I’m just mad about saffron. No there’s more, I’m mad about the Amanda Knox trial, standardized testing, and a storm drain that runs beneath our property.

This memory flashes in my mind. Kendall was just two weeks old when a bastard pediatrician had the nerve to give her immunization shots with needles. She was the first person to make my daughter cry. I was a brand new mom who was feeling the first, most horrible pangs of someone hurting my baby. We were in living in Chicago then. Immediately after the assault, while Kendall was still heaving and quivering in sobs, I packed her into the green Peg Perego stroller. It was the Cadillac of prams with giant white tires. The only one able to suspend the buckled sidewalks of Lincoln Park. I barrelled through the neighborhood with tears rolling down both of our faces, racing to get her back to the safety of the bear cave where I could protect her for the rest of our lives. Still to this day I do not regret telling that postman to “move out of the effin’ way before I run over your come rain or shine boots.”

So here we are seventeen years later.

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When you’re a Cardiologist who’s a heartbeat away from the next stress-inducing challenge, cooking for guests might just put you over the edge.
Not if you’re Dr. April.

She and husband Dr. Henry, welcomed our family to their weekend getaway in the San Juan Islands a way back in July. When she wasn’t crabbing for Dungeness, gathering farm fresh eggs from local purveyors, roasting the cauliflower that she hand selected for its purple and gold team colors, she whipped up a blueberry cobbler that for dessert.

April has a secret to making this fresh baked dessert in the about the same time it took me to download I Don’t Know How She Does It. read more

One girl’s trash is another girl’s lunch. Way back when Gourmet magazine could be held our hands, I read about simple salad in one issue that was made with celery leaves and parmesan shavings and then splashed with a dazzling vinaigrette. I thought why you mean those celery parts that I’ve been putting away in my garbage disposal. I also thought how very low brow of you Ruth Reichlandthank you for meeting me down here.

Celery leaves as salad greens surprised me. read more

Admittedly not as thrilling as a Beni Hana volcano, but dinnertainment can come in small forms. I’m big on tabletop assembly. The obsession started with a lazy susanand hasn’t let up as I discovered my kids ate betterand my life was made easier.

Welcome to Make Your Own @*#&’n Panini Night.

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What better way to overcome guilt demons than with a kid cocktail offering. What no milk, who died?

It’s been a smoldering couple of days (and nights) in Southern California. First, we long for a warm summer night buried in our Midwestern memories and then when one comes along – panic. We crank up the air, paint the kids in zinc oxide, pack water bottles into our socks andthe cat has an asthmatic crisis. We talk incessantly about the agony of it all like we’ve been on the Bataan Death March. We’re rather precious in these parts.

I feel for my kids, however, they’re already buried under what’s now become an over-scheduled childhood. Seems like some teachers are making up for lost time in the summer by piling on homework and sports are kicking into high gear which brings me to a hot Wednesday night and how we doused out exhaustion and stress with a little thing we like to call agua fresca. read more