I’m one of those strange people who actually reads cookbooks, page by page, cover to cover. My husband considers this a very strange habit but then again he doesn’t get the same thing out of reading them that I do: I can practically taste each recipe as I read it.
I can look through the [...]

Next time you need a colonoscopy, you’d better pray you aren’t insured by Aetna. The insurance company just announced that it won’t be covering the use of propofol, an anesthetic used to make the procedure less painful for patients.
According to Aetna, the medication is “medically unnecessary,” a claim which colonoscopy patients in New York [...]

Ever since that prime rib Christmas dinner I’ve been waddling around in my least-restrictive clothing, miserable and bloated, feeling very much like some fat-riddled sausage crammed into a casing that’s three sizes too small.
That, of course, hasn’t stopped me from sitting down with my family at each and every meal and, although I’ve tried [...]

Every time I place an order at Starbucks I’m reminded of that scene with Steve Martin in L.A. Stories where he orders a de-caf double half caf, with a twist of lemon and all the pretentious yuppies, clad in their designer label fashions and wearing their diamond-studded Raymond Weil watches, all say “me, too” because [...]

Since Christmas is all about giving, I decided to give my husband the exact Christmas dinner he wanted: prime rib with a begrudging serving of green vegetables on the side.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of eating the very same thing. For three days now I’ve regretted my choice. As you can see, that thing [...]

A friend called me up last night because he just couldn’t wait to tell me what a great gift he’d picked out for his wife. She’s been in a funk lately after giving birth to their fourth child and finding that losing the post-baby weight is a lot harder in her late 30s. She’s been [...]

It’s that time of year, and I’m not talking about Christmas. I’m talking about what comes afterwards, when everyone I know will be sharing their New Year’s Resolutions and politely waiting to see if I will share mine in return.
Well, I’m not.
I am NOT going to resolve to diet next year. Oh, no, most definitely [...]

A couple of months ago, we broke down and hired a cleaning service to come in on Mondays. The decision was mostly mine: I’d reached a point where the struggle to keep the house clean, to homeschool and to do paid work online were all a bit too much to squeeze into Mommy’s 14-hour day. [...]

Having tidied the house, washed and folded six loads of laundry, wrapped twelve Christmas presents, written three dozen Christmas cards and cleaned two cat boxes, I was a bit too tuckered to think about cooking dinner. So I asked my husband to do it instead.
Big mistake. Big, big, BIG mistake.
Ordinarily, I tend to view “man [...]

It never fails. Despite dropping hints all year long — sometimes complete with emailed links to specific items, with color- and size-preferences noted — my husband comes to me in the homestretch before Christmas and says he has absolutely no idea what to get for me.
I, meanwhile, have managed to shop for him, our kids, [...]