A friend alerted us to the OSU Equine Center Open House today. It was not crowded, highly educational, free, and fun. They have historically offered an open house every fall, so stay tuned next September to their website for dates.

The season of Excessive Consumption is upon us, preceded by the month of Meaningful Worries and followed up with the weeks of Staggering Stuff. Usually my anxiety about winter holidays holds off until mid November but this year, Halloween candy is haunting me. Off the bat (Halloween pun?), let me be clear that I believe a day or two of sugary indulgence is not the end of the world for my girl Lil. We serve [...]

I realized when seaming Lil’s Halloween costume (she is Super Kitten, a hero of her own creation) that the way I approach sewing is much like I cook. Here’s how: 1) I eschew patterns and recipes. Patterns are expensive, I don’t like to be told what to do, and I rarely follow the rules precisely. 2) I rely on prior experience and existing garments to guide my designs. I spend a lot of time staring [...]

One birthday tradition in our family is that the birthday girl selects the dessert for the day. My dad always has German chocolate cake; Alex and my sister Megan usually share a pie; Lil likes chocolate cake (homemade, of course). Now that my youngest sister Heather is a trained pastry chef and freelance cake and truffle maker, I usually give her a few ideas and tell her to make me something tasty. This year, I [...]

Several readers and friends have asked me where I recommend going to pick pumpkins. The truth is, I don’t have a farm that I love. All I’ve visited are too crowded and pushy with extra purchases and sugary sweets. I wish I could find somewhere reminiscent of my childhood where the focus was on the pumpkin picking, not the extraneous stuff. Here are five choices: 1) CRC Pumpkin Patch – The Clintonville Community Resource Center [...]

A food truck with a name dear to our chicken-loving hearts opened recently in close proximity to our house. Alex visited first, took pictures, and wrote this review: Clintonville is seeing an influx of food trucks recently.  Despite the objections of various stick-in-the-mud types, the diversity is only growing. The Coop is the latest truck to arrive on the Clintonville scene.  As the name suggests, it is a poultry-themed establishment and happens to have thrown [...]

I am fortunate to come from a family of home cooks. Women are not the only ones in the kitchen – my father, uncle, and grandfather don aprons and feed the family as well. This recipe is for my mother’s father’s grilled chicken. The marinade is nothing particularly special, but the method of re-basting it creates a succulent crispy glazed skin. In honor of Grandpa, I never change the spices. Without nostalgia holding you back, [...]