Table of Contents
1 How to Toast a Cheerio 1
2 All of Them Had Hair of Gold 10
3 A Tale of Two Cities 17
4 Not So Terrific 26
5 September 34
6 Giving Thanks, Sort of 38
7 The Saturday Boy 43
8 A Major in Creative Writing with a Minor in Tortured Self-Reflection in One's Journal 48
9 The Wrong, Long Path 62
10 Parasites in My Eyes 78
11 The Road to Vons Is Paved with Pavement 85
12 Starting from Scratch 91
13 Learning on the Job 97
14 Call Me Ishmael Mealy 105
15 The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Engagement Ring? 111
16 Food Fight 116
17 Food Fight, Part II 124
18 The Joy of Cooking 134
19 Great Expectations 140
20 A Feast of Failure 155
21 Arising Out of Necessity 169
22 Reconsidering the Oyster 178
23 There's No Cream in Pasta Carbonara 186
24 Enjoying the Process 195
25 Crêpes Are Pronounced Krehps, and If You Make Enough of Them, You'll Get a Gâteau 205
26 Embrace Yourself, Avoid Canola Oil 213
27 Neither Magnificent nor Abominable 224
28 Bringing It All Back Home 232
29 Our Many Lives 243
30 Be Careful When Hammering Your Life into Shape 253
31 Figuring It Out for Yourself 263
32 2013 273
Epilogue 297
Acknowledgments 301