My husband and I were thinking of retiring to Panama, and after exhaustive research, we found Jackie Lange’s Panama Relocation Tours. We were very excited to visit the country and learn about living life as ex-pats in Panama. Jackie promised the unvarnished truth, not a sales pitch, and her tour delivered and then some!

There were about 30 of us on Tour #339, led by our fabulous tour leaders, Allison and John. We felt so lucky to have their guidance on our journey. They shared their knowledge and their personal journeys, making this an invaluable experience. We learned about the visa process, medical care, best practices for moving and finding a rental, how to move pets, and so much more! We met with a lawyer who explained the legal process, and many ex-pats throughout the country who were kind enough to share their stories. We toured an amazing hospital and visited all sorts of stores. The hotels were all comfortable with friendly, responsive staff, and we were fed three fabulous meals a day (yes, I gained three pounds!!!), from hotels to local restaurants. The bus was comfortable, and our driver, Jorge, made us all feel safe.

It truly was a whirlwind seven-day, all-inclusive tour, and surpassed all our expectations. They showed us the good, the bad, and everything in between. So now our plan is to move to Panama sometime next year.

Our original retirement plan, started way back in 2022-2023, was to retire to Portugal. I fell in love with Portugal, found the town I wanted to move to (Braga), and we started planning. Then the Portuguese government started messing with their immigration laws. They changed the Golden Visa from buying a home for $250,000 and getting citizenship to now you have to invest $500,000 in Portugal, not a home, but into a business, or whatever. So basically, pay the government half a million dollars for citizenship. Hard pass on that one. Then they offered a five-year temporary visa that would lead to citizenship, but they just upended that to ten years – even if you’ve been living there for four years and 11 months, you get to wait another five years now. And worst of all, they did away with their ex-pat tax plan, which was a flat tax of 10% in concert with your US taxes, not in addition. They did away with that completely, so now the tax rate for ex-pats is around 27%. The Portuguese people are lovely, but not thrilled with their country being overrun by Americans and Brits. Rents have skyrocketed, especially in the cities, and locals are having a really hard time. I still love Portugal, and would have loved to retire there, but it just isn’t working for us anymore.

Panama has a lot going for it. It’s beautiful, and the people are incredibly kind and friendly. They welcome Americans with a pension, offering a “pensionada visa” if you can show you have Social Security or a pension of at least $1000/month or $1250/per couple. You don’t even have to live there to get the visa. Once you have the permanent visa, the government mandates discounts for seniors – things like 20% off medical, drugs, restaurants, utilities, 25% off airfare anywhere in the world (and the Panama City airport is the main departure hub for most of Central and South America). Discounts on hotels and other things, too, and the government is serious about it – it is strictly enforced.

It is a Spanish-speaking country, so we will all be learning Spanish, but it was our experience that if you make any kind of attempt, they welcome it and will help. Most of the younger people speak English; they start learning in kindergarten, and in the larger ex-pat communities, a lot of the people living there speak English. We had no trouble. For things like banking and government agencies, you can hire “fixers”, local Panamanians who know the system and will help you through it at a very reasonable cost.

I like that it is only a three-hour flight from Miami, and five hours from NY. It is in the same time zone as the East Coast, which is helpful. Their monetary system is based on the US dollar, so no conversion necessary. They do have one dollar coins called Balboas, but still no conversion necessary. They use the same electrical systems as the US, so no converters necessary, which means my KitchenAid Mixer, Cuisinart, and sous vide machine are coming with me!

We are planning to start our journey by applying for our visas in March, and hopefully moving over the summer. We really liked a town called Alto Boquete. It is up in the mountains – quite a change from flat Florida! Because Panama is on the equator, the temperature stays the same year round. They have two seasons, wet and dry, and after living in Florida for so many years, we are used to rain. But the temperature in Alto Boquete is around 75 during the day, and drops down to the 60s at night. Cold for me, but my family loves that! The beaches are an hour or so away, and are beautiful and inexpensive. We saw gorgeous condos for rent on the ocean with all sorts of amenities for $1000-1500 per month. Places that would cost ten times that where we live now. But the temps there stay around 90 and that is too hot for my family, but will be nice for long weekends! We are very excited about all this and will let you know how things are going as we progress.

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Book News

AT HOME WITH Elin Hilderbrand

Inside the best-selling author’s beloved Nantucket ‘money pit.’

This rare discovery led to a new Dr. Seuss book just in time for America 250

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Food News

7 Ways to Turn a Bunch of Tomatoes Into the Best Meal of Your Life

The recipe I’ve been making all summer: Zucchini Butter Spaghetti!

I love Deb Perelman and Smitten Kitchen, and this is a winner! I usually make it with a short pasta, like rotini or farfalle, and it’s great to riff on; I’ve added halved cherry tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, roasted shrimp – it’s all delicious and super easy!

I’ve also been making all kinds of salads without lettuce (I’ve no interest in cyclospora, thank you very much!) Here are a few that my family loves…

Zucchini Salad With Pecorino, Basil and Almonds

Esquites

Fresh Corn and Black Bean Salad With Corn Chips

Broccoli Slaw

My favorite tomato salad —

2 lbs tomatoes – use a variety like sun gold, cherry or grape tomatoes, heirlooms, beefsteak, whatever looks good at the market! Halve the small ones, cut up the big ones into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with salt and toss. It can sit while you make dinner, or just add a bit of good olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. Tear up some fresh basil and toss once more. It’s ready to serve! We topped ravioli with this, and it was so good! You can also add fresh mozzarella bocconcini, ciliegine, or pearls. Enjoy!

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Good News

Aw, nuts! Uncatchable squirrel causes chaos at Comerica Park

Jimothy The Raccoon Receives Honor From Washington Governor

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Just a word about this site: as I enter retirement, I somehow have less time to devote to this blog. I am working on cleaning out forty years of accululated stuff in my house before we move to Panama, and my time is going in different directions. I’ll post when I can, but I’m rethinking the format of what I’ve been doing here and will be recalibrating at some point, sooner rather than later. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles and recipes, a lovely perk for subscribers!

I have been blogging about books for over 25 years!!! Every now and then I pull up a page from ye olde Wayback Machine, and it’s fun for me to see how things have changed over the years. Hope you enjoy it as well!

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Welcome. I’ve had a life long love affair with books and this is my opportunity to pay homage to the written word.  

This is a forum for any and all information regarding printed matter, primarily books.  I offer lists of books that I have enjoyed, information about the reading group that I facilitate, and links to various websites extolling the virtues and practicalities of  reading groups, the publishing industry, writers, and booksellers.  This is a constantly evolving work in progress.  I welcome constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions and/or feedback of any kind.

Take a look at What’s New.

Here’s what I’m currently reading, what’s waiting in my to-be-read pile and what I think about all these books!

Wondering who is the BookBitch?  Here is a short bio.   

Peruse and enjoy!

What’s New

Did a little reshuffling of ye ole website.  There is a new addition, a page called Hmmm.  I posted a very enlightening article there that I had read in the Chicago Tribune a few weeks ago. Nara Schoenberg did a little digging and came up with what I thought was some very interesting information about the book reviews on Amazon.com.

For those of you who remember the “bookster” contest I ran here a few months back, there is a link to a very interesting article from IDG.net regarding libraries and e-books.  “Publishers are freaked out about getting ‘Napsterized’,”  or so it seems.

Hence the new page; stuff that will make you go hmmm…  and in case you were looking for it, I moved the fun stuff there as well: read about the latest innovation in reading called the “Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge” device; a tongue-in-cheek article on America’s Hidden Problem:  Literature Abuse; and an unusual poem by Clive James called “The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered“.

Books … up next is Up in the Air by Walter Kirn about a most unusual quest … Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis, an in depth look into the world of Scrabble tournaments and the people obsessed by them … the oh-so-cute-and-intriguing The Best a Man Can Get by John O’Farrell … the new Ridley Pearson, Parallel Lies and, well, there’s always more!

Congratulations to Bruce, the grand prize winner, and Nancy, Dan, Regina, and Amanda, the winners of the BookBitch Mystery Contest!  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Check out the Win A Book page for a new contest!  I am very excited because for the first time I will be offering signed books as prizes.  Want a hint about the new contest?  It’s summer, it’s hot and the beach beckons…

With minutes to spare, I finished the fabulous book, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and headed over to an advance preview of the TNT mini-series starring Angelica Huston, Juliana Margulies and Joan Allen that will air July 15 & 16.  If you haven’t read the book, the movie is very entertaining.  But let’s face it, it is impossible to translate a book of over 800 pages into a mini-series without losing quite a bit along the way.  Bearing that in mind, enjoy!  Then if you haven’t already done so, do yourself a favor and read the book.

Head on over to the books page and catch up on the latest and greatest, including Tell No One by Harlan Coben, The Fourth Hand by John Irving, Secret Sanction by Brian Haig and Jacqueline Susann’s Shadow of the Dolls by Rae Lawrence.

Congratulations to Harlan Coben…his daughter was born this past Wednesday (7/11) and I hear she is just spectacular…and Tell No One debuts this Sunday (7/15) on the NY Times bestseller list at #13!  A memorable week indeed for Mr. Coben…

On a personal note, it seems I have been hit by the latest trend in Internet business.  My web host is no longer offering free hosting.  After shopping around, I opted to pay their fairly reasonable fee and keep this site where it is, sans pop-up windows and/or banners.  I have no corporate sponsors, so I feel free to like or dislike books regardless of publisher and I can happily praise or bash anyone or anything I like without fear of repercussion or reprisal, or having anyone wonder where my interests lie.

Therefore, in order to hopefully recoup at least some of the $$$ I am spending, I have become a retail whore, oops, I mean an Amazon.com associate.  Most of the links on this site were already to Amazon, but if you are going to purchase something because of my recommendation, I would be eternally grateful if you would “click through” from whence you came.  By that I mean click on the links I provide, okay?  Thanks.

Who is the BookBitch?

I’ve been a bookseller for Borders for almost four years now and I am both excited and saddened to announce that I will be starting a new job as of July 23.  I am very excited about my new job, I will be working at the public library in circulation.  But I am very sad to leave some of the most incredible people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and the good fortune to work with.  The bright side is that I am staying on as a contingent, and will work occasionally as the needs of the store and my schedule will allow.  I just couldn’t completely cut the cord…

The fate of Borders Bibliophiles is up in the air at the moment.  The August 1 discussion of White Teeth will take place; what happens after that remains to be seen.  Discussions are underway.

More about me…I am a voracious reader, usually reading 2 books or more at a time, and reading several books each week.  I will read just about anything I can get my hands on, with the emphasis on fiction.  I have a penchant for new authors, mostly because when I find an author I like, I tend to read everything they have ever written.  That more or less forces me to find new authors.  Mysteries are a guilty pleasure for me, I just devour them.  I also read tons of erotica, some horror, biographies, political science, some business oriented books, and an occasional work of fantasy or sci-fi.  I generally avoid self help & metaphysical books; I am just not that interested in improving myself (I am quite fond of who I am) or connecting with other worlds (I am rather content with this one.)  My dream is to write a book, to be published someday, but so far I am lacking what I call the 3 D’s…drive, determination and discipline.  

I’m 42 years old and married for 20 years to the love of my life. I have a 16 year old son and an 8 year old daughter. I am happy, honest, intelligent, intuitive, funny and fun.  I am the eternal optimist; my glass is always half full, my clouds all have silver linings and when life gives me lemons, I make kick ass lemonade! I am sorry to say I can also be impatient, opinionated, stubborn and generally too blunt for my own good. 

I am a logophile as well as a bibliophile.  I have a great love of the English language.  Words have the power to move me like nothing else can.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so to keep this short, here is one of me just hanging around.

 

I am not a basketball fan, but I admit to being completely caught up in the Knicks amazing playoff run to the championship! Plus I was in NY during the series, and it was Knicks-mania pretty much everywhere we went. My husband had a Knicks bagel! The last time they won a championship, I was in high school so it’s been a minute…

We stayed in Brooklyn near my son, so avoided a lot of the insanity. We did venture into the city one day to get a tour of the New York Times where my son works, which was amazing! I met some of his co-workers, and spotted some famous reporters throughout the building – looking at you, Susanne Craig! We also got to check out the employee coffee shop with free coffee and cookies the day we were there; apparently they do that a few days a week, which is a lovely perk. We also got to visit the Pulitzer Prize room, with some incredible artifacts. Then we went for lunch at Scarr’s Pizza downtown, and it was the best pizza we’ve had in a long time.

We had planned this trip months before the Knicks were even on my radar. It was my husband’s 70th birthday, and all he wanted was to spend time with his family. Mission accomplished! We went to a Mets game, our first time at CitiField and took a tour. Then we watched batting practice, and got to see Francisco Lindor take a few swings. He’s been out on injury but came back towards the end of June. And of course, they lost. 😦

We also went to Coney Island, had lunch at Nathan’s on the boardwalk, and visited the Aquarium, which was phenomenal! The next day we went into the city again, this time to the American Museum of Natural History and saw the dinosaurs, an exhibition on whales and other sea dwellers (the kids were really into it after the aquarium) and finally, had a birthday dinner at Juniors – my daughter made us all shirts to wear for the birthday dinner and my granddaughter refused to take hers off, she slept in it!

This was the longest trip to NY that we’ve taken since my grandson was born. Most importantly, my husband said it was his best birthday ever! A few highlights…

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Book News

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Food News

Here Are the 2026 James Beard Restaurant Award Winners

M&M’s Is Cutting 2 Colors From Certain Bags — Here’s Why

On June 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that M&M’s will be removing two of its colors — blue and brown — from some bags as part of its transition from artificial to natural food dyes.

Aldi’s Blind Boxes Sell Out Instantly. When’s the Next Drop?

I had never heard of this, but I recently started shopping at a new Aldi’s that used to be a Winn Dixie. This sounds like a fun promotion!

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Good News

Bystanders Who Scaled an Elevator to Save Man In A Medical Emergency at Knicks Parade Speak Out: ‘Every Second Mattered’

When a man passed out atop a structure at the Knicks Championship Parade, Simone Kelly and Peter Shrieve-Don were among the brave who rushed to help. “I knew I wasn’t going to live in regret of trying to save someone’s life,” Shrieve-Don tells TODAY.com.

He made a career of saving animals. He’s helped 16,000 so far.

“The only way that I could enjoy this job more,” Ryan Jesien says, “is if there were two of me.”

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As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers

Welcome to my new reality! I loved my job at the Lynn University Library, but my position was eliminated, and after a remarkably short conversation with my husband, I am now officially retired. I even applied for Medicare—nothing says retired quite like that!

Adjusting to this new phase feels a little strange. I’ve spent my entire adult life being busy: working full time, raising a family, cooking, laundry, all the everyday things that fill a life. My husband retired a couple of years ago when his job was eliminated, so now we’re navigating this stage together. It’s a little ironic that we both retired because of layoffs, but that seems to be the way things go these days.

Since retiring, he’s kept himself occupied. He has always taken care of the house, and now he has even more time for it. He gardens, he hikes, and he’s taken on some of the chores I used to handle—grocery shopping, cleaning, and the like. We’ve always shared responsibilities, but he’s taken on more since leaving the workforce, and it’s been a good balance for both of us.

My first week of retirement was a mix of practical tasks and indulgent downtime. I applied for Medicare, completed my separation paperwork, and let friends and family know the news. I also relaxed, read a ton, and binge‑watched The Pitt—far gorier than my usual taste, but truly excellent. I understand the obsession and the awards now.

I’m not ready to give up my blog, so that will keep me busy too. We’ve also been planning for this stage of life ever since my husband retired, so we’re in good shape there. For years we considered moving to Portugal, but the constant changes to their immigration laws—and the general cooling toward American retirees across much of Europe—made us rethink things. So now our focus is on Panama.

We’ve booked a “relocation tour” for July and are hoping we love it as much as the thousands of expats already living there. There are some real advantages: it’s in the same time zone as my kids in New York; it’s only a five‑hour flight away; they use the U.S. dollar; and their electrical system matches ours, meaning my KitchenAid mixer and Cuisinart can come along. Most importantly, Panama genuinely welcomes American expats. Their Pensionado Visa offers immediate permanent residency to anyone over 18 with a guaranteed lifetime pension or annuity of at least $1,000 per month. It’s known for being easy to obtain and for the generous discounts it provides.

Panama is also considered relatively safe—ranked higher than the U.S. on the Global Peace Index—and offers excellent, affordable healthcare. Being close to the equator means consistent temperatures year‑round, and the area we’re most interested in is at a higher elevation, so it’s cooler than the beach towns. There are only two seasons, wet and dry, and after decades in Florida, an afternoon rain shower for half the year sounds perfectly manageable. No hurricanes, either. There are occasional mild earthquakes, which will be… interesting. I’ll know more after our trip.

For now, I’m excited. I’m happy. And I’m looking forward to whatever comes next!

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Book News

Food News

Will a Ban on This Flour Change New York Bagels and Pizza?

When times are hard, we eat more beans. And it’s happening again now

17 Food Items You Should Buy When They’re on Sale

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Good News

Firefighter travels 600 miles to college graduation of baby he helped deliver years ago

Ice Cream Truck Gives Free Scoop to Little Boy Who Couldn’t Afford It. Now It’s Free for All Kids This Summer

No money, no problem. Kindness is always free.

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As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers

So long, Amazon! It’s been fun, but there’s something better happening right now. To be honest, very few of you click through to purchase books I recommend, but when you do, I earn a few cents. Literally. I don’t have any advertising on this site, no popups, no ads of any kind. I hate popups! I have a premium account with my host, WordPress, which I pay for to keep it that way. So that said, I get a tiny check a few times a year from Amazon that helps towards my out-of-pocket expenses here. But that’s about to change.

I am now a Bookshop.org affiliate! What is that, you might ask? It’s an online bookstore that actually hosts small, independent bookstores all over the country (maybe the world? I don’t know). Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores. And yes, I’ll earn a few cents, too. I’d much rather support a small business than a greedy behemoth like Amazon.

This will apply to print books for now. They do sell some ebooks and audiobooks, but I’m not quite ready to switch over because it is a very limited selection, especially the audiobooks, so I am still partial to Audible for those. That’s why I’m saying so long (for now), not goodbye, to Amazon.

As for the ebooks, they do not work on Kindles, and as far as I’m concerned, the Kindle is the gold standard in ebook readers. I know some people love their Kobo, and frankly, I’m not even sure what other ebook readers are out there, so maybe I’ll tiptoe into this and just add an additional link for ebooks for those of you who read on something besides the Kindle. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – is this something that would prompt you to purchase ebooks? Please let me know in the comments. Meanwhile, check out my new Bookshop.org store!

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Book News

Maria Semple Returns With Her Most Personal Book Yet

The comedic writer went through a series of unfunny life events, including a breakup and failed writing projects.

‘The Housemaid’ author Freida McFadden reveals her real identity

Outside of the book world, McFadden is Sara Cohen, a doctor who treats brain disorders. And though it looks like a disguise, she really does wear glasses. The hair is a wig, but only because “I have no idea how to style my hair,” she tells USA TODAY in a phone interview.

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Food News

Why the Cookbook Endures

Not too long ago, the physical cookbook seemed to be heading toward the same fate as the compact disc. What happened was just the opposite. 

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Good News

I wanted to buy less stuff. I ended up bonding with my neighbors.

Why renting items like a drill or a blender doesn’t work, and how I figured out a better way to borrow and lend things that people need.

In 2021, a disabled parrot named Bruce made headlines worldwide for creating his own prosthetic beak. He didn’t stop there: Scientists reported on Monday that Bruce has now become the alpha male of his group.

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We went to New York for my granddaughter’s second birthday, and because the whole family was there, we also had a baby naming for her. For the uninitiated/non-Jews, this is a ceremony where a baby girl is given her Hebrew name, while boys have a Bris (or Brit Milah), the ritual circumcision ceremony. It is usually done at a much earlier age, but with girls, it’s not unheard of to do it later.

This was especially meaningful to me as my granddaughter, Sylvie Maya, is named for my mother, Selma, and her maternal grandmother, Evvie. Jews name their children after deceased relatives, and it is an honor that is bestowed on the newborn. Modern Jews tend to use the first initial rather than the full name, and honestly, my mother would have been horrified if they gave her name, Selma, to a baby – she hated her name! It meant the world to me that my son and daughter-in-law chose to use the S and came up with such a beautiful name combining the names of both beloved grandmothers. Her middle name is for my mother-in-law, Maria, and another family member, Maxie, on my daughter-in-law’s side.

It is often difficult to pick a name because honoring one person means not honoring another. I know I would have been crushed if they had gone in a different direction, especially because my son and my mother were extremely close. As far as she was concerned, he could do no wrong, and she loved him beyond reason. In her last weeks of life, I realized that she was struggling to survive, and it dawned on me that she was waiting for Daniel to come home. He came for the weekend and spent most of it with her, went back home on Sunday, and she passed on Tuesday. I don’t think that was a coincidence.

I didn’t mean to wander into melancholy when this was a weekend we celebrated. It was lovely to see the mishpocha (clan) and to see my granddaughter blessed. Life is good!

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!*

As I write this, we have been at war with Iran for several weeks now. Americans have died, as well as many Iranians and others in the Middle East. The Trump administration has offered a variety of reasons for this war, or excursion, or whatever they are calling it today, but it is still not clear to me why we are doing this and what we hope to accomplish. Regime change seems to be at the heart of things, but we have proven over and over again that we are not successful at doing that. Iraq. Afghanistan. Vietnam.

Seth Meyers summarized it best for me: “The Trump administration has been clear from the beginning that the goal of the war is stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — or it’s about regime change, or it’s about freedom for the Iranian people, or it’s about destroying their ballistic missile factories, or it’s because Iran posed an imminent threat, or it’s because Israel made us do it, or it’s because this whole time Lindsey Graham has been a trickster god sent here to sow chaos by convincing Trump to go to war.” 

There is no exit strategy, and no Congressional input. This president decides things on his own with his feeble, demented brain, and the Republican Congress and all the sycophants he has surrounded himself with just go along with it.

The mid-term elections are still months away, and I am looking forward to change. Major change. Trump is panicking because, as he has said, if Congress swings to the left, he will undoubtedly be impeached again, with very good reasons. One can only hope. Three more years of this president with unchecked power is incredibly alarming.

While this is not a political blog by any means, extraordinary times like these change my focus. I am reading to escape more than ever, but I cannot just bury my head in the sand and pretend everything is going great. It’s not. I can’t bring myself to read much more news beyond the headlines, and those scare the crap out of me.

To complicate things even further, Trump’s war with Iran is taking us on a fast path to a recession, and I have lived through enough of those to dread the days ahead. The fact that my retirement is not far off just adds to my fears.

I pray for peace and prosperity, but can’t count on it.

*Edwin Star recorded and released “War” in March, 1970. The song was an anti-Vietnam-war statement and is the soundtrack of my pacifism.

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Book News

So much book news this month!

The New York Times has launched a readers’ advisory tool, of sorts. While their suggestions are okay (but definitely lean towards the more literary), it’s the personalized recommendations that I’m most curious about. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you do, I’d love to hear about your results. Thanks.

What’s it like to write a bestselling book? We followed Lucy Score for a year to find out

‘We’re losing accessibility’: America says goodbye to the mass-market paperback

Audiobooks don’t really count as reading? Think again. — Harvard Gazette

Education scholars say rigor, learning same as paper, stigma an unnecessary hurdle. “There is nothing wrong with audiobooks,” Seiter said. “There is no purity about reading words on a page.”

I concur, but it’s nice to see educators agree as well!

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Food News

My own, personal food news! Last month, I was walking through Costco, and they had jars of Pisti Pistachio Cream on sale, so I snagged a jar. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but I love pistachio nuts, so I figured it was worth a shot. It’s sort of like a cross between peanut butter and Nutella, but strictly pistachio flavor. The consistency is sticky and goopy, but it is sweeter than just a plain nut butter. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, so I left it on the counter so I would see it and think about it. Eventually, I decided to make a chocolate cake and use it as the filling. Along the lines of the Dubai Chocolate craze, minus the kataifi.

We were having some friends over for dinner, so the perfect opportunity. These are very good friends, who I knew wouldn’t mind being my guinea pigs! The results were spectacular, even better than I hoped.

I made Easy Chocolate Cake from Yossy Arefi at the New York Times Cooking. While this recipe had a cup of coffee in the batter, I knew from making Beatty’s Chocolate cake that it wouldn’t give any coffee or mocha flavor, but just make the chocolate even more chocolaty. I also swapped out about a third of the cocoa powder for black cocoa, the secret ingredient in Oreos that gives any cake or cookie Oreo vibes in the chocolate department, never a bad thing!

Then I started researching ways to incorporate the pistachio cream into a cake filling, and didn’t find anything. There are tons of recipes for Dubai Chocolate cake or pistachio cake, but those recipes use nuts or pistachio paste, a different product. I looked at various peanut butter frosting recipes online, but I didn’t think they’d work because they all had a ton of added sugar, and the pistachio cream was already sweet. Then I looked for recipes for Nutella frosting, but also didn’t find anything that I thought would work without really diluting the pistachio flavor. I finally found a quasi-recipe online that basically whipped the Nutella, then beat in a few tablespoons of cream, and I thought that would probably work. It did! It lightened up the pistachio cream and the sweetness, didn’t really dilute the flavor, and made it easy to spread.

I didn’t want to make the frosting in the NYT cake recipe because it looked like it would be way too much since I wasn’t using it as a filling. So I went to my usual chocolate buttercream recipe from Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, and just tweaked the frosting a bit. That recipe includes some instant coffee dissolved in a bit of water, but I knew that adding coffee would give it a slight mocha flavor, which I wanted to avoid. So I didn’t use the instant coffee powder and water, and just subbed 2 tsp. of heavy cream so the liquid proportion would still be correct. Baking is science, people!

Finally, I spent a little while zoning out and shelling pistachios while rewatching The West Wing for the millionth time, until I had what looked like about a cup. I just had the regular roasted, salted pistachios from Costco, but I wanted them to retain as much green color as possible, so I didn’t toast them. I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top for a garnish. (My daughter, the photographer/graphic artist, took the pictures of the outside of the cake; I took the one of the inside, a very different level of quality there.)

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Good News

Child, 4, arrived alone for heart surgery. His doctor became his mom.

Movers help rescue missing toddler: ‘Such humble dads but they’re heroes’

A crew of movers boxed in the car of a suspect in an Amber Alert case, blocking in the suspect until police arrived.

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

Olympics!

I am the most unathletic person you will ever meet, and it has only gotten worse (much, much worse) as I’ve aged. I’m klutzy, overweight, under-muscled, and uncoordinated. And despite that – or more likely, because of that, I am a big sports fan. I watch baseball (Go METS!), football (Go DOLPHINS! [ok it’s yet another rebuilding year]), college football (Go HURRICANES!) and hockey (Go PANTHERS [and sometimes Islanders]). I’m not much of a basketball fan, but if the Miami Heat or NY Knicks are in the playoffs, I’ll watch. I’ve taken an interest in the NY Liberty (even though they play basketball!) and there is a brand new Women’s Pro Baseball League starting up this summer with 4 teams (NY, Boston, LA, and San Francisco) that I’m very excited about – go NY! The inaugural season starts on August 1st, 2026 (my mom’s birthday, and she would have loved this!)

I haven’t checked out any flag football games, but I am definitely intrigued, especially as the NFL is putting its full weight (and $$$) behind it. I hope that someday the NFL will be flag football, but I don’t know if that will happen in my lifetime. The injuries are horrific and never-ending, and sometimes it is really difficult to watch. I don’t know how parents can watch their kids play; it would absolutely gut me.

But the Olympics! Every two years (summer games, winter games), and I am here for it. Still not a big fan of curling (this is more my speed), but the skiing and snowboarding keep me glued to the TV, along with most of the other winter games. It’s the skating that truly has my heart. Figure skating! Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov took the Gold with his amazing performance (sorry, Malinin!) American Alysa Liu was just incredible, taking home the Gold with her flawless performance (even more remarkable considering she had retired from competing at 16!)

I also watched the ice dancing, speed skating, and, of course, hockey. The USA women’s hockey team was phenomenal! As were the men, and that’s not always a given. It was the first gold medal for men’s hockey since 1980. Mike Eruzione, the captain of the legendary 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team, met with the 2026 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team during these Olympics. His advice? Leave everything on the ice. (There is a new Netflix documentary about that season, Miracle: The Boys of ’80, and it is really good.)

It was poetic justice at the end – Canadian Sam Bennett high-sticked Jack Hughes, breaking a few teeth, in the third period, but Hughes got his revenge when he scored the “golden goal” in overtime to take the Gold medal. His bloody smile said it all!

I would be remiss if I didn’t add how moving it was when the Americans held up Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey when they won – he was known as Johnny Hockey, and he and his brother were killed last year after being hit by a drunk driver – their parents were there to celebrate as well.

I signed up for Peacock just for the Olympics, and while I will not be renewing that service, it was well worth it. I’m sorry it’s over now, but I’m looking forward to the summer games next! Swimming, diving, and my fave, gymnastics, not to mention baseball’s coming back, softball, skateboarding, and new this next time around, lacrosse and Flag Football. Equestrian is fun, and so are archery and beach volleyball (are they still making the women wear teeny-tiny uniforms? I’m so over that.) Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the Olympics, too!

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Book News

If you’re always listening to an audiobook, you’re not alone

As audiobook listening explodes in popularity, some users can’t do a mindless chore without pressing play.

The Two-Year Waitlist to Work at a Bookstore

Oh, and you don’t get paid!

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Food News

Should I Refrigerate Apples? An A-to-Z Guide to Storing Fruits and Vegetables

Good produce is a gift. Keep it fresh as long as possible with these tips.

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Good News

A postcard arrived: ‘If you’re reading this I’m dead, and I really liked you’

The Washington Post has an “Optimist” newsletter, and I love it – I need some optimism in my life. The news is a nightmare, day after day after day, so I look for the light and wanted to share.

Teen grabs kayak, paddles through icy pond to rescue neighborhood dog

“I’m here buddy,” Hugh Pinneo, 18, said to the struggling dog as he rescued him. “You’re scared, I’m scared, too.”

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

Information? Misinformation? Disinformation? Do you know what you are reading or seeing? When the government tells us we are not seeing what our own eyes are telling us we are seeing, when the official White House website takes down information they don’t like and puts up what basically amounts to propaganda, it is time to take a hard look at, well, what we are looking at. Let’s start with the trusty old Merriam-Webster dictionary and Thesaurus.com:

Information:
Knowledge gained from investigation, study, or instruction
Knowledge of a particular event or situation
Synonyms: Data, Facts

Misinformation:
Incorrect or misleading information
Synonyms: inacurate, misconception

Disinformation:
False information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth
Synonyms: Treachery, propaganda, fake news

Information is good, but how do you know it when you see it? Is your uncle spreading misinformation or disinformation when he repeats what he heard on the news or on Facebook? Does it matter??

First things first: ask yourself, is this information reliable? Information is reliable when it is accurate and verifiable. How can you tell? It starts at the source. You want to find legitimate sources for information, like newspapers or journals. You access some journals online, but most are behind paywalls. This is where your library comes in – most public libraries have access to a variety of databases that they pay a lot of money for – take advantage of these, usually from the comfort of your web browser. You generally will need a library card to access these types of sources.

Another way to find reliable sources is by Googling – but not on Google’s homepage. Instead, try Google Scholar. The resources there will be much more relevant and trustworthy than just doing an internet search. You can also get your news from television, but just be aware that there is a difference between investigative journalism, both in print or online or on TV, and opinion programming, like the programs on Fox News or MSNow. While they may appear to be news, they are the opinions of the television hosts or networks you are watching, often backed up by misinformation at best, and disinformation at worst.

Good investigative journalism will extensively reference primary sources – experts in the field, eyewitnesses, and interviews (not a rehashing of someone else’s interview). Websites that are usually trustworthy use .gov. .edu, or .org instead of .com, although our current administration is breaking those long-held norms. Beware of clickbait news and AI-generated webpages, misinformation or disinformation, and pictures. Large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are designed to provide answers in natural language, not to generate meaningful information. Understanding who created an information source, what audience it was created for, and for what purpose gives you context for how you should (or shouldn’t) use it.

The CRAAP Test is a widely used tool for evaluating information sources, standing for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose; developed by librarian Sarah Blakeslee, it helps users assess if information is timely, suitable, from a credible source, factually correct, and unbiased, making it a key strategy for media literacy and research.

The SIFT method is a quick, four-step strategy (Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims) for evaluating online information, developed by Mike Caulfield, to determine credibility by focusing on the source and context rather than just the content itself, helping users spot misinformation, bias, and agenda quickly.

The SMART Check is particularly helpful when evaluating news stories. Determine if your news source is SMART (Source, Motivation, Authority, Relevancy/Reliability; Two-Source Test) before believing what is reported.

I hope this helps you determine what to believe when getting your news.

Note: I put this together based on a video one of my brilliant co-workers, Kat, created for our students.

Deep reading can boost your critical thinking and help you resist misinformation – here’s how to build the skill

Schools teaching kids to spot fake news and AI misinformation

In Finland, kids learn from preschool how to tell fact from fiction online—a lesson for life. [Here in the U.S., university librarians struggle to make students understand the difference between information, misinformation, and disinformation, and why AI isn’t the best way to learn anything.]

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Book News

Inside one company’s secret plan to ‘destructively scan every book in the world’

Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.

By Aaron Schaffer, Will Oremus and Nitasha Tiku

In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet. “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” an internal planning document unsealed in legal filings last week said. “We don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”

Interactive AI Features in E-books, Audiobooks Drive Debate

As book retailers and distributors leverage artificial intelligence to offer interactive features, publishers are reckoning with the implications.

A Virginia library book found its way home after 36 years and a world tour

Dimitris Economou recently found a copy of the children’s book “Harry the Dirty Dog” on his dad’s bookshelf in Greece and realized it had been taken out from a Virginia library decades earlier.

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Food News

The latest salad I’m obsessed with! I found it because we were swimming in pears, thanks to a Harry & David gift that arrived much sooner than expected. I’ve made it twice in the past couple of weeks, and can’t wait to make it again! It’s gorgeous, and if you can get everything on your fork – radicchio, pear, blue cheese, pomegranate seed – it is a perfect, delicious bite. (Plus I got to use the walnut oil that languishes in the back of my fridge! But olive oil is a good substitute.)

Pear and Radicchio Salad With Blue Cheese

How Kraft Heinz Lost Its Lock on Mac and Cheese—and American Shoppers

Buzzy upstarts and supermarket knockoffs eat into market share of leading brand; years of cost cutting, underinvestment and corporate chaos

Pizza used to be cheap, filling and everywhere — now Americans are walking away from it

Once the second-largest restaurant category, pizza now ranks 6th as some chains shutter locations

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Good News

High school students fix up cars, then hand the keys to single mothers

“Kids who never met me cared about me enough to put hard work into a vehicle to make sure myself and my kids were safe,” said Jessica Rader.

Forewarned is forearmed:

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year filled with lots of good books!

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Book News

The Supreme Court Just Opened the Door to a New Era of Book Bans

So many best books of the year lists! Here are some I found useful, and hope you do, too!

The 10 best books of 2025 (The Washington Post)

50 notable works of fiction from 2025 (The Washington Post)

The 10 Best Books of 2025 (New York Times)

100 Notable Books of 2025 (New York Times)

Best Books 2025 (Publishers Weekly)

Editors’ Picks of the Year | Best Books 2025

Books We Love (NPR)

New York Public Library Best Books of 2025

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Food News

The New York Times Cooking Most Popular Recipes of 2025

This is the first year that I haven’t tried most of these recipes. The only one on the list that I love is the Porcini Ragu – that one is on repeat in my family, I make it about twice a month. (My husband hates chicken, so that eliminated probably half of these recipes.)

Our top 25 recipes of 2025 (The Washington Post)

14 of our favorite cookbooks of the year (The Washington Post)

The 14 Best Cookbooks of 2025 (New York Times)

The 26 Best Cookbooks of 2025, According to Serious Eats Editors

Our Favorite New Cookbooks of 2025 (Bon Appetit & Epicurious)

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Good News

This musician taught an octopus to play the piano

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.

It’s that time of year again! BEST BOOKS OF 2025

I put together a list of my favorite reads this year. I created a top ten list, followed by some honorable mentions. There were so many great books in 2025 – not to mention the older books I also read – that my honorable mentions may be longer than my top ten. Sorry (not sorry!)

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Book News

The best-selling thriller writer and his wife are funding a new initiative to address toxic political discourse

Louise Penny gives us a tour of her book collection. Her dogs come, too.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

     — “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss

A corrupted children’s book can feel more jarring than a poisoned river hundreds of miles away. 

That’s the impulse behind a sharp campaign launched by freelancers at 99designs, a graphic design platform. Their work draws attention to global warming and the UN Climate Conference taking place in Brazil.

This week, the firm released dystopian revisions of the iconic covers of six children’s stories as they might look in our ravaged future (details).  

The Little Mermaid is swimming through a tire on a seabed littered with garbage. The only thing left of Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood is a single stump. And Mr. Badger and Ratty from “The Wind in the Willows” are wearing gas masks as they navigate a chemical swamp. 

Patrick Llewellyn, CEO of 99designs, said in a statement, “By reimagining the children’s stories we all grew up with through a climate lens, they’ve created something that feels both familiar and urgent.”

Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins is my favorite poet, and here is one reason why.

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Food News

American makes history by winning one of France’s top cheese competitions

For Lisbon, the Pastel de Nata Is a Gift and a Curse

25 of the world’s best sandwiches

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Good News

Inside the old church where one trillion webpages are being saved

Baker Delivers Free Birthday Cakes to Homeless People: ‘They’re Our Neighbors’

Meet Beef the bulldog, who takes slow walks with his 78-year-old friend

As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.