Appetizers

My friend Jenna asked why I couldn’t just throw everything on one big cutting board and call it dinner. We were planning her birthday picnic, … Read more

Maggie wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by her place that Tuesday afternoon to pick up a book she’d borrowed, and the smell hit … Read more

There used to be this tiny wine bar tucked into a converted garage on a side street in Portland—just a handful of tables, exposed brick, … Read more

I was elbow-deep in packing tape, trying to wrangle a cardboard box that had seen better days, when my neighbor across the hall knocked on … Read more

My sister-in-law, Claire, swore she didn’t like charcuterie boards. For years. Every time someone brought one to a party, she’d pick at the edges—maybe a … Read more

I wasn’t expecting cooking advice from my accountant, but there I was, hunched over a pile of W-2 forms in late October, listening to him … Read more

My neighbor, Mrs. Kowalski, watched me trying to wrestle a wiggly toddler into a costume one October afternoon and didn’t say anything at first. Then … Read more

It was 11:47 PM on a drizzly October Thursday, and I had a fierce, undeniable hankering for guacamole. Not just any guacamole, though—I wanted the … Read more

There used to be this little gastropub tucked behind a vintage bookstore in Portland called The Gilded Gourd that made a pumpkin deviled egg that … Read more

I was supposed to be making a classic cheeseball for our neighborhood potluck. You know the one—rolled in nuts, served with crackers, the usual boring … Read more