Commentary

When I was growing up, my family had steamed crabs very rarely—usually when out-of-town relatives were visiting. My husband spent more time near the water, so he had them more often.

As I sat there watching them play in the water, I could almost feel the last bit of that sweet summer freedom slipping away. This was likely our last pool day of the season. The busyness of autumn is looming large.

Does macaroni and cheese taste different based on the shape of the noodles? My son pointed out that I hardly ever make macaroni-shaped macaroni and cheese—and right away everyone else at the dinner table chimed in.

One of my son’s friends gave me three enormous zucchinis from his garden, and I was so excited. We don’t have a vegetable garden, mostly due to time and partly due to the enthusiastic wildlife in our yard. These were the largest zucchini I had ever seen.