All year the kids in my “food appreciation” classes have been bugging me to make something sweet. And all year I’ve been the tough taskmaster, keeping them focused on things like corn and cabbage and sausages.
Well, the strawberries are in and they’re irresistible. And fast. And easy.
Perhaps one of the best desserts in the world, [...]
Tags: strawberry shortcake
Talk about your global warming…
The radishes have started bolting and it isn’t even summer yet. When they go to flower, the radishes turn tough and woody. Time to get them all out of the ground and start eating.
For that matter, all of my brassicas have bolted. That would include the mizunas, the mustard greens, [...]
Tags: brassicas
The Slow Cook put on his gardener’s hat today and joined a lively discussion on Pacifica Radio (WPFW 89.3 FM in the District of Columbia) about the effects of global warming on gardening.
Highlight of the hour: a U.S. Department of Agriculture official acknowledged that the department’s mapping of new hardiness zones, based on the [...]
Tags: global warming
Really, guys, everything’s going to be okay!
With those words, Chinese officials tried to assure U.S. consumers and the rest of the world that not all food products emanating from the planet’s most populous nation are tainted with noxious chemicals.
But no sooner had they gotten the words out than a strange ship was discovered floating [...]
Tags: food news
Time now for our annual (sometimes) James Beard dinner, re-christened Dead Chefs Dinner so as to honor the passing of Julia Child as well.
In years past this has turned into quite a formal affair with many courses, many changes of plates and wine glasses and generally more food and drink than a person has any [...]
Looking for inspiration for the “food appreciation” classes I teach at a private elementary school here in the District of Columbia, I need have searched no farther than my own front yard.
There I have 15 different varieties of lettuce at the peak of Spring growth. All different colors. All different shapes.
But I was plagued [...]
Tags: kids·salad·vegetables
Picture The Slow Cook roasting jerk chicken on the beach, sipping his daiquiri, maybe a little snorkeling action.
Or maybe getting blown away in a hurricane?
Through the Food Section at The Washington Post I was contacted by a family of 35 desperate for a chef to make them dinners during their week-long reunion guess where?
That [...]
Tags: Anguilla
Yes, I know. This is hardly sour cherry season. That’s still more than a month away.
What you see here is the pie my wife made with the last of the sour cherries we picked last year.
That would have been the 30 POUNDS of sour cherries that we picked ourselves at our favorite cherry grove–Butler’s [...]
Tags: pie·sour cherries
That’s our friend Helen showing baby Hazel some of her garden moves. Apparently, years of team shuffleboard back in West Virginia left Helen with a solid right-hand raking arm…
All kidding aside, Helen and I spent our first “action” morning at the Washington Youth Garden, located in the National Arboretum here in the District of [...]
Many of you are anxious to know the results of our donated brunch on the Chesapeake Bay yesterday.
It was a great success, bones or no bones in the salmon steaks. The herb sauce with sorrel was a huge hit, as was the quinoa pilaf with peas, fava beans and toasted almonds.
But the star of [...]
Tags: strawberries·trifle
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, one mile from the White House.
What's in your turkey? We killed and butchered more than 80 birds on the farm of Mike and Michelle Klein in Prince George's County. Thankfully, Michelle did the gutting. Unfortunately, Mike bought his turkey chicks earlier than usual and they did not stop growing. Our prize for helping was a carcass that weighed nearly 40 pounds. It barely fit in the oven. Here, Mike is subjecting a slaughtered bird to the "magic fingers," a machine with a nubby, rotating barrel that removes most of the feathers. 
