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I have been baking for much of my life and seriously got down to working with yeast dough in my mid-twenties. That was mostly making pizza for my family, but always homemade pizza dough. that started when I was a young teen, helping mom in the kitchen at my parents’ bar learning how to make pizza dough and other things. Years later, making my own pizza was a tradition I took into my first…

Not knowing me as well as some of you might think you know me, you have no idea how brave and determined I have to be to post this picture. because these feet do not go out in public uncovered. Growing up a beach girl, I did go bare foot’n with the best of them, but somewhere along the line, maybe in part due to body shaming (Fat so, and other insults), I just preferred to keep them covered. I…

These thoughts have been swirling in my mind, for a long time really, but this morning in particular. I thought about writing a blog post, though perhaps the audience I hoped would see these thoughts are my friends on my social media account. When I thought about recent trends in what can happen with unpopular posts in social media, I decided to also share those thoughts here, partly to preserve…

Let me introduce you to my dear friend, Donna Lynne Vaux. She has recently published her memoir, and I am so proud of her and love the story. Because I know her, and we have partnered in several creative projects together, I am happy to introduce her to you. I always love it when I can bring my friends together, because my friends are scattered around the country, maybe even farther. So, while I…

It has been so long that I have written anything that wasn’t a sermon, or social media post, or email that I am not sure if I even remember how to write. But recently, when I was talking with someone about my struggles with Mother’s Day, they suggested that I plan something for myself to make the day special. I have no doubt that my family loves me, but most of them do not do traditional things,…

You have probably heard the expression, ‘”If you want to make an omelet you’ve got to break some eggs.” But a souffle is a whole other matter. If you want to make a souffle or a meringue, you have to break those eggs very carefully, so that you can separate the egg yolk from the egg white. If you break the yolk in the process of separating the egg, the yolk will contaminate the egg white and…

Some of my readers may remember a long string of posts I had written a few years back when my blog was relatively new, under the theme “Stronger Than the Cookie.” It was something my daughter had said to encourage me and the series chronicled my 55-pound weight loss journey. I maintained that loss for at least three years and felt really good. I had a good plan that I followed and still will not…

It really has not occurred to me to write to you, because you are already such a presence in my life. But sometimes a girl needs her mom, even when that girl is a woman, even when her mom is nowhere in sight. I have not wanted to give up on my blog, but looking back over previous posts, I see that I have only written and published two since Christmas and have two drafts started but have not found…

When I found out that I was pregnant with my third child, it was a very bad time in my life, in my marriage. We were both so immature, I did not know how to stand up for myself. We were overseas, and my husband was due for sea duty. I would have been alone in a foreign country when he was at sea, when the baby was born, leaving me alone with two children under two and a half, and a newborn. I had…

My mother was my first cooking teacher. Although I was a student in the time when public schools still had “home economics” classes, I was in Catholic School, and we did not have that benefit. Now, until we moved to the Union Villa, (the hotel, bar and restaurant my parents bought) I was never invited, or required to help with anything in the kitchen. Mom did at all, and I don’t remember even…

I often note special anniversaries and important personal and family dates on my calendar. I don’t know how many others do this, but besides family birthdays and anniversaries, I remember my parents’ birthdays and wedding anniversary, even though they are no longer with us. I also mark and remember the dates they died. In my father’s case I also remember the date of his funeral, simply because it…

I had my first hip surgery when I was ten years old. I don’t remember having any pain, or complaining to my parents that my hip hurt. But one, day as I was walking up the driveway to get my newspapers for my paper route, my father saw my strange gait and said to my mother, “She is walking like a drunken sailor, and one of those in the family is enough.” It turned out that my hip bone was slipping…

(OR, my Monday morning re-set on Wednesday) Since I have not been writing regularly and some of you may be new to me, let me restate some information from my about page. Although my blog is primarily memoir and not religious, I am a retired Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church. Sometimes the Pastor likes to share the spotlight with the Beach Girl:). Whenever I am working with couples…

(Or, my Monday Morning Re-set, delivered on Thursday) Well, first I should explain why I am only ‘more or less” without a pulpit. After a year of retirement in which I did pulpit supply, filling the pulpits of other pastors once a month, I did come out of retirement to take a very part time, two Sundays a month, assignment, that includes everything, preaching, leading worship, sacraments,…

To be honest, I am starting to write this post on Friday evening, to give myself a head start. I have heard it said that if you are starting a new practice, discipline or tradition, like a diet, or quitting smoking, that you should not tell people that you are doing it, at least not for several weeks. The reason behind that is if you fail you are less likely to be embarrassed. At least I think…

It was a simple thing really, but when I shared this story with a 96 year old former parishioner, who could not stop laughing she said, “Pastor Michele, you should write this down. ” Now, in quoting her, I am not telling you that this is funny, or that you will laugh, I am just following instructions. If you have read any of my posts about making bread in the last year, you know that I have…