Over the past several weeks I’ve had to learn how to send text messages because it is my boss’ preferred way of mobile communication. By accident one day, I pressed a button on my phone that read, “T9word,” and discovered my choice enabled my phone to anticipate the word I was typing, thus speeding up…

Lesson One: Remember What It Feels Like. Sunday nights I work at the Durham restaurant. The guy who is my second at Duke works there also, after doing the brunch shift on campus. When he got to work, he told me our Duke dishwasher had not shown up, which meant the cook got to wash…

“Whose picture is on the money?”he asked, before there was paper moneypeopled with presidents. I’ve got a Lincoln,Hamilton, and a couple of Washingtonsbunched up in my pants pocket; wait –lucky day: there’s a Jackson in there, too.Not too many Benjamins around our house. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,”he said, centuries before rendering hadanything to…

Peace,Milton

Tuesday morning I went hiking. I’m not sure I’ve ever written that sentence before because I’m not a hiker, particularly. But Bob, a fellow Pilgrim (as we, at our church, like to identify ourselves) asked me if I wanted to walk the trails along the Eno river, which he likes to do, and so I…

To get up at five-thirty on a Thursday morning in the middle of a week where, thanks to presidential debates and baseball playoff games, I’ve not gotten enough sleep anyway seemed like a ridiculous idea. To spend a couple of hours walking from Chavis Park to the State Capitol in Raleigh when I had a…

Ginger is headed to the big house — MDA jail, that is. She was notified recently of her plight, though she was not told who snitched on her, since that person is now in “witness protection.” Though the actual charges remain unclear, the long and short of it all is she has to raise $2000…

Peace,Milton

This coming weekend is Fall Break at Duke, something universities have added since I was in school. The students get an extra two days off next week, which means I do, too. The short break is a natural segue to a new menu for the restaurant, and a chance to try some new things. The…

I’ve never really thought of myself as a scientist, but I’m learning more and more that I often play one in the kitchen. Much of why we do the things we do with our food comes down to basic science. If I don’t want my balsamic vinaigrette to break, for example, then I must be…