You’re Fired! Same as when you’re retired, if you’re your job

December 17, 2009

A direct result of my first firing is that I moved to the other side of the world. This is quite a mind blast, if I think about it rationally, which I confess I don’t very often.
The thing is, I find it difficult to get to grips with the fact that I gave up a [...]

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Stamp of approval for made-from-scratch eggnog (see recipe) with fondue

December 14, 2009

[Not forgetting the conversation and conviviality. And the stamps were real. And this must be the world's best eggnog recipe.]
Today was the day of the eggnog revelation.
Eggnog can be sublime.
All it took to turn me from an eggnog “no thanks I’ll skip it” to an eggsnog(ger) was a glass of the real thing. Thank [...]

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Princeton crab, Maverick’s surfing — and leave the mother

December 13, 2009

A foghorn’s haunting call. A person — this is amazing to watch — skidding across the water, way out back beyond the lines of tied up boats, but inside the Princeton harbor wall. The zipping figure is kite-boarding.
And there’s a second person, on a sailboard.
The kiteboard’s sail is a bulging splash of red and [...]

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So, what is The Yum-Yum Club? (Slideshow)

December 4, 2009
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Reflections on scorpions and eating them

December 1, 2009

I wonder if there are women in China who have pregnancy cravings involving scorpions. The eating of them, that is.
There’s no reason to imagine this would not be the case given that scorpions, it seems, are something of a delicacy in China. Or at least a popular snack with some in China.
Unless, of course, the [...]

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Roughy saves Subterranean Cellars (video)

November 30, 2009

A sunny day. A home winemaker. Rather, make that two home winemakers. An assortment of guests who have in common that they like to prepare food; eat it — and eat well.
Video 1: See and hear the winemakers talk about the wines.
Video 2: All about food — Portuguese food, that is — at the [...]

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An organic Thanksgiving with South African flavor (recipes)

November 29, 2009

I know Thanksgiving is not politically correct in everyone’s view.
But in the view of the only non-American-born woman I know whose mind I can read, it gets a vote for top U.S. holiday. Probably it’s not so good for turkeys that do not have a death wish. (I wonder, though, if the 45-pounder called [...]

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Thanksgiving Warmup: Tea Bags and Tim’s yams (recipe)

November 21, 2009

Tea bags Thanksgiving dinner. An annual event. The Saturday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Partners and spices — make that spouses — invited, which they’re not for the weekly teas.
The tea bags?
A group of East Bay women who (nearly) all took early retirement;
who don’t have children (except one);
who do art (except one);
and who meet [...]

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Chewing over lamb in an ode to a new stove

November 21, 2009

“Don’t you think it’s time to christen the stove,” he said.
The brand spanking new, rust-free, pristine white GE, with numbers on the dials and two ovens, one of them self-cleaning, had been standing in the kitchen, admired but not used, for about five days.
The old one — also large, but rusty and [...]

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You’re Fired! How could it be? You tell me.

October 30, 2009

We were given the boot around noon.
It came as a shock.
Does this happen to you? At times in my life when something unexpected occurs that I haven’t confronted before, it’s like I watch as my mind begins a search. I become a spectator as it runs through scenarios and offer me options.
In a sense [...]

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