September 5th, 2010 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Preserves and Pickles
Picking wild blackberries is something I truly miss about living in the Pacific Northwest. Blackberry bushes hang heavy with ripe fruit in late August and early September all over the state of Washington. After I finished my year of traveling and before I left for California, I spent an August and a September living in […]
March 23rd, 2010 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Lemon, Orange, Preserves and Pickles, Weekend Projects
These preserves are the result of a co-worker’s citrus bounty from his backyard tree. He brought in a bag of delicious, juicy oranges a few days ago, and I was the happy recipient…
January 7th, 2010 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Ginger, Lemon, Most Popular, Orange, Preserves and Pickles, Succulent Spices, Weekend Projects
Yesterday I inaugurated my new canning equipment — a huge 12 quart stockpot, a canning funnel, a magnetic lid lifter, and a bright red rubber coated jar lifter. Joy! Granted…
August 18th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Lemon, Most Popular, Nuanced Nuts, Preserves and Pickles, Weekend Projects
Perhaps you would have chuckled if you saw me leaping into the air, grabbing at bunches of elderberries that grow alongside Moody Road yesterday morning… without a ladder, one must leap!
July 20th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Most Popular, Plums, Preserves and Pickles, Weekend Projects
This preserve came about thanks to one of my co-workers with a prolific plum tree in his backyard. He brought me about 4 lbs of delicious, ripe, and juicy black plums, which begged to be made into some sort of preserve…
June 12th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, DIY Food Projects, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Garlic, Ginger, Honorable Herbs, Most Popular, Peppers (Spicy & Sweet), Preserves and Pickles, Succulent Spices, Veritable Vegetables
Pickles, pickles, pickles of every kind… that’s how the last few months have been going — pickled kohlrabi, pickled lemons, pickled cabbage, pickled onions, and now pickled eggs! Pickled peppers, pickled cucumber, and pickled okra…
May 19th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Most Popular, Onion, Orange, Preserves and Pickles, Veritable Vegetables
It has been HOT around here lately. The thermometer climbed to well over 90 degrees four of the last five days, and reached over 100 last thursday. It was hard to choose which was worse–being outside under the hot sun…
April 22nd, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, DIY Food Projects, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Kohlrabi, Most Popular, Preserves and Pickles, Veritable Vegetables
Ever since I bought Linda Ziedrich’s book The Joy of Pickling, I’ve had pickles on the brain… not the typical pickles one usually imagines — you know, made with cucumbers, puckering-ly salty, sour, sweet, or vinegar-y…
April 8th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, Fantastic Fruits, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Lemon, Orange, Preserves and Pickles, Weekend Projects
Citrus season is nearly always bountiful around northern California. On the days that I ride my bike to work I count no fewer than 30 orange and lemon trees drooping under the weight of their own fruit. Once I was tempted…
March 6th, 2008 | by Jen | published in All, DIY Food Projects, Fantastic Fruits, Lemon, Most Popular, Orange, Preserves and Pickles, Weekend Projects
Yaarrrr! It be citrus bounty week here in Los Altos Hills, CA… I gathered m’self about 10 schhwarly pounds of home-grown blood oranges and meyer lemons (from a co-worker and a neighbor, respectively). Ahh…
I daydream a lot about cooking during the week, especially when I’m on the train. Its rhythmic...
Yesterday I inaugurated my new canning equipment -- a huge 12 quart stockpot, a canning funnel, a ma...
I read cookbooks to relax. There is no better way for me to unwind than to read a recipe, imagine t...
I have been craving some serious American food as of late. A week ago I had the overwhelming urge ...
A few weeks ago on the same France trip that introduced me to Feves au Lard Fume, Steven and I met u...
When I try to explain what tempeh is to a person who isn't familiar with it, it never ends up soundi...
I had a quiche epiphany the first time I tasted the quiche from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Th...
Besides the expected potatoes and cabbage, green garlic is one item that I have been coming across w...
Hands down, my favorite breakfast is two soft boiled eggs, a touch of butter, a piece or two of good...
The range of culinary emotions I've experienced living here in Germany for the past three months spa...
Long time no see! The recent Modern Beet silence has been due to the fact that I made an internatio...
I can't believe how easy it is to make gravlax. Or let me rephrase that statement -- I can't belie...
I was looking out my apartment window the other day when my gaze came to rest on a tree about fiftee...
Oh. My. God. This is the best pie crust I have ever tasted! So flaky. So moist. And oh the hin...
These past few weeks have been particularly busy and challenging for me. I changed jobs, spent two ...
Wilkommen nach Deutschland! Ok, full-disclosure time: I haven't yet made this myself, but I watche...
A while back, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make my own sausage. Why? first and forem...
I was walking back from lunch the other day with my coworker Fritz, and he (very) jokingly proclaime...
Perhaps you would have chuckled if you saw me leaping into the air, grabbing at bunches of elderberr...
The annual zucchini proliferation is upon us! Last week alone I was given six large zucchini, which...