For me, it’s the end of an era. After nineteen years, it turns out my most recent In The Kitchen column was my last piece for the Packet. Their freelance budget has been cut once again, and my time with them is over.
I think my editor felt worse about this than I do. It wasn’t really a surprise, given the current climate for newspaper publishing, and it’s a small miracle he kept me going as long as he did. Over the years every Packet editor I’ve worked with has been exceptionally good to me, and being able to share my love of good food and cooking with central New Jersey has been a great privilege, providing important personal and professional validation at times when other parts of my life seemed bleak.
I choose to regard this cut as a good civic trade-off because meanwhile the Packet Media Group has brought back the Lawrence Ledger, to serve that deserving community. With scarce resources, which is the case for nearly every newspaper today, reporting on local affairs is so important, certainly more so than mere recipe columns (or even restaurant reviews), and especially in these challenging political times.
For the first time, I really am well and truly retired. So, what shall I do to fill this new bit of space in my life? I have plenty of personal things to attend to, so part of me is fine with not having even that monthly deadline. Maybe I’ll pay more attention to this long-neglected blog. I’m sure I’ll continue to post food shots and my unasked for culinary opinions on Facebook (in between my political ravings, sorry!).
And I finally caved into sending off for an Ancestry.com DNA testing kit, in spite of my cynical thoughts about the accuracy of the results. Who knows what can of worms that’ll open?
My first article, March 9, 1999
NJ SPICE 
It was a good run, Faith! Keep blogging! Talk about the good ol’ days: Last night I dreamt I was having dinner in … Lahiere’s.
I miss just knowing they’re there! My parents loved it and when Dad went on a fishing trip my mother and I would treat ourselves to a “revenge dinner” there. Working with you was so great, thank you for the opportunity!
Definitely the end of an era! You are taking it very graciously although I know it must be a big loss. I enjoyed the Targé story. Be sure to let your many followers know how ancestry.com works out!
Thanks Lee!
BTW re DNA testing: I did both ancestry and 23andMe, a cross-check. Identical results, although the “4% Neanderthal’ wasn’t expected. No joke. Here’s the really interesting part: I went public with the results, am now in touch with three perfect strangers I’m definitely related to, great-grandparent generation probably. We cannot figure this out. Somebody, somewhere must have been foolin’ around. Again, no joke.
Yep, can o’ worms! 🤣
Sorry to hear this. You love writing and your subject so much. Build your own blog, website keep it going. Seems to me it is a calling for you.
Thank you, this is my blog. 💓