The farmers market is a source of roiling internal debate. On one hand, there’s the glory of fresh, delicious chard and peaches; on the other, I dread the Battle of the Strollers and small talk with tan people in Tevas. This time of year the cons are definitely outweighed by one giant pro: fresh, unshelled […]
On the Table
Posted inEat + Drink
Slugfest
Of all the creatures that have made their way down my gullet, the banana slug is the most endearing. It’s cute, in its slimy way. It returns to the redwood forests after the spring rains, reminding us that a summer of riverside barbecues is on the horizon. Banana slugs are hermaphroditic and have what must […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Ode to Summer’s End
Summer produce is still abundant and fall favorites are already making an appearance. It’s a barrage of luxurious colors (bright yellow peppers, blood-red strawberries, dark purple eggplant), deep flavors (sun-ripened tomatoes, peaches, figs) and enveloping smells (dewy lettuce and greens, earthy potatoes and root vegetables). Walking around the farmers market, I try to avoid filling […]
Posted inEat + Drink
The Bounty Around Us
“It’s that time of the year,” sang Len Barry, and I echo his words. He meant summertime, but I mean Local Food Month, when we officially celebrate the food grown or made in our county — a month-long party featuring special events and chances to meet local food producers and taste their products. Providing an […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Hum Plate Roundup
A good meal under $10 is a frugal find, and the legwork, trial and error it takes to find one can give you a tummy ache. Now that the students are back in town, it’s easier to just follow the crowds between classes to the dining deals. It’s not like you’re looking at someone else’s […]
Posted inEat + Drink
College Cuisine
Virginia Woolf once said that one cannot study well, party well or love well if one has not eaten well. Maybe she didn’t say it exactly that way, but you get the point. Yet our student years are often the nadir of our gastronomic Bell curve, a time when haste, thrift and general lack of […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Plum the Depths of Summer
My brother has one of those plum trees that’s positively profligate with fruit. It’s like a woman who just had octuplets — overwhelmed with fecundity. Sitting under that tree, which is sweetly scented and buzzing with gorged flies and reaching up to grab a warm plum that drips if you pinch is the epitome of […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Hum Plate Roundup
Book club always descends into eating and drinking anyway, so let’s skip to the last page and eat. Here are the Cliff’s Notes to our recent romances, mysteries and adventures. Tandoori Do-over Chatter on the wire sent us to Tandoori Bites, the Indian place across from McDonald’s formerly known as the Indian place across from […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Secrets and Pies
In “Blackberry Picking,” the late poet Seamus Heaney writes: “You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet/ like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it/ leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for/ picking.” And a lusty, greedy business it is, reaching into a briar, snaking stained fingers around thorns for the heavy, […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Tout Sweet Corn
My memories of eating freshly harvested corn as a child in Italy involve a field and fire, but no pot or butter. I ate corn at most once a year, if, on harvest day, we happened to visit family friends who grew some to feed their chickens. We roasted ears of corn over an outdoor […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Moqueca Saborosa …
It was our second evening in Salvador, Bahia, on the coast of Brazil. My husband and I came to Brazil to soak up the music, dance and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, but the country also has a rich culinary heritage with dishes influenced by Portuguese, African and indigenous cooking. We had already […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Oh, Snap!
I love fresh seasonal vegetables swimming in fat. I would be content on a diet of fresh veggies and butter, with candy for entertainment. Is it humanly possible to dislike a simple perfect garden tomato, sliced, sugared, salted and drizzled with olive oil and vinegar? Cabbage shredded and fried in butter and caraway seeds? Kale […]