So, here we are at Thanksgiving, a time when everyone is supposed to count their blessings around the dinner table. The attitude of the season is gratitude and, in truth, while the search for reasons to give thanks might be difficult when times are tough,… Read More
It’s what I have come to call “That time of year” again — the late fall days in November between holidays when daylight savings time ends and the twinkle of Christmas lights begin to illuminate the darkness. The year is winding down, the New Year… Read More
The romance inspired by moonlight was first given voice back in 1908 when the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth debuted Shine On, Harvest Moon in the Ziegfeld Follies. It was one of several moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era, but… Read More
Fall officially arrives this week, though you might be hard-pressed to know that in South Texas. Yes, some pumpkin patches are popping up and garlands of faux autumn leaves are for sale in Michael’s, but temperatures here this week will still be in… Read More
When you think of deserts, no doubt you picture the great exodus scene in The Ten Commandments when Moses (Charlton Heston) leads his people out from Egypt onto the wide sands of the Sahara. Certainly, the Sahara is the quintessential desert, the largest… Read More
Remember all the hype about multi-tasking back in the 1990s and early 2000s? I certainly do, because I was wearing multiple hats then: I was a writer, publishing articles and books and doing writing workshops; a college professor teaching undergrad and graduate courses; a… Read More
(Photo above of Leah Chase, philanthropist, chef and owner of the famous Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans, joyfully cooking at age 95.) When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t… Read More
Mise en place: a French phrase meaning “everything in its place.” As any competent cook knows, it also describes a time-honored culinary technique. Sounds fancy, but really, it isn’t; it is just common sense. In the kitchen, or anywhere else, you should know what… Read More
There are three things I have always loved about Texas, and which I sorely missed during the 40 or so years I lived out-of-state: 1) the endless, cloudless perfect blue sky; 2) the bluebonnets that blanket the highways and byways during the early spring; and… Read More
So here we are moving up to tax time. I don’t mean to be smug, but I got our taxes completed and in at the end of February. Not that I am expecting any big refund or anything, but in light of the dismantling of… Read More
the narrative thread 