Ripe, jewel-toned berries. Vinegar. Sugar. A little heat.More
lisa
About lisa
Lisa is the author of the award-winning memoir, A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood, which was an National Book Critics Circle Top-10 Independent Press Pick for 2011. With Caroline, she's the co-founder of Learning to Eat and co-editor of The Cassoulet Saved our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat. She holds an MA in creative writing, a PhD in English and has taught literature and creative writing widely, most recently in the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco.
Posts by Lisa Harper:
Blueberries, Boats, & The Bard III
Blueberries, Boats, & the Bard II
A few days after our Roseburg interlude, we drove south, loaded up on groceries at the nearest Trader Joe’s which was about a 45 minute drive from the cabin, and settled into our rental, near Lake of the Woods.
Blueberries, Boats, & the Bard I
The Salad that Saved Family Dinner
There was this one night we had dinner together, when we all found our way into the kitchen from our separate places–one from soccer, one from swimming, one from work–all at the same time.
That night, together, we were more than the sum of our parts.
A husband, a wife, a daughter, a son. Usually, on weeknights, we spin in our separate orbits, with our own interests, desires, events, activities, chores, work, projects, needs. But that night, the spinning stopped, and we focused on each other when we weren’t expecting to and the result was pure joy. Which is, of course, why people make such a fuss about family dinner. Because it can be a gorgeous, grounding thing. Sure, it can be hard and hair-raising. But it is a thing worth fighting for. A thing worth preserving when you can. A thing that can be composed, a thing that can bring composure.
More