• Frankencookies

    I had this great idea: Chocolate chip cookies with candy corn. Yum, right? And there are recipes and photos out there of such a cookie. Then I realized they might be overly sweet, so I decided to add some crushed potato chips for balance. Um… it didn’t work out quite how I planned. The cookies […]

  • Outrunning the storm – Marine Corps Marathon 10K

    I’ve signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K twice before. But this is the first time I’ve actually run it. In 2009, I had this weird foot situation and wasn’t sure if running would exacerbate it (I found out later it wouldn’t, but I also had to have several shots over a two-month period […]

  • Halloween baking

    So… we haven’t even bought Halloween candy yet. We should probably get on that (when the stores reopen). But I can offer some suggestions for Halloween baked goods! For an orange and black(ish) treat, try the orange-chocolate chip cupcakes pictured above. If your Halloween plan includes a trip to Hogwarts, try some butterbeer and pumpkin […]

  • Tomboy cake

    I was super excited when I got the October 2012 issue of Bon Appetit with “best-ever layer cakes” on the cover. But not all of them looked that exciting, honestly. Then I signed up to help Zach and Clay of The Bitten Word with their cover-to-cover project — in which readers made every dish in […]

  • Ahoy, it’s a boy!

    You may recall that my former neighbor, Joanne, has asked me to make cookies for a few wedding showers she’s hosted. Well, apparently the cookies went over pretty well, because a guest at one of those showers asked me to do cookies for a baby shower she was hosting! I had to make A LOT of […]

  • Very slow running

    I was allegedly a pretty fast runner in first and second grade. I assume this was because my legs were longer than everyone else’s. But no matter the reason, those days are long gone. Nowadays, I’m the slow one. The one who sometimes has to stop and walk for a minute or so before returning […]

  • Cheesy mini pretzel dogs

    There are many wondrous things available at the Amish market in Annapolis. But Toby’s favorite is the pretzel dog. We have our friend Jose to thank for that, actually, because we may never have stood in the ridiculously long line for one if he hadn’t told us about them. Anyway, we don’t live in Annapolis […]

  • Ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms

    Even though we STILL haven’t finished unpacking all the boxes and totally organizing our new house (I know, I know), we do love our new neighborhood. We’re close to a lot of awesome restaurants and shops, a gorgeous running path along the Potomac, and the one of the oldest farmers’ markets in the U.S. Like, […]