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Crescent Dragonwagon

NOT EVEN SPRING CAN HURRY GRIEF ALONG

NOT EVEN SPRING CAN HURRY GRIEF ALONG

By Crescent Dragonwagon

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN, IN THIS SEASON OF RENEWAL, LIFE STILL FEELS LIKE A LIFE-SENTENCE? HOW DO WE GRIEVE AT A TIME WHEN EVERYTHING (EXCEPT THE PERSON WE LOVED) SEEMS TO BE COMING BACK TO LIFE? Easter. Passover. Spring. The days lengthen, grow warm. Everything seems to come back to life. Everything, that is, except the one we loved. The… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living, grief, widowhood Tagged With: grief and holidays, grief and renewal, grieiving in the spring, spring

I FEED THIS GUINNESS STOUT CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE TO MY FATHER ONLY IN MY DREAMS

I FEED THIS GUINNESS STOUT CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE TO MY FATHER ONLY IN MY DREAMS

By Crescent Dragonwagon

IT’S ALMOST ST. PATRICK’S DAY, SO IT IS TIME FOR ME, AGAIN, TO OFFER YOU THIS GUINNESS STOUT CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE. IF YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR AN IRISH-ISH DESSERT THAT IS A KNOCK-YOUR-SOCKS-OFF WOW, THIS MAY IS IT. IT IS (SHE SAID MODESTLY), ONE OF THE THREE BEST CHOCOLATE DESSERTS I EVER CAME UP WITH, IN A LIFETIME OF DEVELOPING… Read More

Filed Under: #DinnerwithDragonwagon, Deep Feast, Maurice Zolotow, recipes, self-understanding, personal growth Tagged With: Arkansas, chocolate cake, Dairy Hollow House, death, Eureka Springs, fathers and daughters, Fionulla Flanagan, Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake, Irish dessert, Marilyn Monroe, St Patrick's Day dessert, St. Patrick's Day, sudden death

FIERCE LIFE, FEARLESS LOVE, WRITING, & CURRY

FIERCE LIFE, FEARLESS LOVE, WRITING, & CURRY

By Crescent Dragonwagon

CARPE DIEM IS NOT JUST A REALISTIC IMPERATIVE  (BECAUSE, TRULY, WE NEVER KNOW HOW LONG WE HAVE). IT’S A VIBRANT INVITATION. WILL YOU RSVP? HERE’S THE STORY OF SOMEONE WHO DID.  Here in the South, it’s the tail-end of winter, and the start of spring. As ever with the change of the seasons, I think about the cycles of life:… Read More

Filed Under: Fearless Writing, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer, Writing Courses Tagged With: IACP, International Association of Culinary Professionals, Raghavan Iyer

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CARDIO: A LATE-LIFE VALENTINE

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CARDIO: A LATE-LIFE VALENTINE

By Crescent Dragonwagon

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH. TIL DEATH DO YOU PART. THESE WORDS, ALWAYS SOLEMN, ARE VERY DIFFERENT DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU UTTER THEM TO YOUR PARTNER: IN YOUTH, WHEN YOU ARE UN- OR LESS-TRIED? OR LATER, PERHAPS MUCH LATER, AFTER LIFE HAS BEATEN YOU UP A FEW TIMES? THIS IS MY HEARTFELT VALENTINE TO LATE-LIFE LOVE. I wrote the story… Read More

Filed Under: creativity, Fearless Writing, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer, self-understanding, personal growth Tagged With: A-Fib, cardio, caregiving, caregiving a partner, emergency room, late-life love, scares, spouse caregiving, Valentine's

MAPLE-PECAN UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

MAPLE-PECAN UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

By Crescent Dragonwagon

To dessert-lovers, a good cake has no down side. Unless, of course, it happens to be an upside-down cake. These minor miracles of topsy-turviness start with a layer of fruit (most often canned pineapple) in a sweet, syrupy, buttery glaze in the bottom of a heavy pan or skillet. Over this, a good cake batter is poured. After baking, in… Read More

Filed Under: #DinnerwithDragonwagon

8 ACTUALLY HELPFUL WAYS TO BE WITH SOMEONE WHO’S GRIEVING (WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW)

8 ACTUALLY HELPFUL WAYS TO BE WITH SOMEONE WHO’S GRIEVING (WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW)

By Crescent Dragonwagon

HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOUR WIDOWED FRIEND WOULD LIKE YOU TO KNOW. SHE’D TELL YOU IF SHE COULD. BUT SHE CAN’T. THAT’S PART OF THE PROBLEM.  1. Please understand that right now your widowed friend is not herself.  Literally not herself. Most of the constructs of self she had have vanished, some temporarily, some permanently. Everything — her role in life,… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living, grief, widowhood

BUT WHY ARE THESE FOODS LUCKY?

BUT WHY ARE THESE FOODS LUCKY?

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Janus, the Roman god who gave January its name, was two-faced. Not in the saying-mean-things-behind-someone’s back way: rather, he had two faces on either side of his handsome head. Thus, he could look forward, into the future, and backwards, into the past. Notice, though, he had no face for “now”, which is — moment to moment, second by second —… Read More

Filed Under: #DinnerwithDragonwagon

Ronni’s Appalachian-Style Cornbread (Gluten-Free)

Ronni’s Appalachian-Style Cornbread (Gluten-Free)

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Ronni’s Appalachian-Style Cornbread (Gluten-Free) This is my favorite traditional-style Southern cornbread,  and the one my friend Ronni Lundy  grew up eating in Corbin, Kentucky. And to which she pledges allegiance!  No sugar, no flour, amen.  Ronni says, “If God had meant  cornbread to have sugar in it, he’d have called it  cake.” Here we have the apocryphal luckiness given by… Read More

Filed Under: recipes

Extra-Moist Cheese and Black Pepper Cornbread

Extra-Moist Cheese and Black Pepper Cornbread

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Extra-Moist Cheese and Black Pepper Cornbread Makes 2 8-X 8 pans You might want to double this; most people will want at least two pieces. The batter will fill the pans only about halfway up; it’s so moist that otherwise (if, for instance, you tried to make it one big pan). the middle part won’t be done. This way, you… Read More

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cornbread, Crescent Dragonwagon's cornbread, Extra-Moist Cheese and Black Pepper Cornbread

Four-Citrus Golden Pico de Gallo with Mint

Four-Citrus Golden Pico de Gallo with Mint

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Four-Citrus Golden Pico de Gallo with Mint Instead of  the typical tomatoes, this pico uses citrus fruits – oranges, blood oranges, and pink grapefruit – to provide the juicy acidic component necessary in this dish, which is almost as much salad as it is condiment.  It provides a nice, light, refreshing balance to the other foods on the plate, and,… Read More

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: citrus salsa, Crescent Dragonwagon's Citrus Salsa, fruit salsa, pico de gallo, salsa

CITRUS GOLDEN RING CAKE

CITRUS GOLDEN RING CAKE

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Citrus Golden Ring Cake I this cake lucky for New Years? Why yes: round foods represent for the cycles of the year and the roundness of a full life; yellow and orange because, they’re signifiers of wealth. But the inherent goodness of this rich, lemony cake, dense and moist, makes anyone who takes a bite feel lucky indeed, on the… Read More

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: Citrus Ring Cake, foods for New Years

BRAZILIAN STYLE COLLARD GREEN SALAD

BRAZILIAN STYLE COLLARD GREEN SALAD

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Brazilian Style Collard Green Salad Raw collard greens? A  a few brief years ago it would have hardly been  comprehensible to most Americans,  especially Southerners.  But times have changed with the advent of kale salads. While many find the texture of kale objectionable –  its curliness, if it is not cut finely enough, can get caught in the throat – … Read More

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: collard green salad

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Read Aloud with Crescent and Mark

NOT A LITTLE MONKEY, by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrted by Michelle Chessaree

"So, the little girl climbed into the big waste-basket and waited." ' Oh no,' said her mother, ' we don't want to throw you away.'"There are many ways to express love and the need for attention. Here, a busy mother and her just-a-bit naughty little girl tease each other affectionately — the little girl making her point without even uttering a word.That's today's story time — read aloud by the author's daughter at Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops, with Mark Graff's "text support" and discussion."Just right for two-to-fours, the humor of this true-to-life story of a mischievous little girl who blocks her mother's attempts to clean house will elicit giggles from the lollipop set." Kirkus Reviews

Posted by Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Read Aloud with Crescent

Read Aloud with Crescent

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

Greek Lentil Soup with Spinach and Lemon, photograph by Tom McCorkle, Washington Post

Bean By Bean Cookbooks

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"... like a warm luminescent blanket at bedtime... softly lulling." -- New York Times


"(With) weary animals, Dragonwagon offers an “alphabet of ways to sleep,” smoothly working in some alliteration..."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)


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Until Just Moistened

Until Just Moistened

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