On Saturday I sowed the first seeds directly in the ground – finally!- and spinach was the very first vegetable I sowed. So no, this quiche was not homegrown, but hopefully will be in about six weeks. Because I am…
I teach Norwegian. Most of my students learn Norwegian because they want to move to Norway. Away from the overpopulated and completely man-landscaped Netherlands into Europe’s last wilderness. They ask me why I don’t move there, too, since I already…
This dish is the culinary form of denial. I know it is cold and raining, and that probably means that the summer really is over. But I refuse to let go just yet. Soon enough it will be on to…
Do you grow basil? And is your climate basil-friendly? I do, and it’s not. While growing Mediterranean herbs like rosemary or lavender is not particularly difficult here if you provide them with a suitable micro climate, basil is a lot…
So, after having confessed to my limited gardening success as far as growing tomatoes is concerned, I came back from vacation to … an ample tomato harvest. Though most of the varieties have suffered just as I expected, the partially…
My parents are more successful at growing tomatoes than I am. That, I would like to point out, is not because they are better gardeners. It’s because they have a better place to grow them. First, the climate in the…
When summer, like now, really is summer and the sun is shining all the time and it’s really warm and not like last year when the only difference between summer and fall was the date on the calendar, you probably…
Summer typically brings a dilemma. On one hand the garden is brimming with wonderful produce to cook with. On the other hand one’s desire to cook typically diminishes as fast as the temperature rises. Luckily, summer produce usually doesn’t need…
Broad beans (also known as fava beans) are the only hardy beans. That means that unlike other kinds of beans, they can be sown early. They can even be sown in November and left in the ground to overwinter, more…
Because I read cookbooks instead of bedtime stories, I have long known that the only correct way to make risotto is by adding a ladelful of stock at a time, stirring continuously. Interestingly, our Italian friends were not aware of…
Probably the best investment you can make if you have a vegetable garden is sowing a packet of asparagus seeds. Yes, you have to wait 3 years before the plants are strong enough to take regular picking, but after that…
Do you grow broccoli rabe (also known as crimi di rapa, broccoli raab, turnip broccoli)? If you don’t, but have a veg patch, however tiny, please, consider it. In Joy Larkom´s classic `Grow your own vegetables` which makes most other…
As I mentioned before, the holidays of my childhood were rather different from today. We celebrated International Workers’ Day (compulsory) and International Women’s Day (ditto) but I hardly knew anything about, say, Halloween. I was however aware that in other…
The wonderful thing about perennial vegetables is that in spring they grow a lot faster than their annual counterparts. Because they start growing from well established roots instead of having to germinate first and make roots later, in our edible…
We all know that pulses are good for us and that we should be eating more of them. Especially vegetarians and vegans should, because pulses are a great source of protein. The trouble is, pulses require a bit of planning:…