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Salads for Winter Warmth. Seriously.
Many of us in the northern U.S. are experiencing bone-chilling cold these days, and the first thing that comes to mind for dinner is probably not salad. Instead, we are more likely hankering for a nice filling stew or another…
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Whetting Your Whistle with a Refreshing Drink
Hot and muggy summer days are still with us, and you yearn for a refreshing beverage – something beyond a cool glass of water – that will not only satisfy that thirst but tingle your taste buds. I found a…
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Chilling Out with Blueberries
Back on the farm in the 1950s, I knew what the arrival of blueberries in the local store meant: my grandmother’s blueberry pie. Like many families, our blueberry expectations were centered around desserts. Occasionally, we had blueberry pancakes, and someone…
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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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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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The Rites of Spring, Mesopotamian Style
Spring in our part of New England is sort of springing. Two steps forward, one step back; from cool to warm and back again. Flowers are sprouting up, the promise of warmth is growing, the days are longer, and we’re…
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Dispatch from the Cabbage Patch
My friend Tom suggested I was missing an opportunity to extol the glories of cabbage, especially during the week of St. Patrick’s Day when boiled cabbage and corned beef reigned. As for cabbage, we’re talking about a vegetable that, to…
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Meditation on Meatloaf
One universal meal on the farm was meatloaf. Every farmhouse had a freezer with plenty of ground beef, and meatloaf was a great mainstay to feed a crowd of hungry people. Each farm cook had their own recipe that varied…
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Bright Ideas with Citrus
When I was young, this time of year usually meant a big basket of citrus arriving from Florida, courtesy of my grandparents. For a few weeks, it was fresh orange juice in the morning and grapefruit for breakfast. No fancy…
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A Buzz with Flavor: Cooking with Bourbon
When I first moved to Boston and began cooking for others on a regular basis, one of my go-to desserts was a bourbon pie featured in the New York Times Large Type Cookbook. As I think of it, my other…
