The “punschkrapfen” — punch donut — is very much its own thing now, but my understanding is that once, it was what you did with your leftover cake. See, running a traditional Austrian bakery meant you were always fussing with your cake, slicing the top off so you could layer it on top of the …
Hello, my name is Pam Mandel. Today, I am fifty-one years old. I’m as surprised by that as anyone. Ask me anything.
My friend Nia makes beautiful collage like artwork out of vintage tins and tin type photographs and other stuff. I own two pieces of her work (this is one of them, he’s the Patron Saint of Bees) and bought a small one for my mom as a Hannukah gift. Her work is getting more and …
I turned 50 in January and slid in to 2014 not particularly feeling my age — that seems like the best one could ask for from what is meant to be such a significant birthday. Kurt Vonnegut wrote about turning 50 in Breakfast of Champions; he described it as crossing the peak of a roof …
Left: Fern Ridge reservoir, drained for winter. Right: Mural in Springfield.
“Are you going to Africa?” the driver asked as I sat down in my taxi to the Seattle airport. Were my REI conversion pants were a giveaway? “Yes,” I told him, “I’m headed to Tanzania.” “I knew it! When you got in the cab I was immediately happy,” he shouted. As a college student in …