When my brother first moved to Seattle, he ran into a woman he had gone to high school with. As they were catching up on each other’s lives, he asked if she had a boyfriend. No, she didn’t have a boyfriend, he was informed—she had a ... more
The author Benjamin Wallace told me that he became a writer so he could spend his days alone in a small room playing with words. The irony of being a writer today, however, is that you have to leave that room to go out into ... more
What do you do when you see tragedy, like the scenes we’ve seen in Haiti these past few weeks. Well, if you’re someone like Julie Van Rosendaal you jump in and make a difference. A ... more
Despite what the calendar says, experience has taught me that February is actually the longest month of the year. It's not yet spring, but any charm of winter has worn off. If there's snow, we're sick of it. If there's rain, it's begun to ... more
Look what I have in my hot little hands—it’s here, it's a book! Two hundred and twenty pages, all my words (except one great joke supplied by my agent, thank you Danielle). All of it printed on lovely (read: expensive) paper, thanks ... more
I have a friend who doesn’t think much of Meyer lemons. He doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. For this I’m going to forgive him. It doesn’t matter that he has a James Beard Award, we all have out blindspots. I personally don’t understand ... more
My mother recently moved from California to Seattle. All her kids and grandkids live here now, it only makes sense. What is the point of being so far away? What's the point of being in California—besides the great weather and the ... more
One day last summer I was wandering through the Vashon Island Farmers’ Market and I caught sight of the odd little green things above. To be honest, I thought they looked like miniature watermelons, ready to serve up at a dollhouse picnic. Lilliputian melons. ... more
It’s not the spaghetti squash’s fault that for years I’ve hated it—it was a case of mistaken identity. As a young child, when my mom said we were having spaghetti squash for dinner, I imagined a vegetable that, when cut open, ... more
Here’s the confession: I’ve never had proper raclette. When I was in Switzerland I ate fondue, but I somehow missed raclette. And when I was invited to a raclette party in Sun Valley many Christmases ago, I stayed home to talk on the phone to ... more
It’s the second week of January—have you forgotten your resolutions already? In a normal year I might say yes, but not this year. I can’t forget my resolutions this year, because I wrote them on a long piece of paper and posted it to the ... more
The longer I keep this site, the bigger the archives grow, and some of my favorite recipes get lost and forgotten—even by me. So I’m starting a new feature where I talk about what I’m eating this month. These are all good seasonal recipes—from this site ... more
I was late to the iPod craze, I admit it. I’m not one of those who need to listen to music at all times. I finally got an iPod when I started shuttling back and forth between San Francisco and ... more
I seem to be on a Japanese food kick this winter—curry rice, udon, sekihan for the New Year. This is my comfort food, and I've nearly exhausted the category, but I can’t move along until I tell you how much I love ... more