on growing food or sourcing it locally
While I’ve made moussaka the conventional way, the full process is a lot to take on, especially indoors in the heat of late summer when garden eggplant are ripe (hello, 100F weather!). My version is a no-bake, no-oven, no-béchamel version, the entire process taking place on a charcoal grill. Continue reading Moussaka on the Grill
The delightfully easy to grow shiso (or perilla) can be easily marinated and fermented as a delicious condiment to serve with Asian cuisine. Continue reading Fermented shiso
Resilience and gardening need to go hand in hand. I started the garden in late February/early March. After a disappointing spring with many failures and withered seedlings, I hit reset in June and figured out how to lay out my veggie garden again. Continue reading If your first 31 seeds didn’t make it, maybe your 32nd will.
Starting from seed is full of little heartbreaks. Continue reading “Best Laid Plans”: a catalogue of this year’s seed failures so far
It’s my fourth year gardening now. I’m starting to recognize the cycles. Around late spring each year, I hit the turning point between “feast and famine.” For weeks, I sow seeds, buy transplants, coax the little guys to grow, and all of the sudden, everything is ready to go. I gather my first basket of greens and look … Continue reading Why Bother With A Garden? A reminder of sufficiency
Last weekend, we woke up to a casing of ice over every bud and twig. It was a stunning sight as we walked (carefully) around our neighborhood, but it was the sound that was particularly impressive. Snow cracked and sighed under our boots; trees creaked under the weight of ice and shattered other branches as … Continue reading Pruning and Growth after the ice storm
The Year of the Horse began 31 days into 2014. For me, another new year couldn’t have come sooner.
We rang in 2014 in a swirl of activity with family and friends in Hong Kong. But the past four weeks of regular life (complete with its moments of drudgery) have reminded me of my constant need for renewal. Continue reading “It’s the most wonderful time of the year… (Garden planning!)”
This recipe will help knock back your zuke supply. If you’ve ever had a zucchini plant, you know that this can happen: You blink and you’re inundated. I’ve tried making zucchini chips, zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, grilled zucchini, zucchini moussaka, squash blossoms, zucchini fries… Once those squash plants start producing I’m always looking for an … Continue reading Zucchini baba ghanouj – a cool savory spread
THIS IS EDIBLE 