Last year I was gifted — or, rather, pushed to take — boxes and boxes of apples from a very prolific tree in Inverness. I was a leetle bit nervous about what I was going to do with them, but when someone desperately begs…
On Brussels Sprouts, or, a Reluctant Love Letter
[Brussel sprouts from the market, October 2008.] I never liked brussels sprouts. There — I’ve set it out plain for anyone to see. Though my brother had been after me for years to at least try them, I mostly turned up my nose and…
[Pacific Ocean from Tomales Point, October 2008.] How I spent my birthday: up at 8 a.m. to pancakes and lots of coffee, presents in the backyard sun. Then to Pt. Reyes for a 10-mile hike through the dry fields, elk eying us placidly, a…
[On Skye, October 2003.] I always think about Scotland in October. Five years ago tonight I was perched on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean watching the sun slide down into the sea while the hills and rocks of Skye spread around me. I’m…
[Beets from the farm, with local butter, September 2008.] So in early September I went to Maine. I took a 6 a.m. flight from San Francisco by way of New York, and landed up in Portland only a little off-schedule. It was warm enough…