Empty Stockings Full of Love
Each year, memories fly out of these treasures like dust motes in the light and gently come to rest on me.
Category: Family
You Left Us Too Soon: Open Letter to Steven Thomas Harvell on His Birthday
I remember my brother now more with joy at what was than sadness about what will never be.
Three’s Company for Toscana Soup in D.C.
A homemade meal, a bottle of wine, and a great conversation. It was a perfect little party for three – my niece, her partner and me.
North-South Best Dressing Recipe Ever (with Sausage and Two Breads)
Savory, flavorful and redolent with tradition, this dressing is always at the top of the family request list. Even so, it took almost 30 years to accurately document the recipe.
Frank Harvell and Oscar Wilde Shared a Birthday
October 16 is a special day. RIP Oscar Wilde and Dad.
The Communal Nature of Gumbo-Making
Making gumbo together is a bonding activity. You need chicken pickers, sausage slicers, vegetable choppers and a roux maker. Part 3 of the Glover Gardens Gumbo Series.
Gumbo: It’s a Family Affair
A 7th grade essay sums up how gumbo got started for us: “My family has a 35-year history with gumbo.” Part 2 of a series.
Giant Pork Dish and Spaetzle Made with Love by the German Cousins
A giant pork chop with homemade spaetzle served on vintage Corelle dishes proves once again that Food is Love.
Cookie Hustle 254 to the Rescue
A surprise in the mail: custom, handmade sugar cookies in two styles, a cheery, bright ice cream cone, and cheeky “Feel a latte better” coffee cup.
Seafood to Celebrate 88 Revolutions Around the Sun
My mother in law LOVES seafood. And for every celebratory occasion, she’s happy just to go to a seafood restaurant. Really, we ALL love seafood, so we welcomed the opportunity to have a big appetizer for Riki’s 88th revolution around the sun. It’s easy to […]
2019 Foot Surgery, Round Deux
Another foot surgery, more musing, and some great meals provided by the Grill-Meister.
My Cookbook Fetish is Inherited
I have hundreds of cookbooks. Literally. It’s Mom’s Fault (thanks, Mom!) I’m a cookbook collector, or maybe even a cookbook pack rat. It might be a bit of a sickness. I’ve tried to slow it down, but for a while there, I was on a […]
For Dad…National Poetry Month
I’m not on the recommended pace to write a poem each day this month to participate in National Poetry Month, but this one happened in about 30 seconds. There will never be another muse like my Dad. He was a remarkable, wonderful, loving, accepting, listening […]
Time Travel in the Produce Section (a poem)
A vignette in the produce section inspired a poem about dads and daughters.
The Story of Chicken
Family-memory stories gain a patina with age and become the stuff of legend. The Story of Chicken is one of those stories.
(Another) Haiku for Dad, On His Second Birthday in Heaven
My dad was born 80 years ago today in West Texas as the Great Depression was coming to an end in the shadow of another Great War in Europe, a time before regular Americans realized we’d be involved in that war. With that backdrop and […]
