My brother has become adept over the years at introducing me to vegetables I’ve ignored — or rather, overlooked. I don’t have a particular aversion to these, mind, it’s just that maybe I gravitate toward the stuff I know for sure I like (for example: spinach — it’s a rare meal of mine that doesn’t [...]

{Roasted tomatoes with lavender, for an npr story, August 2009.] Here it is: I absolutely might consider breaking up/not even going out with someone if we didn’t agree on certain food … things. (I can hear my brother’s shout of disbelief all the way from Maine as he reads this — and then, Nicole, you [...]

[Des fleurs, April 2009.] I was talking with a friend the other day as we’re wont to do, and somehow during the course of it we came up with a great idea: writing about writers with whom you’d like to cook, have a drink or slice of cake, or go for a walk in the [...]

The other night for whatever reason I got to feeling a little lonely. I arrived home — my apartment, after a weekend’s minor cleaning frenzy, was full of freshly-laundered, hang-dried clothes, which is one of my very favorite smells besides, of course, a chocolate cake just taken out of the oven — a bit earlier [...]

[Caramels, December 2008.] Last week the moon came out early — during the day, even, so I saw it as I walked to the bus in the late afternoon lingering light — and it was just a slim sliver, a perfect crescent. I wish I could have shown it to you it was so pretty [...]