Only after becoming a mother myself did I realize that combining motherhood and work is … well, challenging. I mean, both can be pretty challenging on their own but when you combine them, it is a job requiring superpowers. Yet…
My mom as a cook
Auteur: vera@gtc
Seasonal bouquet / early May
When I was growing up, just about the only flowers you could buy were ugly, stiff, red or white carnations, which, as I have learned since, where also treated with chemicals to keep them “fresh” for months. Now I live…
Rhubarb kuchen with spiced up streusel
We were not planning to travel anywhere this month even though the kids have a two week vacation. But then one evening about ten days ago we were sitting on the couch and “we’re not going away but if we…
Garden jobs in May
This post is a part of a series about the things I usually do/sow/harvest in my garden in a given month. I post at the beginning of each month and at the end of each month I check in to…
Chard, ricotta and saffron cakes
Do you grow chard? We do, lots of it. It is such a dependable vegetable, at least in our climate. The funny thing is, you never see it at grocery stores, only health food stores usually sell it. But it…
April in rearview mirror
Sometimes it’s really good to look back. I looked up the pictures of our allotment in April last year and when I put them side to side with this month’s pics…wow! We’ve come a long way! At this point we…
Rhubarb tartelettes in corn meal crust
If you’ve been around since last year, you might have read my post about the abdication of queen Beatrix and her son Willem Alexander succeeding to the throne. The post also includes a picture of our whole family (my parents…
Garden Connect – April update
In the March post I mentioned the Garden Connect project that we’re participating in this year where gardeners from around the world grow identical 2 by 6 foot (60 x 180 cm) gardens, compare and share growing methods. Here’s an…
Wild garlic deviled eggs
Easter means eggs, there’s no way around it. But to me it also means eating as many wild herbs as possible. It is what our bodies need after the month of mostly eating vegetables from storage. These “weeds” have all…
Easter bunny rolls
When I was teaching Norwegian today, one of the exercises in the textbook had the students pick presents for a hypothetical family of four, based on their profile. This led to a discussion about what constitutes a good present and…
Garden jobs in April
This post is a part of a new series about the things I usually do/sow/harvest in my garden in a given month. I post at the beginning of each month as inspiration for other (aspiring) gardeners. At the end of…
Triple chocolate spelt cookies
There are only three cookies pictured above. The reason for this is not that the recipe only makes 3 cookies (it makes about 20), but that by the time I got around to photographing them, there were only 3 left.…
March in rearview mirror
Whenever chatting with gardeners in spring, you are likely to hear things like: “The weather is two weeks ahead.” Or behind. Or whatever. It makes me wonder what spring ever became the ideal that every subsequent spring is measured against?…
Nettle quiche with sesame seed crust
If nettles are not touted as the next miraculous superfood, it is probably just because it is a little hard to successfully market a common weed. If they were difficult to grow and could only be imported from distant countries,…
Glorious rhubarb
Today is the first day of spring and spring means some of my favorite seasonal produce is almost in sight. I started blanching rhubarb a couple of weeks ago but despite the warm weather we’ve had, it is not quite…