I think chestnuts look tribal in their protective cupule.
Walking the Chicago Green City Market on Saturday, I saw chestnuts,

striped turkish eggplants,

and the elusive famed yellow beets.

Passing up crêpes (skillyfully made below),

I opted for plummy bread pudding and butternut squash pie (both good Thanksgiving dessert ideas).

The fractal cauliflower seemed to [...]

It begins with the pink panther theme from across a Chicago intersection.

I went up the L platform to meet my friend Brian, a groovy cat himself, and off we went to Pilsen, a Chicago area with notable Mexican food, in a city of very notable Mexican food.

Passing the rainbow building, we went to [...]

I thought some of you might be interested in a talk I gave today on behalf of Knight Foundation.
This morning, my colleague Robertson Adams recorded my presentation of the News Challenge Garage (the incubator site I helped build for the Knight News Challenge contest to fund innovative digital news delivery ideas) at the Communications [...]

Last year about this time, Dana and I picked apples at Carter Mountain (more from that adventure at the bottom of this post), and so it’s applesauce I’m craving right now in Miami, where the leaves don’t change.
Spiked with cinnamon, and topped with macerated pluots, the kthread version can be taken further (toast some [...]

The lily below, from the pond out in front of the magic cottage, is now my computer wallpaper.

As I have a peculiar habit of changing the wallpaper every few days, I thought I’d share with you a set of Flickr photos that are in rotation on my monitors (I’ll continue to update this set in [...]

A week ago I gave a talk about my dissertation to a wonderfully supportive group of colleagues at the University of Virginia, and I launched what I’m now calling an open dissertation—a blog, at culturemodding.com, with updates on the project (the whole dissertation is called Culture Modding: How We Play With Our Food, Money, and [...]

Yesterday morning, seemingly out of nowhere, rain began drumming on the magic cottage and the light began to shift.
Just back from traveling, I looked in the mirror and thought about what I wanted to happen before the end of the day:

And then I walked out front, started my car for the first time [...]

Yesterday morning, I went to the Charlottesville farmers’ market and almost bought beautiful figs.

It was too difficult to choose between the tomatoes

that stretched out in breathtaking rows at Waterpenny Farms and Radical Roots.

I reluctantly left this place of thoughtful people and food, and drove to the District, where I came upon a group [...]

After a storm, suspended rain drops reveal hidden webs on plants, dot the insides of flowers.

On my way to the University of Virginia this morning, I paused at a small outgrowth that held up a canopy of interlaced threads, much like I was about to do for a small audience of colleagues in the [...]

I usually visit farmers’ markets alone—partly because I like to wander dreamily, mostly because I fairly run once it’s within sight, unable to contain my childlike excitement to see what treasures the market vendors have brought that day.
Approaching the Ferry Building yesterday morning, I caught my breath at dusky plums,

deliberated between glowing dried [...]