My Aunt Carole and I have always been close.  A few years ago, she started losing her memory.  For the past year, she’s been in a dementia facility.  A couple weeks ago, she was placed in hospice, and I’ve been…

I’ve always been an over-achiever. If there was a challenge, I wanted to best it. I aced my way through school, not because I loved school, but because I loved to hit high marks. But acing tests didn’t do much…

I go to the local farmer's market every Wednesday.  My restaurant tries to cook with as much seasonal produce as possible, and I spend a lot of time hunting for it. It's a great job. I like feeling connected to…

The kids and I catered a party this weekend.  They're 7 and 8.  When we came up with this idea, I honestly thought I'd be doing the brunt of it.  But I didn't. They both worked long hours prepping and…

My husband loves wood boats. He’s been fascinated with them since we’ve been in high school.  He’s restored and sold 9 wood boats. As a Father’s Day present, our family headed to the North Woods in Wisconsin for the Antique…

I was a dramatic teenage dork that walked around with a beat-up collection of Emerson poems in my backpack.  Not because I loved the subject matter, but because I loved his meter and rhyme.  His poetry has a pulse and…

I played outside at a festival in downtown Rockford yesterday with my old friends Gerald Dowd, Gregg Ostrom, and John Abbey.  We had brunch at my restaurant before the gig. Today, my heart is full, and my head is murky.…

No blog tonight.  I'm cooking the wedding dinner for our executive chef at my restaurant tonight.  Proud to work with the best damn kitchen team in town.  I'll see you next Monday. -Em

I've had a melody stuck in my head for weeks.  It's been killing me. I've been getting up between 3 am and 4 am every day to try to find the lyrics.  By Friday morning, I'd rewritten the song too…

I just worked for two weeks straight at my restaurant.  I was beat and decided to take two days to write music in a small boat house in Wisconsin.  (It's the midwesterner in me that feels the need to disclaim…