Now that school’s out, I’ve found myself grappling with the unfamiliar yet wonderful burden of having free time. Lots of it. Quiet mornings for drinking my coffee, as slow as I please. Entire afternoons without a single article to read, lesson to plan, or paper to write. Given this new-found freedom, I thought it’d be…

“It is a truth universally acknowledged…” So begins Pride and Prejudice, and while I mean no disrespect to my lady Jane, I feel that her immortal first line–touting, as it does, an early-19th century view of women and marriage–is due for an upgrade. In that spirit, here are some variations that feel a little more relevant to my life…

I never felt one way or the other about coleslaw. There it sat at class picnics or family barbecues — the store-bought kind, inevitably, wilting somewhat in the July sun, no one quite sure who brought it and no one quite sure what to do with the leftovers at the end of the afternoon. I…

Just before the new semester stretched and yawned and rolled itself out of bed, my old friend Michelle (of mushroom risotto fame) read my tarot cards. The first of the five-card spread seemed rather ominous: “DEATH,” read the card, above a painting of a wilting rose. Rough start. Michelle, however, was quick to allay my fears….

Two Sundays ago, I found myself in a predicament: while my body remained in Bloomington, Indiana, my mind and heart were five hours north, in Milwaukee, where my baby niece had begun her long and laborious entrance into the world. My sister Annie had called, briefly, the evening before, to report, between deep and careful breaths,…

With all the coverage of humans being incredible in Rio, it can be difficult to take pride in one’s own quotidian achievements. Yes, Usain Bolt has once again proven himself to be the fastest man alive, but I finally got around to cleaning my shower. Sure, Katie Ledecky is shattering world records and raking in gold, but…

Solanum. Have you heard of it? No, it’s not a little-known X-Men villain nor a roller coaster at Cedar Point nor the title of the next James Bond movie. It’s actually something much more thrilling: a far-reaching and incredibly important genus of flowering plants, as well as the undisputed queen of late summer produce. Three titans…

It’s hot out there, folks — too hot for rambling preludes, so let’s get right to it. This summer salad is a slightly modified version of the one in Sara Forte’s lovely cookbook, Bowl + Spoon (in case you missed it, this recipe came from the same source). I’m calling it a farmers’ market salad because the three…

Attention, dear readers! This is the 100th post to be published on the Sprout Diaries, which feels like a milestone worth celebrating. And what better way to celebrate than with my all-time favorite food? (I know that “all-time favorite” is a big statement, but when it comes to expressing my love of falafel, there’s no…

Ahlan wa sahlan, shabaab! Life update: I’m six days into a summer-long intensive Arabic course, and already I’m dreaming in Arabic (OK, so they’re more like stress dreams about the next vocab quiz, but I’m hoping that my dream-self will start speaking shaami any night now). In addition to four hours of class time plus three…

I am not trying to start a mac n cheese revolution. My posting of this (delectable and sophisticated) grown-up mac n cheese recipe is not, by any means, an attempt to dethrone that pinnacle of mac n cheese dinner perfection, the one that stands sentry in any respectable pantry, cloaked in its midnight blue box, a constant,…

Polenta is like Carmen Sandiego, that elusive and trench coated criminal mastermind who bamboozled every 90s kid with a computer. Just like Carmen, polenta is a tricky one to track down. I spent a good twenty minutes in Kroger earlier this week, ping pong-ing between the baking aisle, the pasta aisle and the breakfast cereals shelf, but…