The Muffia Read Free

dish when most of us are working and raising kids, some of us alone. Lazy and busy, I do my best.
     
    [email protected] : Salad and wine here. Can’t wait to see you all but can we please keep the beads-in-the-balls discussion to a minimum? Read the book, Sarah.
     
    Rachel is the youngest in the collective and, in case you need a refresher, is the Muff with the voluminous blonde hair—the kind I’d kill for—and a nose ring—which would probably kill me to get. As I said, she’s our resident artist and can always be counted on to make something inspired to eat that has nothing to do with the book we just read, but everything to do with who she’s dating.
     
    [email protected] : I urge all of you to read the book. The beads in his balls are a cancer treatment and we should discuss on this basis. Cancer is everywhere! I’m bringing spanakopita, Rachel.
     
    Uh-oh… I wondered if that spinach phyllo pie meant things had cooled with Hank and she’d started dating a Greek.
    Lauren, our “rich” and, I’d say, most preppy member, could often be counted on to flake at the last minute. Sometimes she'd get a better offer, like a ticket to the premiere of a George Clooney movie, but I suspected that often her excuses were offered because she hadn't read the book.
     
    [email protected] : Sounds delish—The food, not the cancer. Unfortunately, my sister is coming to town and taking us to the launch of Chelsea Handler’s new vodka (A little obvious, I know. But she drinks so much, she had to start making her own). Sound too hip, late night and sleazy for a mom of two toddlers? Yes, but I must go anyway. Love to all xxoo L
     
    Hmmm...Was it unfortunate that her sister was coming to town?  That she was being forced to appear at a vodka launch? Unclear...
    Paige was the next to make her opinion and online presence known:
     
    [email protected] : Sorry you're dumping us for Chelsea, Lauren, but we moms have to feel like we’re still in the game. Assuming you haven't read the book, or you'd have asked to reschedule? Anyway, have fun. Score us a case of the stuff if you can pry it away from her.
    XX P     P.S. Will bring yummy coconut cake.
     
    Despite Paige's cheery tone, I could almost see the individual hairs on her head flipping up as a result of Lauren’s bailing on us. The only other time Paige’s hair isn’t perfect is if she’s just returned from teaching her tennis clinic, and even then it still flips neatly, albeit a little damply, from under her trendy visor.
    I wondered if Paige might be bringing dessert to annoy Sarah who was not only a good cook of the savory, but a wonderful baker. Either that or she hadn’t read Sarah’s email saying she had dessert covered. Sometimes I think Paige just needs to act out when people cancel—as one of the original members, she takes it very personally when people don’t adhere to the rules, free vodka or no free vodka. But she and I have known each other for twenty-five years, having met and become friends in New York when I was in law school and she was an aspiring singer living in the same Greenwich Village building. Our shared misery of that time bonded us for life.
     
    [email protected] : Count me in for bread and wine, which Rachel can pick up on the way if Troy’s flu isn’t better. He’s been exploding from both ends. You might not want me there to expose you all anyway. Lauren, it’s lovely your sister has come out for a visit but don't drink and drive:) ~K
     
    Kiki also goes back to the New York days and is not kooky at all, really. In fact, she’s been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, which has pretty much put the kibosh on her last bit of kookiness. Her last acting job was an Equity Waiver play three years ago—and probably the single biggest reason she decided to change her life. Good for her , say we who, to a Muff, encourage this nursing degree—if for nothing else than when we can’t afford health care, she can draw our