When I got Zluta I got her for her personality. I've been telling people I got her because I knew she'd be a pain in the ass--demanding lots of walks and exercise and playtime. It's true. And she does. She demands a lot. Though as she gets older she also hangs out companionably with me for hours too. I've mostly convinced her that coming when ( Read more... )

The satsuma plum tree is, the woman at the nursery said, an old man plum tree now, and lacks resilience to fight disease. I didn't ask her to tell me why an old man instead of an old woman--after all, it has babies--I think I know. I think it is an old man because of drunken old classical Chinese poets, who write about plum trees frequently. I ( Read more... )

I know I've been slagging on the people who want to sell me that we can "fight cancer with nutrition." Every word of that phrase sets my teeth on edge. I do believe in nutrition in a sort of general way, though I'm pretty well convinced that for everyday purposes most people's metabolisms are pretty flexible and if you're giving yourself a pretty ( Read more... )

We are heavily into Windfall Apple season here. My yard is normally some weeks behind the usual harvest of this region, and also I hae a Newton Pippin tree, which is a later apple. Ripeish apples drop from late August on, though they continue to get better and better into October ( Read more... )

So I bought peaches at Costco. K likes great big juicy peaches and is not impressed with the wonderful little ones from the farmer's market. So I thought, these are big and beautiful, and surely if you're selling produce to restaurants, you'll have good produce, right ( Read more... )

Another one of those dishes I improvise from time to time. Apparently lemon and cream are my default seasonings right now. This time it was red cabbage, sliced and cooked till barely tender, with a lemon squeezed over it, salt, pepper, and a splash of cream. It looks like a lot more than that because the cabbage is wettish from cooking and that ( Read more... )

I thought I had an unusual affinity for bitter things, but if that's the case how come I have a hard time eating radicchio and other people don't? Anyway, my gardener friend also works for a local organic farm helping with distribution, and she often brings me lovely things. Yesterday one of the things was an oblong radicchio about half the size of ( Read more... )

I microwave-roasted three small yellow beets and let them cool off while I lived my life, put them on a plate with a sectioned mandarin and a palmful of walnuts, and dressed this all with a spoonful of plain heavy cream. It was delicious and Truffle finished off the cream for me.

What do you call a dish like this?

Mostly so when I have forgotten that I did this or how I did it I can stumble on it later and remember ( Read more... )

I told myself that I would return to not-Poland in March, and I have, armed with the realization that there are several stories in there and I need tell only one or two of them in any particular volume ( Read more... )