Last night I stopped by Molly Wizenberg’s, aka Orangette, book signing here in DC.  Her book A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, honestly, is just what I need at the moment.  It isn’t only that I’ve been reading nothing but Civil War and re-enactor related things lately, its that… I’ve been needing something just like this, something pretty and homey and personal.  I’ve missed that lately, things that are personal.  We’ve been busy, traveling and writing and just going and doing all the time.  That kind of frantic going and doing always pushes me towards melancholy… plus, the November-esque weather doesn’t really help.

Wizenberg dropped out of a PhD program to focus on what she loved, what she always “came back to”– food and writing about food.  Though food isn’t my thing, Jon really is the cook in the house, there is something about seeing a woman who is impressive, articulate, talented, and who did NOT get a PhD but is doing just fine.  It is oh-so reassuring at the moment.  I nearly teared up reading through it on the bus back home and I’m only something like 40 pages in.

The book is much like the blog, lots of short chapters which is good for me.  I fully plan to keep it next to my bed, to read some of just now and then.  I suspect it will make for a lovely reminder that someday, when I’m not a student and the stress of PhD applications is behind me, I’ll have time to embroider and make lentil soup whenever I crave it, not just over winter breaks.