It was 11:47 PM on a random Tuesday in October, and I had the weirdest craving for something that didn’t exist yet. I wanted snickerdoodle … Read more

The church potluck was in four hours and I’d completely forgotten. Everyone else would be bringing their showstopper casseroles, those perfectly layered seven-layer dips, and … Read more

Introduction Mrs. Kowalski watched me fumbling with a can of pumpkin puree in the community center kitchen last October. I was trying to get the … Read more

My sister swore she hated Halloween baking. For years. “Too much fuss,” she’d say, waving a hand at my piping bags and themed sprinkles. “All … Read more

I was standing in the grocery store parking lot last October when the smell hit me — that weirdly specific scent of warm cinnamon and … Read more

There used to be this tiny bakery tucked away on a side street in Portland called The Witching Hour that made the most incredible black … Read more

This was supposed to be a batch of classic Rice Krispie treats for my neighbor’s annual Halloween block party. I had the butter melting, the … Read more

My neighbor, a woman named Brenda I barely knew, wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to grab a package that had been mistakenly … Read more

The summer I turned thirty, I found myself at a hardware store on a Tuesday afternoon, buying a new mop. Not exactly the stuff of … Read more