January 29, 2026 The Reluctant Chef (or How Comparative Advantage Finally Failed Me) Is it true that many people who enjoy cooking — or who excel at it — had a parent or close relative they watched and learned from? I’ve heard that theory, and it makes sense to me. So what happens when you’re raised by a single mother who not only does not cook, but wouldn’t recognize a fresh vegetable if it came up and bit her on the nose? My mother was a huge fan of TV dinners. And canned vegetables. And other unmemorable meals. On holidays, she made matzah ball soup with…
January 13, 2026 Retirement Is Just Kindergarten with Better Snacks We’ve come full circle: playground to workplace, back to playground. Having sold my business last year—one I owned for most of my adult life—and being theoretically “young” enough to fully enjoy the years ahead, I’ve been thinking a lot about the snowbird phenomenon. Once upon a time, I viewed snowbirds with thinly veiled scorn. These unfaithful fleers of their hometowns who skedaddled to warmer climes at the first sign of winter? Wimps, I thought. In the Mid-Atlantic, we’re talking about a couple of months of discomfort and the occasional snowfall. This isn’t Minnesota, for Pete’s sake. Toughen up. Then I…
