Sopa de Huesos: A Thoughtful Approach to the Boiling of Bones
As a child, one of my favorite stories was the story of Baba Yaga: a witch and predator of children whose house stood on a pair of chicken legs. As an adult who eats chicken hearts with collard greens for lunch and is always on the look out for good chicken feet, I must confess […]
The Last Chinese Chef & Guanxi
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones. At one point, Sam Liang, one of the main characters, tells the story of the Sword-Grinding Rain to explain the meaning of guanxi (gwaang.shee), commonly translated as a deep connection. The Story of the Sword-Grinding Rain Guan Gong, a noble who lived long […]
The Strong Man: Our Own Motives Exposed
“The Strong Man” is seductive and alluring. This is my attempt to understand why. But First, A Note on Gender: The Strong Man,” I refer to the type of person, generally aggressive, who pushes to get what they want, is particularly self-serving, and loathes to show any type of vulnerability whatsoever. The Strong Man is […]
The Western Frontier
Early, September 21, 2024, my son, Sean, and I boarded a one-way flight to Montana. Our plan was to fly into Bozeman, Montana, tour around the Montana/Wyoming area for a few days, and then drive our rental car from Great Falls, Montana back to Buffalo, New York. Our goal was to be back by Thursday, […]
A Sublime Salsa Verde
In the spring, my mother and I committed to going to the farmer’s market every week this season (mid-May through the beginning of November). Pursuant to our pact, we’d gone there recently, and I was about to head out. My daughter reminded me we needed some more butternut squash flowers (so good!). The gentleman, Bob […]
Feline vs. Two-Legged Female
Rats! I missed the two-legged male for my early morning feeding–I no longer smell him in the house. Great. Now, I’ll have to wake the two-legged female. [the feline’s ears perk up at the sound of a toilet flushing] Oh, good! It sounds like she’s just leaving the noisy waterhole. I’ll rub against her legs […]
Iced Chaga!
It was a rainy, summer day. My daughter and I were out for lunch at Mojo Market, a local place we hadn’t been to in a while. As we waited for our food, a woman sitting near us ordered an iced chaga latte. Used to skipping over the coffee selections, I missed this on the menu. […]
It All Started With a Goose…
I was showing my sister-in-law pictures of my latest project—a cooked goose (my first). She suggested I start a blog. At first, my sister-in-law’s suggestion wasn’t one I was planning to seriously consider. Slowly, though, the blog started to take shape as I thought of different ideas along with a Ted Talk I had seen on […]
Thoughts on The Color Purple
I first attempted to read The Color Purple, decades ago, when I was still in my youth. While my brain certainly understood the words on the page—it being a book written almost entirely from the point of view of a woman with no more than a third-grade education—I found I could not connect with them. […]
Pay it Forward 2.0
I wanted to find a way to give back to my community. As part of a business rebranding, we incorporated that as part of our new mission. Thus, the Building Neighborhoods Fund (B.N.F.) was born. The idea behind B.N.F. is simple. We take 10% of the commissions we earn and set the monies aside for […]