Let me tell you a story. I’ve never actually met Akiko Graham, but I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that, in addition to being a phenomenally acclaimed ceramist, she’s an excellent human being. Generous and thoughtful and soulful and sweet. And while I’ve never met her children, either, I’d also bet she’s a pretty spectacular momma. Reminds me a bit of my own, actually. A couple of years ago I was managing communications for a renewable fuel company when the phone rang. It was an unusually cold winter in the Pacific Northwest, and the unexpected drop in … Read More
salted chocolate cracker crack (saltine toffee) with roasted almonds
Someone please tell me: how are we on the heels of August already? How can it be that I’ve not yet witnessed a single one of summer’s silk scarf sunsets for myself? More broadly: where have my evenings gone? I won’t for a minute complain that our darling bug takes her bath, like clockwork, at 6:30 every night and is snoozing peacefully by 8. Nor would I trade that solid hour plus of sleepytime snuggles for the sun glinting rosy on an emptying wine glass — but if I could just have my cake and eat it, too, as the … Read More
blueberry key lime cheesecake tart with gingersnap crust
Hi guys! Just a quick one this week because the long weekend beckons! Around here, that means firing up the grill, strolling the streets of the Peninsula’s many charming downtowns and farmer’s marketing until we can’t take it any more. We’re also keeping up the tradition of mixing a little Ohio into our 4th of July weekend — although this year, Ohio is coming to us in the form of my bestie, Amanda. It’ll be her first time snuggling the bug in person and I have a feeling seeing two of my favorite people ever meet face to face will have this … Read More
curried peach hand pies
It’s peach season peeeeyotches! Holla if ya hear me. Peaches make me think of two things: 1) Face/Off. Which, despite Nick Cage’s sickko one liner about, um, peaches, remains one of the best worst movies ever. 2) PIE! When I was a kiddo, our neighbors had a Babcock peach tree with a limb that draped liberally into our yard and sagged heavy with juicy, white-fleshed fruit, ripe for the poaching. In summer evenings when the valley heat calmed down a beat, my mom would throw open the windows — thus inviting inward the sweetest delta breeze to ever kiss my pillowcase — … Read More
mini meyer lemon cannoli cream tartlets
You guysssszsszzz! Mother’s Day is this weekend!! Somehow that means it’s FREAKING MAY ALREADY. Yikes. And new this year: I totally get to participate in MoDay stuffies as a momma. Yikes Part 2. Or maybe Yay Part 1? Because crudsmugglers, this whole parenting thing is spectacularly spectacular in the full-blown, John Leguizamo-as-The-Magical-Sittar kind of way. It’s at once beautiful and terrifying and easier and harder than I ever imagined and the last two weeks have passed in what I can only describe as a state of quasi-hypnosis. I’ve never been more fixated on another living thing. I’ve never been more fixated on … Read More