A few days ago a friend of mine returned from a trip to south Florida.  He was staying with another (mutual) friend who has a plethora of citrus trees on his property – everything from oranges to grapefruit to lemons.  Being the kind of guy he is (and also in hopes that I’d make lemon [...]

Posted in basics, fruit, ingredients, preserves+canning 5 Comments »

I’m so excited. I got home this evening and what should be sitting on the doorstep? This package from the Organic Vanilla Bean Co. Whooo hoo!

And in it? One pound of vanilla beans; 1/2 each of Bourbon and Tahitian.

I have big plans for these babies. Homemade [...]

Posted in herbs, ingredients, misc food 4 Comments »

No recipes today, but just a glimpse of what I’ve been doing with part of my evenings this week. I recently acquired a large quantity of lemons and limes and I’ve been spending a part of each evening zesting and juicing.

The zest and juice are currently hanging out in my freezer. [...]

Posted in fruit, ingredients, seasonal 2 Comments »

What do to with whey. This has been a topic that’s been on my mind lately. I know … I know. I’m weird. But it has. See, last week I made 3 batches of yogurt; one of them I left as is for use in recipes, one of them I [...]

Posted in eggs+dairy, ingredients No Comments »

I told you that I’d explain the bowlful of garlic from my earlier photo, right? So here it is. This is a nifty little trick I learned from someone on a message board somewhere. See, the thing is I love garlic. I put garlic in just about everything, but I hate [...]

Posted in basics, ingredients No Comments »