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Cool It This Summer
The heat of summer is upon us. Growing up on the farm in Illinois, for me, July and August were centered around baling hay, harvesting oats, and then baling the oat straw. That meant spending those 90-degree-plus, extremely humid days…
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Parsley, Sage, Red Madder, and Thyme
My kitchen garden provides a pleasant variety of fresh herbs to enhance our meals. Those plants had their origins in our local nurseries. But I recently learned that I had a lot more to learn about herbs from my long-time…
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Take Care of Your Base with Aromatics
You can’t build a good house or any other structure without first installing a strong foundation. The same is true of many food recipes, from simple soups to elaborate casseroles, stir-fries, curries, braises, and sauces. As we all know, those…
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Rubbing Your Meat the Right Way
Want to up your grilling game? I’ll advise paying more attention to the foundations of flavor. It’s about more than just lighting the fire and attending to the heat. Steve Raichlen, the author of several books on barbecue including The…
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Going Green
Welcome to prime vegetable season. The earliest entrants have already appeared in local farmstands: the first fiddleheads and spring onions, then peas. There is a whole assortment of greens to be had, all fresh, crisp, colorful, and delicious. Of course,…
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Conjuring Memories with Flavors and Scents
Suppose you simply could not find an ingredient essential to one of your favorite dishes. I raise this question for two reasons: first, because shortages are occurring more frequently these days. Second, because a request from a friend got me…
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Rooting for Radishes
The Farmer’s Almanac says it’s OK to start planting hardy vegetables in the garden. One of those is the Raphanus sativus – the good old radish. These little devils are ready to harvest about three to five weeks after planting.…
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Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
Better-tasting food starts with having fresh, nourishing ingredients. A Chinese proverb has the right idea: “The field nourishes the people who live in it.” In other words, they use what’s available in the local village market because it’s fresh and…
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Put a Spring {Vegetable) in Your Step
I’m ready for a menu shift. My appetite is changing. It’s the time of year when spring showers encourage the blooming daffodils and crocus. On the farm, I could smell spring coming through the thawing frosted ground. It’s the time…
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Hot Diggity Dogs
It’s baseball season, and that brings to mind the humble hot dog. Call them “red hots” (or “white hots”), “red dogs,” “Chicago dogs,” “Coneys,” “half smokes,” “Dodger dogs,” or “Puka dogs” – these meals on a bun are an acknowledged…
