THIS IS (SHE SAID MODESTLY) AMONG THE BEST CLASSIC CHOCOLATE DESSERTS I EVER CAME UP WITH: A GUINNESS STOUT CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE THAT PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS. AND CERTAINLY, IT’S PERFECT FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY, WHICH IS WHEN I’VE OFTEN MADE IT. BUT THE STORY BEHIND IT — WHICH CONCERNS MY ONE-OF-A-KIND FATHER, WHO BELIEVED THAT, WITH NO FACTUAL… Read More
MOTHER’S DAY, IN ITS INSISTENCE ON SENTIMENT AND BIOLOGY, IS CRUEL TO MANY, REDUCTIVE TO ALL. “MOTHERING” TRANSCENDS REPRODUCTION, EVEN GENDER. IF WE ENLARGE OUR UNDERSTANDING, WE BRING WHOLENESS TO OURSELVES AND MAYBE EVEN HELP HEAL THE WORLD JUST A LITTLE. Everyone who doesn’t die young will someday have a motherless Mother’s Day. This will be my fifth. In 2015, at… Read More
AT A TIME WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMS TO BE COMING BACK TO LIFE, HOW DO WE GRIEVE? WHAT DO WE DO WHEN, IN THIS SEASON OF RENEWAL, LIFE STILL FEELS LIKE A LIFE-SENTENCE? Easter. Passover. Spring. The days lengthen, grow warm. Everything seems to come back to life. Everything, that is, except the one we loved. The one who died. Everything… Read More
