Journal

After my first undergraduate Physics exam at Columbia, I remember sitting on the stone steps in front of Pupin Hall and crying.  It wouldn’t be the last time an exam brought me to tears.  Hello, Organic Chemistry!

Stepping off the plane in Denpasar and climbing into our driver’s car, the smells and sounds of the island enveloped me.  The humid, sticky air smelled of savory charred chicken and chiles mixed with sour smoke from trash burning in roadside fires, those smells wafting through the high-pitched buzz of hundreds of motorbikes.  Small children […]

Many years ago, when I lived in Seattle, I purchased candles at the Ballard Farmer’s Market from Julianna, the creative mind behind Ascents Candle Company.  Julianna creates beautiful pastel ombré candles from palm wax—a sustainable vegetable wax—and all essential oils.  As her candles burn, they develop an interesting crystalline structure that adds to the beauty […]

Elie and I recently spent a long weekend with family on Salt Spring Island, lucking into blissfully warm days filled with blue skies. We took our car over on the ferry from Tsawwassen, which is a gorgeous passage through the Gulf Islands. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, you start to take its beauty […]

There are moments when I’m awed at how beautiful life with Elie has become.  Last weekend, standing in my sunny kitchen listening to the sound of laughter surround me, I was filled with awe. The weekend held so many opportunities for thankfulness, reminding me to appreciate the simple pleasures that make life sweet.  I went […]

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Actually, I have a recovering sweet tooth, being a formal SnackWell cookie binger.  Back in the mid-90s, I drank the fat-free KoolAid, existing on plain bagels, coffee with skim milk and sweetener, ‘light’ yogurt and bananas, brown rice, and fat free ice cream.  And I wondered why […]

I want to warn you that this post starts with sadness, in case you need to save this reading for another time.  But, it ends with friendship and a recipe.

She stood, barely taller than the bottom of the apricot stand, biting into the fresh fruit with relish. “Metzuyan!” she declared. We followed her lead and asked for a basket of apricots.  As she packed her purchase into a rolling cart, she stopped and turned toward us.  “Are you from the United States? How are […]

Miranda Lambert's lyrics are stuck in my head.  I know they say, you can't go home again.  I just had to come back one last time. We sat at the foot of the driveway, waiting for the large iron gates to swing open.  This was new, formal in a way our home had never been.  […]

I don’t know why my childhood holds such vivid memories of pimiento cheese.  Mom didn’t make it often, so I mostly indulged at church potlucks and in the homes of friend’s.  Especially at Melanie and Missy’s. It seems like we always ended up in the kitchen at their house.  Even at nine years old, I […]