November Gingerbread
One of my family’s favorite comfort foods is gingerbread, the cake variety. I’ve always loved warm, spicy baked goods, and this comfort food is perfect for fall and winter. I adapted a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for this try. Gingerbread Ingredients 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour, plus more for dusting pan 1/2 teaspoon bakin

Giving Thanks
This Thanksgiving, I reflect on how very, very blessed we are. Yes, it’s been a hard year, a year of terrible loss, grief and pain. But it’s also been a year of rebuilding, of adventure, and of the most wonderful inpouring of love I’ve ever experienced from my family and friends. I could not have gotten through this year without those I cherish, and this Thanksgiving, I think of them. My awesome sons and I are healthy, thri

My Office Assistant
One of the many reasons I enjoy working at home – my lap never gets cold. The Law of Panda is that you do not get up from your chair, disrupting her laptime, until she is ready to get up. Only then can you move about the house. Fortunately, she’s a benevolent ruler.

Writing Can Be Painful
This is the third year I’ve participated in the writing madness that is NaNoWriMo, producing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. The first year, 2007, was easy, and I was relatively proud of my story, Strange Things. I wrapped it up at around 60,000 words at the end of the month. The second year, I challenged myself, shooting for a longer book, and wrote my unfinished 86,000 word volcano novel during November. I wrote myself into a plot structure I disliked, and couldn’t finish it, but far surpassed the minimum required word count so it counted as a ‘win’ for NaNoWriMo purposes. I am embarras

Anchorage Sunset
Spectacular Anchorage sunset last night. Sometimes I miss living up here.