fresh spinach

What is all this? Six bags of wonderful fresh spinach. A farmer up the road cannot sell leaves over a certain size, so called my gleaner friend who called me and we went out and helped him clear his field (a tiny bit) of the extra leaves he could not sell. One of those bags [...]

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food: broccoli salad

Whenever I buy deli food, I always (almost always) buy a little broccoli salad. Why do I not make this at home? It always seemed complicated, I guess. But it’s not! Broccoli Salad 1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sugar 2 tblsp vinegar 1 head fresh broccoli 1/2 cup walnuts or sunflower seeds or pine nuts [...]

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canned ham

First off, all meat must be canned using a pressure cooker, let’s just get that out of the way. You don’t want to risk botulism, so if you don’t have a pressure cooker and instruction book, DON’T do it. My friend has a pressure cooker. And an instruction booklet. I used a Costco ham, one [...]

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more on pie

This is a link to a fascinating article about one man’s attempt to improve his apple pie recipe. (And who isn’t fascinated by pie? **Looks around room. No hands raised. That’s what I thought!**) I’m going to have to try that pie-crust tip of substituting vodka for half the water. The theory behind it, is [...]

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gardening: heirloom seeds and variety

Look at this lovely “Moon and stars” watermelon. It is one of several varieties of garden vegetables the Victory Seed Company is trying to help not go extinct. Look at their page of seeds under the Ark of Taste category. Wouldn’t it be fun to help some varieties not go extinct? I was just reading [...]

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Pie

Oh my gosh. Pie. Real pie. Did you ever see something on television and think, “Wow, I would love that!” And then someone says, “Pear pie with gruyere in the crust,” and you can’t stop thinking about it? Because the whole television show is about pie. The homey memories surrounding pie… Becoming an adult and [...]

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Comfort

I am pretty sure I have mentioned how I love my friend Beth’s pantry cabinet. I would LOVE to have a glass fronted cabinet where I could see all my canned produce. I’m sorry the photos are so dark, that is even with bumping up the light a bit. Wouldn’t you just feel that old-fashioned [...]

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food: pickled eggs

Do you remember pickled eggs used to be a staple bar food (no, I’m not old enough to remember this, but I’ve seen it on television and old movies) and there was a BIG jar kept on the bar counter? I read somewhere that the eggs don’t keep that long despite being pickled, but they [...]

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aubergine

Isn’t aubergine (oh-ber-zheen) such a prettier sounding word than eggplant? It denotes both the plant, and the dark purple color. This year I have one plant, and it’s made about 12 little aubergine. My first attempt to grill did not work right, despite I’ve eaten it grilled a heckuva lot of times (at restaurants). Next [...]

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food: canning plum jam

A friend has a plum tree which bore a heckuva lot more fruit than her family alone could eat, so I got a share of the bounty. I traded her a dozen eggs, and one of my jars of mandarin sauce. Aren’t they beautiful red plums? (I’m not sure of the variety.) The above photo [...]

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