Here is my ideal January soup. It’s the one I come back to, again and again, in the blur of my post-holiday malaise when my body craves fresh and wholesome things, but my heart dwells on the richness of…
Lately
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Life •
December 5, 2012: My 25th birthday. A and I spread an old comforter on the grass in Alamo Square park and stretch our bodies into the waning sunlight. We feel the gentle crunch of fallen leaves underneath us as we lay down, padded by the layer of polyester fill and…
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Books •
I’m always surprised by how much certain books shape my memories. For instance, I cannot imagine my family trip to France this year without The Ensemble by Aja Gabel. It’s as if the four main characters ate croissants by the fountain in The Tuileries and watched the sun set over…
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Life •
My daughter has just learned the word, twinkle. She whispers Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in my ear at night, when I carry her upstairs to her bath, pleased with herself that she knows all the lyrics. On our way to preschool, I put on one of my favorite songs by…
ABOUT ME
I ask big questions and complain about how the laundry is never finished. Sometimes in the same sentence. Welcome.
I’m Renae. I’m a writer, a mom, and above all, an observer. I like to pause on the things that move me, to dwell on my experiences. Even the hard ones. Especially the hard ones.
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I say this a concerning amount these days, but I’m starting to understand my mother a little better. This is a woman who was uncompromising on ingredients, who steamed tomatoes for sauce and dutifully soaked dried beans overnight. I was raised on the ethos of whole foods, before Whole Foods…
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I’ve been telling myself the same story this whole time, more than two months now. I’m okay. Better off than most, even. I have my family and a fresh stack of unread books. I do well with alone time, being extremely introverted. I’m also something of a homebody, despite where…
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This morning: scones. I found myself awake before Adam and the baby, so I leapt on the opportunity. Baking and solitude, it turns out, is an excellent combination. Before we decided to stay in full time, I couldn’t differentiate between the two big jars of AP and whole wheat flour…
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I’ve had the urge to bake for about a week now. It came on suddenly and never left. If anything explains my mood these days, it’s that. And if you don’t know me, reader, let’s start with this: I don’t bake. Cooking leaves room for opinions and experiments. You can…
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I should start by asking how you are—a question that, all of a sudden, comes with its own subtext. As in, how are you faring with all of this? Are you healthy? Safe? Stressed beyond reason? As in, we’re all in this together. As in, I’m happy to talk to…
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Remember that you’re tired. I repeat this to myself, like a mantra. It explains a lot these days, though it’s oddly forgettable. Before I had a baby, I had this image of the bionic mother in my head, the one who somehow bends space-time to create more hours in the…
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There’s a prevailing theory that we need to know much more than we do in order to feed ourselves well. It isn’t true. Tamar Adler said that. And it’s true, I’m discovering. We signed up for a weekly produce delivery toward the end of my third trimester, as part of…
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What will you do about food? So many people asked us this toward the end of my pregnancy. Some of our friends were just curious, since Adam and I are those friends, the ones who cook. Then there was my mother who, after all this time, still wants to make…
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Hello there. I’m reporting to you from my kitchen counter, having just eaten “lunch.” I use quotes because it’s 6:22 in the evening. But I have this thing that the order of meals, rather than the time of day, should dictate how they’re labeled. For instance, I ate my first…
