We receive many different kinds of gifts from our grandparents, whether the ability to identify all the trees in the backyard, or a beribboned stack of letters dating from the early 1900s, or a love of card games, baseball, or building castles on the beach. My family loved to cook and eat. This is certainly my inheritance, and a large part of the reason my family ate little or no ultraprocessed food. To use a product like “Shake ‘n’ Bake” bordered on heresy. I come by my love and celebration of good, real food in the most honest way possible. Continue reading
Tag Archives: love
Korean Barbecue Love
Korean Barbecue Love
from Joe Gardewin
Over the past months, as you probably know, our family has been the recipient of an extraordinary amount of generosity and support of all kinds. Today, I am sharing the gift of a post from a friend, Joe, sent to me two weeks ago in hopes that it might lighten my load. It has achieved its intended purpose and for that, and more, I am very grateful. Thank you very, very much, Joe, for your kindness. Continue reading
Chemo no. 6
I’ve tried to write this post a thousand different ways, but I’ve deleted every version. Nothing feels adequate to say what I want to say, which is, in part, to recognize the extraordinary strength and bravery of my daughter in law, the resilience and kindness of my son, the endless meals and rides and infinite generosity of family, friends, and neighbors. Recently my son told me that they had just received a special meal from people they don’t know at all, friends of friends who had heard their story (#cancerandababy) and wanted to help. Continue reading
In Thanks
The only thing I want to do today is to say thank you. We have been utterly overwhelmed not only by the events of the past month, but as much, if not more, by the outpouring of love and support that has found its way to our entire family.
Less than a week after my husband’s older brother died, our daughter-in-law was diagnosed with lymphoma. Continue reading
Love Thy Neighbors
It hardly feels adequate to say that my friends and neighbors took over for a few days a couple of weeks ago when the truth is that they swooped in with food, soups, bread, hand sanitizer, and essential oils, not to mention apple-ginger muffins wrapped in handmade dish towels (recipe below). There were many hugs and nods of understanding, for these were the people who knew and appreciated my dad in his last days, stopping by with quarts of homemade chicken noodle soup, doing reiki treatments for the sheer generosity of it, and bringing pans of chicken and rice, my dad’s favorite chopped salad, fish and stewed tomatoes, and more. Nothing escaped their caring eyes. Continue reading
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (plus one glorious recipe!)
An article on the obesity epidemic once ran in our local paper with the headline “Eat, drink, and be sorry.” Eat, drink, and be SORRY? The actual quote reads, “Eat, drink, and be merry, so that joy will accompany him in his work all the days of his life.” And herein lies the problem. Continue reading