The Way Life Should Be Quotes

“Every decision I make is determined solely by the spark and limitations of my own perspective”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“I have found that the biggest moments in life, the ones that change everything, usually catch you by surprise.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Fairy tales end happily ever after because children crave certainly and resolution; they need to know how things turn out. But if my experiences in the past three months have shown me anything, it's that I am comfortable living with more questions than answers. My own story will always be a work in progress.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“When I think about what would make me happy, I am struck by how basic my desires are. I want to feel that I'm progressing through life; I want a meaningful relationship and an engaging career. I want to live in a place that feels like home. What I want is what everyone wants - so ordinary as to be cliched. Why is that so hard to find?”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“We make the beet salad by steaming the beets until soft, about thirty minutes, plunging into cold water, and removing the skins. After cutting the beets into small cubes, we toss them with a vinaigrette of orange juice, vinegar, olive oil, and shallots, adding crumbles of goat cheese and green onion, for color and taste and crunch, at the end.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Lance”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“you”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“The truth is, even if you make a pact with yourself that you’re not looking and don’t care, a piece of you is always waiting for love to happen.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“When I think about what would make me happy, I am struck by how basic my desires are. I want to feel that I’m progressing through life; I want a meaningful relationship and an engaging career. I want to live in a place that feels like home. What I want is what everyone wants-so ordinary as to be clichéd. Why is that so hard to find?”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Thinking about all of this, I feel a sudden rush of anticipation, an abstract yearning. Unfamiliar as it is, I do remember it. I experienced this feeling as a little girl the night before Christmas, and later when I was applying to college, and even later when I moved to New York. It’s a longing for things to come, possibilities unfolding before me, the charged expectation of change.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“I think of the tattered picture tacked to my long-ago bulletin board, the man of my fantasies on Blueberry Cove Lane, the mirage of a perfect life that brought me to Maine in the first place. Fairy tales end happily ever after because children crave certainty and resolution; they need to know how things turn out. But if my experiences in the past three months have shown me anything, it’s that I am comfortable living with more questions than answers.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“I didn’t follow my heart, Angela. I followed my head. And when it comes down to it, the longing in the heart lingers. Do you want to know the truth?” I nod, though I’m not sure I do. “I wish I had not left. I did what I thought would save me from heartache, but in many ways it kept me from living.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“... I am halfway between two worlds, the known and the unknown. I feel as transparent as the wind, as if my spirit is hovering in the sky, waiting to land. I am driving toward a future I can't see, leaving behind a past that already feels distant. Nothing is clear - and yet the trees are sharp against the sky; I can see the hard outlines of everything.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“It’s a longing for things to come, possibilities unfolding before me, the charged expectation of change.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Risotto with Seafood 2 bay leaves 1 carrot, chopped 2 small onions: 1 chopped, 1 minced 3 (1-pound) lobsters 1/3 cup olive oil 3 tablespoons tomato paste 2 cups Arborio rice 1½ cups white wine (dry) 2 tablespoons butter 2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled 1 pound scallops Fill pot with water sufficient to cover 3 lobsters. Add bay leaves, carrot, chopped onion. Bring to a boil, add lobsters, and cook 10 minutes. Reserve water the lobsters were cooked in. Cool lobsters and remove meat. Cook minced onion in olive oil until translucent; add tomato paste until blended. Then add rice. Slowly add white wine and an equal amount of lobster water. Continue stirring and adding liquid as rice cooks, 20 minutes or so. Melt butter in a separate pan. Add shrimp; cook until pink. Remove shrimp and add scallops; sear until golden. Add shrimp and lobster to the risotto pan. Fold in. Season to taste.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Stracciatella alla Romana 8 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade 6 ounces fresh spinach, cut into strips 4 eggs, plus 2 tablespoons water ½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese Salt and pepper Boil the stock and add spinach, cooking until wilted, about 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the water; add grated cheese. Whisk the egg mixture briskly into the boiling broth, and add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be

“Life’s small details are the ones that interest me, anyway. The big questions are too hard to parse.”
― Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be