Let’s Hit the Highlights: 2015
It’s that time of year when sentimentality reigns. It’s OK to get all weepy at a Christmas movie or the thought of being “home” in a few days — or with thanks that I’ve made it through another year as a journalist. Yes, that last one is a real thing. It was with great endurance that … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!
The day devoted to cooking, eating and practicing thanks with family and friends — or even strangers — is here. My calendar has been pointing toward it for weeks, and I’m thrilled to press pause on life and celebrate. Whether we know it or not, we all end up making Thanksgiving resolutions of some sort; they’re not … Continue reading
Can I fall back now? And farmer stories you don’t want to miss!
Just in case it snows this winter, Washington is on a dead sprint to get all its events and restaurant openings and panel discussions out of the way Right. Now. Food Day and James Beard Foundation and Stone Barns all planned their big educational events for the this month, and a million others have been … Continue reading
GO MONDAY: Chefs as Catalysts for Change 2015
You know it’s fall in Washington, D.C., when there’s a panel discussion every afternoon and a new restaurant opening (or reopening) every night of the week. It’s our annual, pre-hibernation fall fest, and we do it well. Still, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be this time of year, when the leaves tempt us with their … Continue reading
Summer in Review
I’m sitting on the deck at our new house, feeling fall between my toes. They didn’t see much sand this summer — unless watching other people vacation on Instagram counts — but I’m OK with that. I did other things. There was the aforementioned purchase of our first house in good ole’ Northern Virginia, which basically … Continue reading
Europe: five cities, five days (and the food)
I’m back from a whirlwind walking tour of Paris, the Chablis region of France, a factory in Germany, Turin in Italy and the World Expo in Milan. Let’s hit the highlights… Though I minored in French in college, this was my first time stepping foot outside the Paris airport and onto Parisienne soil. So, despite getting … Continue reading
Off to the Expo…
Early this summer, I was moping a bit about how our every-other-summer overseas trip was not likely to happen. Last summer, I was too pregnant to justify a 10-hour flight somewhere (or so the doc said), and this summer was getting away from us quickly. There’s the we-have-a-10-month-old thing, which is entertainment enough to never … Continue reading
Urban Farming (and me) on The Kojo Show
As my food nonprofit friend put it to our little book club, I’m GONNA BE ON THE KOJO SHOW, and I’d love for you to tune in Wednesday at 1 p.m. [UPDATE: You can listen to the segment on the show at this link. Enjoy!] After listening to Food Wednesdays for as long as I’ve lived in … Continue reading
Curbing food waste (convictions) on the home front
I often come home from interviewing a farmer or a chef or an environmentalist of some stripe and find myself convicted about where my food is coming from, how I’m cooking it and its impact on the world. As a writer, I don’t necessarily have to act on these convictions. If I acted on every one … Continue reading
Small Farms Making a Living on Leased Land
This past summer, I had the pleasure of traveling across Virginia’s Piedmont region (and a little south) to capture the stories of eight farms. My photographer friend Jami McDowell traveled with me for most of them, capturing these beautiful photos (despite very real fears that she might have to deliver my baby on that last … Continue reading
