Lizzie Stark

Anyone who reads my blog is probably aware that I have an unholy obsession with preserving foods, and that in 17 days I will undergo a life-changing operation, a double-mastectomy with reconstruction done on my healthy breasts. I’ve always cooked, and frankly eaten (hello, new 20-lb gut), to deal with stress, but lately, perhaps because I’m [...]... Read More

Some couples “practice” for children by getting a dog; my husband and I are evidently “practicing” with charcuterie (tr. “cooked flesh”), the art of making sausage, bacon, terrines, and cured meats. Like preparing for a child, charcuterie requires: a manual — an authoritative cookbook instead of a parenting tome items that the uninitiated would never have lying [...]... Read More

Stephanie Meyer needs an editor. I contend that a writer gets one free "career" use of the term "smoldering eyes," but Meyer uses the verb at least five times, just in Twilight. (One of my close associates refers to this as "Cobalt Blue" writing) Don't get me started on her lazy and tedious obsession with gazes, eyes, and smiles. In a 498-page novel, there are 294 mentions of "eyes," at least 31 gazes, and 184 mentions of smiling characters. It's enough to make an MFA's eyes fill up with tears, as she collapses sobbing into her unpublished, but smoldering, manuscript. Of course, my husband and I are reading the book aloud to each other anyway. While individually, our tastes skew to concept sci-fi and literary fiction, our collective taste tends toward middle-brow genre novels featuring vampires, medieval fantasy, or other stuff written for teenagers.... Read More

Even though I’m a healthy 27-year-old woman right now, I'm going to have both my breasts removed as a preventative measure because I’m a member of a very exclusive club: Like one out of 1,000 women, I have a genetic mutation that dramatically ups my chance of cancer. My gene — called the BRCA1 gene — gives me a 40 percent to 85 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, and a risk of ovarian cancer that is 30 percent to 70 percent higher than women who do not have this gene, according to the Mayo Clinic.... Read More

Gamers have officially entered America's zeitgeist. World of Warcraft had more than 11.5 million subcribers -- the same number as the total population of Cuba -- at the end of last year. It's old news that Ted Raimi of Superman and more importantly, Xena: Warrior Princess fame is set to direct a WoW movie.  But more and more celebrities are coming out of the closet as hardcore gamer geeks. This Daily Beast gallery (full disclosure: I contribute to the Beast's Cheat Sheet) of famous gamers has a few surprise appearances -- Dave Chappelle, Robin Williams, Curt Schilling -- as well as well-known gamers such as Vin Diesel and Elijah Wood.... Read More