One Cookbook to Rule Them All

I am astounded and overwhelmed by the vast number of cookbooks which are available anywhere from grocery stores to hardware stores to the library. And with the prevalence of recipe websites, you can find directions for any dish in less than .2 seconds. The problem is, many of these recipes are not tried and true.

And that's where this big beauty of a cookbook comes in.

Joy of Cooking contains 4,500 recipes that have been perfected over 75 years. Everything in this book is accurate and delicious. (I sound like an ad, but believe me, no one is paying me for this!)


It contains recipes that are super easy,

fun and adventurous,

and so awesome that I will probably only ever dream about doing them.

Tapping for maple syrup.

(Just kidding! I make grilled cheese all the time and it's so easy,
I have no idea why there is a recipe for it in the book.)

So, consider starting your Christmas Wish List now and consider putting Joy of Cooking on it!

First Week of the Last Year

I just finished my first week of my last year of law school. It was a doozy. I feel like this guy:

When I registered for the fall semester, I was drawn to classes with intriguing titles like "Hate Speech" and "Mental Disability Law Seminar" over classes with boring titles (and material that will actually be tested on the bar) like "Wills & Trusts" and "Marital Property." 


Here's a sampling of the questions that my professors have made my classmates and me discuss this week:

• How would you draft a date rape statute?
• Should the law prevent a church from burning a copy of the Qur'an? (i.e. When should safety and decency trump free speech?)
• If you had to choose, would you rather have quadriplegia, blindness, deafness, epilepsy, or a cognitive disability?
• How should the law define "family"?
• Should people with mental disabilities who have committed crimes be forced to take medication in order to make them competent to stand trial even though they otherwise would not be competent?

Come to think of it, I highly doubt that I will ever have a significant say in society on any of the above topics, and yet my heart and brain get invested as if I will. But, I guess that's just the nature of academia: lots of theoretical discussion in class and and it's the clinics, summer jobs, and post-grad career that teach you the nitty gritty of practice.

For now, I will choose to enjoy this last year of the mental gymnastics that we call "law school."

Mutton Busting

At rodeos, parents with children under six can volunteer their little girl or boy to compete in an event called "mutton busting." This is how it works.


1. Parent carries child, who is scared stiff, toward a large sheep that is being restrained by two, strong, full grown cowboys. The child buries her face in the parent's neck.

2. Parent places child on the sheep's back, tells him to hold on tight, and the sheep bolts off. The child buries his face in the sheep's neck.

3. Within seconds, the child is thrown off, and his or her little body does scary things in the air.

4. The child hits the ground, begins bawling, and is scooped back up into the arms of the parent.

Something in my gut tells me that when I have little kids, I will not be volunteering them to mutton bust!

Double Rainbow, All the Way

Flying into the Denver International Airport, I was greeted with dark clouds sending sheets of rain to the ground, sunshine on my plane, lightning, bad turbulence, and a double rainbow. It was a pretty spectacular way to be welcomed by a state of many weather extremes!

Big Trees

Here are my favorite photos from our two night camping trip to Sequoia National Park on the way home from a wedding in Napa.

He intentionally smashes my face like that.

A Napa Wedding

This past weekend, I roadtripped to Napa with my husband, an old friend, and a new friend to celebrate the marriage of our friends, Caroline & Lucas. They are amazing people as individuals and, together, they make one happy, adventurous, fabulous couple. It was such a privilege to celebrate their wedding with them.


We witnessed the super sweet (and super quick!) ceremony, and then we were shuttled up, up, up the hills to a reception at the bride's parents' vineyard overlooking Napa Valley.


We celebrated the bride's Northern California roots with wine produced from the family vineyard. So sophisticated! We celebrated the groom's Tennesee roots with contra dancing. So hick!

The happy couple.

My roadtrip buddies (Daniella & Karen) with Napa Valley behind us.

Congratulations, Caroline & Lucas! May the upcoming decades be filled with tons of joy and adventures.