In The Garden 
Dressing With Herbs
Delayed post here. Sometimes wedding anniversaries, our 25th, get in the way of deadlines and I suppose that’s a good thing. We had a wonderful weekend at the Sooke Harbour House (Vancouver Island, west of Victoria), and because of the lovingly tended gardens and exquisite cuisine, mostly local, I was re-inspired about herbs – kayaking [...]
Overwintered Greens, Southern-Style
Practically everyone I know did at least some work in their garden last weekend. We had two days of glorious sunshine reminding us that even though the rain isn’t gone for good, it’s not too early to start putting some seeds and starts in the ground. Unless you have a huge garden, you’ll probably need [...]
Green from the Garden: Kale Smoothies
I finally got some work done in the vegetable garden last weekend. Prepared to clean everything out and start over, I was pleasantly surprised to find several plants that have managed to get a second wind. In fact, the kale looked better than it did last fall and is putting out loads of tender new [...]
Imagine a red carpet for food . . .
We’d attend their premiers, cheer them on the red carpet, ask for their autographs, be their paparazzi. Some of the most humble food would be on the top ten best, or maybe worst, dressed list. Plump, leafy, curvaceous, svelte, demure, flamboyant, they would turn heads. Some are scandalously sensual. Beautiful inside and out, they will [...]
Raw Apple Cake for Breakfast or Birthdays
Remnants of a gnarly, nearly century-old orchard on our property produces apples from August through mid-October. Three trees in the backyard, each a different variety, we have apples galore and we have our favorite recipes. Caramelized with brown sugar and cinnamon – great with ice cream, roasted applesauce, and this cake. Raw Apple Cake [...]
Tomato Madness
Vines in the backyard are loaded with ripe, juicy, sweet, succulent, red, green, yellow, and purple tomatoes. I’m howling at the moon. Current cell phone message, (slurping sounds in the background) . . . Hello, this is Sally. Thanks for calling right in the middle of tomato season. Yeah, I’m kinda busy. Leave your number [...]
Sipping Cucumbers
I don’t own a juicer, but those of you who do know that you can make juice out of almost anything, so this isn’t exactly a revelation, but a reminder about the potential in a cucumber, any fresh vegetable for that matter. Its essence in juice or soup is something wonderful. Using a blender or [...]
Blueberry Heist
Maybe it wasn’t fair to tell my husband over the phone the other day that we’d been robbed. I was kidding around, sort of, but through cellular cyberspace I could feel his heart stop. Birds, I said, our blueberries. I felt his relief and then his chagrin, oh damn, the blueberries! We knew we were [...]
What’s New? Potatoes.
New potatoes, my favorites, have just started to appear at produce stands and farmers markets. We have a yearly crop of volunteer potato plants growing in our compost heap. They haven’t flowered yet but once they do, I’ll start routing around under the soil for the tender little babies. No fancy cooking is required but [...]
Dried Things, You Make My Heart Sing
There’s probably a fine line between what is a bouquet, an altar, and a pile of stuff you just like to look at it. Whatever makes your own heart sing. Bouquets might come from the backyard, the park, or a beach. Sometimes an actual flower is involved, sometimes a bunch of twigs. Winter leaves for [...]
