The Recipe Club

Sometimes our Recipe Clubs are small and intimate. But when they’re larger, we’re so clearly reminded that everybody has a story that starts with food…but ends with truth-telling, intimate revelation, or humor.

That’s what happened at our Piedmont Recipe Club, when eleven women gathered with a “we are the world” collective background: Arabic, Eastern-European, Scottish, Japanese, Southern American, Latina, Indian.

Candles flickered...memories burned bright.

Our host’s intention was to see if the eclectic backgrounds of her Recipe Club guests would flavor their recipes and stories. But, interestingly, it turned out that the stories we heard had less to do with heritage and more to do with parental relationships and emotions—common ground no matter where your family hails from, or how connected you are to those roots. (more…)

If you’ve been actually reading these blogs you must realize we have not slowed down for more than two seconds in the last many months. We decided it was high time we had some touristy fun in a new city.

So…when in Minneapolis, what’s a girl to do? Obviously, it’s to go to the Mall of America.

We heard rumor that Sarah Palin did her campaign wardrobe shopping at one of the big stores inside the Mall of America...but when we first laid eyes on the imposing 2.5 million square feet of retail shopping space, we had to wonder: were we mavericks enough to hunt down the perfect pair of jeans?

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We were depending on the kindness of strangers, and had not rented a car. Our hotel was near the airport and far from everything else. And we had a burning need to sign books at the legendary Bookcase bookstore in Wayzata, Minnesota. Located on the placid shores of Lake Minnetonka, we’d been told it was only 11 miles away from Minneapolis as the crow flies.

As native New Yorkers, the solution was obvious: call a cab. And like magic, one appeared, along with its driver, Sam. (more…)

When we were invited to do a reading and signing at the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis, we had no idea we’d be stepping back in time into a gracious, spacious, rather bodacious Roaring Twenties landmark building!

We were informed that by entering this building, we were following in the footsteps of Thomas Friedman and Garrison Keillor, both of whom had presented lectures at The Woman's Club of Minneapolis.

But obviously it’s not all that hard to get used to palatial, 16th-century fireplace mantels and burnished mahogany bookcases. (more…)