I've been working through On the Road by Jack Kerouac this week... and I fall more in love with it every day.

Before I began the book, I read about his methods concerning writing.  They're beautifully liberating.

Here are a few of my favorite "essentials" from Kerouac's Belief and Technique for Modern Prose:

Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy

Submissive to everything, open, listening

Be in love with your life

The unspeakable visions of the individual

Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition

Write in recollection and amazement for yourself

Accept loss forever

No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge

Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it

and my favorite...

Something that you feel will find its own form



It's true.

I love San Francisco. 

Especially with Beth Catron.
Especially on Saturdays.   
Especially when the Renegade Craft Fair is in town.

This past weekend, my darling Beth and I took a little morning trip over the Bay to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market.  I promise you: it's a mini-paradise.  Fresh everything: fruit, flowers, cheese... I love it.  One of my favorite stops at the market is inside of the Ferry Building: Miette Patisserie.

Ingredients for a perfect night out:


Ambiance (warmth, space, simplicity, elegance)

A dear friend (not just any friend will do)



An impeccable meal [find at Mua: Roasted Prawns, Sautéed Shiitake, Prosciutto & Coppa, and Ahi Tuna Sashimi (blow-your-mind-good)]

My baby sister Kensey loves to cook -- and, fortunately for us, she's really good.

Our all-time-favorite Kensey specialty is gourmet mac & cheese.  Sounds like an oxymoron, right?  Wrong.  Forget everything you know about macaroni & cheese and try this delicious, savory, grown-up meal.

Here are a few words from the chef herself:

K: What first inspired you to perfect gourmet mac & cheese?
Kensey: I don't like the boxed stuff.  You know, Kraft.  It's too processed... and... you know that sound when you stir it?  I hate that sound.

K: Ok, so we have the recipe (below)... any secrets that make it uniquely your own?
Kensey: Add fontina cheese.

Please enjoy this recipe from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook (with Kensey's perfect addition in bold).

MAC & CHEESE
serves 6 to 8

Kosher salt
Vegetable Oil
1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi (Kens chooses to use cavatappi)
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyére cheese, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
8 ounces Fontina cheese (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small) [optional]
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water.  Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes.  Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it.  Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour.  Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk.  While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth.  Off the heat, add the Gruyére, Cheddar, Fontina, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Add the cooked macaroni and stir well.  Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top.  Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.




Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and wonderfully cheesy throughout...

I remember the first time I saw the necklace.  A long, coppery-colored gold chain draped in my mom's hands as she showed me the small diamond-shaped metal pendant that hung from it.  The tiny opals set into the pendant looked like mermaid scales to me.

"This is what your great-grandmother left to you, Katy." 

She tucked it back into the black velvet box and told me that she would keep it safe until I was old enough to wear it.  This past year, we found the box again and I was overjoyed to see the necklace - the image that I had held in my memory for so many years.  Monetarily, I have no idea if it is worth anything at all - but to me, the necklace is more precious than anything else I own.

It is a strange and valuable feeling to hold a thing in your hands that was treasured by a young girl in the early 1900's.  She looked in the mirror at the piece drooped around her neck, unaware that one day in the next century her great-granddaughter would be doing the same.  We stand on both sides of the mirror - decades between us - but connected by this single gold chain with an opal pendant.