Here we are in 2026, a year when trusting anything feels like a personal risk. Institutions? Questionable. Systems? Broken. Grocery availability? A fever dream.But you know what you can trust? Kumquats.Tiny, aggressive little citrus optimism sweet and tart flavor bombs that can improve anything—even bland, sad coleslaw. Yes, coleslaw, I swear. Trust me, I’m a …
I wish I were in southern India right now—sitting at a chaat house, wearing a colorful kurti that I paid four American dollars for, plastic chair wobbling, elbow-to-elbow with strangers, scooping up yogurty raita that absolutely does not contain pomegranate seeds… and is definitely not high protein. If we were actually in southern India, no …
If you’re ever lucky enough to holiday in southern India and stay in someone’s home, breakfast will probably involve Anda Bhurji—curried eggs made the way Indian families actually eat them, not the way they appear on laminated restaurant menus. Back home in Big Bear Lake in 2026, I make them as cottage-cheese-packed curried egg bites, …
Here in 2026, we’ve apparently decided that cottage cheese belongs in everything. And honestly? I’m not mad about it. Mainly because, as 2026 dawned, I became obsessed with cottage cheese egg bites But let’s not pretend we haven’t been here before. Remember the 1990s, when every dinner involved low-fat sour cream, low-fat cheese, and meat …
Watching the news lately has been surreal, especially for someone who has spent a lot of time traveling through Minnesota and the Midwest. In my mind, those places have always represented calm, kindness, salt of the earth small town charm and a certain grounded, neighborly decency. God-fearing, friendly Americans. The kind of places where people …