Hundreds of years ago, sunflower flowers were cooked like artichokes and served to the very rich. Today, our local farmer’s market has started selling organic sunflowers so it’s time to check out some of the pretty desserts. If you don’t happen to live somewhere that has a ready supply of edible flowers, check out dried sunflower petals which are a beautiful golden lion color. Especially, German. You can go to the loose tea section to buy bulk dried edible flowers. Amazon, Target, Wal-mart, your local asian grocery store…the list is endless and often under $20 so it can be a fun experiment in healthy fancy living. You can sprinkle sunflower petals on lots of things for a nutty pop of...
It’s fall harvest time which is all about eating the food you spent most of your year growing and stopping by the local farmers market to try grower’s produce for the next 3 months leading up to Thanksgiving. Fun. There’s no wrong way to go. A great time to try out any new recipes as fresh food will be lower priced. Also, edible flowers. Sunflowers are king here as their edible golden petals make great romantic desserts. Given North Carolina grows them wild, definitely expect some government employees to start a business harvesting organic sunflowers for special occasions since most people love them. Don’t know about you, but we’re obsessed with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Hertzberg...
Eggplants come in all sizes and shapes at the farmer’s market right now. Delicious. The King of the Garden, this member of the Nightshade earns its many names in European cooking, especially Italian, with good reason. Guinea squash. Pea Apple. Eggfruit. Brown Jolly. The most fun is Apple of Insanity. Throw some basil, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and slice up an onion with some olive oil on the stove. Yum. It’s also really easy to grow for beginning gardeners. First garden last year in which half the plants died due to lack of knowledge, the Black Beauty just trucked on through even on poor mulch soil though they are doing much better this year with added fertilizer and time. Still not...
You occasionally run across a book that you think would make a great modern tv show or romantic comedy movie. For 2025, personally it’s Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton which is a love letter to NYC Jewish theater/restaurants combined with Italian cooking tourism by one of their top chefs who grew up as a theater kid to run her own place: Prune. The bisexual female Jewish lead gets married for a decade to an Italian Catholic aristocrat lawyer and his lovely family after some creative backstory and girlfriends makes for funny antics. It’s messy, complicated, and interesting mixing both modern and conservative worlds and generations colliding in a major city and Italian countryside. There’s these little gems of...
After wearing Gold Toe and Hanes cotton socks for 20+ years, this year trying linen as they are supposed to be cooler and gardening outdoors in North Carolina August is just brutal. The cost is similar to wool at $4-10/pair or under $30 for a multi-pack, but there’s definitely a lack of color and design selection which is puzzling given linen dyes so well and uses less water than cotton. Oatmeal, cream, off-white…pick your poison. It’s all the same "natural" color. Zero sense as you can get linen yarn in colors super easy. Maybe some organic boutique hosiery start-up is going to latch on to the idea for hot natured husbands or a knit craft shop will start carrying dye...