I'm just trying to walk myself home.
Ida B…and her plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World. by Katharine Hannigan Last night we finished this little gem of a book, and though I’ve mentioned it several times, I thought it deserved its very own post. The power of a treasure like Ida B is that reading a couple …
I’ve been fighting the crazy Christmas machine this week. Not the one that jumps out of advertisements. The one that lives inside my head. It tells me that I’ll never ever get away from being in bondage to the Christmas frenzy, no matter what I do. There are two current lines of thought in my …
I made these muffins for Taido to take to work this week and I have had several requests for the recipe, so here it is! You probably have everything you need to make these for breakfast tomorrow! Enjoy! Cinnamon Muffins 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon …
Gingered Carrot Cookies I made these gingered carrot cookies a few weeks ago, and I think they just look like autumn. Plus they remind me of carrot cake, which I like a lot. They are from Dorie Greenspan’s monstrous cookbook on baking, which has proved to be a very delectable purchase. My love for ginger …
I am so thankful for the house on Eagle Creek Road and for the couple that lives there. This year Taido and I have had many discussions about buying a bigger house. We have even tried raising our house payment on our current house to see if we can afford a bigger house. We can’t. …
We are having a pretty low key Thanksgiving this year as opposed to the super crazy years we go to Chicago and pile like 40 of us in my sister’s house, cooking and eating until we all explode. I will miss the greater gathering, but the relative calm of this year allows me the time …
Sometimes I go to church and I am just there. Some Sundays I soak up little bits and pieces, trying to grasp with my hands the fleeting, holy moments as they pass me by. And then some precious Sunday mornings are so full that I feel like if Jesus gave me the Holy Spirit to …
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread Here’s some skillet cornbread to go with the soup your serving tonight! This hearty, made from stone ground cornmeal, not jiffy cornbread, is browned to the perfect state of crispy-edge-ness in a cast iron skillet. There is a secret to making this cornbread even tastier than it usually is. It’s not the …
I made this wonderfully hearty soup last week for two different events at our house and though I have no pictures, I am giving you the recipe because I’ve had several requests for it. I was introduced to this soup by my dear friend Karen Smith who I haven’t seen in oh, so long, but …
I am rereading Lying Awake by Mark Salzman for our Boxed Lunch Book Club* at church this week, and I forgot how wonderful it is. I am equally baffled this time as in my last reading at the intimacy with which this author portrays a cloistered group of nuns. First of all he is a …
Roasted Vegetable Soup This roasted vegetable soup is a variation on Late Harvest Soup, a wonderful fall soup full of those delicious orange vegetables that match the leaves this time of year. The small but distinct difference between last fall’s harvest pot and this year’s is the roasting of the vegetables. Roasting brings out …
So, when I got home from Canada this summer, I had all these little scraps of paper in my backpack on which I had written the names of books I had seen in various bookstores and wanted to one day read. This is something I do often, write down a book on a ridiculously small …
Three Cake Recipes for Three Birthday Cakes My husband is feeling mighty loved right about now. Mighty loved and maybe a weensy bit sick. As he eats his sixteenth piece of birthday cake. That’s because I made him not just one but THREE BIRTHDAY CAKES this year. The spread for Taido’s birthday, greatly enhanced by …
Asian Salad Trio + Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches I feel like I am finally back in my cooking groove and I have sooo been wanting to share with you the delicioso bites coming from the Chino House kitchen. I have special people at my house every night, but on Wednesdays, we have extra special people …
At church this fall, Whitney and I are hosting what we are calling a Boxed Lunch Book Club. I am super excited about it, but I am a little nervous. Because lots of other people are super excited about it too, so I have sold like 20 books. …
Tread Lightly When It Comes To Middle School In general I have not been that mom who couldn’t stand it when her kid moved on from a stage in life. Not that there is anything wrong with that mom. In fact at times I have thought that there must be something wrong with me because …
The Bare Necessities For Traveling All Summer In A Pop Up Camper This morning I started going through some of the writing I did this summer that I never got around to finishing or posting. Because that is WAY more fun than laundry and unpacking. (I shoved all the piles into Simon’s old room and …
Canadian Rockies Tour: Of Glaciers and Grizzlies I am currently in the Canadian Rockies with my four children and my parents. Oh yes, Taido got a relief driver and gave us the slip so he could study without interruption for the final two weeks. So far he has missed a lot of time in the …
One night this summer we were camping at a fairly crowded campground near a beach on the Oregon Coast, and I became keenly aware of something that has been missing from my camping summer. I was walking back from the bathroom with Mary Polly and as we passed the different groups and families camping around …
Berry picking has got to be one of the greatest pastimes ever. Besides being great entertainment, the reward for your work is so great. If you love berries like I do, then you should definitely make plans to visit the Pacific Northwest the last week in July or the first week of August one …