Fixin' Leaks and Leeks

A wild chimney ride of excitement arrives back-end-first every year, and everyone stays up late to try to catch a glimpse of it, but the day before Christmas can be such a chore. For me, it’s kind of a snore-fest of wrapping presents and trying to measure carefully. Well, I say no more. Here’s what’s… Continue reading Kick Up the Day-Before-Christmas-To-Do-List

I’m crawling to the finish line, with shades on ‘cause nearby houses are competing for the most shockingly bright-lights display, which means every dive bar flashing a Miller Lite sign within a five-mile radius has officially collided with Vegas—and shined a powerfully condensed version of that disaster through my tiny kitchen window. While I’m making… Continue reading Cooky Christmas Cookie Finale—Yeaaaaaaahowzayayay!

Sometimes, the candy cane is the kid in the pageant who sings a little too loudly, does a body roll, followed by some serious arm-windmill action that knocks the wind out of the piano accompanist, who is clearly not getting paid enough to work the show. Then, that candy cane falls off the stage, landing… Continue reading Have a Sticky Christmas: Candy Cane Cookies

The ugly sweater party is about to get hit by a windstorm of chocolate flavor, thanks to these chocolate crinkle cookies. No, they are not the blinged-out ones singing karaoke, shouting nonsense about Uncle Ned as “the real Santa,” and falling into the punch bowl. These chocolate crinkle cookies are cool, subdued. They’re the silent-night-confections,… Continue reading Quiet Riot: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Blizzards of powdered sugar are in the forecast, and I suspect that a chef’s apron will be useless against the onslaught. So I’m donning a ski suit to breeze past gum drop forests and slide across buttered Bundt pans to land face first in a cookie jar. The first rule of landing face first in… Continue reading Cooky Cookie Christmas Countdown

Thanksgiving is a Boeing 777X, screeching to a halt, and my kitchen is the runway. The pressure is on. I’ll be starting a new job, which means that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I’ll begin meal preparations later than I’ve ever done before. Also, Alex invited his college friends from China to spend their first-ever Thanksgiving… Continue reading Pre-Thanksgiving Cocktail

Faulty file cabinets are threatening to ruin Thanksgiving in our house this year. They have been crammed with so many things I thought I needed to keep “on file,” that they are heavy enough to come crashing down, through the ceiling, into the gravy boat, and crush the delicate “handprint” turkey centerpiece we made as… Continue reading Fall Project: Getting the File Cabinets to Close

A sheet pan of lasagna, wrapped in a cape of bubbly cheese, is just the superhero needed to save a group of roommates, trapped in the dorm on a Sunday night, commiserating over tough classes and a high-stakes video game tournament that took a nosedive into a steaming landfill. Alex, the only child of the… Continue reading Lasagna to the Rescue!

If screaming-hot popcorn kernels, catapulted from the eerie bowels of an air popper, are just the thrill you need this Halloween, mosey on up to the Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks kitchen for an extra-special treat. Ghosts are haunting this joint, and they’ve spun themselves into marshmallow-sugar balls to terrify your insides. But don’t worry, they’re… Continue reading Ghost Popcorn Balls

The craft alarm, today, sounded like shipping containers in distress—filled with festive kraken parts—plopping into the Pacific Ocean during a bomb-cyclone-atmospheric-river-event. However, this member of the Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks Team is safe inside, doing a craft that’s quick; involves just a few markers; and does not require a crane, the United States Coast Guard,… Continue reading Craft Alert: Haunted House Craft