Years ago, my husband and I decided to bring in a sofa that we’d been storing in our garage. After lugging in the unwieldy piece of furniture, we plopped down on it in triumph. I turned to look at my husband, and my smile melted into horror. Perched on his neck was a...
The fruit tart is an iconic summer dessert. A barely sweet, buttery crust filled with silky smooth pastry cream and topped with an abundance of perfectly ripe berries - it’s everything I want on a hot summer’s day (or any day really). This miniature version is...
Every week we get a delivery of produce from a small, local farm. The box is filled with fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, but the exact contents are always a surprise. When my kids are...
My husband gifts me a new orchid every year for our wedding anniversary. Needless to say, I’ve amassed quite a collection. This time of year as I...
A couple of years ago my childhood friend decided she’d had enough of the Silicon Valley rat race. She packed up her family and...
The summer before COVID struck, my son was thrilled to be selected for an internship at NASA. He went into the program excited to get a taste of his intended career path; he came out...
When I was a small child, we had a family friend who was very old and well-travelled. I loved to visit her house because she kept a display of souvenirs from the various countries she’d visited. There were...
This tutorial combines two of my favorite things: miniatures and Halloween. The result is a spooky play on my previous miniature projects, Breakfast in Bed for Mom and Dad’s Breakfast. Complete with...
My son is getting ready to head off to his freshman year of college, and our talks lately have centered around his future life of independence. The other day, he sat at the kitchen counter daydreaming aloud about...
I’ve had a hunk of modeling chocolate (left over from this Mother’s Day project) begging to be used up . . . or eaten. So in the interest of my waistline, I’ve been trying to come up with an idea that...
My mom can grow anything. It wasn’t always so. She started out a city kid from New York with little opportunity or care to nurture a green thumb. But with the 1960s came a newfound desire to commune with nature. My parents moved to a...
Easter has been one of my favorite holidays since I was a child. I remember how my sisters and I would spend hours drawing designs on cooked eggs with crayons before carefully dipping them into little cups of dye. Once we had amassed dozens of brightly colored eggs, the treasure hunts would begin. We’d...
Do you have some extra time on your hands? Are you a perfectionist with the patience of a saint? Do your friends marvel at your love of tedious projects?...
My neighbors are expecting their first baby any day now. A little girl! With comically unfortunate timing, our street is being closed for two weeks for repaving. We’ve all had to park our cars a few blocks away on another street or risk being...
Growing up, I was fortunate enough to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. At our house, Hanukkah was always a quiet affair with an understated elegance. As a child, I would have called it “fancy”. Maybe it was the colors, the deep blues and shiny metallics, that made it feel so sophisticated. Maybe it was...
