Our daughter Emily and son-in-law Kent are hosting their first holiday party in their new home in Dryden, N.Y. Excited to receive the invitation, I texted Emily our reply. “What do you want me to make for your party?” “Haha … maybe a cheeseball?” she shot back. Then true to her Maine roots, she replied, …
My Meyer lemon tree is in full regalia, with star-shaped white blossoms filling the house with a sweet, heady fragrance. Since moving my plant inside for the winter, the five lemons on the tree have turned from pale green to quite yellow and ripe — a good time to harvest. The Meyer lemon is a …
I love winter squash; moist, rich and hearty, packed with vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. Native to the Americas for over 7,000 years, winter squashes and pumpkins were an unknown vegetable to the early European explorers, who mistook them for a variety of melon. Fortunately for us, squashes were adapted readily by the first New England …
If you are fortunate enough to stumble across a large, gray-brown or tan mushroom with clusters resembling cauliflower florets under the base of a very large and old oak tree, call me! It could be a hen of the woods! Grifola frondos is a polypore mushroom that grows in clusters at the base of trees, …
My friend Oscar Turner makes the very best brownies; thick, dense and chewy with a triple chocolate punch and packed with savory, chopped nuts. The perfect afternoon snack, and a great addition to the lunchbox, Oscar’s Brownies have no equal. When I inquired about the formula, his wife, Diana, was gracious enough to share the …
Eggplant is such an interesting vegetable, although botanically speaking it specifically is a fruit. With deep purple, white or mottled glossy, thick skins and interesting shapes, eggplant is the staple of many vegetarian diets. Eggplants generally grow best in dependable and warm weather, and this season has produced a bumper crop of this delectable member …
Tomatoes are a beautiful fruit. I love their bright colors; light pink, cherry red, golden orange and sunny yellow. My culinary heart skips a beat at the sight of them all decked out in their speckles and stripes. Now that the markets are bursting with ripening tomatoes, this is a good opportunity to enjoy one …
Do you know Ratatouille? “Ratatouille” (ra-tuh-TOO-ee) is a delightful animated Disney film released in 2007 about a gifted French rat named Remy with highly developed senses of smell and taste who dreams of becoming a chef. Remy’s signature dish, ratatouille, saves the day in this fast moving, highly entertaining comedy about the intricacies of French …
With this latest spell of hot and steamy weather, my cucumber patch is exploding. Hundreds of bright yellow blossoms decorate the prickly, green vines. All sorts of pollinators buzz from early dawn until dusk, spreading the wealth that one day will become pickles. My husband likes to scour the cucumber plants early in the morning, …
I love a good fish cake, crab cake, even clam cake. There’s something so sensuous about biting through a crispy crust into a tender morsel infused with delicate flavor. Smear it with a good tartar sauce, aioli or ketchup; use plenty of napkins, that’s my kind of street food heaven. To hold together, these seafood …
We Americans love our ice cream, consuming more than 900 million gallons a year. Before the advent of modern refrigeration, ice cream was a luxury reserved for special occasions. Homemade ice cream was laborious to prepare, and had to be consumed immediately with no freezer capacity available. The process relied entirely upon ice harvesting, a …
I love a good Maine biscuit, piping hot from the oven, with a toasty brown top and feathery light middle. Spread with butter and jam, a biscuit is a hearty snack. Fry up an egg, add a piece of bacon and a slab of Cheddar, the humble biscuit becomes a breakfast sandwich. Leftover biscuits are …
