If the information available in my Facebook Home feed is any indication of the cultural zeitgeist (and who am I to argue that that it isn't?), then I must conclude that what people are most panicked about lately is the news that Sarah Palin will have her own reality show on… Read full post »

Last night I watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the latest reality TV offering from ABC, in which Oliver arrives from England to save Americans from the processed foods that are ballooning our waistlines and hurting our health.  This is not a post about that show (my re… Read full post »

Last night I read a piece in the "Dine" section of Asterisk San Francisco magazine, by someone named Mark Holland.  Titled, "Eating Out," Holland's essay seems to be primarily an indictment of supposed San Francisco food snobbery, with a conclusion that offers street food as the "authent… Read full post »

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 For most, kindergarten is a time of adventure and fun, of field trips and naptime, of making things out of construction paper and crayon, chunky paste and marking pens.  Kindergarten marks a time of firsts: first… Read full post »

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I don't know very many people who make New Year's resolutions.  Part of the reason for that, I think, is that my friends (like, I would imagine, most people) tend to make changes in their lives as needed, rather th… Read full post »

I've hit a bit of a dating dry spell lately; I've been buried in the solitary work of paper grading and writing, and while at least one of these activities is immensely fulfilling, neither lends itself to great opportunities for social interaction.  It is in such times that I entertain… Read full post »

_{Handmade, hand-wrapped caramels}

It's December, and that means right now people everywhere are hunting through kitchen cupboards and drawers in search of the holiday cookie cutters, eagerly anticipating an afternoon spent baking and decorating sweetened butter cookies. Others are pulling out… Read full post »

Those of us who traveled out of town for Thanksgiving are likely back in our own kitchens with the holiday leftovers now several cities or even several states away.  What that means is that those of us who’ve returned home but have yet to do the weekly shopping are either ordering… Read full post »

On any given episode of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa, there's plenty to drool over: delicate salads of mixed greens and fresh tomatoes, chocolate angel food cake baking in the oven, a well-shaken martini with plenty of Vermouth. Everything about the show--from the beautifully crafted table… Read full post »

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Lately I've become obsessed with Food Network Challenge, a televised weekly food battle that features bravado, trash-talking and excessive compensation--it's like professional sports, only without the fan face-painting and c… Read full post »

In a recent article in The New York Times, David Leonhardt explores the premises of a new book called, Crossing the Finish Line, a text in which the authors, economists William Bowen and Michael McPherson (both of whom are former university presidents), focus on what they see as U.S. colleges' dismal… Read full post »

Among the things I'm most grateful for this Thanksgiving is my cute little apartment in a district near Golden Gate Park, in the beautiful city of San Francisco. One of the things I'm least grateful for is the older man who nearly every weekend plants himself below my humble abode… Read full post »