Dear Mr. Pépin (May I call you Jacques?),

Jacques, I recently tried to make your Country Apple Galette from a copy of Food & Wine magazine. Only I used peaches because that’s all we had, and you do say that the dish can be filled with any fruit. Other than that, I did everything just like you wrote, including using the wildflower honey.

And so, I was wondering, since I respect you very much as a chef and like the idea of a dessert that is “both beautiful and rustic,” why did mine turn out so soggy? Was it because the peaches were frozen? Did I not cut the butter small enough into the dough? Sorry about the butter thing if that was it—sometimes my arms get tired from all that rolling and kneading!

I wouldn’t bother you with this under normal circumstances, but I am hoping to be a professional baker one day, sir, and so I’d like to get this right. Also, my family could really use a pick-me-up and I’m trying to find the perfect thing.

Your fan and fellow baker,

Ellie Cowan

The thing about fighting with family is that you can’t get away from them. You’re stuck until it’s fixed or broken for good.

Mom and Mema didn’t say a word to each other when we got home last night, and Grandpa had forgotten the whole thing happened by the time we pulled down the gravel drive.

So basically, merry Christmas to all this morning!

It’s cold and gray and brown. So much for a white Christmas. Mom has to help me every time I go to the bathroom here, which is just humiliating, but the trailer bathroom is tiny, like airplane-bathroom tiny. My wheelchair doesn’t even fit through the door.

“Turn on the water.”

“Oh, Ellie, I’m not listening.”

“Turn on the water!”

“All right, all right.”

There’s nothing like sitting on the toilet with your mom one foot away behind the sliding door. Did I mention all the doors in the house slide? The whole place might as well have shower curtains for doors, because you can hear every footstep, every cough… and every visit to the toilet. This is why it’s not a good idea to fight with people living in such close quarters.

“Will you bring in the bath chair?”