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Monthly Review: February 2026

  • r.m. allen
  • Mar 7
  • 2 min read
Photo by Mitchell Allen
Photo by Mitchell Allen

1.

All the moms in Dane

crowd the lot with Subarus.

Now where do we park?


2.

No giraffes, no seals—

under construction now, but

we’ll catch them next time.


3.

You’re a bird watcher;

I’m a bird watcher-watcher,

wondering when we leave.


4.

In a cluster of

goats, be the weird little one

meandering off.


5.

Silly polar bear

hops out of the pool, shaking

like a pup post-bath.


6.

Wisconsin winter,

but it’s fifty-five degrees.

Can we get ice cream?

Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of February.


What I Read

  • Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, Casey Cep (★★★★★)

  • James, Percival Everett (★★★★)

  • The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, Tim Keller (★★★★)

  • Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green (★★★★)

  • Wild Reverence, Rebecca Ross (★★★)


If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.


What I Cooked

This dip kept me company during the catastrophically boring Super Bowl. While it is no buffalo chicken dip, it reminded me of my favorite red pepper pasta, and even my red pepper-hating husband thought it was tasty.


I just don't get tired of olive oil cakes. This one was so different and so delicious. I used Craisins in lieu of chocolate and liked it so well that I'm making it again this weekend.


I think I may have found my perfect queso recipe.


I love an indulgent Valentine's Day dessert, and after my best friend served me the Ina Garten brownie puddings at besties' book club last year, I knew I had to make them for myself. A half recipe made 4 Le Creuset cocottes. Be aware that these are tremendously rich, so a little scoop of mint ice cream to cool them down is a must.


What I Created

  • The other part of an essay on envy for Commonplace magazine, where you'll find my writing all throughout 2026

  • A few lines of a new poem

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

 
 
 

Monthly Review: January 2026

  • r.m. allen
  • Feb 4
  • 2 min read

In darkness greet the day; inhale a breath

that chills the spine and ices out the lungs.

The skin already raw, the fingers curl

in fists to beat against the door of dawn:

Let out the day, though it will be as cold

and gray as now the bitter night is black—

and such a string of days, as ill-formed pearls

to slowly choke the throat that they enclose.

Here, eye to eye with all the scattered stars,

glimpse at the gilded edge of night the sun,

which, though it rises not to balmy heights,

yet brings a January promise sure:

Each day is longer than its yesterday,

And with it brings a little more of light.

Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of January.


What I Read

  • Night, Elie Wiesel (★★★★★)

  • Book Lovers, Emily Henry (★★★★★)

  • Bel Canto, Ann Patchett (★★)


If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.


What I Cooked

Tieghan, you know I love you. I do. Hardly a week goes by without one of your recipes on the Allen family meal plan. But sometimes, you just don't know when to quit, and this was one of those times. That sauce did not need sesame oil. It overpowered all the other flavors. I might be willing to try this again sans sesame oil, but it left a bad taste in my mouth, quite literally.


Grapefruit is my favorite citrus as well as my favorite scent, and with the frigid January we've endured, nothing sounded happier than a grapefruit cake. It was truly so easy, and the glaze was the perfect consistency. The grapefruit flavor was not particularly intense, but even my citrus-skeptical husband declared it a success.


As I have written elsewhere, I love dumplings. While this trend piqued my curiosity enough for me to try it myself, it was a reminder that many viral recipes are dished up for the eyes rather than the palate. The flavors were good, but the steamed mass of pork in the center was reminiscent of a hockey puck.


What I Created

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

 
 
 

Monthly Review: December 2025

  • r.m. allen
  • Jan 7
  • 3 min read

Updated: Feb 4

I made the appointment knowing it might be tough to keep. In December, plans feel fragile as the snowflakes that threaten them, but this couldn’t wait for warmer days. My hair demanded its quarterly trim, and I was counting down to it like Christmas.


Once the week came, the forecast showed clear skies each day—except, of course, Thursday, December 18. The miserable drizzle that would open the day was set to turn to snow right on cue as I left my house for the twenty-five minute drive. For days Wisconsin weather forecasts cluttered my Facebook newsfeed to warn me of the impending storm. The tiny snowing cloud icon loomed on my weather app. Maybe I should call Bonnie, I kept thinking. But her calendar would be even fuller than mine, and a postponement would only complicate matters for both of us, a fact driven home by my daily, fruitless efforts to tame the cowlick at the end of my overlong bangs.


The day of the appointment began with the forecasted rain, and I kept refreshing the weather tab on my work computer to see when it would crystallize into wintry mix and, finally, snow. Ostensibly a snow squall was possible between 4-6. Only once had I experienced a snow squall, the natural equivalent of the fat manufactured flakes that embellish the sets of Christmas movies. The squall had swirled and blown its way through our neighborhood before vanishing as suddenly as it came. Even watched through a window, this violent billow of snow had shocked me with its force, and I could only imagine driving through one.


Amidst these anxieties, at last I realized I would have to stop listening to myself and start talking to myself—and to God. I jotted a prayer in my journal, not merely for favorable weather, but for a sense of stillness in this silly self-contrived tempest. Prepared though I wanted to be, I could no more prevent the snow from falling than I could add an inch to my height by worrying about it. I would have to meet whatever came for me with a sense of resolve, and in the meantime, I had other things far more deserving to occupy my mind.


At last the time came. The clouds had dried out and were in fact beginning to part as I set off from home. Along the lonely stretch of highway, the sky took on all the hues of a winter sunset: lustrous golds, dreamy purples, muted pinks and blues. The colors shifted and changed with the sinking sun, and though the bitter December night was coming on, I felt the hope of a radiant new day. There was nothing to be afraid of. How beautiful it was.

Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of December.


What I Read

  • 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup (★★★★★)

  • Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always, Ruth Chou Simons (★★★★★)

  • I Cheerfully Refuse, Leif Enger (★★★★)

  • Sisters in the Wind, Angeline Boulley (★★★★)

  • The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (★★★)

  • Everything is Poison, Joy McCullough (★★★)

  • Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling, Kerry McDonald (★★★)


If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.


What I Cooked

In what may be a Mrs. Allen Makes first, I don't believe I tried any new recipes.


What I Created

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

 
 
 

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