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8b61189
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In order to live a life truly worth living you had to have strength in the face of adversity, patience when confronted by challenge, and bravery in the face of fear. As Sandy Portman I had used arrogance in the face of fear, disdain in the face of challenge, and selfishness in the face of adversity.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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But sometimes we have to be brave in order to dig deep and find answers. Even if we're not sure we're going to like the answers.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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The real question isn't "Why aren't you strong enough?" It's "Why do you keep doubting that you already are?"
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Linda Francis Lee |
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No person, whether she is a scientist or a cook, can find success if she doesn't first believe that she holds power in her hands-- not to use over people, but to use for the good of another.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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Some things are true whether you believe them or not.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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It's hard to believe in miracles until you've seen one happen. But once you've seen, well, life alters and you can never look
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Linda Francis Lee |
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It's over for me, isn't it?" The old man glanced across the room mid-chew. "What do you mean?" "I'm not getting my body back." He shrugged. "Probably not." My head swam. It didn't matter that at some level I had suspected the truth; hearing the words spoken out loud felt like a kick in the teeth. "Why didn't you tell me before?" "You're a smart guy, Alexander, and we both know you had already figured it out. That's always the way with peopl..
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Linda Francis Lee |
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You're serious." "As serious as an accountant at an IRS audit." His face closed off, reminding her of the ruthlessness she had first noticed about him on the front steps. "You have no business opening a restaurant." "Says who?" "Says the guy who watched you try to extricate yourself from a burger suit with a knife." Her mouth fell open. "Burger suits and restaurants are two different kettles of fish." "Kettles of fish? Now there's great bus..
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terminology
texas-style
sayings
portia-and-gabriel
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Linda Francis Lee |
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fe899f0
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Two people have to love and respect each other to make a good team, at least in marriage. They have to be committed down to their cores in order to survive the ups and downs of life.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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Mothers are strong enough to let their daughters find out who they really are, and daughters are stong enough to realize that mistakes or no, every mother has done the best she can ... and if she's lucky, her own daughter will one day give her the same gift of understanding.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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8b43e18
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I still didn't know what the future held. I didn't have a map or even a plan. But I had learned that's what life was - risky, messy, no way to tie it up in neat little packages despite my desire for it to be otherwise.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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Sometimes there is more to a person's need for white picket fences than safety, just as sometimes there is more to a person's rebellion than the need to lash out against rules.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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It's regret that kills, the if onlys that leave the mortal wounds.
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Linda Francis Lee |
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The images swirled through her. She needed to bake. Cake. A layered chocolate cake. With vanilla buttercream frosting. The images were as clear as four-color photos from a coffee table book on baking. She could taste the vanilla, butter, and cream whipped into a sugar frosting as if she had spooned it into her mouth. The chocolate smelled so real that a chill of awareness ran along her skin, pooling in her fingertips. She itched to bake.
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tastes
portia-cuthcart
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Linda Francis Lee |
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e227a6d
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She decided to make salmon baked in a touch of olive oil, topped with pine nuts, and served over spinach flash-fried in the salmon-and-olive-oil drippings. She added brown rice that she had slow-boiled with the herb hawthorn. Just as she finished, Cordelia arrived with a woman she had found standing in the sidewalk out front. "My husband has high blood pressure," she explained, negotiating the stairs down into Portia's apartment with care...
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hangover
health-foods
high-blood-pressure-cures
insomnia-cure
stress-reliever
portia-cuthcart
remedies
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Linda Francis Lee |
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ed5ed63
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I couldn't deal with the kind of need for a man that had ruled my mother's life - the kind of need that made it impossible to breath when self-worth was wrapped up in "I love yous."
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Linda Francis Lee |
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21cff2f
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The German chocolate cake was easy. So was the vanilla buttercream. But the strawberry shortcake gave me fits. Turns out, the final fix came when I baked a fresh strawberry in the middle of a vanilla sour-cream batter instead of strawberry batter with chunks of strawberries.
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flavors
strawberries
portia-cuthcart
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Linda Francis Lee |
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41dbb9c
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Once the apartment was ready, Portia had begun to plan out what foods they would showcase in this little glimpse into a Glass Kitchen world. Her sisters couldn't help her with this part. Portia had let go, and dishes had come to her, all of which she wrote down and prepared to make. Then, at eight that morning, she got to work. Olivia and Cordelia served as sous-chefs; they started by making a decadent beef bourguignon. Olivia and Cordelia ..
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glass-kitchen
foods
portia-cuthcart
scents
ingredients
sisters
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Linda Francis Lee |
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749c3e2
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She spread her arms wide to encompass the old pine table they had painted robin's egg blue, lightly sanding it in places so the white primer showed through. She had pulled out Aunt Evie's moss green platters and bowls, filling enough of them with everything from cheesy quiches to creamy chocolate pies, butterscotch cupcakes to the beef bourguignon to cover every inch of counter space. The place smelled heavenly.
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foods
kitchen-design
portia-cuthcart
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Linda Francis Lee |
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e76826e
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Images of food rushed through her head, surprising her. Fried chicken. Sweet jalapeno mustard. Mashed potatoes. Biscuits. And a pie. Big and sweet, strawberries with whipped cream- so Texan, so opposite this fierce New Yorker.
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gabriel-kane
portia-and-gabriel
portia-cuthcart
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Linda Francis Lee |
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1113e90
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Not an hour after Olivia was found, Portia and her mother were in the family's ancient pickup truck, bumping along the dirt roads of backwater Texas until they came to her grandmother's cafe, a place that had been handed down through generations of Gram's ancestors. The Glass Kitchen. Portia loved how its whitewashed clapboard walls and green tin roof, giant yawning windows, and lattice entwined with purple wisteria made her think of doll h..
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grandma
smells
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Linda Francis Lee |
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8e9e396
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Without a single one of those promised lessons from her grandmother, Portia began to see and taste food without having it in front of her, the images coming to her like instincts, automatic and without thought. She found that she knew things without having to be taught. Rich dark chocolate would calm a person who was hiding their anxiety. Hot red chili mixed with eggs first thing in the morning relieved symptoms of someone about to succumb ..
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healing-properties
portia-cuthcart
gift
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Linda Francis Lee |
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6d5403a
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Portia gasped awake with the taste of apples in her mouth- crisp green apples smothered in brown sugar and spice. She needed to bake. Lying tangled in the sheets, she tried to calm her racing heart. She tried to write off this urge, too. It was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to moving to the Big Apple. But no matter how forcefully she told herself she had stuffed the knowledge back down, she realized that she hadn't. Not really. Whe..
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knowing
urges
portia-cuthcart
ingredients
sweets
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Linda Francis Lee |
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493196e
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Next thing she knew, Portia hurried into the Fairway Market on Broadway. The grocery store was unlike anything she had seen in Texas. Bins of fruit and vegetables lined the sidewalk, forming narrow entrances into the market. Inside, the aisles were crowded, no inch of space wasted. In the fresh vegetables and fruit section she was surrounded by piles of romaine and red-leaf lettuce, velvety thick green kale that gave away to fuzzy kiwi and ..
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grocery-shopping
portia-cuthcart
ingredients
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Linda Francis Lee |
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86dd91a
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The small corner market had rows of fresh flowers in white plastic buckets. Standing, the early fall sun on her shoulders, she opened her mind. She assessed the fuchsia roses and violet freesias, vibrant orange and gerbera daisies. Willowy snapdragons.
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portia-cuthcart
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Linda Francis Lee |
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b64f5ed
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If Olivia was like a decadent chocolate-covered strawberry, and Portia a pineapple-and-spice hummingbird cupcake, then Cordelia was peanut butter brittle, still sweet, though with something more substantial added by way of peanuts, but unbendable.
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sisters
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Linda Francis Lee |
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4d85630
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Heart pounding, she started to prepare the meal that hit her so hard. Her famous cherry tomatoes stuffed with chile, cheese, and bacon, along with pulled pork, endive slaw, and potato pancakes with homemade catsup.
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meal
portia-cuthcart
cooking
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Linda Francis Lee |
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d0f4f55
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I would be over the moon if you'd make me one of your famous apple cakes." Portia stared at the ingredients her sister had lined up with perfect precision on the scratched countertop. Apples. Butter. Brown sugar. Cordelia cocked her head. "What is it?" "Nothing," Portia said, her voice weak. "It's just that I'm not in the mood to bake, is all." That was a lie. Her fingers itched to dive in, peel, and core, sift the flour, fold in the soften..
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apples
baking
portia-cuthcart
ingredients
sisters
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Linda Francis Lee |
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8ce5050
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Without thinking about what she was doing, she pulled blueberries from the icebox and peaches from the fruit bin. She might have only been seven years old, but she was smart enough to know that her mother would have a fit if she pulled out knives, or did anything near the two-burner hot plate. Instead, Portia, pulled the peaches apart, catching the sticky-sweet juice on her tongue as it ran down her fingers. She found a slice of angel food ..
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blueberries
peaches
portia-cuthcart
fruits
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Linda Francis Lee |