I am terrible about making gift lists. Birthday lists, Christmas lists, any-occasion-where-I-get-a-gift lists... you name it. Well, with the exception of the wedding registry. That I thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, I wanted to be sure there were enough things on there that no one would be tempted to go off-script. Because as we can all imagine, that almost never ends well. But for most any other occasion, I am the worst person in the world to ask for a gift list. I'm not sure why I

It's a quick post today, but an oh so delicious one. Yesterday I told you all about our traditional sugar cookies that we decorate each year. Well, in the course of making them this go around, I had a brain wave. What if.... what if I browned the butter before using it in the dough? I had just made Half Baked Harvest's brown butter and sage mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving (if you haven't tried those yet, do it!) and I made a cake for my dad's surprise birthday party the week

Growing up, we really only had two Christmas albums we listened to: Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and a crackly old cassette tape, copied from a friend's record who knows how long ago. It was a darn brown cassette with a lined label over top on which my dad's spidery handwriting had scrawled "Living Strings Christmas." This was our favorite. We would listen to Living Strings pretty much on repeat all through December, flipping it from side to side and knowing every crackle and

You're here! That really makes me quite happy because, like all fresh endeavors, this one feels a bit wobbly and new on its feet. So I'm quite glad you've dropped by. You are so very welcome here! And just what exactly is "here," you might ask? Well, "here" is a place of community. I've realized in the past several years that so many of my most meaningful, joyful, and long-lived memories have all taken place around food - whether baking, eating, preparing it in community, or

Fall has been a bit standoffish this year. It's nearly the end of October and the past month and a half has been far too dominated by 74 degree weather and green-leafed trees. It's October, Chicago! Get your act together. But at long last this week has delivered those wonderful, rainy Autumn days I've been missing. It's 58 outside and has been drizzling for the past five hours, which means I can don my wool socks and cozy up with hot cider and things made almost entirely out