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I vote to change the spelling of July. Let’s spell it “Jewel-eye.”

“Jeweled” describes the color of the sky that was Saturday morning – deep, deep blue with tiny clouds that posed no threat to the early light. These kinds of days last just a few weeks in New England and I always walk around pinching myself a bit when I realize that, for once, the weather has been tamed into something lovely.

After a swim across Walden Pond that morning, I stopped by Allendale Farm searching for a breakfast scone. I feel incredibly fortunate to live in the heart of one of Boston’s neighborhoods and still have access to a farm stand just a few minutes from my house with its own locally grown produce.

That’s when these beauties caught my eye: pink and red currants.

The pinks glowed like pearls and the reds were so bright they looked dangerous. Most people know currants as tiny dried fruit that resemble raisins used in baked goods or salads. Tangy and tart, fresh currants are usually part of a garnish, topping a sorbet-filled melon, for instance, or in a sauce to complement a roasted meat. But I wanted my currants to star in the center ring.

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Update: This cover story just got nominated for a James Beard Award!!

Do you know what amuse bouche means? Do you know how to emulsify? Do you cheer on chefs while watching the Food Network as you eat handfuls of popcorn seasoned with nutritional yeast? Do you chase food trucks on Twitter?

You know who you are, you foodie you.

Check out my cover story for The Christian Science Monitor on our nation of foodies (and yes, it’s OK to hate that word): “America’s new culinary renaissance

There’s also a fun photo gallery.

Happy summer!

Do you ever have one of those days where everything just comes together without even trying? It has something to do with fruit being ripe and in season. Like perfect mangoes.

I had a perfect mango encounter last Friday.

I was going to meet up with some friends for a “dp” (dinner party) in the neighborhood. I texted my friend Nate to see when and where.

Me: Dp tonight? Heading home now.

Nate: Sure. But I’m also up for going to free Fridays at the museum of fine art and eating here (I’m here now — it’s great)

So that’s how I ended up at the Chihuly: Through the looking glass exhibit at the MFA.

Just like that. I wandered over there and then wandered in, because it was free and all.

Woah.

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The next time you get a crunchy, salty craving you might try making kale chips.

They are so easy to make and tasty it’s almost ridiculous. You simply tear a bunch of kale into bite sized pieces, coat in oil and seasoning, and bake for about 15 minutes. If you’ve signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) share this summer you’ll thank me in a few weeks when kale starts to arrive by the bagful.

The great thing about kale chips is you can play around with flavorings. Try adding a dash of cumin or garlic salt. Or you can use a seasoned oil. I have some Australian macadamia nut oil in my cupboard and this ended up being a delicious choice. I also toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled them on top. I recommend a crunchy salt like sea salt or kosher salt for added texture. Continue Reading »

If you are looking for a good read this summer and you are a fan of food memoirs, I highly recommend chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s “Blood, Bones and Butter.”

Don’t be turned off by the title, there is really nothing gory about this book (OK, there is an unfortunate chicken episode) and Hamilton is a provocative and descriptive writer.

“I went everywhere she went. In the car, in the woods, in the market, in the kitchen. She took me to the farm to get our milk. As only a Frenchwoman can – in a heel, a silk scarf, and a cashmere skirt – she’d pull up the long driveway  of the dairy farm in her chocolate brown antique Mercedes-Benz, and without a single awkward gesture, get down and fill four rinsed-out gallon plastic jugs with raw milk from a stainless steel tank while forty woolly Holsteins chewed and pissed in the over-humid next room. We left our money in the honor system coffee can.” (p. 23)

I wrote a full review of “Blood, Bones and Butter” for the Monitor here.

Get the book. Definitely.

Spring has finally, finally arrived for good. Besides an abundance of blossoms, sunnier days, and friendlier people, long stalks of crimson rhubarb are back in the grocery produce section.

Say the words “rhubarb” and most people think of warm rhubarb and strawberry pie topped with vanilla ice cream. Yum! But Louisa Shafia in her lovely cookbook “Lucid Food: Cooking for an eco-conscious life” offers another tasty use for one of spring’s first vegetables: rhubarb spritzers.

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With the modern-day luxury of TiVo, watching the royal wedding did not require getting up at the crack of dawn. But I did anyway. Now we are having a feast of scones, tea cakes, and other goodies in the newsroom even as we put finishing touches on stories about Libya’s migrants fleeing the country. One needs a good strong cuppa to get through the rest of the day.

Let me share with you what I posted yesterday on Stir It Up!: A few tips to ensure that the way you serve your tea this afternoon will be properly English. Continue Reading »

When Prince William and Kate Middleton exchange vows on April 29 in Westminster Abbey there will be millions of pajama-clad Americans tuning in to watch and I am not ashamed to admit that I will be one of them.

I am not a huge Royal follower. But I was a Diana follower. As a fifth grader in 1981 a Royal Wedding was the Most Important Event Ever. Diana and her 25-foot-long train was the real deal – a living, breathing combination of Cinderella (whose wedding we never got to see) and Maria from “The Sound of Music.” The purpose of Diana’s long walk down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral was not, in my eyes, to become Charles’s wife. It was to become a Princess.

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My organic brown eggs come with a newsletter. The Country Hen is out in Hubbardston, Mass., and although I’ve never been there the notes folded on top of my eggs nestled in their carton make me feel somehow connected to a flock of chickens wandering around their barns, sniffing fresh air from sun porches.

The most recent newsletter asked, “Why should the white eggs have all the Easter fun?”

Yes, why indeed? I decided my brown eggs needed some fun for the holiday, too.

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Related post: A Mayan dinner party for 12.21.12

Toledo, Belize
May 2010

As we left Eladio Pop’s cacao farm deep in the Belize rain forest headed toward his family’s homestead, it began to drizzle. We were ready for lunch after spending the morning tromping about his 30-acre jungle farm and learning about the growing cycle of the cacao bean. The bus wheezed up a steep road past a cluster of thatched houses and parked next to a simple cinder block building. Inside Eladio’s wife and eldest daughter twirled between the stove, a long wooden table and back again delivering plates of food, a blur of turquoise in their matching dresses.

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