Our old electric lawn mower from Costco started to sound more like an egg beater so I kissed it goodbye and joined the ranks of modern push-reelers. It’s a great feeling not to be trailing that power cord through the garden, knocking over my lettuces and onion plants. And now I don’t have to [...]
Entries from May 2008
Kids Make New Potato Salad with Onion Scapes
May 29th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
The inspiration for this potato salad came from our recent garden cleanup. Where I wanted to plant okra, potatoes were growing, apparently from spuds I had missed during last year’s harvest.
I dug up the new plants (hated to do it) and in the process gathered a bucket-full of potatoes. Could they possibly be edible? [...]
Tags: food appreciation·kids·potatoes·salad
Peas with Pasta and Cream
May 29th, 2008 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
If you have any concerns about your arteries or your waistline, you should probably avert your eyes. This is one of those dishes that can’t be made any other way except with the best cream you can find and plenty of pecorino cheese.
That’s the excuse I give myself when I want to make a [...]
Peas
May 28th, 2008 · 9 Comments · Uncategorized
Anybody who says frozen peas are as good as fresh is kidding themselves. We like to think it’s true, because getting fresh peas isn’t easy. But really, there’s nothing to compare with peas right off the vine. My wife prefers them just like this–raw, uncooked. I see them tossed just a few seconds in [...]
I’ll Take Those Three Ibuprofins
May 27th, 2008 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized
Whoever said gardening was easy?
It might not be immediately obvious, but getting our front-yard kitchen garden to look like this took the better part of the Memorial Day weekend. By the end of it, we were grilling burgers and hot dogs and sipping our gin-and-tonics, but I was bushed.
First, I harvested about 10 [...]
Tags: compost·cucumbers·garden·planting·spring·summer·summer squash·tomatoes
Planting Okra
May 26th, 2008 · 8 Comments · Uncategorized
One of our favorite vegetables is fresh okra and we have a good climate for it here in the District of Columbia. We had a fine crop of Clemson Spineless two years ago and I saved a few seed pods. They’ve been kicking around the house ever since. At some point it occurred to [...]
Tags: okra·seed saving
Weekend Update
May 25th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Once again attention focused on the farm bill as Congress easily overrode President Bush’s veto and moved forward with plans to continue stuffing the pockets of big, influential landowners. There was a skunk at the party, however, as Congress realized that the bill they sent the White House was missing an entire section. Will they [...]
Tags: food news
Tomatoes in Trenches
May 24th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
A combination of factors resulted in lanky tomato plants this year. It’s hard to provide enough sun for the young plants through a window. Ours is east-facing, so they get a blast of sunlight in the morning, then reflected light for part of the afternoon.
This year, though, the weather has been unusually cool and [...]
Freezing Greens
May 23rd, 2008 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
The truth is, we almost always have more food growing in the garden than we can possibly eat at any one time. This is especially true as the temperatures grow warmer. All at once, our pretty little greens–the mustards and Chinese greens especially that we planted back in March–start to grow very tall and begin [...]
Kids Make Carrot Salad with Toasted Soy Nuts and Asian Flavors
May 22nd, 2008 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Here’s a lesson in how guacamole turns into carrot salad.
I had every intention of showing the kids in my “food appreciation” classes how to make a classic guacamole. The plan was to use some of the ripe avocados that have been on prominent display at the local Whole Foods lo these past few weeks. [...]
Tags: asian·carrots·food appreciation·kids·salad
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.
