memoir Archives

Egg and I, The

Memoirs of a Chicken Farmer's Wife Author: Betty MacDonald Following in the footsteps of her mother, Betty MacDonald marries and allows her new mate to lead the way. His passions are her orders, his desires, her daily chores. This leads Betty far away from her former, comfortable town life into the wilderness of Washington State where the daily toils of chicken farming, eccentric neighbors, and the occasional cougar keep life interesting. Betty’s famous memoir, The Egg and I, starts with the sarcastic explanation of Betty’s path from city woman to chicken farmer, helpmate, and general woman of the wild. Betty’s new [...]

Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo

A Pretty Good Tour of Tokyo Author: Matthew Amster-Burton In theory, I want to go to Japan. It’s always seemed like an exotic and interesting destination, and I have a personal connection: my mom is Japanese and was born there. But the double linguistic whammy of a foreign language and a foreign alphabet, plus a national diet of all the scariest, most unidentifiable brown stringy things in my grandma’s fridge, was… intimidating, to say the least. If nothing else, I owe food writer and fellow Seattleite Matthew Amster-Burton a great debt for making Japan sound navigable, friendly, and downright tasty [...]