Dinner Recipes

I was standing in the parking lot of my local grocery store last Tuesday, fumbling for my keys, when a gust of wind carried the … Read more

This was supposed to be a slow-simmered Sunday sauce. I had the ground beef thawed, the cans of San Marzanos lined up on the counter … Read more

I was standing in the frozen foods aisle last Tuesday when the smell hit me—not from anything nearby, but from somewhere deep in my memory. … Read more

I was standing in line at the hardware store, of all places, holding a bag of lightbulbs and trying to remember if I needed more … Read more

Marta wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by her place last Tuesday to borrow a steam cleaner—don’t ask—and the smell hit me before I … Read more

There used to be a tiny diner attached to a gas station just off Route 9, the kind of place with cracked vinyl booths and … Read more

I was standing in the grocery store parking lot last November, fumbling for my keys, when the smell of someone’s hot apple cider cut through … Read more

The accountant at my dentist’s office—a woman named Brenda with a voice like sandpaper and a calendar full of cat stickers—was the last person I … Read more

My brother-in-law, Mark, had claimed for years that he hated short ribs. “Too fatty,” he’d say, pushing them around his plate at restaurants. “All that … Read more

It was 11:47 PM on a random Wednesday last November, and I had a sudden, almost desperate craving for Sunday dinner. Not the whole chaotic … Read more