In addition to our most popular stories in 2022, we ran a wide variety of other stories in the Living section, on topics that included nature, trail systems, American cuisine, mid-century abstract art, depression, storytelling, snapping turtles, and horses that dance.

We welcomed two new columnists to the Living section this year. Rita Christopher is a longtime staff writer who covers the Connecticut River valley towns. She is now writing a column called “Because You Didn’t Ask,” tackling a wide array of subjects, annoyances, and sources of joy.

Liz Egan is another new columnist. A Clinton resident who has contributed several stories to our section over the years, she is now writing a column called Recipes for Life, where she shares her hard-earned wisdom in areas that range from how to cultivate friendships to how to bake pecan pie.

We continue to enjoy our contributions from longtime columnists Kathy Connolly, Karen Isaacs, and Juliana Gribbins, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in 2023.

We lost our beloved food columnist, Lee White, this year. She died in September. An irreplaceable presence in our lives and on our pages, she will be missed.

This past year we embarked on a series of stories we hope to continue in 2023, “In The Kitchen With...” From everyday home cooks working out of their travel van to world-renowned chefs, we talked to people who love to cook food for others. Do you know someone who would be a good candidate for such a story in 2023, whether a home cook, a chef at a restaurant, or, really, anyone else who brings creativity to the food they make? I would love to hear about that. Please let me know at p.mcnerney@shorepublishing.com.

Also in 2023, we look forward to offering you many more stories about local chefs, nature and the environment, new restaurants, entertainment, our towns, and more this coming year. With that in mind, we want to make sure you knew how to let us know about your story ideas relating to food, entertainment, or, really, anything having to do with life and living.

If it is a specific event, please send the details (who, what, when, where, and why), along with a contact phone and email to news@shorepublishing.com. When we say “when,” we mean include both the date and the time. When we say “where,” we mean include the venue, along with the specific address, and town.

The more details you provide us, the easier it is for us to help you get the word out. If you have a photo, that will increase you chances of having it run. Please send just a plain photo, not a poster, not a photo with writing on it. Just a plain .jpg photo. A cell phone photo is fine. If you have any questions about this, you can contact me directly at p.mcnerney@shorepublishing.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

ICYMI 2022

In case you missed them, here are some of the stories we covered in 2022. To read them online, visit zip06.com and search on the headline, highlighted in bold below.

Nature Offers a Sturdy Bookshelf for Winter Days: Our nature columnist Kathy Connolly provided us with a list of recent books on ecology, land care, trees, and plants that I’ve found useful, informative, and entertaining. They’re perfect reads to enjoy in front of the fire on a cold winter’s day.

New England’s Roadside Ecology: Explore 30 of the Region’s Unique Natural Areas: In this column, Connolly highlighted the book New England’s Roadside Ecology: Explore 30 of the Region’s Unique Natural Areas by Tom Wessels. She writes, “Ten years ago, I joined an unforgettable guided walk with author Thomas Wessels at a black gum swamp in Vernon, Vermont. The swamp’s 1,000 year-old ecosystem had evolved without much human interference, and Wessels opened my eyes to the features of this rare landscape. He also opened my eyes to the topic of forest forensics, the practice of “reading” trees, plants, rocks, moss, lichens, and more to understand the land’s history, both recent and in the distant past.“

When You Say American Cuisine, What Do You Mean?: When you see the words “American cuisine,” do you know what to expect? I know I didn’t. Turns out I’m not alone. Paul Freedman, a Yale professor and the author of The History of American Cuisine and How It Got This Way, explains that Americans generally like variety when it comes to what they eat. Beyond that, “American cuisine” means many things to many people.

Breaking Down the Mythology Around Abstract Artists: Abstract art, admit it, for most of us can sometimes be a little hard to appreciate. Landscapes and portraits, sure, those can be a bit easier on the casual museum-goer. But a recent, transformational gift to Yale University Art Gallery allowed the museum to shed new light on the work and artistic development of some extraordinary mid-century abstract artists. A conversation with Keely Orgeman, the Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Yale University Art Gallery, allowed me to begin to appreciate abstract art. Their exhibit on the new works, “really starts to break down the mythology around the abstract artist as a maverick alone in his studio flinging paint. It also suggests many different ways of working and many different approaches to abstraction.”

In the Kitchen with Lynne and Owen Charles: Any discussion of the kitchen used by Lynne and Owen Charles has to start with the fact that it is tucked into their converted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, their primary residence since, after living in Madison for 17 years, they sold their big old house in June 2021 and hit the road. But just because the kitchen is small doesn’t mean they can’t have fun with their food. Their go-to meals includes salads of all kinds, lots of soups (especially when it’s chilly outside), all sorts of variations on beans and brown rice, vegan mac and cheese, and one of their most favorites, vegan sushi. With recipes and a how-to vegan sushi guide.

Food, Wine, Celebrity, Depression: Bryan Miller is a legend to those of us in the world of journalism. From his humble roots as a local news reporter he became, as a front-page profile in The Wine Spectator dubbed him, “the most powerful restaurant critic in America.” Anyone might think, looking at him, that he was the guy who had it all. But, in fact, he was suffering from a depression that was thick, deep, and tenacious. His book, Dining in the Dark: A Famed Restaurant Critic’s Struggle with and Triumph over Depression generously tells that story and offers insight to others of us trying to make sense of our dance with depression.

In the Kitchen with Mo Jalil: Mo Jalil, a chef at the Madison Beach Hotel, was born in Jerusalem and his earliest memories of falling in love with food happened at the side of his mother Rebecca. Jalil says his mother was the best cook who made breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, drawing upon the riches of her garden just outside, along with those from his grandfather’s farm. They had sheep. They had a cow that Jalil helped milk when he was a small boy. They had chickens, and Jalil carried a little basket to help collect the eggs. They had rabbits. They had apricot trees. Lemon trees. “We had fresh figs. I used to walk from my family’s house and go get the figs, bring it inside, wash it, and eat it with homemade cheese, labneh cheese,” a kind of thick yogurt cheese often studded with fresh herbs or lemon zest. “It’s like sour cream, but better,” says Jalil of the labneh.

It’s Time to Repack Those Duffel Bags: During the pandemic, sisters Anne Woodside Gribbins and Christine Woodside gave us tips on how to cope, using a duffel bag analogy. As we start to take tentative steps towards whatever the new normal might be, they had some more tips for us. They wrote, “Over the past six months, we’ve sat on a roller coaster of ups, downs, good times, and worried times. We are still unsure of the future. We have watched some families around us fracture. We’ve seen optimism wane. And we now set out to repack our duffel bags with new strategies.”

A Small Revolution That May Well Change Society As We Know It Today: Quantum computing? I didn’t know how to spell it correctly, let alone even begin to understand it. And then I had a conversation with artist Martha Lewis; Florian Carle, the manager of the Yale Quantum Institute; and New Haven Museum Director of Photo Archives Jason Bischoff-Wurstle.

Why Do Birds Migrate? When he was a kid, Scott Yanko loved watching birds. But he wondered, why? Why, when there are so many ways for animals to adapt to New England winters, did some birds in the fall opt to fly thousands of miles in a complex, highly perilous journey, and then fly back again this time of year? As a postdoctoral associate in the Max Planck Yale Center for Biodiversity Movement and Global Change, he is currently working with a network of scientists around the world to help solve the puzzle of why birds migrate. The information he is collecting might help create a more sustainable future for humans.

On the Power of Choice and Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet: In the kitchen with Bon Appetit Chef Chrissy Tracey, chef, artist, and forager.

When The Gentle Giants of the Turtle World Need Our Help: Have you ever wondered how to help a snapping turtle that’s in trouble? Come spring, you just might be glad you read this story by Pam Meier, a certified wildlife rehabilitator since 2015 with a focus on turtles.

How To Make Waves: From having a little faith to taking some risks, artist Jeanne Rosier Smith showed us how it’s done in a little garden behind the Susan Powell Gallery in Madison.

One-Of-A-Kind Performance Of ‘Carmen’ Realizes Decades-Long Dream: Performing the opera Carmen, with real horses? With horses that dance? Doing so had been a twinkle in Patricia Norcia’s eye ever since she saw the dramatic opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York several decades ago. Then, when she moved to Clinton, she realized she was in a perfect position to realize her dream.

Music Saved His Life: Christian Opus Lawrence is a Guilford dad who hosts trivia nights on Tuesday at a local pub. He’s also a heavy metal percussionist and full-time professional international touring musician who recently wrote a memoir, Break When I’m Dead. The guy’s got an interesting story to tell.

A Great Chef, A Good Guy: If you find yourself in the kitchen with Michel Nischan--a four-time James Beard Award winning chef who runs both a renowned company that sells responsibly sourced, plant-forward food along with non-profit food equity organization--you just might hear him giggle.

How To Celebrate Friendsgiving: You Do You:

Jacqueline Rigney grew up in Madison, moved to New York City, and decided one year to plan out the perfect Friendsgiving. And then, right before the celebration, the power went out in her apartment building. So she scrambled and called around and found a bar that agreed to host the party, one that would allow them to bring all of the dishes they had planned. The group embraced the temporary chaos and the change, she says, “and then it became a tradition to host at a bar.” Friendsgiving is a holiday that emphasizes creating new traditions as it also draws upon Thanksgiving traditions. As with Rigney, Friendsgiving can be celebrated in addition to the traditional family Thanksgiving. And, for others, it steps in as a welcome substitute for what otherwise would be a family holiday full of angst or, worse, one that would be simply impossible.