Mango Summer Salad

Do you ever have one of those days where everything just comes together without even trying? It has something to do with fruit being ripe and in season. Like perfect mangoes. I had a perfect mango encounter last Friday. I was going to meet up with some friends for a “dp” (dinner party) in the [...]

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Roasted Golden Beet Salad

I had an epiphany at the Boston Local Food Festival on Saturday. I was standing in line at a farm stand, arms overflowing with vegetables, bright sunshine bathing rows of colorful vegetables in white light, and listening to the jangle of banjos from a Cajun band playing on a nearby stage when I realized: Why [...]

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Recipe: Corn and Black Bean Salad

I was strolling through the Farmer’s Market at Copley Square on Friday and I heard a woman say, “This is heavenly.” She’s right. Something about baskets of peaches, tangles of beans, and bright sunflowers softens the heart of a city and brings things down to human scale in a forest of skyscrapers and historic buildings. [...]

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Recipe: Caprese Salad Summer Classic

I got home from a family wedding over the weekend and discovered a bit of red poking out from beneath my tomato plant. Ripe tomatoes! These cherry tomatoes look a bit more normal than what grew on my balcony window boxes last year. Along with my basil plant that survived the winter I knew I [...]

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Recipe: Watermelon, Arugula, and Pine Nut Salad

Man is it HOT out. Heat wave hits the East Coast. See my temperature barometer? The 80 degree F. tag is floating close to the bottom. That means it is hotter than 80 degrees in my apartment even though the a/c has been blasting all day. Turning on any electrical appliance to cook is just [...]

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Thanksgiving side dish: Wild Rice and Fruit Salad

I just got back from a Thanksgiving “warm-up” meal, which was a delicious evening full of good food and good people. There is nothing like a family of friends to be grateful with before giving thanks with the nation. A casual meal of bounty also helps to temper holiday psychosis (admit it, you know what [...]

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A Nose for Home Grown Tomatoes

It’s August and utter bliss for all who believe that if love grew from the ground it would be a sun-ripened tomato. The tomato pots on my own balcony are yielding their own modest offerings. But the number doesn’t matter. I could eat bowl for dessert and melt in their sweetness. Except for one, however. [...]

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Garden in the sky

Having just seen Food, Inc. I am tempted to give up food altogether, or maybe grow my own food. And in a way, I try. I have a tiny collection of herbs growing in my balcony pots up here on the third floor, a kind of garden in the sky.

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