It's 9:44 PM on Thursday. I'm sitting on the couch with a blanket tossed over my lap. The dryer is clinking in the background, and the apartment is still warm from heat of the day. I threw open the windows this morning and let the sun stream in. Upstairs, the bedroom is cool and dark and quiet, and my bed awaits: I'll pull back the crisp white cotton sheets and slide in.
Read morePIZZA CHICKEN
So far tonight I've listened three times to "Here at the Right Time" by Josh Ritter, and I swear my knees get a little weak when he sings: my love for you was always sure / the bucket was broken / but the water was pure.
If you like his music, I also get stuck some days on "Homecoming" and "Girl in the War". And if you need to, say, run stair repeats or get dressed to go out at night (I KNOW THOSE ARE VERY DIFFERENT THINGS but oddly they benefit from the same sort of tunes), try "Getting Ready to Get Down".
Read moreSPICED LAMB & SWEET POTATO TAGINE
Some days feel a little off-kilter. Nothing you can put your finger on. The shower doesn’t get hot fast enough. It’s cloudy when you’re wishing for sun. You look at the clock too often, acutely aware of how long it takes to get from 2:30 to 2:40.
Other days are the opposite. You catch the subway seconds before the doors close, every time. You feel buoyant and chatty: The cashiers all smile at you. Your coffee tastes better than yesterday. The pear sitting on your kitchen counter has ripened perfectly, dripping juice down your fingers when you eat it outside in the sun.
Read moreTHE BEST SALADS
Let's have a quick chat tonight. Specifically, let's talk about salads.
If you've been following along with me on Instagram (of course you are, why miss out on such wit?!), it's possible that you think I subsist on large slices of chocolate layer cake and cookie crumbs.
That is decidedly not the case. I do love a good dessert, and I do have a wicked sweet tooth.
Read moreASPARAGUS & CHEESE QUICHE
This weekend it snowed: fat, heavy flakes that pelted downwind and hit my car windshield with a satisfying splatter. I drove from New York to Philadelphia, and the sky turned from a faded gray to a darkly ominous slate to complete white-out. The rain started somewhere in New Jersey. Driving in the rain can be soothing, the rhythmic swooshing of the windshield wipers, the cozy cocoon of warmth in your car. I put on quiet music. My sister slept in the backseat, her hair rumpled, waking up every few minutes to watch the towns tick by: Edison, New Brunswick, South Orange.
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