I am stuffed to the brim with cheese, swimming on two delicious glasses of red wine, and satiated by hours of girl time. Earlier tonight I ran a short and sweet three-miler (am breaking in new shoes. ouch.), battling gusts of occasionally fierce wind as I crossed Masonic and hoping I made the [...]

Oh, I dearly love a dinner party — every single facet of it, from menu planning to wine pouring to setting the table. I’ve said before I could throw one every night and — truly — I almost wish I could. Even if just a few people come over, I plot out what [...]

[The table, set for eight]
Saturday morning dawned early and grey, and I ran out for a bit into the gloom for breakfast, the paper, and a trip to the farmers’ market. I worried a little about fitting eight people around my table, but I needn’t have entertained such trepidations; all was absolutely well, as [...]

Last night I unpacked and rearranged a few more boxes that survived my cross-country move to California last spring. Buried among the miscellany and other detritus were a few recipes I’d kept from my mother, who had, upon my signing the lease of my first non-university-affiliated apartment, given me some of her standbys. [...]

What to do when the boys are away on the day of love [to Nicaragua, Reykjavik, and Leiden, respectively] but have some of your best girlfriends over for a special dinner? Somehow I spent a whole hour before noon in Whole Foods wandering the aisles, searching for the perfect this and that, organic chocolates, and [...]