Search Results for: random

in ‘jerusalem: a cookbook,’ a world of contrasts in every dish (a giveaway)

April 9, 2013 By 281 Comments

Fattoush salad from JERUSALEM cookbook

I CRAVE A SALAD—but one with something more substantial, not just greens. I’d also love an escape (too many garden chores screaming for attention—get me out of here!), but then I remember: I hate to travel.  Thankfully, I have found comforting solutions on both scores in a book I bought last fall, “Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini, an intimate journey through a cultural fusion of traditions and tastes. I’m making fattoush for lunch–the recipe is on the jump–and offering you two “tickets” to “Jerusalem,” too, in the latest cookbook giveaway. [read more…]

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planting peas, with mendel in mind

March 31, 2013 By 18 Comments

Flower of 'Schweizer Riesen' peas. PLANTING PEAS—that first traditional first task of each new food-growing year—took on new significance this spring. I’d just finished watching a lecture on Gregor Mendel and his pea-breeding experiments in an online biology class I’m taking, when the snow finally melted and the soil warmed enough—well, almost enough— to have at it. The peas I like best, and how I plant them, all with a new reverence for the genetics  built into a single Pisum sativum seed: [read more…]

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10 tips for growing blueberries in the backyard (win lee reich’s book and come meet him may 11)

March 25, 2013 By 339 Comments

Lee Reich's netted blueberry "gazebo"WANT TO SUCCEED with blueberries? Ask the guy with a Ph.D. in the subject, author of all the best books on home-garden fruit growing: Lee Reich, the guest on my latest public-radio show—and the speaker at the May 11 Open Day here at my Hudson Valley, New York, garden. That’s Lee’s blueberry “gazebo” up top. All the delicious details…along with how to grow blueberries (in print or the podcast) and two chances to win Lee’s book “Grow Fruit Naturally.” [read more…]

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dear gayla: the root cellar of our dreams?

March 19, 2013 By 213 Comments

historic root cellar, MinnesotaDEAR GAYLA: I wanted to write immediately, because if anyone would understand this latest mad urge, it would be you. Oh help me, please, but I want a root cellar in the very worst way. [read more…]

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‘vegetable literacy’ giveaway: taxonomy meets gastronomy (and a cauliflower pasta recipe)

March 13, 2013 By 531 Comments

Cauliflower pasta copyright Vegetable Literacy‘WHAT GOES WITH WHAT?’ gardeners often ask, hungry for perfect perennial pairings, or the fodder of harmonious annual containers. Cooks putting together a menu are really asking what goes with what, too. In her latest reference-and-cookbook “Vegetable Literacy,” Deborah Madison asks—and answers—the question at multiple levels, including the intriguing taxonomic one, as in: Who’s a botanical cousin to whom (and how can that inform our cooking)? Get Madison’s recipe for one of my favorite pastas—with cauliflower and red pepper flakes—and maybe win one of two extra copies of this thoughtful work, just out this week, that I bought to share. [read more…]

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