It was a pancake kind of day. Chilly, with the last vestiges of snow tucked into the deep recesses of shrubbery. Pancakes by a crackling fire, with hot tea, fresh citrus and bacon. Continue reading
The heady perfume of Virginia apples at my local roadside stand draws me in, and I load up my box with way more than I can use in a week. What’s a cook to do? Well, cook ’em up, of course.
In the clear light of an early summer morning, just-picked local produce is pristine in appearance and calls forth the cook’s desire to improvise. What can be created from the bounty of tables and baskets overflowing with homegrown goodness?
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.
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.
Childhood memory : grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Very likely this comfort meal was prepared with processed yellow cheese on white bread and canned condensed tomato soup. Now that you are a grownup, officially, you may crave a more adult version of this perfect meal for a chilly winter’s day.
The shelves of my kitchen cabinet hold my mother’s tattered and dogeared copy of the 1940 American Woman’s Cookbook. Quaint by today’s standards, this much loved book holds the promise of balanced, sensible meals prepared with thought, care and minimally processed foods. How we long for the good old days! Until the dawning realization that putting together three home cooked meals each and every day is a major undertaking and not for today’s time challenged kitchen denizens. To paraphrase the old joke : what do today’s cooks make for dinner? Reservations.
Daybreak Farm sits on 90 acres outside Richmond, Virginia in Chesterfield County. Fully operational since 2008, the farm is owned by the DiSavino Family and managed well by powerhouse Dawn DiSavino, who gave a recent tour with daughter Annmarie and son Howie. This family lives off the land – they eat what is grown and raised – and most of the power used to keep the farm running is solar. Large freestanding solar panels resembling sports bleachers are visible just beyond the main house. Currently there are goats for soapmaking , beehives which should produce honey by spring, a fledgling fruit orchard, a well stocked fish pond and over one hundred laying hens, guarded by three roosters.
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