Thai Green Sticky Rice with Mango
Last spring my sister came out for a visit and we had a girls’ day of shopping and of course a dinner out together. We both like sushi and headed for a little Thai and sushi fusion restaurant nearby and ordered our favorites. We also noticed a card on the table advertising their Thai mango sticky rice, a classic dessert made with Thai sweet glutinous rice, and decided we would share some of that as well. Read more
Weekend Gardening: Protecting Fruit Trees
Last fall Michael decided we needed to cover our fruit trees with netting to protect the harvest from the local wildlife, and after seeing similar techniques on fruit trees while on a trip to Okinawa, our collection of net bags grew. Read more
Mango Blueberry Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette
June 15, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Dessert, Grow Your Own, Salads
In 2007 we bought two blueberry bushes, the low bush variety that produces small berries like our favorite wild blueberries from Maine. We almost lost them due to flooding both the first and second year, but somehow they managed to survive, though they haven’t produced berries yet. It takes a few years for blueberry bushes to begin producing, and when they do it’s often small amounts at first, but growing as the bush matures. Read more
Grilled Plantains with Cajeta
Cajeta is a Mexican sweet treat like dulce de leche (or arequipe in Colombia), but it’s made from goat milk rather than cow milk, and that one little ingredient change makes it very rich in flavor. Read more
Creamy Grape Salad with Almonds
March 29, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Salads, Summer Favorites
One of my favorite childhood memories is creamy fruit salads made with various combinations of grapes, cherries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, or apples, sometimes with crunchy nuts mixed in. The creamy part also varied, often made with sour cream and cream cheese or whipped topping, but all were sweet and sometimes tasted more like dessert than a dinner side dish. As far as my sweet tooth and I were concerned, creamy fruit salads were as good as it gets.
Don’t judge me. Read more
Spiced Persimmon Cake with Dates and Lemon Glaze
November 4, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Dessert, Grow Your Own
We discovered the persimmon tree in September when we noticed the golden orbs hanging from the branches. We hadn’t paid attention to the tree before because it was in a relatively inaccessible area behind our house and we had no idea what it was or what if anything it would produce, it had not set fruit until this year. When we found the fruit, we realized it was American persimmon (aka common persimmon and Eastern persimmon), which is a berry in botanic terms. The fruit is small, ranging 1 to 1-1/2 inches (2.5 to 4 cm) in diameter and very sweet when ripe.
Persimmons are autumn fruits that can hang on even after frost, and you can wait until after frost to gather them to ensure they are fully ripe. The leaves start to droop and fall off the tree as the fruit ripens. The persimmons should be very soft and even a little wrinkled before eating, otherwise they’ll have a chalky taste. If the fruit starts to drop when you shake the tree, they are pretty much ready. Read more
