Planting basil on the weekend reminded me of this painting by by William Holman Hunt from 1868. The painting depicts a scene from John Keats’s poem by the same name. Keats’s poem is adapted from a story in Boccaccio’s Decameron about Isabella, a young woman who is supposed to marry a rich nobleman, but...
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Make pesto. Originally from Genoa and Provence, pesto now has thousands of versions. I like the basic recipe with olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and just a bit of salt and pepper. Sometimes I replace the pine nuts with cashews. Flavor butter. Just blend soft butter, chopped basil, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and...
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Garlic. One of the most useful condiments in the kitchen, garlic is very easy to grow. Each clove planted in the fall will yield one plant in the spring, so even a single head planted carefully can bring you a lot of garlic. Use potting soil rather than garden soil and make sure you...
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Growing my own food isn’t always easy. I’m no professional farmer, I don’t live in the country anymore, and I don’t even have a backyard. There are some foods that I’m simply unable to grow myself, especially animal products. Other foods are very easy to grow, even in urban conditions. In the past year...
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The weather was beautiful yesterday. My husband and I seized the opportunity to enjoy some rare winter sun, took my mother with us, and drove to visit my uncle. My uncle is a farmer. He grows mostly herbs of various kinds and some vegetables. The visit was lovely. We consumed delicious desserts prepared by...
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1. The Sartorialist. Perhaps one of the most famous blogs in the world. Scott Schuman posts pictures of fabulously-dressed people from NYC and other places around the world. 2. The Michelle Obama Look Book at New York Magazine. And while I don’t always share Mrs. Obama’s taste in mixing and matching or big belts,...
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Throw the alarm clock out of the window, french kiss my husband, pick fresh herbs for breakfast, drink hot chocolate, make soup, take a bath, buy fresh bread, wear thigh-high boots, use a polka-dot umberella, taste raindrops on your tongue, laugh out loud, play with the dog, make cheese fondue, paint one wall blue,...
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I’ve been writing a lot about food lately, both in this blog dedicated to living a sustainable life, as well as in other journals, in which I talk about spirituality and personal growth. My relationship with food has changed a lot over the years. I grew up in a family of farmers, so we...
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I love cooking with garlic. I add it to meat balls, pasta sauce, roast, baked potatoes, grilled vegetables, chicken, stews, soups… almost anything except dessert. But garlic is also a traditional decoration for gardens and front doors. It’s pretty, it’s practical (for preservations purposes), and it connects you to every generation of women in...
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1. Hang braids of garlic and strings of red peppers on the exterior walls of your house of by the doors. Braiding garlic is easy, and stringing peppers is even easier. 2. Use old teapots as planters. It’s old-fashioned and almost cliché, and that’s what’s wonderful about it. Just make sure to only fill...
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This simple and delicious soup, like most of my mother’s recipes, makes the assumption that in every respectable fridge there’s some good home-made chicken stock. It’s also different from other lentil soup recipes in that its color is gorgeous bright yellow (thanks to the turmeric) rather than light brown. Ingredients: 1 cup red lentils...
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1. Only cook what you really, really want to eat. It will make the hard work of peeling and chopping so much more worth it in the end. 2. Make sure your fridge and pantry are well-stocked with fresh, simple, real-food, cookable ingredients (rather than boxes of processed, frozen, or otherwise ready-to-eat foods). Buy...
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