summer pasta salad, for one

It’s that time of year when I start fretting over my container garden. So far, I don’t have much planted. I have two pots of rosemary, one pot of sage, one pot of mint, one pot of thyme, and one pot of tarragon – all plants from last year. My shiso plant from last year [...]

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Harvard SEAS lecture 11/7/11, Dan Barber

Subject – Reclaiming Flavor. Much to my surprise, Harold McGee was around to introduce Dan Barber to the audience. Flavor molecules are actually a defense mechanism. Believe it or not, the flavor molecules are toxic to small insects and mold. It doesn’t seem toxic to humans, because we essentially dilute herbs by cooking. Physical/environmental stress [...]

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roasted eggplant puree for pasta

Early in the summer, I had experimented with a batch of garlic scape pesto only to find myself terribly disappointed. Today’s pasta sauce was the antithesis of that. I was home from work by 6pm, and I’m away from the office for the rest of the week. I went to visit the plants in the [...]

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a simple summer lunch

I don’t have anything of interest from the CSA this time around – some greens, a tomato (my sister took the other tomatoes), onions, beets, and parsley. I trimmed the parsley and put it in a cup of water, but it’s not doing so well. I guess I should have stored it in the fridge. [...]

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Let’s Talk About Food, 2011

(I meant to post this yesterday but I didn’t finish it before I went to bed.) Along the DCR Cambridge Parkway today, the Museum of Science and its sponsors held the “Let’s Talk About Food” festival. I didn’t go last year. I had never even heard of it until about two weeks ago when I [...]

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shiso/wine/soy sauce chicken with steamed veggies

As for last week’s CSA, I steamed my baby turnips and kohlrabi. I peeled the skin off the kohlrabi but I should have peeled a little deeper. It was quite fibrous and hard to chew. Flavor-wise, the two veggies are very similar: very clean tasting and a sweet. I preferred the turnips over the kohlrabi. [...]

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edible garden, no. 3, 2011

First of all, no comments on my bad transplanting technique, if you please.  It’s the result of growing seeds in re-purposed take-out containers.  I realized much later that separating the babies was going to be impossible.  So, I plopped them down as is.  Next year, I will definitely invest in some biodegradeable pots for seedlings.  [...]

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edible garden, no. 2, 2011

Borage – I hear it tastes a bit like cucumber and that it’s good in companion planting. I’ve never had it before so this is in my garden mostly for curiosity.

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edible garden, no. 1, 2011

GERMINATION! I’m stupidly excited. Seeds were planted on Sunday. The first signs of life showed up yesterday in the re-purposed strawberry container that is holding purslane. The purslane seeds I bought are a different variety than what grows wildly here – Goldberg Golden Purslane (Portulaca oleracea sativa). According to Johnny’s Selected Seeds website, it is: [...]

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this is not a food post?

Well, technically it’s not. Yesterday, I finally got around to planting some seeds. I’m starting with: a mirco green mix mizuna bak choy purslane shiso Yes, I’m a little late to start. I’ve either been busy and away from the house or it’s been raining. Better a little late than a lot late, or even [...]

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