In honor of my daughter’s upcoming semester in Italy, I made what I call an Italian omelet for brunch the other day. Actually, I am not sure if this is how they make omelets in Italy, but somewhere along the way I learned this technique and have always called it that. Using our first zucchini
Read on »Posts By: Ellen
Garlic and Gooseberries: Everyone Needs Space to Grow
The milk spray was a success! It seems to have gotten rid of the powdery mildew and the zucchini are robust again. That is a bit of a mixed blessing, however, as they are now taking over that part of the garden. They have crowded out the eggplants which had been the strongest and most
Read on »Wednesday Wandering: Downtown Chicago
On a recent quick trip to Chicago we were faced with a challenge: how do we capture the essence of this city with only one day set aside for sightseeing? True to form, we had already planned a few meals to capture the flavors: deep dish pizza on arrival, reservations at a famous steak and
Read on »Food Friday/Garlic & Gooseberries: Swiss Chard and Bacon Soufflé
Soufflés seem to have gone out of fashion. Why is that? I think maybe they seem intimidating, and yes, they do have a lot of steps that might seem complicated at first. Then there is that persistent possibility that they may not rise, or that they will rise and then fall before getting to the
Read on »Garlic & Gooseberries: Midsummer Report
Progress: The garden has been busy growing and the first eggplant has been harvested along with our first and only yellow summer squash so far. There are lots of zucchini and yellow squash blossoms but only one actual squash. I had never heard of anyone’s zucchini plant not producing until I met my neighbor, who
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Bolting
Browsing in a small bookstore recently, I came across this treasure: Vegetable Gardening in the Northeast by Marie Iannotti. Even in today’s world where it seems every question can be answered by a Google search, there is something very comforting about holding a book of instructions in my hands. It feels like everything I need,
Read on »Food Friday: Island Creek Oyster Bar and Farm
Back in May, my husband participated in a team building exercise at Island Creek Oyster Farm, out in Duxbury Bay with some colleagues. He approached it with mixed feelings: while a change of pace is always enjoyable he was busy with work and travel, and oysters were not at the top of his priority list.
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Gooseberry Demise
I imagine you all waiting with bated breath for news of the unripe gooseberries I brought home the first day, the very berries that inspired the name of this series, along with the now dead garlic. Well, I have a story for you. My fruit allergy did not stop me from wanting to make jelly,
Read on »Wednesday Wandering: Walking the Labyrinth
When a good friend of mine asked recently if I knew anything about labyrinths I had to pause. If I had thought about them at all, I guess I had always thought of a labyrinth as some sort of dark scary maze from which one might never emerge. My friend is someone who is drawn
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: New Life
A very exciting day at the garden! I visited a few days after the rains from hurricane Arthur had passed, followed by temperatures in the 80s and 90s, and I could practically hear the plants growing. First of all, it had become obvious which of those new shoots were weeds, and which were not. Hallelujah
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: A Bit of Bartering
On a recent weekend day, my husband decided it was time to be proactive in the bunny wars. We had not yet experienced any attacks on our young sprouts, but chicken wire seemed to be a good idea. So he unrolled fencing and hammered posts into the ground to anchor it, and our little plot
Read on »Wednesday Wanderings: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House
A few steps past the bustling urban center of Harvard Square, Brattle Street leads into a quiet, leafy tree-lined neighborhood. The beautiful old stately mansions put one in mind of another era, a more genteel time, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a horse and buggy come down the street, or to hear the
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Little Sprouts, Little Critters
There is something going on in my garden and I am feeling a bit uneasy. There are tiny green sprouts everywhere on the rich dark soul. At first it seemed obvious that the seeds I had planted were starting to grow, but now after the first big rain they are coming up even where I
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Meeting the Neighbors
We have slowly been meeting the other gardeners, and they seem to eye us with caution. I don’t blame them. This community garden is sort of off the map, having been grandfathered into the city’s program, and the gardeners are all very happy to be left to do their own thing. The only two rules
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Sowing the Seeds
I hurried back to my garden the next day to plant the seeds, putting the finishing touches on our masterpiece. In the greens quadrant I added 2 rows of spinach, different varieties, and a few turnips, a new experiment for me. In the squash quadrant I added delicata squash and little pie pumpkins. Yes, I
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Digging In
After deep knee bends in yoga and a 5-mile run for my husband, spending the day prepping the garden was perhaps not the best idea. We could barely move the next day, but it was the satisfying kind of soreness that comes from having accomplished something exciting. For the actual planting that week I called
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries: Garden Gifts
“Do you know what you want to plant?” my husband asked me. Do I know what I want to plant?! In the 24 hours since hearing about my new community garden plot I had done what good gardeners usually take an entire winter to ponder. I had a list an arm’s length long. In the
Read on »Garlic and Gooseberries
When we lived in Portland our house sat on an acre of land, land that became progressively more wild the further it got from the house. There was a reasonably sized lawn in front and back, somewhat scrappy and a haven to moles and gophers, due to our resistance to using chemicals. Just beyond that
Read on »Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra: “Shaping future leaders through music”
My family used to teasingly call me Cinder-Ellen when I was little, but last weekend I got to feel like a real Cinderella princess. My husband and I got invited to participate in some of the festivities to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the 75th birthday of their charismatic leader,
Read on »Food Friday: Potluck Book Club Baked Potato Bar and Pot of Chocolate
I had to chuckle when someone in my book club brought this New York Times article to my attention: Really? You’re Not in a Book Club? It seems everyone today is in a book club. In fact, I have been in one or another for the past 23 years. The first one was formed by
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