Serenity & Spice

The last few years have been tough. It doesn’t seem like this pandemic is ever going to really end and personal setbacks have me questioning my purpose. As with all traumatic breakups, I’ve been experiencing triumphant highs and extreme lows this year. Even my cat is tired of my shit.  This is the first time in seven years I will be single during the holidays. I’ve been searching for a movie to fit my current situation, but all I can find are cheesy Hallmark rom-coms. Can’t there be a movie about a cynical but quirky food blogger that likes beer and says “fuck” at least five times a day having a magical Christmas on her own?  I need to do things that are nourishing for my soul. Go out on the town. Support local businesses. Spend time with the friends that have stuck around. Maybe make some new ones. The holidays are not about presents or having someone to snuggle up with. Maybe next year, there will be a workaholic businessman with whom I can get into yuletide shenanigans. Thi...

  As I write this, it is a cold, gray afternoon. The meteorologists predict snow, but as this is the South, what little flurries we get won’t stick. There will only be patches of ice on the road tomorrow. It feels like we are in a holding pattern. The future is unpredictable. This collective stress started as nerve-racking, then became comical, and now is exhausting. It's time to make chicken and dumplings. This is a family recipe, and it’s crazy stupid simple. Growing up, my mom would make this when it was cold and rainy like it is now. Served hot, it makes everything better. The recipe my mom had written out for me is very generic.  The measurements are what you feel is right and everything is to taste.  It’s strange because my mom has always been a micro-manager.  This recipe card is probably the most trust she has ever put in me to do something.  The chicken is any part of the chicken as long as there are no bones. The dumplings themselves are a mixture of 1...