It's snowing in Pittsburgh today, the first real snow of the season, and enough for the public schools to call off, universities to delay. A "proper snow day," I called it on Facebook this morning. Not a move to online learning as we all got so used to during the first days (years) of the … Continue reading Is It Real or Is It Imagined?
Today is the first day of the new semester. Today is the first first day of the new semester in 25 years where I am not preparing to teach because... I am on sabbatical! Sabbatical: "an extended period of paid time away from work, an opportunity for travel and study outside of regular job roles … Continue reading A Wide Open Space
WE’RE BACK WITH ANOTHER INSTALLMENT OF FOOD YOU (STILL) DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH, IN WHICH YOU SEND ME YOUR CULINARY CONUNDRUMS AND MY SON, RUDY, AND I HANG OUT TOGETHER IN THE KITCHEN, TALK ABOUT STUFF AND TRY TO MAKE SOME SENSE OF THEM FOR YOU. Oh, Okra. We are all a little scared … Continue reading Okra!
WE'RE BACK WITH ANOTHER INSTALLMENT OF FOOD YOU (STILL) DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH, IN WHICH YOU SEND ME YOUR CULINARY CONUNDRUMS AND MY SON, RUDY, AND I HANG OUT TOGETHER IN THE KITCHEN, TALK ABOUT STUFF AND TRY TO MAKE SOME SENSE OF THEM FOR YOU. This time, the conundrum comes from Rudy's pal, … Continue reading Condensed Milk
Here we go, everybody--the first post in Food You (Still) Don't Know What to Do With, in which you send me your culinary conundrums and my son, Rudy, and I hang out together in the kitchen, talk about stuff and try to make some sense of them for you. Thank you to Christina F. for … Continue reading Hello, Jicama!
In 2012 I had (among many other things) a love of food, two small kids and a memoir I was trying to write about a father I had lost who liked to eat. I also had the suspect knowledge that sometimes writers could get the attention of readers and publishing bigwigs by keeping an interesting … Continue reading Food You (Still) Don’t Know What to Do With
In just over two months from now, this website will be fifteen years old. My first post, on August 5, 2008, entitled "Sustenance," introduced myself this way: I am a poet and essayist and have been working on a memoir about food and my father, who died sixteen years ago, for almost four years, plus … Continue reading Sustenance, Redux
My mother has been gone from this world two years today, so I took the day off and spent it in the garden. My new Blessed Mother statue, a late Mother's Day present from my husband, arrived appropriately today, just in time to replace the one that did not survive the winter. I placed her … Continue reading Our Lady of the Artichoke
I'm so happy to share that my debut essay collection, All Things Edible, Random and Odd: Essays on Grief, Love and Food, is now available for pre-order through CLASH Books! The official release date will be November 28, 2023 and I'll be using this space and others to share information as the date approaches. For … Continue reading All Things Book News!
Painting, that is. Writing, too, variously, though let's be honest, it's mostly tweaking, revising, entering contests, submitting to journals, opening up documents...and then closing them. I'm weary, y'all. Burnt. Out. I've been a university professor for 23 years, an administrator for 10. All of this without one of those magical, coveted things called a sabbatical … Continue reading Still at It
Sheila squillante 