Kitchen Shenanigans

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Cooking, Food & Wine

Sunday, May 21, 2017

They told me to read...

...that reading was the first key to getting a good education and succeeding in the world. I disagree. For one thing, reading is such a great escape, especially reading fiction, that it can be as effective as any drug to remove one from living life. For another, there is a greater key, and that is... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

To knot or not to knot...

Last night and today I spent winding some new yarn into a ball. Yarn often comes in a twisted hank, which, when untwisted, becomes a wide loop with two free ends. You choose an end, and begin to make a ball. Some yarns, especially thick ones, go from hank to ball pretty smoothly, but a fine yarn... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Before fear came

I have a certain antipathy to carrot-red-haired men. I'm not sure why, though I remember a certain boy of that description in grades school who was a bully. I never had anything to do with him, but I remember feeling disgusted by his personal habits and attitude towards other kids. Is this enough... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, April 7, 2017

inspired by blackcat's blog on doodling.

My teachers never appreciated that doodling helped me to listen to them. They generally tried to get me to stop. I never stopped, of course. My hands had minds of their own. As it turned out, my first really satisfying job was sitting at the Pike Place Public Market offering my services as a... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

What has been your favorite part of parenthood?

I asked my daughter this, now she is a parent: What do you expect will be your favorite part of parenting? She thinks it will be introducing Elsa to new experiences. I always enjoyed that teaching aspect of parenting, too. One of the best things has been when my kids came to me for advice or help.... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

writing advice

I have offered this one piece of advice to new writers and stuck writers, so it seems only reasonable that I recently followed it myself. There is a story lurking deep in me, something I wrote quite a few pages of many years ago, then lost. And you know how it is with lost writings: It was the best,... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Earliest memories

I can remember just a few snatches of life when I was three, possibly two. I remember ducklings in a bathtub at my sister's kindergarten. I remember my mother taking leftover breakfast pancakes, buttering them, rolling them up and sticking a toothpick through, then dusting them with powdered sugar.... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Discuss...

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. -Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist (1821-1881) Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

What's for breakfast?

Breakfast is a cultural thing. The Hearty American Breakfast derives from the first meal of a farmer's day, eaten after the cows were milked and livestock fed and watered. There was oatmeal with plenty of thick cream and maple sugar. There were fried potatoes, and the golden buckwheat cakes, as many... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Elsa's Library

My daughter. Elsa's mum, has asked friends and relatives this question: What books do you most remember and hold precious from your childhood? For me, it was Winnie the Pooh and all the related books by AA Milne, and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and a little later, Laura Ingalls Wilder's... Sign in to see full entry.

Headlines (What is this?)