A Good Reason to Wear Orange

Jack & Daisy. “We’re dogs, not deer. Please don’t shoot us.” I used to live in Venice, California in a neighborhood referred to as “The Hood.” A transitional neighborhood, this is an area where young hipsters can afford to buy fixer-uppers, nudging gang members out of their dwellings, one half-a-million-dollar house at a time. Even […]

Iowa Caucus Mania

In spite of this brilliant parody by Mike Luckovich, I was surprised that none of the politicians showed up on my doorstep. They missed an ideal photo op! I maintain that pie is not about politics. “Pie is non-partisan,” I have been known to insist. “It is meant to be shared, to build community, and spread good […]

My Unlikely Return to Catholic School…To Teach a Pie Class

Meg and Me, From pleated plaid skirts to pie T-shirts My friend Meg asked me if I would teach a pie class as an auction prize donated for her kids’ Catholic school. I could have considered the cons — that I nearly got kicked out of Catholic high school and no longer consider myself a […]

More AGH Video…And My Kohler Sink is the Star

My friend Jo Brown works for Kohler and when she found out I lived in the American Gothic House she suggested I might want an old-fashioned cast iron farm sink, a brand new top-of-the-line one made by Kohler. “Good for all your pie baking,” she said. “Yes, but only if you come down to see […]

The Reality of Running a Pie Stand

One of my guest pie bakers, Marcia Mermelstein(left), was an whiz at rolling dough. I just wish she  could have stayed all summer! Today was my last day of pie baking for the summer. By “pie baking” I mean mass production of pies for the Pitchfork Pie Stand. Running a humble little weekend pie stand […]

One Year in Iowa: A Brief Look Back

I am rushing out the door to the Iowa State Fair this morning. Seems I am always rushing these days between the demands of the Pitchfork Pie Stand, my ongoing book edits (one more round to go), entertaining a steady stream of house guests, and caring for my two dogs. How I’ve managed to create […]

Life in SE Iowa: One Big Cultural Experience

My friends Sam and Lisa and their two kids (ages 8 and 12) visited from San Francisco last week. I gave them what has become the standard Southeast Iowa tour for all my house guests (and, oh, I have had many this summer). As we drove from place to place, through the wide open fields […]

Whatever Happened to The Beast?

The Beast: Happy in its new role as American Gothic House privacy screen/fence. “What happened to The Beast?” some of you have been asking. The Beast is the nickname I gave the RV that Marcus left behind, the 24-foot-long camper that I was originally terrified to drive but proved not only a cinch to drive but […]

My Garden at Two Months

Two months is all it took for my garden to go from seed to full bloom. What I expected to be a gradual process, one that would require a test of patience (a quality I’ve been known to lack), turned out to be more instantaneous. Almost freakishly so. I was especially blown away by the […]

Gothic House Garden

Seeds planted, May 18 I am almost 50 years old and I have never planted a garden. Until now. I must feel in my bones that I will be staying put in Iowa for a while because I didn’t hesitate to make the investment – not only the financial one, but the psychological one. As […]