How to keep dealing with one tragedy after another
Hi, Carolyn: This has just been a crappy year and I’m really tired of it. ...
See all in Ask CarolynColumnists
Cheers
No more for us. We’re good
In Greece, it’s considered impolite to let your party guest stand around with a nearly ...
See all in CheersGone Shopping
Handmade for the home
Main Street Ellsworth has a new boutique focused on handmade items. Sunshine & Dixie, at ...
See all in Gone ShoppingKitchen Garden
Parsnips sweet treat come spring
Disconsolate, my friend trudged from one garden center to another. Not a parsnip seed to ...
See all in Kitchen GardenMaine Dish
A treasured cookbook
When I visit my cookbook assortment seeking culinary inspiration, the nearly 100-year-old Girl Scout chant ...
See all in Maine DishMore from our Columnists
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Wife discovers she didn’t make husband’s “pretty” list
Adapted from a recent online discussion. Hi Carolyn: Before we got engaged five years ago, my husband took some time out to decide whether we were a long-term prospect. We’re now married with two young children. I recently came across an email he sent to himself at the time, which was essentially a pro/con list. …
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Should I maintain contact with my daughter’s ex-boyfriend?
Dear Carolyn: My college-age daughter dated a very nice college-age guy for a year. He and I became close. His mother had died about a year before and I think I was a nurturing mom figure for him. They recently broke up and are trying to do the friend thing. He continues to text me …
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Acknowledging a control issue
Dear Carolyn: People have often shrugged me off with, “Oh, that’s just because you like to be in control,” and I’m starting to wonder if they’re correct. Any suggestions for identifying/solving my possible control issues? — Mission Control If you think someone else might be right, congratulations! You’re cured. Kidding, but only a little. The …
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Sweet potatoes make delectable thick-cut fries
Do you ever get a hankering for certain foods, like a cup of steaming hot soup on a cold and drizzly day, the silky smooth and rich taste of chocolate ice cream, the salty crunch of potato chips, the sour crispness of a pickle spear? The human palate, or the way we humans develop our …
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Fight the urge to fork up soil
When I was growing up in New York City, we would often see apologetic signs in the middle of the street that read “Dig we must for a better New York.” Everyone knew that beneath the traffic lay an intricate network of phone lines, gas lines, water lines, electric lines and the great tubes of …
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His moralistic mom thinks they’re living in sin
Dear Carolyn: I have a great boyfriend whom I’ve been with for several years, and we just bought a house together. The problem: His mother thinks we’re living in sin because we’re not married. She tells her son this about once every three months. I have a major problem with people intruding on my personal …
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Demystifying the delicate soufflé
The elegant, puffed and golden soufflé is considered the prima donna of the culinary world. Golden egg yolks enrich a delicious savory or sweet base sauce. In a hot oven, stiffly beaten whites gently expand the base to create a towering, light and airy mixture that melts seductively on your tongue. The time to enjoy …