Remembering
Since this summer was completely swallowed up and eaten by the Great Big Real Estate Monster, I’m thinking back, fondly, to last summer (well, spring actually) when I made these amazing rustic fruit tarts for my editor at Hallmark magazine. The project: A big food feature centered around a progressive dinner (remember those from the 80’s?) that was photographed in my home and neighborhood. Hallmark sent out their production crew (including stylists and a makeup artist, which was so fun and yet kind of a trip–they put makeup on my husband even!) to photograph the event, which was a ton of fun. Too bad the issue of the magazine that this was slated to appear in was at the press exactly when Hallmark decided to pull the plug on the magazine and shut it down due to economic woes. Oh well. I’ll always have these tarts to show for myself. Recipe follows…
I work at home (code for: I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want to), and have two little boys (code for: life gets messy), so I tend to dress casual–a lot. Actually, casual is an understatement most days. So, I’ve been feeling the need to update my daily “uniform,” and I think I’m going to wear a variation of this comfy and belly-flattering outfit a lot in the autumn months ahead. What do you think?
Hello, my dears. I 
Do you remember that episode of Gray’s Anatomy when Izzie’s terminally ill boyfriend dies, which sends her into a craze where she bakes muffins all day every day for about a week in order to cope? OK, I’m not quite there, but I’ve been baking a lot–brownies, cookies, zucchini bread, muffins, and these amazing black bottom cupcakes (recipe to follow) that I turn to now and then when things aren’t going so well. Truth is, nobody’s dying here. Everyone’s healthy, we have jobs (and frankly, I have too much work). And we have a roof over our heads–a nice roof, which covers a