Have a Delicious Weekend.

While backpacking in Europe in my 20s with my sister and cousin, we took a red-eye train from Nice to Paris. There was another couple in the economy car with us and the man happened to work for the rails and had a “Magic” key that was used to unlock the overhead benches to turn into beds! So we ended up all having sleeping platforms which was such a relief (it’s something like a 10hour train ride). He swore us to secrecy though as he could get in trouble for using the key, so “shhhh”.

I love Alex. He talks like my parents (I’m 40).
I live in Paris and when our car broke two years ago we decided not to replace it. Now we take all our long journeys by train and love it! We can play cards, read, work, or sleep, and the best part (esp with kids): no bathroom breaks! You can go pee and the train doesn’t have to stop!

My husband and I went to India a number of years ago, and decided to take an overnight train to Varanasi from a town near Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). Our whole India trip was two weeks, so it was pretty full on. We had started the morning at a tiger reserve where we had breakfast, and then we were on the move the whole day. Our agent had booked first class, and in my mind it was going to be like Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling limited. It was …. Not. The cabin itself was fine, fresh laundered sheets but there was nowhere to buy food or drink on a 14 hour train, and the toilets were something else (so I was glad I couldn’t have anything to drink). The train took longer than expected so by the time we got to Varanasi, all we had eaten in about 28 hours was a bag of crisps we had eaten at the station just before we boarded. Fortunately the other person in our cabin gave us bottles of water.
It was an experience – one that was pretty hair raising at the time, but I’m glad I had.

On train trips…

A few weeks ago I took the Amtrak Downeaster – a train ride that took me from Portland, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts. It was the end of October and peak leaf-peeping time. And it should have been beautiful. Maybe in a way, it was. I was leaving early from a trip where a 14-year-old friendship of mine was slowly coming to an end. I sat at that train station, and then on that train, without headphones or a book or a snack. I listened to college students laugh hysterically, watched a couple enjoy hours in synchronized silence, chewed all the gum I had left, and let the rhythmic beautiful train help me mourn.

i have a distinct memory of when i first saw that brooke shields add. i was very young, probably 7 or 8. i was at my older cousins’ house for the weekend. they had a rolling stone magazine, which i had never seen but could immediately tell it was for older kids, cool older kids. as i was flipping through it i came across her calvin klein add and it stopped me cold. i had never seen such a beautiful person. i had never seen such poses. i didn’t know what the poses meant, but even at that age i knew they were meant to be provocative in some way. i stared at the add for a longtime, like it was art. i don’t recall giving it another thought after that but clearly it made an impression on me as all these years later brooke’s interview brought that memory flooding back.
brava to brooke for emerging from young stardom as a totally sane and wonderful human being!

What is zucchini soup?? I have so much in my freezer leftover from the garden this summer, and I NEED this recipe! All I know to do with it is Smittenkitchen’s zucchini bread (to die for, but I’ve already made it about 85x this year). Please share!

I (a fully vaccinated mother of an 11mo baby in Canada) would be curious to read something about parents worried about vaccinating their children. Maybe a debate. Anything that isn’t just telling me to vaccinate my kid without questioning it.

My best friend is just like that. Her unwavering loyalty makes me feel so loved. There are few people out there who will back you up and build you up, no matter what.

Speaking on the “Thanksgiving parfait,” that sounds a lot like my family unnamed vegetable casserole dish that makes it to just about every holiday meal under our roof. I’m such a big fan of the concoction that I have a very distinct memory of requesting it in place of a birthday cake one year when I was in elementary school. Alas, the week of my celebration, I caught a virus of some sort and I cried at the dinner table because I was so discouraged at the fact I could not taste or smell it.

I write for a pop culture site in my spare time and just got screeners for a show I’m very excited for, so I’m digging in to that this weekend!

Also, I will be on the hunt for peppermint joe-joe’s at Trader Joe’s. My grandmother used to send me boxes and boxes of them when I didn’t live near a TJ’s, and that memory has made them my favorite TJ’s product *ever*. I am always giddy when they start stocking those during the holiday season!

For my post bar-exam trip my mom and I took a 22 day trip bouncing around Europe to a bunch of cities and countries we’d never been to before. I’d read about how beautiful the train ride from Oslo to Bergen, Norway was but wasn’t sure if I wanted to “give up” any days of our trip in a tiny town like Bergen. We ended up doing it and it was probably the most magical part of our trip. We literally cried on the train about how beautiful the train trip was. Bergen has this amazing tram up a small mountain (the Floibanen funicular!) that you take up and then hike down right into the fish market and wharf. I loved the entire trip but if I can’t wait to bring my daughters to Bergen!!

Maryn’s comment reminded me of the episode of Friends when Rachel makes the dessert trifle, but the cookbook pages are stuck together, and she mixes in beef and peas.

I love Emma’s comment. I especially resonate with texting a guy just “looking for a feeling.” I think most of us have been there! Emma you sound cool as hell and I’m so glad you’ve found your flow lately.