Be it ever so smoky and weird-moonscape-looking-hill-surrounded, there is no place like home and, as of yesterday evening, we are back in ours. Yay! Toasting this fact last night with a nice glass of wine, I tried not to make the obvious jokes about smoky notes but eventually gave in because, hey, you’ve got to laugh. And if something actually ( Read more... )

I have done battle with countless pots of molten sugar and steaming vats of pickling liquid this past weekend-plus-a-day and emerged victorious!


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The Tattle Tale Calico

Oft upon an hour early, while I sit word-stuck and surly ( Read more... )

Although most years I love cooking up a storm for Thanksgiving, the nicest part of my parents offering to host this year is readily apparent today. My husband and I do not have mounds and mounds of dishes still left to do in a kitchen hastily put only to barest rights the night before! Oh delicious, lazy Friday off ( Read more... )

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To be California lady with a love for British television is, all too often, like being a member of secret club that absolutely baffles you with its persistence in remaining a secret. I mean, it’s not as if this club’s members are trying to keep the secret. Quite the contrary - we’re dying to find someone, preferably a great many someones, who want ( Read more... )

…or, rather, one bitters fest coming soon.

Bourbon, a comfy armchair and a sinfully good book, right? Normally I reserve the sinfully good book descriptor for works of fiction, but I do think this one happens to live up to the moniker in a number of different ways.

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and ( Read more... )

Finally. Writing accomplished! Well, some of it anyway.

Just when I was getting ready to send out a search party for my lost creative spark, train of thought and, indeed, most basic ability to put pen to paper and yield results, who should come trooping back out of the ether but my muse. Guess I don’t have to put those posters up now, eh? Yeah. ( Read more... )

Murphy’s Law, Section 342, Paragraphs 1 through 4: The Writers’ Clauses

(1) The words will come unstuck and begin to flow easily at roughly the same moment you finally decide to give up for the evening and try for some much needed sleep.

(2) The piece you should be writing will become the only piece you need to prod your brain over - suddenly ( Read more... )

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