“Winter then in its early and clear stages, was a purifying engine that ran unhindered over city and country, alerting the stars to sparkle violently and shower their silver light into the arms of bare upreaching trees. It was a mad and beautiful thing that scoured raw the souls of animals and man, driving them …

It’s December 23rd, and I’m sitting in my pajamas by the Christmas tree with a mug of coffee and the severed head of a gingerbread person from a fresh batch of cookies. There’s nothing like the holidays. Yesterday was a solid day of baking with my sister Erin, and now we have containers with eight (!) …

It’s been a rainy couple of days. We put off getting our Christmas tree because we didn’t want to end up with a puddle of water on the hardwood floors. I don’t mind the milder weather, but I quickly tire of the gray skies. Luckily, I had something of a pick-me-up stuck in a container …

Hi there. Things here have been mercifully quiet. Slowly, we’re getting our new place put together. We reassembled the dishwasher. We put books on the shelves. We determined that we, do, in fact, need more bookshelves. We’re daydreaming about built-ins and a library ladder. We’re learning the rhythms of this new space. I’ve been listening to …

You know you’re a new homeowner when you find yourself attempting to do some quick and easy home improvements, like replacing the gungy kitchen faucet and tightening the loose handle on the dishwasher, and two days later, after trips to three different stores, you still don’t have the right part for the faucet and the …

If one wants evidence that cooking is an alchemical process, one need look no further than this rich, savory puddle of a gratin that once was a head of savoy cabbage. Savoy is the frilly, ruffled member of the cabbage family. Its leaves are more tender than green or red cabbage, and its flavor is milder and …