When I was a child my mother — who was and is a much better entertainer than I am — sometimes used to make this ice cream bombe for dessert when she had a dinner party. I am one of three girls and we all did time in the kitchen, more willingly than not. All of us on various afternoons were enlisted to help make the ice cream bombe, the splendor of which was one third anticipation, one third awe of the assembly process, and one third delight in the results. I do not remember the exact recipe and I...
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This weekend my kids' nanny got married, and we all dressed for the occasion. For Eldest, that meant a new blazer; despite his mother's hope, the blazer we bought him for fifth grade graduation no longer fits, now that he's in seventh grade. Go figure! Anyway, we bought the new blazer at Brooks Brothers on the belief that it's better to spend half an hour buying a blazer whose buttons won't fall off and that is well-made enough that two other brothers can later wear it than to spend hours driving all over creation, trying to find a cheaper blue...
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OK, I will admit that this was far from a scientific poll. However, after carefully analyzing the results (with the tallying help of my intrepid assistant Debbie), I learned the following: of those who commented on my recent post about whether or not New Year’s resolutions are worth it 117 say yes 69 say no So many of you had such thoughtful observations about why you do or do not make resolutions that it’s hard to single any one out. But one of my favorites was from Michele, who described her un-resolution tradition this way: “On December 31, 2006, my...
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One of my favorite singers is John Prine and there is a particular song from his first album (remember when they were known as *albums*?) called "Spanish Pipedream" that I always think about when I'm having a nutty day. Well, I actually only think about the chorus: Blow up your TV Throw away your paper Go to the country Build you a home Plant a little garden Eat a lot of peaches Try and find Jesus On your own This basically sums up how I envisioned my adult life when I was about 20 years old. Ha! How I got...
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I've just come back from three days in Chicago (where we celebrated the publication of Real Simple Weddings, which is being sold exclusively at Crate and Barrel till the end of the month â couldn't resist the little plug as it's a great product!). On the way there was the standard announcements on the plane and then the pilot came on to welcome us, blah blah blah, and I had a realization: in all my years of flying, I have never had a female pilot. So, my question for this Friday: Where are all the female pilots?
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For better or worse (probably mostly worse), I am a creature of habit. Although they are jam-packed, my days aren't that varied: home to elementary school to commuter train to work — where I am in meetings meeting meetings, nearly all day every day, but who's complaining — to train to home. I have a love/hate relationship with the predictable nature of my days. Some would call my routine very boring, some would call it comforting in its regularity. I guess I call it both. On my walk from my office to the train each night, I often take the...
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Baby has had a fever since Saturday and I'm once again reminded, nearly a decade after the last time I was in the trenches with an infant, how much guesswork goes into every stage of parenting. It's not quite the riddle of the sphynx, but dealing with illness in my children brings its own sort of mystery at every new stage. Baby is nearly 10 months old and I'm still learning what sort of sick person he is. When he has a fever of 103.7, is that about the highest he will tend to get (like his middle brother), or...
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Some years ago writer Shirley Conran observed that life's too short to stuff a mushroom. I think about that quote all the time and now, in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I present my own very subjective and by no means exhaustive list. In my book, life's too short to: iron cloth napkins care why Britney Spears is so screwed up start a plant from seed, unless it's a morning glory drink coffee with skim milk finish a book I don't like use cloth diapers attempt to correct the havoc having three children wreaked on my abdomen boycott boxed...
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I don’t know about you, but at this point I am very anxious for this Hollywood writer’s strike to end. It is bad enough that we haven’t been able to watch much of The Office this season — particularly infuriating now that Pam and Jim are officially a couple, Jan has gone even further off the rails and Dwight killed Angela’s cat. I can almost take the news about the Golden Globes, although a one-hour press conference just sounds like such a drag compared to the usual boozy dinner. But the last straw for me came this week, with American...
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This is the first year in quite some time that I’ve even thought about resolutions. Part of my problem is that, aside from “be a better parent,” which is always at the top of the list, all of my resolutions seem to cancel each other out. For example, “get more sleep” and “go to the gym more” are apparently mutually exclusive in my little world. Not to mention the fact that “get more sleep” and “go to the gym” are so banal that even I’m bored by them. But my two older kids have resolutions (at 12 and 9, they...
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