tonight, you get two desserts, to make up for getting no book. I'm reading a long one, already been at it for two weeks and it's going to take me another to finish. Meanwhile, I'm visiting a household where nobody is on a special diet, where everybody goes bug-eyed for sugar-y treats. We tried: Slutty Brownies. Start with some chocolate chip cookie dough. [...]
OK, I tried Lynn Kurland’s Star of the Morning. They say this author consistently spins great stories. I just happened to pick one with magic swords and what-not. Not my favorite genre. Ten pages in, not even this highly-praised storyteller could sell me on magic swords or legendary kingdoms or something called the Black Mage running loose in the land . But if I could find a [...]
As social habits go, listening to talk radio rates somewhere between shopping at Wal-Mart in your pajamas and tossing litter out of your car window. Especially if your afternoon fix is Rush Limbaugh. I’ve eaten dinner with friends who dismissed the “dittoheads” they know as crazy sheep-like paranoids who take their marching orders from a bombastic liar. But I like the guy. I’ll gladly listen. [...]
Well, we all know that you’re a mom of three enviable children. Or a nurse. Or a grad student with a super-interesting major. But maybe you’re tired of everybody thinking that’s all you’re about. You wish we'd sit beside you a little longer and ask more questions. Then you could admit that you played accordion in a family band. (Or maybe you don’t want us to know about [...]
Once again, my strategy for making spring appear has worked. Here’s how I did it: I pretended I wasn't wishing for it. I sprinkled my calendar with days reserved for pajamas, donuts and Netflix. It’s all about hiding under good blankets and waiting out chilly misery. I’ve had an Ugly Betty winter, a Grey’s Anatomy winter, a Parks and Rec winter (two of them, actually) [...]
I had a talent, back in my school days, for avoiding the classes that made you write research papers. I could kick myself now. Of course, the two papers I managed to write were pretty boring stuff, something about the planet Jupiter, and the history of the communist party in America. But I think the point of the boring papers, the ones you pretty [...]
