mourningdove

Rikkansai (short story)

I see it dawn on you just how old I am. You wonder how I have made it this long, as frail as I seem. You know nothing about me. I have ridden to war; I have been smuggled out of a burning castle at the breast of a princess; I have served tea toContinue reading “Rikkansai (short story)”

Kintsugi

I’m a ceramics nut. I’m particularly obsessed with tea bowls from the Song Dynasty in China (roughly 960-1279 AD). Compared to the florid patterns of later periods, Song ceramics are plain, almost austere in their plain black, white, and celadon glazes. But their shapes and the rich nuances in those glazes—one that looks blue butContinue reading “Kintsugi”

Friday Favorites: Food Blogs

I get a lot of questions from friends about where I find recipes, so I thought I’d start a list here. See this post for how I curate feeds from these blogs and organize the recipes once I find them: Serious Eats. This is the site I’ve consulted most frequently over the years. The olderContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Food Blogs”

Summer in a Jar

I logged a lot of time at the kids’ table in the kitchen processing fruit for my mom. She was bound and determined to give her city girls a country education, so she and my dad transformed our backyard into a decent facsimile of an orchard in Michigan, where they grew up. We had twoContinue reading “Summer in a Jar”

Letter of Recommendation: Baskets

I’m stealing this title straight up from the New York Times’s excellent column. I’ve been into baskets since I went through my Victoria magazine period in late college/early grad school—when all my furniture was wicker and all my upholstery white (what a great idea with two dogs, a tendency to knock over mugs of tea,Continue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Baskets”

Unauthorized Uses: The Microwave

I love using things in ways they were never intended. And the microwave oven is probably one of my favorite toys in this regard. I’m a pretty serious cook and foodie, and so my friends are often a bit shocked to discover that not only do I own a microwave, I use it pretty muchContinue reading “Unauthorized Uses: The Microwave”

Global Metal

If you grow up in New Mexico, you love heavy metal. Or maybe you hate it. But you’re not going to feel meh about it. Me personally, I don’t just love metal: I consider it part of my birthright alongside killer sunsets and green chile. Metal is responsible for a lot of the major timeContinue reading “Global Metal”

Wright’s Beach

Every year for the last couple of years my friend Steph and I have come out to the CA coast in the summer and stayed at Wright’s Beach campground (actually one year we stayed at Bodega Dunes down the road). We mostly like to sit on the beach and stare at the water, but weContinue reading “Wright’s Beach”

Donkey and Cow

I was going through some old files today and came across my favorite illustration for a story I wrote for friends about their giant dairy cow, Mabel, and her miniature donkey friend, Eeyora. I never actually saw this happen but imagined the friends helping each other reach the ripe apples in the trees that overhungContinue reading “Donkey and Cow”

Umeboshi and the RBQ

Before I even get started, this is a story of failure. Umeboshi, Japanese salted plums, get their plum-purple color traditionally not from the fruit itself–Japanese ume are actually yellow–but from red shiso, an herb in the mint family with an inimitable flavor. I have tried and failed to grow red shiso so many times. It’sContinue reading “Umeboshi and the RBQ”