Passive pleasure: Sun tea
My mom always said, with the kind of certainty used by parents relaying wisdom to half-listening children, that iced tea is more thirst quenching than water. I don’t know if this is fact or belief, and I’ve never bothered to look it up – because my mom said so, and it certainly feels that way, […]
It’s time for the making o’ the corned beef
This article originally appeared in the March 2017 issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. I like pickled things. A lot. My German grandmother taught me the basics of making pickles, and now it’s become a several-hundred-jar-a-year “problem” in my pantry. The other half of me is Irish, so I feel compelled to go out for corned […]
Compounding the problem: A bounty of herbs in butter
It’s early September. That tiny, cute sage plant you stuck in your garden three summers ago is now the size of a small ottoman, and gosh you feel like an asshole if you don’t use all those luscious, fresh herbs. Right? But one can only do so many summery dishes with sage, which you’re now […]
Switchel: Farmer’s Gatorade
The summer heat and I are not friends. I’m the sort of person who’s more comfortable in the sub-zero darkness of January than the oppressive sauna of July. The air gets thick, sweat drips tickle, slow motion kicks in, and you stick to everything including your clothes, your seat, and your own nerves. But, since […]
Sprouts: Little green things
Right around St. Patrick’s Day, when it’s too early to plant seedlings and the thought of eating another root vegetable sends me looking for a reason to hunger strike, I crave fresh, green things like a jailbird craves freedom. I know scientists say that the body doesn’t really yearn for the nutrients it needs – […]
Fermented turmeric: Pop for pain relief
Some things are a bit hippie, even for even me. This is one of them. But when ibuprofen becomes known as “vitamin I” in your house, it’s time to look at other ways to calm the joints and muscles we’ve been habitually riling up 3-5 times per week through our various athletic pursuits. ‘Cause old-ish […]
Kale crack
One time I bought a garbage bag full of kale. Why would someone do that? Well, it was a good deal. And I thought we’d be having more guests at Thanksgiving dinner. And it was being sold by an old farmer my grandpa worked with at the Clinton Bailey Market. And I like kale. But […]
A beer-inspired harvest meal
Sometimes people give me a reason to play with food. And because I write for magazines with open-minded editors, those reasons become my job. I love my job. This is a piece I put together for WNY Craft Beer Magazine’s fall issue, about pairing local beers with quintessentially fall foods grown around here. Kevin and […]
Homemade yogurt & butter
About six years ago we started getting a raw milk share from a local farm in Vermont, a half-gallon a week, a habit we continued when we came back to Buffalo in 2012. It’s legal for dairy farmers to sell a certain quantity of raw milk directly from their farms in Vermont, but it’s illegal […]
The infamous dilly beans
I had no idea what a dilly bean was until I moved to Vermont. Turns out they’re just green beans pickled using the same herbs and spices you’d use to make a dill pickle, only they come out a bit more crisp than cukes. And if you tell people about dilly beans without enunciating, they’ll […]
Refrigerator pickles
If you’ve been paying attention to me at all in the last 11 years, you know I like to pickle a few things here and there. But not everyone is willing or able to buy a half bushel of produce, drag out canning pot, and spend the better half of a day steaming up their […]
The great scape
The first time I ever saw garlic scapes was at a mid-day farmers’ market on Main Street in downtown Buffalo back in 2004ish. A farmer had a bushel basket full of these swan-like curly tendrils that looked like a cross between a flower and a fairytale. He graciously explained what they were and I bought […]
