“Mothers from miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hold onto things tighter than their parents think they will.”– E.B. White, “Charlotte’s Web”At school pickup, I stand outside the chain-link fence that separates the kindergarten playground from the parents. Our 5-year-olds […]

Here are edited excerpts from a recent online chat. Recipes whose names are capitalized can be found in our Recipe Finder at washingtonpost. com/recipes.Q: I bought turnips at the farmers market over the weekend and have no idea what to do with them. Do you have any vegetarian-friendly suggestions?A: For starters, they’d be great to […]

The weight-loss industry has long been saturated with gimmicky, too-good-to-be-true diets, so one could be excused for thinking the main benefit of “Eat Fat, Get Thin” is to burn calories by causing particularly vigorous eye-rolling. I mean, doesn’t eating fat, like, make you fat? Actually, the answer is a big, fat no, at least according […]

A few years ago at Thanksgiving, when I asked my then-husband to lift an unusually large pot of potatoes off the stove for me, two elder female relatives pounced.“You don’t need him to do that,” said one as she grabbed the pot of boiling water and rushed it to the sink. “Do it yourself.”“He likes […]

Middle-school program empowers students with food skills to last a lifetime. On a typical Tuesday, the aroma of tasty food wafts throughout the hallways at Auburn Middle School. There are sights and sounds of onions being chopped, cheese being grated and dough being rolled out. Giggles can be overheard among questions, including: “Is this enough?” […]

When Ronnie Duvall found out a friend’s daughter had been diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma inoperable brain tumor, he began to do extensive research on pediatric cancer. All the research did was make him angry. So he decided to start a fight against pediatric cancer by driving across the country, hitting every contiguous state, […]

While Melody Gammon spends a majority of her time teaching younger children the tricks of the competitive gymnastics trade, she still leaves herself some time to compete on a national level. Despite facing criticism from some fellow gymnasts for competing into her 30s, Gammon said she loves honing her craft and still thrives off of […]

Some like it hot, but when it comes to Mexican cuisine, it’s not necessarily the heat that entices, it’s the flavors and the colors, the textures and the variety. With that in mind, you can almost taste the richness of Mexican culture in the foods that Jenna Blakey of Lewiston prepares. “I love having a […]