I made this traditional and very elegant Indian soup for the day after Christmas. It is warm, fragrant with spices, and rich with a bit of heavy cream. The recipe assumes you know how to cook by the seat of your pants as I do. Adjust to your taste. Serve with crusty, buttered bread. Better[...]
Family sing-alongs are fun. They encourage unity, can sometimes bring out the hambones in the unlikeliest family members, and create memories to last a lifetime. So print out this ready-made song list, gather the family, turn off the TV, shut down the electronics, and SING! Warning: For those sensitive souls, the rubber cigar verses are[...]
From A Catholic Woman’s Guide to Relationships, TAN Books, due in 2020 *** Mom was beautiful, smart, highly educated, and deeply devoted to the faith, but she and I bumped heads for decades. Where she was calm and of good Mid-west stock, I was a wild California girl. She was an introvert; I am an[...]
Since my blog is aptly named “Sweet Talk” it can’t hurt to post a much requested, holiday dessert recipe: my Grandmother Riley’s Famous Fruitcake. Since Grandma has passed, I can confess the tweaks I made in the version posted here: I changed out the citron for chopped dried apricots. They provide a nice (and[...]
1969 – It was afternoon in the late summer and we were bored. My girlfriend, Gail, and I were plopped down on the warm grass in front of our house when my sister’s boyfriend drove up. He got out of his jacked-up muscle car, we all said hi, and then he and my sister went[...]
From The Passion of the Christ – 2004 True confessions: I once—and for too long—pursued love, romance, (and yes, sex) with a vengeance, trying to find meaning and happiness. In that regard, I’m just “one in a million” who was blind to the beauty of true romance. Most thankfully, my True Love never took his[...]
What a dump*, I thought as we surveyed the old house. I had just started working for my father in his commercial real estate appraisal business (where we’d work together for the next thirty years!) On this day early in my career I would learn a lesson that would serve me the rest of my[...]
It’s January! Time for packing away holiday decorations and tossing out or donating other things we really don’t need. Our interior life needs to be decluttered, too, since we all struggle with “inordinate attachment” to things, outcomes, and even our relationships. Too often, these can take up our time and attention and block us from[...]
BOOM! Your marriage is in trouble and DIVORCE IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. What do you do? As with a medical emergency, get help now! Waiting only invites death. The qualified and trained ER staff will assess your immediate needs and give you a list of things to do. Yes, you may need extensive[...]
It was 1963 and I had just turned twelve. I’d gotten my period a year before and was developing faster than most girls in my class. Where they were still short, rosy-cheeked, and flat-chested, I was six inches taller, growing into a B-cup, and getting acne. It was an awkward, confusing time for me. Sadly,[...]
