A knock at the door -- Timequake -- Nesting -- My day begins -- Morning rites & ablutions -- Why are old men so sad? -- The breakfast club -- Every day but Sunday -- Saturday soup opera -- The severed head -- Coyote pie: Making the crust -- How not to hunt a coyote -- How not to cook a coyote -- Coyote comes to the casa -- Coyote pie: Making the filling -- Brother bob -- My best friend, Pat -- Prinkle the elf -- Charlotte's web -- Dave -- Old man Lear -- Patchman -- Lion King -- The voice -- The heat came down -- Notes before deadline -- Mother Nature -- Smiley coyote cocktail -- Eye openers -- You can go home again -- A dance with time -- Dancing with death -- Happy New Year -- Eyes & ears -- Hair & teeth -- Tailbone -- The body -- Meantime -- I'm coming, Grandma -- Time's up -- Acknowledgments

"From telling what it's like to go blind to confronting the ongoing erosion of time and the mystery of what's to come, HOW TO COOK A COYOTE recounts a decade of change as the celebrated food writer and critic Betty Fussell moves from Manhattan to the Montecito retirement community where Julia Child once resided. As Fussell recalls family, friends, enemies, and lovers with wry humor, affection, and a sharp-eyed confrontation with morality, all the while the coyote watches. An emblem of the wild and her metaphor for all the things one can't control, this coyote stalks her, taking on greater emotional and metaphorical resonance as the day progresses. Ultimately, this exciting new work from an incomparable voice in American writing provides a recipe for how to enjoy each moment as if it were the last day of your life"--Front jacket flap