Household Words, 7

On Christmas Eve, Louie, Monique and my father went to the grocery store on a last-minute errand—whipped cream, or vanilla– something like that. My mom was checking on everything, in calm sequence: the oven, turkey steaming and sweet potatoes bubbling; the microwave, with a casserole dish of steamed canned corn; the refrigerator, where cranberry sauce […]

Escape from Spaghetti

For a vegetarian, the only escape from Roman pasta is falafel. While I saw two Chinese restaurants in Rome, neither of them had a single vegetarian entree. So I went seeking falafel. My hotel had been advertised as in the Jewish quarter– one of the things that appealed to me. The Jewish quarter in Rome […]

Critical Mass

Not to get too meta on you (but I think meta is very over, and I find it soothing to remain passe), I wrote a bit of criticism recently, and I’m going to criticize the whole notion of criticism. First: I don’t know that I believe in criticism. I don’t know if I believe in […]

Household Words, 6

This is an unusual Christmas. My brother Jerry is in Europe, studying British history, and my brother Louie’s friend was having a big party, so he won’t arrive until Christmas Eve. The other odd twist is that my cousin Monique had come. When we were kids, Monique double-dated with Jerry, and I was stuck with […]