Barbara Samuel O'Neal is the author of more than thirty award-winning novels, including THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS and

The Secret of Everything
The Secret of Everything

A native of Colorado, Barbara loves teaching, travel, reading, writing, yoga, walking, food, cooking, photography and...okay, reality television.

Follow Me:
Twitter
Facebook

Farewell to the Ancient One

I had to let Sasha go last Friday. You’ve all been so kind, I thought you’d want to know. Rather than weep, I think in her honor we should all laugh, eat something we love, and raise a toast to the scavenger dogs of the world. Here is a link to one [...]

Come visit with me in Colorado Springs

I’ll be at the Briargate Barnes and Nobel on Sunday afternoon. Come on over!

January 17, 2-4 pm
Barnes and Noble, North Colorado Springs
1565 Briargate Blvd
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
719-266-9960

Finally back to work

Oh, yes–I remember. The book happens as I am writing it. All the thinking, all the planning, all the scene lists and character sketches and theme spiders and metaphorical illuminations are lovely. The brewing time is also good, and I need a lot of it.

But in the end, what I learn over [...]

An excerpt from the new collection by the Faery Four

We’ve been playing again, the Faery Four, and our latest collection of magical stories is out! The book is called THE CHALICE OF THE ROSE novella collection, written by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, and Barbara Samuel, and it traces the tale of the Grail through four different time periods. I [...]

The Simple Joy of Dog-ness

Sasha in November

This morning, I’m thinking about the difference in dogs and cats. As many of you know, my mid-size terrier mutt Sasha is almost 17 years old and over the past six months, her age has really been catching up with her. She’s quite deaf and a little shortsighted and even the smeller [...]

The Deconstruction of Fish & Chips

At CR’s urging, I decided to give the deconstruction of fish & chips a try.  (For background on the Top Chef deconstruction challenge, read about it here.)

My challenge was to create a dish that would deconstruct fish & chips and end up tasting like the original.  Since the only ingredients in the traditional offering are white [...]

Deconstruction Challenge, via Top Chef

Tonight, the chefs were asked to deconstruct a classic dish.   One of them was fish and chips, which happens to be one of Christopher Robin’s favorites, so I found myself trying to imagine how to do it.  As we watched, I kept tossing out ideas, and CR finally said, “Try it!”  (Subtext: please please please!)

So,  [...]

THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING, Barbara O'Neal

PRE-ORDER NOW

Coming your way January 5, 2010:

FROM THE BACK COVER:
In this spectacular new novel, Barbara O’Neal delivers a generous helping of the best in life–family, food, and love–in the story of a woman’s search for the one thing worth more than anything.

At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way down her list of goals [...]

My spider friend

Early in the summer, I noticed a yellow spider on one of my tomato plants.  He seemed to be taking care of nasty bugs, so I let him be.  He grew a little, and a little more, so the pot was no longer working as an apartment.  He built a web along the clothesline a [...]

Radio essay online

I taped another radio essay last week.  It went live this morning and you can hear it here:

http://krccnews.org/rccnews/citizen-report-joan-i/2009/06/11/6111