In one month, we’ll meet their daughter. For now, we navigate runny duck yolks. “It’s not worth it,” her partner says. “You’re in the final stretch.” Instead we order cheese…
Claire Margine
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Splendid Grub: Elegy for the Desert Cafe
by Claire Margine September 10, 2018Once upon a time, I was a time traveler. The voyage started on a cross-country flight to Baltimore, followed by a fitful sleep in my teenage bedroom. The next night,…
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Our first apartment in San Francisco was the size of the living room we had on the East Coast, in the so-new-it-smelled-and-sparkled apartment weʼd left behind. “Good riddance,” I thought,…
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Splendid Grub: Moonlight Kumquat
by Claire Margine May 14, 2018The whole world felt like a crisper drawer. It smelled like the heady soap rush of an open door at a laundromat, the first bloom of jasmine. Trees crowded with…
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I have a bad habit that I’m not going to fix. When I drop popcorn on my lap, I eat it, as though my folded knees are a continuation of…
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Splendid Grub: Vinaigrette and Small Victories
by Claire Margine February 12, 20182017 was the year of “something happened.” From headlines to text messages, the news was violently surreal. Phone calls were big or they were a minute long. Houses lost the…
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Splendid Grub: Potato Chips in Good China
by Claire Margine January 14, 2018Over the holidays I flew to Maryland to empty my childhood home. Ever since my parents’ marriage ended, I was haunted by that house. A testament to its power, the…
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Landlocked Astronauts and Lucky Waffles: The Hotel Breakfast Buffet
by Claire Margine August 8, 2016“A face only a mother could love” is the first glimpse of a hotel breakfast buffet’s craggy features: margarine and stale cereal, formica table tops with coffee rings. Consider me…
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Mortality in 4 Meals
by Guest Contributor March 15, 20161. Egg Salad: You’re going to carry that sandwich a long time. When we are Jewish, someone is dead or we’re eating. And, really, when someone is dead, it’s…