Dinner Recipes

My neighbor, a woman named Clara who tends a community garden plot with the patience of a saint, watched me one October afternoon as I … Read more

Clara wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by her place on a random Sunday afternoon to return her garden shears—she’d left them leaning against … Read more

There used to be a little diner off Route 9 called The Rusty Spoon that made the most incredible smothered pork chops. When they closed … Read more

I was at the community garden that Saturday, elbow-deep in soil, trying to figure out why my potato plants looked so sad. Margaret, who has … Read more

The summer I turned thirty, my air conditioner broke during a heatwave. I was sweating through my t-shirt, sprawled on the floor of my apartment, … Read more

Introduction There used to be a tiny diner off Highway 78 in Oxford, Alabama, called Miss Pearl’s, that made a cornbread dressing that ruined me … Read more

This was supposed to be a whole roasted chicken. I had it all planned out—a simple Sunday dinner, the kind where the house fills with … Read more

I was standing in line at the hardware store, of all places, holding a new faucet washer and feeling sorry for myself. It had been … Read more

My neighbor wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to return her garden shears, and the smell hit me before I even got to … Read more

I was supposed to be making a completely different dinner. The plan was a simple, brothy chicken soup — something light, something that wouldn’t require … Read more