Ten years ago Michael and I made a trek to Germany for our honeymoon. We travelled around the country with a tour group—not exactly romantic for a honeymoon, especially since we couldn’t convince the strict tour guide to get us hotel rooms with a double bed instead of two singles—but we had a great time […]
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Autumn Favorites
Cheese Spaetzle (Kaesespaetzle, Käsespätzle)
Slow Cooker Paprika Chicken
Though the days are getting warmer and the summer daylilies have just started to bloom, I still feel the urge to pull out the slow cooker on cool spring mornings. When most of our days are swirling with activity, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to get a meal going in the slow cooker. […]
Gardening
Weekend Gardening: An Unexpected Visitor
This weekend our gardening chores included some weeding, routing the beans and peas so they would climb properly, adding more tomato cages, and transplanting the volunteer tomatoes and tomatillos to a spot where they would have more room. Some of our tomato plants are now two meters tall and it’s not even July yet, and […]
Weekend Gardening: Mr. Stripey Tomatoes
When Michael and I first started dating years ago, I had a few pots of tomatoes and peppers on my Chicago balcony, and I was so proud of them. Then Michael showed me his tomato plants, 12-foot Mr. Stripeys in his front yard. He had told me how tall the plants had grown, but I […]
Tomatoes and Pumpkin Spice
Yes, tomato toast on the first day of autumn. After our big road trip across the United States, I couldn’t wait to come home to our garden and start eating fresh tomatoes. The plants did not disappoint, and we ate tomatoes just about every day. My favorite time of day was when I sliced a […]
The Farm Project
The Farm Project: Wegmeyer Farms (Raspberry Sauce)
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but my family has a long history in agriculture and I grew up in Missouri and Illinois, where farms were abundant. In the summer you couldn’t drive anywhere in central Illinois without seeing corn and soybean fields, and detasseling was a common summer job for teens. In the […]
Cool Lawn Farm: On a Warm December Day (Apple Butter Bread Pudding Recipe)
It was a warm, milky-white cloudy day when I drove to Moo Thru in Remington, Virginia. The famous ice cream and milk stand is just an hour south of us, and you can’t miss the red and white barn which nestles right up to Route 15/29, aka James Madison Highway. My friend Lisa from the […]
The Farm Project: Ticonderoga Farms Fig Lovers Feast (Fig Bundt Cake with Honey Butter Glaze)
The second farm in The Farm Project is Ticonderoga Farms in Loudoun County, Virginia, which has been in their family for five generations. They grow figs, pumpkins, bamboo, flowers, Christmas trees, tomatoes, and other vegetables on their 1,000 acres. In addition, they raise free-range hens and sell the eggs and sell organic honey from their […]
