First frost came to Seattle’s Duwamish Valley on December 6th this year. A few days earlier, Patty and I harvested the beans and peppers that had been toughing out the sometimes soggy, sometimes sunny cool weather on vine and bush. The growing season’s warmth came late this year and so did a very late harvest. The pepper seeds… Read More Tabasco-esque December Pepper Fermentation
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it wants public comments because it received a petition from the Grocery Manufacturers Association asking for genetically engineered (GE) foods to be labeled “natural.” What do you think the word natural means? I’d guess it’s not how the FDA currently defines it. If left up to… Read More In sincere appreciation of words, food and nature;
Christmas Lima Bean Winter Salad with Black Dino Kale • Acorn Squash • Minneola Tangelo • Rosemary Citrus Olive Oil We harvested just under a pound of beautiful Christmas lima beans from our garden this Fall and felt compelled to create a dish championing these precious beans around the holiday that gives them their name. … Read More A Christmas Lima Bean Winter Salad
I have fond memories of Christmas as a boy, of two bowls of eggnog — one bowl for the kids and a boozy bowl for the adults. I recall my Grandmother making adjustments, rum bottle in hand, to get the ratio just right. My mother and aunt tasting sips and stirring in a little more… Read More Eggnog Joy in Quantity
Source: Comfort food: Filled pancakes for lunch, dinner or breakfast (gluten-free, lchf) The wonderful recipe for these grain free crêpe-like pancakes, with many ideas for what to stuff them with, comes from the Sweedish food aficionado and my WordPress friend at Tastecelebration.com! Her attitude toward food is quite inspiring to me. I finally bought some… Read More Comfort food: Filled pancakes for lunch, dinner or breakfast
Desiring an extra special warm beverage for Thanksgiving morning breakfast, I chose to take the 20 minutes or so required to brew up some Chai. Many years ago an old friend and travel partner, Michael Kinney, shared with me a recipe from his time spent living in India he called Baba Chai. Though I have… Read More Holiday Chai Recipe
Isn’t making stuff, especially the first few times, really just an experiment? When we tentatively adopt a process without being sure of the eventual outcome – that’s an experiment. Whether creating in the kitchen, the workshop, or the garden the exact results are never really certain. Why? Chaos! There are so many variables beyond our… Read More Our Second Attempt at Making Cider
We honored the 43 grams of Cranberry Beans harvested by having them for dinner the night of our weighing contest. I wanted to keep the preparation simple to make sure the flavor of these beans would stay the obvious centerpiece and also incorporate the last of this year’s fresh tomatoes that had just reached a… Read More Honorable Mention Cranberry Bean Recipe
When you think about beans what comes to mind? Do you imagine fresh green beans? Or perhaps a bowl of warmed canned baked beans or a bowl of chili? Until about 6 years ago, if I thought of making a dish with dried beans I would go to the pantry and chose a store bought,… Read More Weigh to Find a Better Bean
The “Pine Cone” was featured in a Diamond Brand Almond print advertisement, which my maternal grandmother cut out and saved. Madine Schmid was the first to make it in our family. I recall it being made often by my mother nearly 30 years ago where she frequently made it for customers of her small catering… Read More The Holiday Pinecone
GeorgetownJesse 