I am working at a farm this summer and fall! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for going on 10 years now, ever since I travelled down the west coast on a bike tour meeting farmers and other people who care about agriculture. Yep, so finally it’s happening. I just finished my first…
Tag: home-made pantry item
Rhubarb Curd Tart with a Buckwheat Almond Crust (Gluten-Free)
Did you know that Buckwheat is related to Rhubarb? I know! Weird right? I was so excited by this fact when I learned it, that I decided to make a rhubarb tart with a buckwheat crust. Then I had to wait until rhubarb season returned. Now the rhubarb is back and this tart is everything…
Four Weird and Delicious Pestos
I know this is weird, but I don’t make basil pesto. I make pesto for three reasons. 1. I have some sad bunch of green something that I did not use in a timely fashion, but cannot stand to throw away, so I make it into pesto. The truth is, I do not buy…
Tropical Fruit and Macadamia Nut Torte- From the backyard in Kula, Maui (Gluten-Free)
For the last three years, my mother has been living in a little cottage in Kula, Maui on a beautiful property planted with mango, loquat, natal plum, macadamia nut, avocado, kukui nut and guava trees. While visiting my mother recently, my husband became excited about cracking open the macadamia nuts from the yard and…
Bittersweet Boozy Goodness- Old Fashioned Orange Marmalade (with bitters and sour cherries)
Just before Christmas, I came home one night to find the teenage daughter of one of my neighbors sitting in our cold and dirty hallway. She was locked out. I invited her into my apartment and offered to feed her dinner. Her mother found the note that we had left her when she came…
Seville Orange Marmalade with Whiskey and Brown Sugar
Last year, a dear friend of ours returned from a trip to Australia and gave us a fabulous jar of whisky marmalade as a gift. This is a perfect gift for me, because I LOVE marmalade, but it’s also risky. I am a woman who has some very strong opinions about marmalade. Luckily, the whisky…
The Saga of my Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
I decided to make a gluten-free starter this summer. I was compelled to do this because I was determined to make a gluten-free version of my the dark sourdough rye bread that my grandmother used to make (Leib in Estonian). More on that later. It took a couple of months and a bunch of trial…
Tuna-Dill Tomato Sauce
I’m really happy with this sauce. I have consumed immense quantities of tomato sauce in my life but it’s not something that I’ve ever gotten into making. That just means I have opinions about the subject and know what the good stuff looks like when I see it. Cockiness aside, this is a really flexible…
Home-made cheap thrill sauce- Ajvar (or Ljutenica)
Ajvar (or Ljutenica) is one of my favourite store-bought condiments. It is a relish made from sweet red peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. Some brands are spicy and some are not. It is a beautiful bright orange-red color. It makes simple, cheap food taste thrillingly gourmet and it is astonishingly inexpensive, which is why I always refer…
Crab Apples Pickled in Sherry Vinegar and Five Spice Powder
My Estonian grandmother planted a fruit tree for each of her grandchildren when they were born. Mine was the crab apple tree. When I was about seven years old, I asked my grandmother why my tree was the one with fruit that was so hard and sour. She told me that the crab apple tree…
