luscious shiitake mushrooms from Pine Fork Farm at the SOJ Farmer’s Market
They were the biggest, fattest, meatiest shiitake mushrooms I had seen. So impressively massive, in fact, that I had to ask Teal Brooks of Pine Fork Farm if they were a particular type or new cultivar. Nope, she replied, they were standard issue, but perhaps the clean and clear conditions at her farm in Quinton, Virginia were responsible for their luscious largeness, or perhaps they were grown with love.
Living less than two hours from the Atlantic coast, I take for granted the access to fresh seafood. Folks in America’s middle surely find seafood in their markets and on their plates, but coastal citizens have the privilege of enjoying seafood hours to a few days from harvest.
strawberry balsamic gelato with local chocolate balsamic vinegar and chocolate mint from the garden
Spring means strawberries are in season, and strawberries are the crown jewel of the dessert family. I’ve got a serious hankering for a creamy, frozen dessert and I want to invite strawberries to my ice cream party.
It’s the age old question I grapple with : What will I take to work for lunch this week? I stand sulking at the fridge, peering at the jumbled contents. I try to make sense out of the possible ingredient combinations and come up with…zip. Nada.
Two ingredients – bacon and light brown sugar. Two words – absolutely, and without a doubt, delicious. Last weekend I made two appetizers and two desserts for our neighborhood progressive dinner. Appetizer number two was medjool dates stuffed with homemade herbed cheese. Fruit and nut chocolate bars made it to the dessert table, as did green tea chocolate almonds.
gorgeous vegetables from Tomten Farm in Green Bay ,Virginia
We all want to eat better, and we all want to eat well. When we feel the need to impose order on our eating habits, we tend to adopt the all-or-nothing approach :”Starting today, no processed or fast foods, seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily and no eating after 7PM!”
Being a fan of all things winter, I must be dragged kicking and hollering into the freshness of spring. I got my wish for one last snow in Richmond March 24. Like most southern snowfalls, it arrived magically and left town abruptly, leaving traces here and there and front yard snowmen with collapsed torsos and lumpen, tiny heads.
This statement has been drummed into your head since childhood :” Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. And, unlike other pronouncements, such as “If you cross your eyes, they will stay that way”, this one certainly rings true.
fresh Bombolini gluten free shells with kale apricot pesto
What I love about greens : kissed by the first frost of autumn, they are tender and flavorful; picked in springtime, they are equally tender and just as flavorful. Something else to love about greens ? Their versatility in the art of cooking.
herbed mushroom spread with Bonnyclabber Cheese‘s “Cendre” grapevine ash coated fresh goat cheese, caper berry and pink peppercorn
When I have a taste for snacks, I think spreads, dips and what Sheila Lukins, the late, great cookbook author of The Silver Palate series, refers to as “slathers”, as in something savory you can generously slather onto flatbread, croutons or thin slices of English cucumber.