So you want a new kitchen? Whether you’re considering designing a kitchen using your own architect, a kitchen planner hired through a store like IKEA or Home Depot, or an online planning service, professionals suggest keeping a few things in mind. Plan ahead “Many people start planning their kitchen a year ahead of time, and […]

The Southern staple known as spoonbread — a particular specialty of Kentucky and Virginia — is a Native American dish adopted early on by America’s earliest European settlers. George Washington happened to be a big fan and often served it up at Mount Vernon, Virginia. I love it because of its pudding-like richness, a creamy, […]

For as long as I can remember — or, at least, since people started using Facebook to announce life events — this summer meant one thing to me: Ford’s senior pictures. OK, it also meant Ford’s last full summer at home before college, but that wasn’t real so long as he hadn’t done any senior […]

Pair condenses into one day a call by the Maine Island Trail Association to visit sites by Oct. 8 B y midafternoon, a strong onshore wind was kicking up a wicked chop in Harpswell Sound, pounding my little boat as we motored south along Orr’s Island. After nearly eight hours at the helm, the last […]

The great attraction in growing perennial flowers is that you never have to replant them, at least in theory. This doesn’t make all perennials care-free, though. Few of them let you just sit back to enjoy them year after year once they’re planted. Take coreopsis, for example, a wonderful perennial that ends its first flush […]

There are a few things I could reasonably assume I’d never do in my lifetime: Climb Mt. Everest, find out who shot JFK, and play the board game Risk. Until August 1999, Risk might have been among the possibilities, but an unfortunate episode playing Monopoly with my husband, Dustin, right after our honeymoon, banned me […]

What if you had a prep cook in your kitchen? A sous chef who made sure that all of the slicing and dicing and mincing and zesting was done for you, so that when it came time to make dinner, all you had to do was wash your hands and start cooking? Most of us […]

It’s summer. It’s hot. And we still need to make dinner. We want it to be light, and we want it to be fast, and we want it to be seasonal. We want it to be easy, and we want it to be delicious, and if we are lucky it will also be pretty. This […]

If you’re going to grill a prime rib, the last thing you want is an overcooked gray ring surrounding the rosy interior. We decided to forgo searing the flat cut sides, which meant the roast spent less time over high heat. The reduced amount of searing time was enough to create a browned crust, but […]

I have often said there are no ugly places in Maine. It’s true. Ever since we moved here 10 years ago, I have yet to find a place that isn’t charming or beautiful. From the red- and yellow-colored mountains in the west during leaf peeping season to the lobster boats on the coast bobbing in […]