(This piece also appears on HuffPost.) An entire wall of Hallmark Christmas ornaments loomed large in the gift shop at Chicago's Palmer House Hotel. My seven-year-old son, Harry, his dad,... read more →
My son’s blue, Cher headpiece cookie and his frosted version of sorority president Elle Woods landed center stage on the cookie platter this year, set off by his cousin David’s... read more →
It was Christmas 2003 when my son, then thirteen, transformed the cookie cutout of a toy soldier into Marge... read more →
I've noticed a pattern recently among the stroller crowd in my neighborhood. Night or day, it seems that the people pushing prams are more engaged with their phones than they... read more →
Rummaging through some of the boxes I still have in my hometown storage site, I came across a turkey cookbook that my son contributed to with a group of young... read more →
A guest blog from family historian Rikshala Tarkovka. Tashkent, 1762. The Winter of Big Troubles. Every winter was a winter of big... read more →
For years my cousin Rich (aka Rikshala) has been sending me “true” stories about our Russian Jewish ancestors, the Tarkovka family. According to Rikshala, as early as the 7th century... read more →
I’ve been entering The Twilight Zone lately to watch some of my favorite old episodes. Last night, I was drawn in once again by “Number 12 Looks just Like You.”... read more →
When I started this blog three months ago, I swore there'd be no recipes. But today I can’t help... read more →
My readers in Turkey and I found each other by pure serendipity. Yep. It was my clueless foray into Facebook advertising and an inadvertent “Country” click that launched an audience... read more →
