Edible Flower Salad (Libbie Summers and Chia Chong)

A Lesson in Geography and Modesty

There’s nothing like a worldly person to remind you you’re not.

When I meet Merveille Kasongo, her body language reads like one of those signs on the back of a semitruck that warn: “Stay back 200 feet.” Her arms remains locked at her sides and without smiling she looks directly at me with big dark eyes lined with lashes so thick I wonder how they could be real. My brassy American sensibilities are, of course, injured.

Dark Chocolate Ginger Cream Pie

Ginger is my mother. Growing up, none of my friend’s mothers had such an “exotic” name. I loved saying her name and to this day I still refer to her using her full name “Ginger Patrick–not mom. This is Ginger Patrick’s pie. A rich dark chocolate pie with just a subtle hint of ginger–not at all like Ginger Patrick.

The Unexamined Easter

I’m all about living a thoughtful, introspective existence, but some things are better left unexamined.

Like the Easter Bunny.