My baby sister turned 24 last week. She celebrated, to my shock and horror, by jumping out of a plane and skydiving through the air with her boyfriend, an adrenaline junkie whom I have yet to meet. She told me it was happening in a text the day before. The detail was crammed between her… Continue reading Layla

It’s been two and a half years since I packed up my little red car, left Ohio behind for the third time, and drove the 18 hours to Austin. At the time, more than anything else, I was following a burning desire to demystify the one city that has always enchanted me. I pictured a… Continue reading Home, from scratch

The past year has left me in an almost permanent state of nostalgia. I listen to a lot of Tom Petty (still able to smell the trampled grass and spilled beer from seeing him live as a teenager), I get emotional at the drop of a hat, I look through old pictures like a war… Continue reading Sweet Sixteen

It’s rare that people make their lunch anymore. Adults don’t really have the time, especially on a weekday, to wander through their kitchens and throw something together. Restaurants capitalize on their customer’s tendency to dine out at this time of day, offering shorter versions of their delicious menus for reduced prices. If you haven’t tried… Continue reading The Lunch Break

I’m better at cooking alone. My sisters and I joke that we all have that trait — super difficult to work with in the kitchen, so bossy and condescending — and that we get it from our father, one who still struggles to delegate tasks without a booming “I said MINCED!” when you do something… Continue reading Cooking with boys