Last night I went running while all the trick-or-treaters were out. Fortunately, I was wearing a white Wallace and Grommitt “Curse of the Wererabbit” T-shirt. That helped me feel less grinchy and humorless, having done NOTHING this year to celebrate: No pumpkin. No candy. No tombstone cookies. No cutesy Halloween blog post. There was too […]

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Half of Me details the disappointment of a Starbuck’s pumpkin scone and latte, much longed for and finally eaten as a “cheat meal.” I was right there with her: Starby’s once failed me, too, in the baked goods dept. Oh, how it was a day of woe. Oh, how the skies ran with blood. Oh, […]

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When I was in college, I worked at Thai Noodle House. It was a bright, airy one-room restaurant that offered the promise of healthy, fresh noodle bowls, modeled on what you might get on the streets of Bangkok. The cooks seemed determined to deliver Third-world authenticity: I once unknowingly delivered a noodle bowl with the […]

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When I was about 12, I begged my mom to let me join The Diet Center. It took persistence, but she eventually went for it.
Protocol at the Diet Center demanded we take 8 horsepills a day, which I carried in a plastic pill box that the center supplied. I remember lovingly settling the giant red, […]

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This is a hearty, elemental meal best enjoyed a glass of wine and a loved one. (Or alone on the couch, or in an earthquake, or on the run from the mafia …)
Some of you will balk at anchovies. If I can’t convince you to try them, use sun dried tomatoes in oil instead. The […]

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