Summer

This summer I’ve fallen hard for lovage. It was never really on my radar before. I had heard of it. I was vaguely aware that it was some sort of green, leafy, herby kinda thing, but I couldn’t have described its flavor or told you a good use for it or even picked it out …

I’ve been on something of a pea kick. I’ve been zizzing them with mint and olive oil and slathering them on toast, I’ve been tossing them with spring onions and spring garlic and bits of smoked mozzarella and piling them on thinly stretched dough for a seasonal take on pizza, but I haven’t stopped there …

Last week was the first week for peas at the market. It’s a time I look forward to every year, and it never seems to come soon enough. There’s something special about really fresh peas. When I was growing up in Michigan, even though I wasn’t much of a vegetable eater as a kid, I …

When one of your best friends from college has spent most of her life in the intervening years in various countries halfway around the globe, the bad part is that you hardly ever get to see her. The silver lining (other than the part where she pretty much gets to live her dream) is that when …

With the normal thrum of busy lives it can be tough to take time to make a real meal with fresh ingredients. But I hate to miss out on the late summer produce that’s so plentiful this time of year. I especially hate to miss out on in-season tomatoes. They don’t even have to be …

In the summer, I love rustic fruit-filled baked goods. I’ve eaten my share of crisps and crumbles and cobblers, but until recently, I was unfamiliar with the buckle. Buckles are crisps’ and crumbles’ cakier cousin. A buckle is similar to a torte or a coffee cake that’s been loaded up with fresh seasonal fruit. The …