Baby Steps

After spending many months hopelessly addicted to this amazing blog, I’m thrilled to introduce myself as (I think!) the last of the new contributors.  You’ll be able to catch me here every other Wednesday.  Not only am I new to Not Dabbling, I’m also new to blogging!  Yep, this is my first ever blog post. [...]

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Wendell Berry, Carl Sagan, and a little bit of John Donne

Wendell Berry is that rarest of intellectuals–a man of the ivory tower who got his hands in the dirt. An academic, author of both fiction and essay, and, most importantly, a farmer, he has written extensively since the 60s on the problems with our industrial food system, predicting many of the worst excesses that we [...]

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Cottage Cheese

Our family likes cheese. A lot. I don’t know if that’s a regional thing because my husband isn’t so crazy about it. As for my daughter, I have to cut her off from cheese or she’ll eat it with every meal. Now, when I say I like cheese, I don’t mean I like gobs and [...]

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Sunday photos: Dark Days/What’s in the larder?

Our Dark Days Challenge starts this week. To remind everyone, sign up here to share your SOLE (Seasonal, Organic, Local, Ethical) meal once a week through March. Here on Not Dabbling, and over on (not so) Urban Hennery, we’ll do biweekly highlights from the participating blogs, focusing on each region:  Sage for the West, Jen for [...]

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Handmade Gifts for a REAL Holiday: Making Cards

The holiday season is upon us. One of the gifts I decided to give my nieces this year is cards. At first I thought I would make them each a stack of personalized “monogrammed” cards. Then I realized that they are at a point (8 and 10 years old) where they like projects and new [...]

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And then we feast!

As I sat down at the table yesterday, I realized how fortunate I am to be so connected to my food, to those that grow it and that we now have the ability to host family and friends at our house to share the bounty. The act of preparing the meal was the result of [...]

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To be Thankful

I am Thankful (this is my thankful face^). In the past, I’ve felt like writing the whole “I am thankful for…” thing was ridiculously primary-school. It always felt forced and stuffy. I am thankful for my dog and my house and my Polly Pocket. It really wasn’t until this year that I realized that listing [...]

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Don’t buck the system

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Needless to say, I love the cooking part, especially as my sister-in-law and mother-in-law are also fantastic cooks. Since one is Hungarian and the other Chinese, and I’m Greek, we have some very very interesting family dinners under our belts. But apparently, you don’t mess with Thanksgiving traditions, especially among [...]

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A Thanksgiving Dinner

We have so many sisters here now, that the table is too crowded for just one person to make a meal. So we’re making our own Thanksgiving dinner, and sharing it with you. *** For some reason, about 5 years ago my family (it’s Xan by the way) decided that they are completely in love [...]

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Spinning A Yarn

Yes, i spin yarn. No, my wheel is not an antique and neither are the robust group of friends i’ve made here in Oregon who are part of the even more robust fiber community. My wheel i picked up used at a great price and my friends i picked up from fiber stores and a [...]

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