tejon

When friends and relatives don't even blink an eye anymore when you whip out a camera before dinner to get a close up while it's still warm.

I've got garlic sprouting (from a head of red hard necked garlic I bought at the farmer's market), carrots coming up, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, leeks, daikon radishes, pac choi, spinach (looks like I'll be adding more now), and a bunch of lettuce mix that will go in a cold frame. All are growing in a very protected area, by the house, where it stays a lot warmer and wind-free to start with. I have a bunch of tomatoes that I doubt will get a chance to redden at all at this late date. Thinking they'll go into some kind of pickle.

Anyone gardening through the Fall and Winter? If so, what do you have growing?

I grew up in the heart of Los Angeles and never really came across anything edible as I wandered as a child. As an adult, I've been keenly jealous of people who talked about finding fruit trees nearby or fiddlehead ferns or ramps. Until I moved to Oregon a few months back, that is. I'm finding all kinds of wild greens, but right now am surrounded by blackberries seemingly everywhere. The other day I went on a picnic with my sons in the park, only to have them find quarts of ripe berries off by the pond without even planning on picking anything. I'm planning on making some blackberry wine soon . The downside is those suckers have evil thorns and none of us has come out unmarked, but it seems a price worth paying.

This one I know! I have a lovely bag of peppered bacon ends in my freezer as well (thanks to Julia, who presented me with a map of all the local food purveyors when we moved here two months ago). Got them at over Gartners Meats in Portland. The sausage there is delicious, and it looks like they do mail order as well.

I have to say, they didn't taste much like radishes at all. The flavor was very subtle - they mostly acted as a wonderful carrier for melted butter .

Just got my hands on a copy of Braising with Molly, and I'm dying to get started on some of the things I've seen and read about in this thread so far. The other night I needed to use up a big bag of radishes that I bought at the market and I happened to spy Braised Radishes. Looked interesting, so I got busy. The end result was far more than I would have expected from something with so few ingredients. The radishes were tender and the flavor was more like mild turnips after a good amount of cooking. They were really delicious.

I keep forgetting to take pictures. I've made satay, kebabs, and skewers since this cook off began - playing with a new grill, especially when it's so hot. Here's what we had last night. Chicken marinated in soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and a bit of lime juice, then skewered up and grilled. The skewers are wide and flat and hold pretty much anything nicely, making things easy to turn.

Absolutely! I use them all the time for little bits of things. A bit of lemon or lime juice, some leftover dipping sauce that will be perfect over rice the next day, dabs of things that I don't want to go to waste and will use in a few days - all fit perfectly.

I'll second the Gateau recipe by Julia Child. Takes a good amount of time, between making all the crepes, the fillings, and the sauce to pour over, and quite challenging. Delicious, too. I made the version from the old Mastering the Art of French Cooking earlier this week, and it came out really well after a good amount of work.

Apna is really hard to actually find, isn't it? And the front of the store looks nothing like a grocery of any sort at all - you really have to know what to look for.

I buy organic milk to avoid hormones and antibiotics (or at least go rBGH free) because it's one of the main foods that my youngest son eats and I'm concerned about additives in something he consumes so much of. I don't necessarily buy organic cereal, but then he doesn't eat that much of it (by comparison) and cereal shouldn't contain hormones or antibiotics of any sort. I could easily have been this person ahead of you in line, buying milk for my 5 year old and Fruit Loops for my husband. Last time I checked, he stopped growing a long time ago and as an adult can choose things I wouldn't necessarily pick for him .

Excellent article. Kudos to you for dealing with other people's discomfort, rudeness and outright stupidity with such grace and humor.

Stevea, this is the first time I've tried brussels sprouts out here, so I don't really have an answer. We do have a goodly number of ladybugs in the back which might at least help with aphids - I'll report back once they've fully grown.

I'll have to give Early Girl a try next year. I got my garden in too late for tomatoes and other sun lovers, unfortunately. But I can't wait for the leeks and brussels sprouts to come up :-).

Could you share the recipe for that plov, please? It looks delicious and comforting.

So excited to finally see you blogging! I'm looking forward to the beautiful pictures to follow. I'd love to see as much as possible of Moscow and "typical" foods eaten by those around you as well as your own daily fare, if possible. Fascinating to look at a different part of the world and see what's different and what is the same.

I love the picture of all the kids, huddled but happily munching away. Rain is just another adventure, right?

Or have a really good guide! Well worth finding, though.

Now that's a truly glorious garden. Do your parents use all the produce that is grown there, or it is shared with others or dried/frozen/preserved for the rest of the year?

I'm sure there are many people who think they're allergic, but aren't in actuality. And there are those who hide behind an "allergy", when they really just don't like a food or dish. Then there are people who don't have an actual allergy, but use that term because it's easier than explaining things further (case in point, a friend with celiac disease who would end up doubled in pain for days after the slightest amount of gluten usually just said he was allergic to wheat). Or people with sensitivities that make them uncomfortable after consuming a certain food - not an allergy, but something they need to avoid. It's almost impossible to know if someone is, in fact, allergic to something if they claim to be. But I'd certainly err on the side of caution instead of assuming that someone claiming a food allergy is either wrong or being less than honest.

Do I spy a lone blueberry in that gorgeous bowl of raspberries?

I think it's a combination of a lot of things. Part of it is definitely better diagnosis. Back when I was little and had an anaphylactic reaction to dairy, very little was known about allergies in general, and looking back I'm lucky the doctors figured out what was wrong *and* that my parents were able to figure out how to feed me (severe allergy to wheat as well) with what was available at the time. I know of several small children (kids of friends) who years ago would simply have been diagnosed with "colic", but once they were taken off dairy or soy or what have you, they calmed right down and didn't have any more problems. So I'm betting there are many people who are simply diagnosed properly now, versus many years ago. I've also heard the theory that all of the environmental toxins, food additives, and chemicals that we are in contact with on a daily basis is affecting allergy levels. The theory is that the immune system has only so much to devote to fighting off bad stuff, and when there is constant exposure to things that tax the immune system it reacts more strongly to allergens than it would otherwise. Anecdotally, I know of many people who have far worse allergy symptoms during high pollen counts, even reacting more strongly to other allergens like pet dander or mold. Formula usage is also associated with higher rates of allergy in general. This may well coincide with the above theory, especially since commercially available formulas are made up of some of the most common food allergens (dairy, soy, and corn). There's probably some merit in having an environment that is too sterile in general. Antibacterial products (now found almost everywhere) and even routine vaccinations that limit the possibility of what used to be typical "childhood illnesses" may affect a growing immune system's ability to form properly. Hard to say one way or the other, anyway.

Hooray! Always happy to see you blog, whether there are beautiful pictures or not. Chuck E Cheese, eh? Hopefully you approach it like I do, and eat first .

"Can you expose your hash a bit more?" (said before taking a shot of eJulia's delicious looking plate). I swear, that may have to be my new sig line They really did take good care of us, didn't they? The food was almost as good as the company. It was great to finally meet up in person .