honesty

  • Boiled ham (or, a foray into Eastern Europe)

    Sometimes I think way too hard about how to use up leftovers. The potential for waste bothers me. If we have half a head of red cabbage sitting in the crisper because Josh realized he really, really hates cabbage after… Continue reading

  • Afternoon Adventure: Servant Life Tour at The Elms

    I want to say something meaningful about all this horrifying news coming out of Boston, but I can’t find the words. There’s only so much sadness I can take in at a time, especially when it’s on such a vast… Continue reading

  • Spring cleaning

    It’s getting to that point where things just feel blah. It’s officially spring but not quite warm, the kids are either bonkers or asleep at school, and the crust for my first-ever tart puffs up like a balloon. Even food… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Irish stew

    I am known to get emotionally involved with fictional characters. When they fall in love, I swoon around the house. When they suffer heartbreak, I moan along with them. When they struggle to figure out what they really think about… Continue reading

  • Afternoon adventure: Blithewold Mansion & Gardens

    One of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon (especially in the gloomy winter months) is visiting house museums. Typically these are grand old mansions that have been converted into museums for the public, like the mansions in Newport. Lissa… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: What to eat while watching Season 3

    I’m counting down the days until the premiere of Season 3 of Downton Abbey in the U.S. this Sunday night. I’ve been steadfast, refusing to watch uploaded episodes from the U.K. or to search down spoilers. And yesterday my excitement reached… Continue reading

  • How I blog (plus potato pancakes)

    I’d like to pretend all my blog posts and series spill out onto the computer fully-formed. But like most of my writing, creating blog content is a slow, careful process. There’s a lot of planning, rewriting, deleting, and then some… Continue reading