In Search of the Finer Things

This is how we began: cerulean sky and an expanse of water, right outside our window.The next morning was more like:Every day I spent there, I wrote. Not literally as I must when at work, but as a poet might. I tried to see everything as an artist. I'd...

Cozy is the name of the game this weekThings I love about this week:- Soup is on the menu 3 times! Lentil, Split Pea, and Tomato, oh my!- After an eternity of procrastination, I finally knit a perfect square. One perfect square. That means I am on my ...

When people ask me what we did in Seattle, I never really know what to say except that we ate. Some people learn a new place by sight-seeing, but it seems that we do so by eating.We couldn't have asked for a better start to our trip than a sunny corner...

This weekend we enjoyed wonderful warm fall weather and took advantage of it by taking a trip to up Apple Hill. We drove away with fresh cider, a dried lavender bouquet, Pink Lady and Rome Beauty apples, and a bag full of walnuts we had gleaned from a ...

A while back, I went to the Dollar Store in search of "real" food. I generally think of the food sold there as horrible both in quality and nutrition - you know, Banquet pot pies and generic soda pop. Then my co-worker told me he sometimes finds actual...

I am never without extra jam on hand. My pantry is currently stocked with strawberry raspberry, strawberry rhubarb, fig strawberry, apricot vanilla, and sugar plum jam, not to mention way too much orange marmalade that I really need to start using up.....

The garden yielded us a total of 13 pumpkins. I'm pretty sure the packet of seeds we planted said New England pie pumpkins, but these guys are way bigger than we expected them to be! We are going to have plenty of pumpkin for Thanksgiving next month an...

There's a slight chill in the morning air. Autumn has finally arrived in Northern California, bringing high temperatures of 70's to 80's. Suddenly I find myself craving kale and butternut squash, soups and stews.I bought a butternut squash at a farmer'...

This Saturday I had the pleasure of taking a class on raised bed gardening from the Sacramento Co-op. It was held at Soil Born Farm, where the co-op offers several of their more hands-on classes.The farm is a striking place to be, with rich dark soil, ...

This picture is a harvest from 2 weeks ago - tons of squash, tomatoes (not all pictured), even small bell peppers! This Saturday it will officially be October and I will admit that I'm officially tired of zucchini and squash. Thank goodness, they - al...