Original Recipes
Week 43: Nana’s Pumpkin Bread (Playdough)
“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to head the lessons of failure.“ ~ Bill Gates “Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success” ~ Arianna Huffington “If you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing your world. You’re […]
Week 38 : Preppy Apple Cake
As a New England academic and Sacred Heart School alumni, Mom was a big fan of private schools; in fact, my sister Kristin graduated from a Sacred Heart school. My sister Kim (who is another long story for another time) went to a private school, but mostly because my mom was desperately trying to figure […]
Week 37: There Is Always Chocolate
My mother, Suzanne Devine, had a razor-sharp tongue. When she was impassioned or provoked to anger, she could hit below the belt like nothing I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, this week I took after my mother in that respect, and said mean things to someone I care about. I’m mortified! Hopefully, someday the victim of my […]
Week 28: Peppers and the Past
For most people, Grandma (or in my case, Nana) is synonymous with warmth, tenderness, well-worn aprons, fresh-baked cookies, snuggles, silly games, and front-row cheering during school concerts. While I have every intention of making sure that image is true for my grandchildren, this was not the case with me and my mom’s mother, my Nana. […]
Week 25: Truth, Dare and Grapefruit Salad
What would you do if I dared you to… Skinny dip? Eat something disgusting? Streak through your neighborhood? Kiss or hug a stranger? Jump in freezing cold water? Sing a song on a city sidewalk? Wear something ridiculous to work, church, or a social function? I know exactly what I’d do… because I’ve done all […]
Week 11: Life’s Too Short Not To Be Irish
There are many occasions when I feel like I’m channeling my mom. Sometimes it’s preparing shellfish, checking the tension on my stitches when I sew or remembering the “trick” to the perfect whipped cream(see below). Other times, it’s the complete delight I experience at the coast of Maine or the hunger that led me to visit Ireland. […]
Week 1 : Commit and Complete
Welcome to my brain the past several days leading up to this first entry… “This is going to be exciting, I’m ready!” “Three years…three f-ing years you’ve talked about this!” “Nobody cares. Why blog about it on the f-ing Internet. I must have a huge ego or maybe I’m really a narcissist?” Wait… I should […]