Cherry Potholders

I have now officially been to a fabric store in Michigan (Joanne Fabrics, not a proper quilt shop, but it was close). Five $1 fat quarters later, I have appliqued a plain potholder with two cherries with stems and leaves attached. It seemed the right motif for Michigan which is quite the sour cherry capital of things. Could have done blueberries as well for the same reason but speed shopping with a non-quilter meant I didn't think to get any blue. The stash arrives in a couple weeks, so any local produce becomes possible from that time onward.

The Nostalgia Diet

Expats can engage in conversations about food that would put a gourmand to shame. Our ties to a place and its special comforts become a passionate yearning, best shared, for a particular condiment, confection or lowly breakfast cereal.

So returning to the USA means sudden access to every sort of food that one remembers with any fondness and into the shopping cart they go: Life cereal, graham crackers, bagels, the liverwurst that mom used to buy for school lunches, more bagels, New England Clam Chowder, A1 Steak Sauce, a Heath bar. Luckily some fruits and vegetables have also found their way into the shopping, but these indigenous comfort foods become the basis of my intake. So much for Atkins or South Beach, I’m on the Nostalgia Diet.

Luckily it has not been the undoing of a year’s weight loss because simultaneously added into the mix are extreme cold, more walking at work and several staircases in the house.