If someone aims a gun at your head, it is a good idea — as a matter of self-preservation — to disarm him if you can. An analogous situation sometimes occurs at the bridge table when a particular opponent poses a threat to your contract. In that case, you try, if possible, to eliminate ...
Cookbook author Stef Ferrari says you don’t need a recipe to make her seasonal fruit crostini with ricotta and honey. Instead, you need to trust your instincts. Choose any seasonal fruit to pair with fresh ricotta, quality honey, and optional crunchy bits or herbs. Some of her favorite ...
Eleven days left until son Benjamin and Joanna’s wedding. Time is going much too fast. I sewed my daughter Verena’s dress last week. Tomorrow my goal is to sew mine. Joanna and I plan to do some grocery shopping for the wedding one day this week. Mostly for dry ingredients and things that can be bought ahead. Next week, my friend Ruth will come and we will get the groceries that need to be frozen or refrigerated with her. This is the seventh wedding Ruth has helped with wedding grocery shopping. I don’t know what I would have done without all her help over these weddings. ...
Now that cooler weather is ahead, it is time to think about red wines grown in our region. Over the past 30 years or so, our regional wineries have begun to hone their skills, both in the vineyard and cellar, with this variety. Typically, we have not been known for great reds, but Cabernet Franc is beginning to gain significant recognition. It is widely grown in Europe in such classic regions as the Loire, Bordeaux, Anjou and Medoc, and has become a mostly reliable, somewhat-winter-hardy-variety here in the Grand River Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA). The talents of our ...
DEAR ANNIE: I have been divorced for three years and share custody of my two children, ages 10 and 13. My ex-husband remarried about a year ago, and his wife is kind, involved and genuinely seems to care about my children. I know that is something to be grateful for. The problem is that lately I feel as though she is trying to become their mother rather than simply being a loving stepmother. She buys them clothes without mentioning it to me, attends school events, sets rules and consequences and has started referring to them as “our kids.” Recently, she posted a family photo on ...
DEAR DR. ROACH: My 82-year-old husband is unable to smell or taste. This has been the case since 2024, when he was hit by a car while out for a walk. He sustained a compression fracture to his spine. While he wasn’t knocked out, he did get thrown backward and sustained some trauma to his head. Since then, he’s had no sense of smell or taste. I see him drifting further and further into depression, and I believe it’s primarily because he no longer has the pleasure that is associated with taste. He has seen our general physician and an ear, nose and throat doctor. He’s been given ...
