I have a lot of wonderful friends who are gifted and talented in many ways.  I know people who can fix computers, create recipes from scratch, code websites, play instruments, twirl batons, raise children and remodel houses.  But, for all these fantastic people, there is one type of friend I don’t have, and I am [...]

I’m in the midst of writing my masters thesis right now.  It’s a rambling collection of essays about one of my great loves, cooking paraphernalia.  I’ve always been attracted to the tools of cooking, even before I was allowed to turn the stove on by myself.  When I was seven, my grandmother gave me a [...]

For those of you who haven’t seen this yet, I offer you a short clip of how Scott and I spent a chunk of Saturday afternoon. We sat on Scott’s stoop, out in front of all passersby on Pine Street and proceeded to make minor fools of ourselves. The things we do for [...]

For the last few years, I’ve managed to get out to Portland during blueberry season. Not that I went out there only to pick blueberries, but it was always a highlight of the trip, as my family has been going out to the same U-pick farm on Sauvie Island for the last 15 years [...]

I have recently found myself awash in organic, free-range eggs. I bought a dozen for myself last week at Reading Terminal, not knowing that my house-sitting gig was also going to come with a bunch. Sherri and Matt, the regular residents of the house, belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). In [...]

Walking silently, second of six in a single-file line, through the organic farm that separates the retreat center from the main convent, I heard someone holler, “Is that Marisa McClellan I see?”
I looked up to see a very tan person pull the hat off her head and use it to extend the waving arm she’s [...]

My cousin Andy has always been known in the family as a world traveler. We never knew whether he would show up for Thanksgiving or Christmas, often he would be in Thailand or Vietnam or China instead. The times he did make an appearance, the food he brought with him would be stunningly [...]

My friend Una is getting married this Saturday.  She spent years looking for the right guy, many time despairing that she would never find him.  Then, a couple of months after her 35th birthday, she spotted a guy on match.com who resonated with her.  She sent him an email, they went out and soon after, [...]

Make sure to check out the edition of the Philadelphia Weekly that hits the streets tomorrow, as there is a story in there about my Reading Terminal Market blogging project.  I was both taken aback and flattered that they were interested in doing a story about me so early into the project, but I’m hoping [...]

When I was 22, I spent the summer in Indonesia.  While I was there, I took a two-day bus trip across the island of Java.  We started out in Jakarta and made our way over to Bali.  Somewhere towards the end of our time on the bus, but before we rode the ferry that took [...]