Random Thoughts

A Rite of Passage: AARP

A Rite of Passage: AARP

Well, it finally happened to me. I was opening my mail—feeling fit as a fiddle—listening to really cool new music—when I saw it. MY FIRST MAILING FROM AARP! Ack! I know for a fact (since I heard someone from AARP say it in a meeting not even a month ago) that AARP doesn’t want to […]

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Girls and Golf: My Ultimate Sports Dilemma

Girls and Golf: My Ultimate Sports Dilemma

I have mixed feelings about golf, and mostly mixed negative feelings at that. My father never played it, but as a young workingwoman, I really used to resent the exclusion of my own gender as the “guys” would go off on a summer afternoon and “work” on the course. Sure, it was fun for them, […]

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The Dressing Room, a Rave Review

The Dressing Room, a Rave Review

I’ve been meaning to get to Michel Nischan‘s restaurant The Dressing Room in Westport, Connecticut, for years. I first met him when he was the chef at Heartbeat, one of the very first farm-to-table restaurants in Manhattan (at the W Hotel on 49th Street). He was really nice back then, and, guess what, he’s still […]

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A Visit to My Kitchen: Maya Rodale

A Visit to My Kitchen: Maya Rodale

I have a very special guest in my kitchen today—my daughter Maya! Well, she’s usually in my kitchen quite a lot; she’s got the inside scoop on the truth of what really goes on in the real Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen. Fortunately, she doesn’t divulge too many secrets about me. I am so proud of […]

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A Visit to My Kitchen: John Grogan

A Visit to My Kitchen: John Grogan

My dear friend John Grogan is in my kitchen today, chatting about eggplant steaks, vegetable chili, and the living and breathing kitchen tool he could never do without. John Grogan is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Marley & Me, and the best-selling memoir The Longest Trip Home, as well as a […]

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Perfect Happiness and Other Questions

Perfect Happiness and Other Questions

My local paper, the Morning Call, asked me to answer these questions, from a book called Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire, which Rodale published last year. It’s a great book, featuring cultural figures from Jane Goodall to Johnny Cash answering a series of personal questions made popular by the French writer Marcel Proust (their answers appeared […]

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Magazines Won't Die, But Here Is Why I Love the Internet

Magazines Won’t Die, But Here Is Why I Love the Internet

Last week I wrote about why I believe magazines won’t die. And it’s still true. But ironically, writing that made me love the Internet even more. Here’s why: Within minutes of posting, I had a nice email from the editor of Garden and Gun magazine. Then, four other blogs picked up my post. I checked […]

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Why Magazines Won't Die

Why Magazines Won’t Die

I spend more time than most thinking about whether or not magazines will live or die, since my family and I own a few of them. I’ve been to conferences about whether or not they will survive. I am barraged by consultants trying to convince me magazines are on the verge of death, and therefore […]

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