Dear readers, my apologies for my long absence.  We recently had to move again (long story…), and each time this happens it seems to take longer to get connected to the internet, even though one might think this is the modern world.  This time was a frustrating 3 weeks offline, but happily we are finally up and running. Hooray!!!

So, I have been doing lots of unpacking and cleaning and configuring computer networks and very minimal cooking.  However, we are now living in a house with a small garden, and I have jumped on the opportunity to start building it.  The lovely picture above is my first tomato plant, started in a container at my old apartment.  It’s too well established to replant into the ground, but you can guess where next year’s seedlings are going.  I planted some lavender and herbs, only to discover there were already some growing from before - some rosemary, wild mint, and some other fragrant greens that I have yet to figure out what they are.  I look forward to growing lots of things that I can cook with at their freshest. 

I’ve never thought of myself as someone with a green thumb, but I am an enthusiast and am determined to learn.  I bought this great book called Golden Gate Gardening by Pam Pierce, about how to garden in the San Francisco Bay Area.  If you live in northern California, you should check it out.  I’m learning all about types of soil, how to fertilize, when to grow what and where.  I am guessing that the soil quality of my garden isn’t the greatest, but I’m starting to add organic matter to build up the nutrients and condition the soil.  Someday I’d love to learn how to compost, but for now I’m just mixing in vegetable scraps and the pulp from my juicer and giving it some time to decay and break down into nutrients.  Hopefully in a few months I’ll be ready to plant some fall vegetables and see how they do.  It will be a long term process, but a rewarding one.

Even if you don’t have a garden, if you have a patio or stairway or any space with access to sun, you can grow lots of things in containers.  My tomato plant is doing very well - even in a 12 inch pot (which is not ideal size for a tomato but I water it daily and fertilize it every couple weeks) and it is bursting with heavy fruit just waiting for a little more sunshine to ripen.  Or you can grow herbs in little pots in your window sill.  It’s very easy to do, low maintenance, and it is relaxing to tend to and nurture your plants. (I love the smell of tomato vines and fresh thyme!) And the results are quite savory.

Again, my apologies for not responding to your comments - now that I am back online and settled I expect to be back in action, so you can look forward to hearing from me soon!

Almond Milk

 
I’ve had a number of responses to my recent posts on raw milk.  It’s exciting that so many people are interested in trying it.  But I also know that it is difficult to come by in many states.  And sometimes you need a substitute when baking, because even raw milk isn’t raw anymore if [...]

 
I never thought I’d eat a cheeseburger again.  Those of you who read my blog know I eat goat cheese occasionally.  But recently I also started eating red meat again.  Grass-fed beef, that is.  It’s a totally different experience.  It has a very distinct flavor, and healthier fats.  Not only is it healthier to eat grass-fed beef, but [...]

 
One of my favorite meals is duck leg confit.  Duck legs have a lot of fat on them, but the secret to confit is that slow-cooking them in their own fat makes the meat tender and juicy and the skin crispy as it cooks away the fat.  The problem with most confit recipes is that it is [...]

 
Ok, so the curiosity finally got to me.  I’ve dipped my toes in with a tiny tastes here and there (see The Raw Milk Experiment, Part I), but I was never going to find out how I truly react to raw milk without buying a bottle and actually drinking it.  So one day when I [...]

 
I get a lot of my recipe ideas from the NY Times’ dining section.  This week they were focusing on White House chefs, which I found particularly interesting because of Michelle Obama’s commitment to children’s nutrition and gardening.  There was a recipe from the Obama’s favorite chef in Chicago, Rick Bayless, that caught my eye [...]

 
Before we say goodbye to asparagus season and while it is still abundant, I thought I would pass along a delicious and creative way to use more of it.  I had some leftover salmon and roasted asparagus the other night, so guess what went in my eggs in the morning?  It’s also a great way to use [...]

 
I have a friend who says she never eats salads for lunch because she says they don’t fill her up.  She’s never had one of my salads.  For me, salads are the main course every day for lunch.  They are a full meal.  My latest craze is to make a salad with canned wild red [...]

 
This is one of my favorite comfort meals (and my husband’s favorite as well), perfect anytime - whether it’s a chilly day or springtime, or whenever fresh cauliflower & cabbage are in season (for California that’s almost anytime - though in the summer I prefer seasonals such as zucchini).  I love to add reconstituted dried [...]

 
2010 is the year of the census, or so we’ve been hearing a lot lately.  It’s also my fifth year into this gluten-free, dairy-free, mostly sugar-free lifestyle, and time for me to take a nutritional count.  Am I getting enough of the nutrients I need?  What am I missing?  When you cut out whole food [...]