Plants Posts
Coconut Cake for Old Man Richard
The first time I made this cake, we were up visiting an old friend who rents a cottage every summer up in Gloucester, Mass. We spent the greater part of the evening out on the deck, catching up and listening to the waves wash up on the rocks. The drinks were cold. The dogs were [...]
Buttery Greek Apple Tart
Fall is coming. Boston’s been on the cold side. The stores are starting to fill up with back-to-school supplies. This means one thing to me: Apple-picking season is on its way. And I couldn’t be happier. I have a handful of apple recipes I love. Here’s one of my favorites. It’s amazingly simple to make—and [...]
Midsummer Harvest
Despite being plagued by the dreaded Tomato Horn Worm (if you’ve ever grown tomatoes, you know how horrifying these beasts are), this summer has been a remarkably good one for my vegetable garden. Like a lot of the country, Boston’s had a silly amount of rain this season. In fact, as I sat down to [...]
Infuse Your Booze: Making Fruit-Flavored Liquors
Fresh fruit + vodka = summer in a glass, all year round. I’ve been making fruit-infused liquors for about 10 years. I get it from my mother, who makes jars of lemon verbena liquor and blackberry brandy (and amazing Irish Cream in the winter). I know the whole fruit infusion thing has been done to [...]
Peach Ratafia
First off, what the heck is a ratafia? (The short answer is “a really, really yummy drink,” but that probably doesn’t help much.) Merriam Webster defines a ratafia as “a liqueur made from an infusion of macerated fruit or fruit juice in a liquor (as brandy) and often flavored with almonds.” Now, this recipe doesn’t [...]
Crunchy Kosher Pickles
Seeing as it’s summer, here are the pickles I remember from my childhood. They’re the perfect complement to any BBQ. They’re really crispy, and have just the right amount of bite that they don’t overwhelm whatever you eat them with. Mom’s Kosher Pickles 4 lbs. pickling cukes 1/4 cup salt 8 cups water 5 cloves [...]
Tomatoes, Incoming!
I should start figuring out what I’m going to do with all these tomatoes, which look like they’re all going to be ripe at about the same time… Husky Cherry Tomatoes. I’ll definitely plant these again. They’re by far the sturdiest and lushest tomato plants I’ve ever had. Health Kick Tomatoes. I haven’t tried this [...]
Blueberry Buckle
This is the blueberry buckle I grew up on. According to Epicurious.com, a buckle is a cake where the batter rises above the fruit, “buckling it” while it cooks. It’s a really quick and simple cake to make. A note on fruit If you use whole, fresh blueberries, you’ll get a nice white cake studded [...]
