Well, I finally finished reading Heirloom Vegetable Gardening but while I was reading it, I also managed to finish a couple of other books! The Heirloom Vegetable Gardening tome is a great volume and I would like to have a copy of it on my gardening bookshelf for future reference. Now, on to the other books …
I read Something from the Oven while I was in Asheville for my mom’s birthday. This is a thorough piece of research that touches on many sources that are generally hidden from the lens of history, including practice and personal preferences. For those interested in the social reception of new technology, the women’s movement, and food history, this volume offers something for them. In addition, it is an easy read for those who are not academic historians and only have a passing interest in the subject. Read more »
And, we are starting to get a regular supply of items … we have gotten a handful of small tomatoes, these two squash, and one large tomato. But, from all of the fruit on the vines, we are going to have a lot of little tomatoes soon and probably 8-10 large ones!
From the Weekend Express a little over a month ago, a recipe that will help you beat the heat! With it expected to be in the triple digits for the next couple of days, this milkshake recipe from Spike Mendelsohn may come in very handy.
116 oz. bag of Jumbo Marshmallows
2 cups whole milk
2 cups creamy vanilla ice cream
1 tbsp sour cream
Preheat broiler. Reserve 4 marshmallows for garnish. Char marshmallows under broiler, stirring to ensure even cooking. Remove and cool.
Repeat with garnish until golden. Remove and cool.
Blend all ingredients, except garnish, until smooth.
I have been reading a lot of gardening, farming, and cooking books lately. While this was one of the books that Jill originally requested from the library, I thoroughly enjoyed it! In many ways, it reminded me of reading Driving Over Lemons – which I read a couple of years ago on our trip to Spain – because of its chronological nature and honest assessment of growing your own food, but unlike that book, it hit closer to home. Very few people will move to Andalusia and purchase a farm, but many of us could move across the country (or just across the state) to live in a community where growing one’s own food is not only possible but common. And, this is why I enjoyed this book so much! Read more »
I wish that I could have had more time with this book, but is still a reasonably new volume and someone else in Fairfax County wanted to read it! So, I had to rush thru the last 80-ish pages on Tuesday morning before taking it back (can’t really complain because I use holds to get most of the books that I want to read from the library … it is a habit developed in Oxford working with the strange stack request system).
So, a book about a life with cheese … well, not exactly. This is an autobiography about a cheesemonger, Gordon Edgar, that never set out to become a food professional. Instead, he was a punk and fixture in the 80′s San Francisco counter-culture that, on a fluke, got a job at the Rainbow Co-op. From this slightly random move from a job cleaning buses used by hippies to working at the Rainbow’s cheese section, Gordon explains how his life as a punk and his extracurriculars at university helped to shape his career as the Cheese Man. Read more »
Recently, I made a new Alton Brown recipe, his Enchilada Lasagna but I made a few changes (as evident by the image above) to the original recipe. I replaced the dried chiles with canned chipoltes in adobo sauce, the chicken with some previously cooked turkey, and the onions with leeks.
This recipe turned out great and can be really flexible – I am sure that it would work well with pork or beef. Plus, the sauce is good by itself. I hope that you enjoy!
None of them have been played and most of them have never been opened! Originally produced in 1985 in Julia Child’s heyday, these are great resources for the budding chef, as a collectible, or as interior design pieces.
Taken from ‘Mining Review 12th Year No.10′, this lovely story shows how coal, rather spuriously, contributes to the brewing of beer, featuring some gorgeous shots inside the Charrington Brewery in the Mile End Road. Posted by the BFI.
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