The neighborhood fall potluck was in four hours and I’d completely forgotten. I mean, I’d known about it for weeks, but somehow it slipped my … Read more

My neighbor asked why I couldn’t just use candy corn instead of regular marshmallows for a fall treat. I started to explain why that wouldn’t … Read more

It was 10:47 PM on a random Tuesday in October, and I had an overwhelming need to make something that looked like it belonged at … Read more

I was halfway through a stack of overdue library books—sprawled on my couch with a cup of tea that had gone cold—when the plumber, a … Read more

This was supposed to be a batch of plain sugar cookies. I had the butter softening, the flour measured, and a very specific vision of … Read more

I was digging through the back of my pantry last Tuesday, searching for a bag of pretzels I knew I’d hidden from myself, when my … Read more

My neighbor, a retired kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Gable, watched me fumbling with a piping bag one October afternoon. I was trying—and failing—to make fancy … Read more