Thirteen Ways of Looking at Kale (With apologies to Wallace Stevens. And also to Stephanie, who once wrote a similar ode to spinach.) I Among twenty bustling market stands The only worthwhile thing Was a bunch of kale. II I am of two minds Like a fridge In which there are two bunches of kale. [...]
Imagine a morning like this one. The air is cool, the sky stretches impossibly high above in lovely blueness. There are birds singing, and Beethoven is coming from somewhere. Even though it’s still early, there are children laughing in the park, their mothers sitting quietly, soaking in the sun. The breeze smells of spring, of [...]
“You’ll have to teach me to bake gluten free.” My younger sister is the unchallenged baking genius of the family, at least when it comes to desserts. She’s received multiple marriage proposals for her molasses cookies, and can give advice on piping. Piping. That is, in my books, the height of baking sophistication. So when she asked [...]
Spring has come late to Montreal this year. Less than two weeks ago, I could look out my window and see flurries of snow. Not long before that, a blizzard erased all the dirt and grime of spring snow-melt, painting the mountain a brilliant, blinding white. But now it is indisputably spring, and well worth [...]
Breakfast is a strange beast, sometimes. On hurried mornings I used to compose variations on toast. Toast, almond butter, and banana. Toast and jam with yogurt. Toast with eggs—poached, scrambled, fried. Toast with avocado and soy sauce. Once, to my roommates’ collective horror, sardines and pickled carrots on toast. Now that toast is off the [...]
A sunrise, a risen Son. The first crocuses of spring outside my door. How can I keep from singing, shouting, dancing? I danced in the morning When the world was begun, And I danced in the moon And the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven And I danced on the earth, [...]
Two months have passed since I last cooked with a spoon in one hand and a camera in the other. It seems far, far longer. These past two months have been the most intense I have ever passed through. Life has become so concentrated that days, though they fly by at breakneck speed, contain enough [...]
Life rule #1: when your life feels hectic, make sure you have good snacks on hand. Life rule #2: when your life feels hectic, take time each day to read poetry. Yeats is on my mind this week: I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of [...]
These are the days you pull round your shoulders like a quilt, familiar and warm. Time for nourishment, and inspiration. I got two cookbooks for Christmas: Small Plates and Sweet Treats and Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef. Both are giving me ideas… Gearing up for more tragedy. The traditional snack for journal editors (it is journal-editing season) is Timbits, which [...]
I was very cleverly away from Montreal during the record snowfall just before New Year’s, but the consequences are in many ways still visible weeks afterwards. Snow has been carted away and sidewalks cleared, but there are still beautiful drifts on the mountain, gleaming distractingly outside my classroom window. The short-cut alley is still full [...]
