• Four-ingredient scratch strawberry shortcakes

    I can’t even tell you how excited I was when we saw (and smelled!) fresh, ripe, local strawberries the other day. It was like surprise Kate Spade sale-level excitement. And then I found a bag of White Lily self-rising flour. O.M.G. It was like God wanted me to make strawberry shortcakes and share them with […]

  • PSA: Betsey Johnson sale

    One of my favorite stores of all time is going out of business. I first learned of the existence of Betsey Johnson (and her daughter, Lulu) in an issue of Seventeen magazine when I was about 11. But the first time I walked into a Betsey store was a few years later, in Miami. The […]

  • Tropical scones

    What are you doing for your mom for Mother’s Day? Sending flowers? Taking her out to tea? Serving her breakfast in bed? Our mothers have already received the flowers we sent, and we’re getting them some presents. But we can’t exactly take them breakfast in bed, since they both live hundreds of miles away. Of […]

  • Vegan vanilla chai latte

    My big sister from my sorority was really big on studying at coffee shops and diners. One of our main sisterly activities was going to Waffle House to spend a few hours studying art history (her) and Russian grammar (me). But I really, really hate Waffle House. (Sorry, everyone in the South, but it’s just […]

  • Bourbon balls

    A few years ago, I decided it would be a great idea to make bourbon balls for tailgating at the Georgia-Kentucky football game. Toby wasn’t home, so I found a recipe online — epicurious.com or foodnetwork.com, can’t remember which — and followed it. The resulting bourbon balls tasted gross and looked completely disgusting. It was […]

  • Cinco de Mayo and Derby Day

    I love Mexican food and margaritas… and mint juleps and chocolate-chip-pecan pie. So it’s problematic for me that the Kentucky Derby is on Cinco de Mayo this year. I still haven’t completely decided what I am going to do, food- and dessert-wise, but we have to go to a thing that evening so I won’t […]