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…

I got to sing and play Saturday night at the same fundraiser I mentioned in my last post. My friend Terry is director of a program called Housing for New Hope, which was one of the recipients of the money raised. He is an amazing harmonica player and asked another church friend, Donna, and me…

They had already sung two songs before he stepped out from the ensemble from the Durham Rescue Mission to sing a solo. The small group was made up of men who were clients of the mission rather than staff. They were dressed alike in white shirts and brown ties; most of them set their Bibles…

I spent Saturday with a group from church on a “LifeCraft Retreat,” where we built little boats as metaphors of our life journeys. We all started with the same pieces of wood and a roomful of materials and possibilities and each emerged with small crafts that both showed parts of our stories and set sail…

Thanks, Christine, for the poetry party. fall these are my favorite dayswhen the summer heat beginsto fade into fall’s crisp paletteof expectancy and comfort I want to match the colorswith aromas savory and sweetlayers of flavor and hope thatsustain as the nights grow long and winter hangs on the horizonbarren branches and grey morningsthe chill…

I was looking out Towanda’s Window the other day and saw this: Justice is what love looks like in public – Cornel West The phrase has stuck with me because I’ve kept thinking about what love looks like in public, and what form love takes as it gets lived out in our various relationships. Church,…

Jorge is one of the people I work with who inspires me. He is a dishwasher who does a great job, but that’s not what gets me. Jorge works at both the restaurant at Duke and the Durham restaurant where I work. From Monday to Friday, he works from 7 am to 3 pm at…

I mow the grass not out of conquest,but obligation — even simple necessity:if I don’t, our little dog disappears inthe growing greenery that passes fora lawn. I’m not much of a turf builder.And so I pull-start the machine andbegin traversing the yard, cuttingpatterns as Ella runs ahead, buoyantlyannouncing impending doom to theweeds and daffodils. We…