Real Life

“Helloooooooo????” Larousse Gastronomique In 2001 I was in my 20s, and a cookbook editor at a publishing company.  I was working on the American version of the latest edition of Larousse Gastronomique, which is one of the most referred to and indispensable food reference books amongst the chefs and serious cooks in the world.  No overstatement.  I was in charge of getting an assortment of culinary luminaries to sing the book’s praise, and we would print the best of these quotes on the cover of the new publication.  The quotes came in fast and furious—it is truly a very beloved …

“I don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing.” —Jim Gaffigan Oh Jim, how right you are. I also often think of the lyrics from an old favorite Michael McDonald song: “Days turn into years, and years into the blink of an eye.” True, true, all true. Mother’s Day; the Mother of All Days. I look at anyone who becomes a parent with awe; being a parent myself does nothing to lessen my admiration for those who choose to mold little people into adults—just the contrary. And the parents …

In most houses, the Thanksgiving gathering stretches for hours. It’s not an eat-and-run kind of a day, you’re all in it for the long haul. And while adults have an acquired ability to make their own entertainment (catching up with Uncle Ivan, tossing around a football, helping in the kitchen) kids sometimes need a little more direction to fill those hours before the turkey hits the table. In our house, that’s where the Craft Table comes into play. Every year there are at least half a dozen kids at our Thanksgiving, and their ages might range from 1 to 18.   …

It’s been a couple of weeks since my older son Jack headed off to school a plane ride away. And it’s been a couple of weeks of lovely, concerned people asking about how he likes it so far, and then leaning in and asking, “And how are you doing?” I don’t quite know how to answer this. I usually say something about being just so busy with work and other things, and make a joke about being a master at denial, and that visiting weekend is mere weeks away. I certainly know that after flying home I flung myself into a …

I have three things to say before I begin: I am not a vet. I am not a vet. Did I mention that I am not a vet? I have no medical authority, whatsoever. But I do have the most wonderful 8 1/2 year old epileptic dog, who needs to take 12 pills a day, 15 if you count the fact that the big ones have to be broken in half, which is fair, since it is essentially 15 times that a pill has to get into my dog’s mouth ad down his throat. I have three more things to …

2017 was a bit of a mixed bag, to be blunt. Plenty of things to be happy and grateful about, from work to family to just being renewedly appreciative for some basics, like a warm bed and electricity. But boy oh boy, life isn’t all Instagram filters and cheesecake with raspberry sauce dripping both daintily — yet realistically — over the edge. I have to first address the chronic psychic pain that many of us are feeling terms of the state of the world and our country, and the relentless, incredulous despair that our President is actually our President. My …