Category: Holidays

Toast the New Year (with advice from John Shields)

Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields is bursting with a region’s worth of great recipes and charming stories—earning most recently a spot on the list of the year’s top five cookbooks from National Geographic’s food blog, The Plate. Wanting to raise a glass to John and his terrific book, and knowing that year-end toasting is drawing…

Toast the New Year (with advice from John Shields)

Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields is bursting with a region’s worth of great recipes and charming stories—earning most recently a spot on the list of the year’s top five cookbooks from National Geographic’s food blog, The Plate. Wanting to raise a glass to John and his terrific book, and knowing that year-end toasting is drawing…

Enjoying nature in Maryland during the holidays

Guest post by Bryan MacKay With Winter Solstice just past and the year end approaching (with head-scratching mild weather persisting here in the east), there are plenty of  reasons to get outside in Maryland this month. For inspiration, we once again turn to Bryan MacKay’s A Year across Maryland, his week-by-week guide to enjoying the…

Christmas “snugness”

In his book  Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature, Jerry Griswold explores five sensations particularly important in childhood. In the excerpt below, he examines “snugness” and its particular association with Christmas.   “Cozy Time” Turning from space to time, we can note that there are certain occasions especially apt for an evocation of…

Religion, politics, and Charlie Sheen

By Kathryn Marguy Of all the celebratory hullabaloo surrounding the release of Adele’s latest album, my favorite has to be Saturday Night Live’s "A Thanksgiving Miracle" sketch. The scene opens with a family gathered around the table for Thanksgiving. As they pass around the sweet potato casserole, various members of the family start bleating close-minded, occasionally…

Religion, politics, and Charlie Sheen

By Kathryn Marguy Of all the celebratory hullabaloo surrounding the release of Adele’s latest album, my favorite has to be Saturday Night Live’s "A Thanksgiving Miracle" sketch. The scene opens with a family gathered around the table for Thanksgiving. As they pass around the sweet potato casserole, various members of the family start bleating close-minded, occasionally…