My husband and I have decided that we should have a lot more fruit in our diets but since we don’t live in an area known for its agricultural sustainability, we have to depend on whatever’s stocked at the grocery store. Sometimes this includes frozen fruit which, while not fantastic on its own, is usually pretty good when it’s adapted to fit a recipe that calls for fresh fruit (defrost it first, of course!).

This week I’ve rounded up a bunch of fruit-filled recipes that I’d like to try out. I’m especially intrigued with the ones that use fruit in a …read more

Late May and early June is strawberry season in Ohio. The local markets abound with affordable red fruit and pick-your-own farms allow city dwellers to bring home bushels of strawberries for canning, freezing, jellies, and jam. Below are a few facts about growing strawberries:

* The garden strawberry was first bred in England in the 18th century.
* The United States is by far the world’s largest commercial strawberry producer.
* Strawberries propagate by sending runners from the “mother” plant.
* A serving of strawberries (about eight) has more vitamin C than an orange.
* Ninety-four percent of …read more

I was lucky to be offered the chance to try some new snack packs of organic dried fruit by Explorer’s Bounty recently.  I know what you’re thinking…banana chips are banana chips…but you’d be WRONG!  These are puffed, making them extra crunchy fun to eat, and the flavor of all the snacks I tried is just great.

I had plantains, bananas, and pineapples, as well as bananas with cinnamon, and I loved them all.  So did my DH, and he is particularly picky about his banana chips, being a fan from way back 
Anyway, the snack bags are called Gallop-A-Loozas, and …read more

Usually when I feel like going somewhere else it’s Humboldt or Montana. Then, every once in a while, I start feeling like a sprinkle of San Francisco. It’s a crowded city which I don’t adore but even with all the people it still feels large around you.
The thing about the city is you can walk everywhere still. Once I stayed in this awesome hostel on the edge of China Town and I’d walk to the Haight, the park, and than over to SOMA. At twilight you could walk to the water and see the bridge starting to twinkle.
And then of …read more