i just now got home from the place i come from. let's give a shout out to warren, ohio, where both my parents grew up and where i lived on and off as a kid. it was not a happy visit, though. my grandma died earlier this week. i'd already been missing the real her for a long time, but i found out that i could miss her even more. someday i'll write about her cinderella story and her glittery beehive and her sparkly shoes. she had a hard beginning and a hard end, but a damn fine middle. that's the good thing.

i definitely associate her with food. she always had these mints around. actually, warren, oh is all about food to me.












i was the last one of my family to head back to detroit today, so before i left town i picked up six half-cooked pizzas from my dad's favorite pizza place, sunrise pizza, and delivered them around to our various homes in mi. the picture is of their classic "old world" pizza, with hot peppers added. my car smells pretty awesome right now.









i also brought home a hunk of cookie dough that my aunt made from my great-grandma's recipe (on the other side of the family). We cut out, baked, and decorated some cookies last night, which my aunt is using for her holiday stuff, and she sent two more hunks of dough with me and my sister so we can make some, too. Sure. I am pretty positive that i will end up slowly eating the raw dough instead.

this photo should be subtitled "me, after crying for three days, sleeping on a leaky air mattress, and driving for five hours with wet hair that dried badly, in a car that smelled like a pizzeria."