It’s 9am on a late summer morning, and Leon and I are out in the backyard woefully examining our garden’s fecund bounty. “Hey, there,” a neighbor calls over the fence. “Want some figs?” We look at each other. We share two thoughts: fresh garden figs, how lovely! And: fresh garden figs, yet another perishable to … Continue reading
Category Archives: Food Essay
The Pasta Chronicles
When Leon and I went on our first trip to Italy in 2012, we accompanied a group of other PBS-loving strangers on a two-week whirl through Venice, Florence, and Rome. I’m glad we did, and not just because our tour allowed us to float past crowds into the Vatican, stream through lines into the Duomo, … Continue reading
The French Girl’s Vinaigrette
A series of young French women moved through my grandmother’s house in the ’70s. They had American boyfriends who made them sad, they had yeast infections and abortions and STDs they couldn’t pronounce in English. They were lonely and young and lost in a large house on a hill with no way to town that … Continue reading
America’s Got Talent: Fair Food
I live so close to the county fairgrounds that I’m listening to the horse race announcer as I write this. One block closer, and the fair committee would have sent us free tickets to assuage our neighborly outrage at having to listen to the horse races by day, the country rock noise by night, and … Continue reading