Yes, I dreamt up this tostada, fully awake but mesmerized, standing in and meandering through the fall garden, creating in my head with what was possible – given ingredients in my pantry and what could be harvested that day. Autumn in the garden is soo beautiful, with goldfinches landing on ripe sunflower heads, making them bob and…
Category: Garden Love
Praying Mantis Encounter – and a recipe for Grilled Chicken Marcellina
The garden is an exquisite jumble of greens and all of those coveted colors – red, orange, yellow, purple….and I’m harvesting, canning and freezing like mad whenever I get a few hours to spend. I love it of course! What is not to love about these tomatoes? One of the most prolific vegetables this season have…
Unexpected Beet Conversions – A (Tongue in Cheek?) Religious Experience
When cooking all those lovely offerings from your garden, it is hard, no impossible, not to go into rapture about their exquisite taste. It was an unexpected surprise to hear, a few weeks ago, my simple preparations would result in the shock of true conversion status. Something like this: I’m referring to beets, and their effects on unsuspecting friends and…
Surprises in Life and the Garden: And Oh! the pang of unrequited love
Oh my! All is well. To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time for every purpose under heaven….. I found out this morning a dear friend is considering a move to another country, and even the suggestion of this change wrenched my heart. Aching! Already, and nothing has…
Wasabi Egg and Avocado Salad Stuffed Cucumbers
Cukes galore at Ft. Collins, Colorado CSA Happy Heart Farm inspired me to create this recipe back when I provided food demos monthly on pick-up days. It often turned into a party on these afternoons – 4 to 5 dishes for all of the members to taste based on what was being harvested. That hot summer the cucumbers…
Late Summer in the Garden
Even after the sun rises, Orion you watch, silent over me I was up before dawn, with the moon and constellations glowing, in a beautiful hot springs with steam rising all around me. The sky lightened and day gave way. Away from home for a short time… Grateful to be there, happy to be back…
The Versatile Ear: Raw Thai Style Corn Salad, Corn and Feta Stuffed Poblano Peppers + Roast Serrano, Organic Sweet Corn and Heirloom Potato Chowder
Fresh sweet corn. Butter. Salt. Iowa born and raised. Summers at the lake in upstate New York. Corn is in my blood. I love corn on the cob! What a sign of summer! As young girls, my twin sister and I used to make observations about a person’s style of eating an ear of corn, sitting around the table with family,…
The Sacred Pocket: Contemplation, White Sage and Sweetgrass
Yesterday, it rained again. We are so grateful, as the moisture seems to be cycling back into more regularity after a hot, hot summer. There is no wildfire smoke in the air, at least these past several days in the valley. So many prayers for rain – and they have been answered. The elements of…
The revolution is here: a brand new urban balcony garden
I have always been a rebel. You know, I liked coloring outside of the lines. I liked to explore the woods behind our house and catch butterflies, raise pet mice and chameleons waaayyy more than playing with dolls. Fast forward and you’ll see me getting arrested for civil disobedience at a nuclear rally when I was 20. The list goes on, within…
The Chokecherry Tree ~ and a fine dessert recipe of GF Honey Lavender Shortcakes with Caramelized Peaches and Chokecherry Syrup
I’m living in a sweet, residential neighborhood of a small town on the western slope of Colorado, the North Fork Valley. The street has a lush canopy of leaves, my home is a 106 year old renovated two story, with plenty of trees and flowers, and a rich garden plot in the back. It really…
KIMCHI !! Making Korean Sauerkraut straight out of a Colorado garden
I’ve been doing some miles on my kitchen floor these days – August is that glorious crazy time when winter visions of this season’s garden are coming into wild, abundant fruition and there is plenty to pick, eat and preserve! I love kimchi and have been waiting all season for my cabbages to arrive at…
Garden Party!
Pachamama loves color! This bright wheel of steamed garden delights was simply drenched in fresh lemon, basil and dill vinaigrette and spun off to a garden party a couple of nights ago. This is my first post from the WordPress for iPhone app! So it will be short and sweet. My times in the kitchen…
Potatoes – Tomatoes; and an authentic Ecuadorian recipe from the Andean Highlands
I do have a reverence for the garden, which sustains me – with a love deep within my heart expanding into the earth. Digging potatoes is a marvelous treasure hunt, a reflection back out of the earth of all that love – and in gardens past, also a race against the wily and voracious wire worms. This year,…
Broccoli, Sharp Cheddar and Five Herb Soup with Peppered Cornbread
AND NEW KITCHEN GADGETS: While in Laramie, Wyoming I happened upon several great finds in Mimi’s consignment shop – the most exciting of which is this fantastic fish cast iron muffin pan! It’s made by the company Lodge from the U.S. I’m a big fan of cast iron cookware, and have quite a few pieces…