This morning I went my local Farmer’s Market. I usually attend the weekend market, but it’s grown so crowded and I’m no fan of crowds. If you have a local market, try the weekday version. I had so much more time to check things out and chat with the vendors.  One farmer gave me advice for my garden. The only negative – no beeswax candles. If you want the bells and whistles, you have to stick with the weekend market.
I ran into this man who reminds me of a sort of hybrid version of my two Grandpas. He likes to …read more

I’ve been on a fruit and vegetable kick for the last week or so and have had a lot of fun looking up various recipes incorporating fruit (and sometimes veggies!) into desserts. I think this goes especially well with summer cooking, when so many sweet fruits are in season and could easily become a delicious after-dinner dessert all by themselves.
This video by chef Philip Anderson takes the fruit dessert a bit further by cooking a plum and berry crisp on an outdoor grill.
Using plums, blueberries, blackberries, and the usual crisp ingredients like oatmeal, flour, butter and brown sugar, he creates …read more

We went on a small autumn fruit stealing picking expedition last weekend, and here’s our harvest: more than 10 kilograms of apples, a basketful of plums, and half a dozen pears. A pity we were a bit late for the blackberries. The way the bushes looked trampled upon, somebody obviously got there first.
My son and I have already baked two cakes, but we’ve still got kilos to “get rid of”. I’m cleaning up my jars to make plum marmelades and jams, but aside from that, can you recommend any other recipes or dishes I can use these fruits on? Or …read more