Produce 
Fannie Farmer & My Squash Casserole
When I was a young mother I took the role of feeding my family very seriously starting with growing fresh produce to cooking meals from scratch. Summer squash was easy to grow, sometimes so easy that I ended up with much more than we needed and was constantly trying to think of new ways to [...]
Happiness is a bowl of Sungolds mid-winter
Golden orbs of sublime flavor these Sungolds. We love August and September when their vines are loaded and tomato grazing is prime. I return to the house after such a foray – me and my tomatoes alone at last – with my culinary soul satisfied and hands tinged with tomatoes’ invisible aura, the pigment that, [...]
Full o’ Beans, Wax & Green
My grandmother said that I was full of beans whenever she thought I was stretching the truth or misbehaving. Which, of course, wasn’t that often.
I’m full of beans at the moment and more on the way. I went on a bean-planting binge in May and planted four vines along with that many bush beans. What [...]
Fruity Salsa Dancing
I’m on a fruit salsa kick and there’s no slow down in sight. Give me a bowl of fruit and I’ll whip up a bowl of salsa in no time and then it gets eaten just as quickly. Wait for me to make a pie and you probably won’t get one before summer fruit season [...]
Roasted Garlic Bliss . . . or Beast
For me it’s bliss and our garden has just produced a healthy harvest of Duganski & Oregon Blue. It was touch and go there for a while, but it’s back and we’re thinking garlic feast. Some might say beast.
Turn the page if you have an aversion to garlic. One of my friends does and when [...]
If You Can’t Beet ‘Em…
Sometimes it’s hard for us during the summer to make it to the University Farmers Market on Saturdays. I’ve come to rely more and more on produce and market stands and have discovered a wonderful one in the Skagit Valley called Mother Flight Farm. We often get off I-5 at Conway and make our way [...]
My Italian Connection
He’s not exactly Italian, Irish in fact, but he can speak it and cook it like nobody’s business, plus its history, art, culture, politics. For those of us who don’t get to Italy as often as he does, Mac’s Italian feasts are mouth-watering touchstones for how it might be if we ever get there ourselves. [...]
Conehead Cabbage
If you think you’ve had enough cabbage to last until next winter, think again. Last weekend at the Orcas Island Farmers Market all the buzz was about the Arrowhead cabbage sold by Maple Rock Farm. You would think everyone would be excited about the sweet sugar snaps or the spring onions and they were, but [...]
Montmerency Cherry Joy
Life is not a bowl, but a frosty glass of cherries, hot pink and straight from the garden or the farmers market. Last year I read about the health benefits of Montmorency cherries and that their juice is prized, which might be true of any sour cherry. A sleep aid, better [...]
Ravishing Roasted Radishes
Why is it that the vegetables that are the easiest to grow are the ones I tire of most quickly? I didn’t even plant radishes this year figuring I’d get more than enough at the farmers market and didn’t need to take up valuable space in my garden. That was before I tried roasting them. [...]
