Best Trip Ever

Sometimes bitter, sometimes tasteless, but almost always slimy, especially deep-fried with a greasy coating, eggplant has always been right up there with beets and okra on the short list of vegetables I really, really dislike. I even hate the name “eggplant,” although I love “aubergine,” the French name.
The plants are attractive, though, the fruits [...]

After a very slow start, summer weather has arrived and my garden is finally starting to produce. I’m getting about a dozen a day of each variety of cherry tomatoes, the sungolds and the sugar snacks, but none of the large tomatoes show any color yet. The plants are loaded with big green [...]

Browsing my favorite cookbook (Patricia Wells, At Home in Provence), I noticed her recipe for an apricot-honey-almond tart, one of the few recipes in the book I’ve never tried. I came home from the farmer’s market a couple of days ago with only two apricots, but I also had a couple of peaches, a [...]

I’ve tried with limited success to grown a good winter garden before.
Theoretically, I know it’s possible, but the timing is tricky. It has to be planted late enough to keep from frying all those cold-loving plants in 100-degree weather, and early enough so they get some growth in before the dark and [...]

Unlike baguettes, which take few ingredients and lots of careful handling and technique, my whole wheat bread with raisins, cinnamon and walnuts has a long list of ingredients and not much technique involved. It’s a big ugly lumpy brown loaf, but it tastes good! It’s rich enough that a single piece toasted, even [...]