Tag: love

  • I May Have Been a Cowboy in a Past Life

    I’ve always been drawn to Westerns. It doesn’t really matter what era they’re set in. Give me an old black-and-white Western from the 1950s, a sprawling epic from the 1960s or ’70s, a modern Western, or something set so far back that everyone is still riding horses because automobiles haven’t even entered the conversation yet,…

  • Beef, Brine, Heat & Harmony

    Picadillo: A culinary symphony in several movements Composer: Mr. Hungry Overall Rating: ★★★★★ There are dishes that announce themselves with complexity. They arrive carrying a long list of spices, sauces, herbs, and techniques, each demanding its moment in the spotlight. And then there are dishes that understand something far more important: You don’t need a…

  • A Beginning… And an Ending

    August used to mean one thing to me. The end of summer. The beginning of another school year. New schedules. New faces. New names to learn. Another first day. Now August means something else. My mother’s birthday is August 16. This year, the first day of school lands on August 17. She passed away on…

  • A Complicated Relationship with Food 

    I have a very interesting—and complicated—love affair with food. Not an unhealthy relationship. Not necessarily. I mean, I’m not saying food has control over me. I’m simply saying that if food ever needed a restraining order, there would probably be some very uncomfortable questions asked in court. Because I love food. I genuinely love food.…

  • A Day To Do Nothing

    A day to do nothing; that’s what I need. No responsibilities, no chores, maybe even not get out of bed. There is something strangely luxurious about that idea: a full day where nothing is waiting for you. Not a “catch up on rest so you can be productive tomorrow” day. Not a “finally clean the…

  • Cookbook Incoming? It’s Complicated.

    There comes a point in every serious home cook’s life when they entertain a dangerous thought: “Maybe I should write a cookbook.” It’s a bold idea, considering there are already thousands of cookbooks lining bookstore shelves, millions of recipes floating around the internet, and approximately fourteen billion people posting videos explaining the “one secret ingredient”…

  • Unplugged

    Funny observation… Everywhere I go, people are plugged into something. AirPods. Earbuds. Noise-canceling headphones. The giant over-the-ear ones that make you look like an air traffic controller. Every now and then there’s the brave soul carrying a Bluetooth speaker, generously sharing their playlist with everyone within a fifty-foot radius, whether we asked for it or…

  • A Manual Selfie of Sorts

    A Manual Selfie of Sorts

    Self-portraits… a manual selfie of sorts. When the world gets quiet, my thoughts usually don’t. Today, they settled on the only subject I know from the inside out: me, and the journey that’s brought me to this moment on the third rock from the sun. No what-ifs. No forecasts. No reinventions. Just who I am…

  • The Many Forms of Me: A Field Guide to Productivity, Procrastination, and Becoming a Potato

    The human brain is an incredible machine. Mine is apparently a slightly modified version assembled from spare parts, caffeine, unfinished ideas, and a committee of tiny monkeys who were hired without references.  It is capable of creativity, problem-solving, deep focus, and occasional brilliance. It is also capable of walking into a room, forgetting why, opening…

  • Friendship in the Digital Age: Does Anyone Still Do Coffee?

    Remember when friendships were built on meeting for coffee every week? Yeah… that’s cute. Now we spend three weeks trying to coordinate a coffee date that requires less planning than a military operation. “How’s Tuesday?”“Soccer practice.” “Wednesday?”“Dentist.” “Thursday?”“I’m emotionally unavailable.” “Next month?”“Maybe.” And by the time we finally find a day that works, someone has…

  • Not the Same River, Not the Same Me

    “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”— Heraclitus I heard this today, and it stayed with me. At first, it sounds like a simple observation about a river. But it’s really about life. Heraclitus reminds us that two things are always…

  • How Curiosity and Creativity Became the Story of My Life

    I don’t remember deciding to become a creative person. I think I just never stopped being a curious kid. Like every toddler, I was convinced the world existed solely for my investigation. Everything deserved to be touched, tasted, shaken, stacked, thrown, or, if possible, taken apart. My parents probably called it “getting into things.” I…

  • The Things We Believed (Before Coffee)

    As I sit here drinking my coffee, convinced that caffeine is somehow going to help me defeat my lifelong nemesis—Sleep—and maybe keep up with whatever my ADHD has planned for today, I can’t help but think about all the things I believed as a kid. Back then, life ran on confidence… not facts. The right…

  • What’s Missing?

    I’ve never considered myself much of a chef. I don’t julienne. I don’t chiffonade. I don’t make foams, reductions, or anything that requires tweezers.  But a cook? Now that’s a title I’d proudly wear. When I’m cooking, I really only have one goal; Make enough food that everyone leaves the table full, preferably smiling, and…

  • The Things We Never Meant to Remember

    It’s funny, the things we remember. Not the moments everyone tells us will matter. Not always birthdays, graduations, or the day we got the keys to our first house. Those memories are there somewhere, but they often sit quietly in the background. Instead, it’s the little things that wait patiently for us. The smell of…