Let's step away from the bookshelf and into the garden for a
moment, shall we?
I don't know if there is a time of year when I am more grateful
for EYB than midsummer. This year especially, when a
temperate spring and a balanced summer have made my vegetable
garden yield up treasures nearly every day. A good garden
calls for care--in the harvesting, in the weeding--just as a bad
garden does, though. And that means less time for cooking and
the pondering that goes with it.
That is why every afternoon at 4:00 finds me washing the dirt
off my hands and going hunting on EYB. Radishes + peas = Sugar
snaps with diced bacon and radishes. Zucchini + mint =
Sicilian zucchini
and mint frittata, one of my all-time favorites. Carrots
+ tarragon? = Chicken
Salad à la Danny Kaye! And if I am too hot to eat
and just want a garden cocktail? Who can resist Lavender +
blueberries = Lavender Lush,
deep-dyed in indigo?
I'm not saying it's not fun to browse through
cookbooks--preferably while slung in a hammock and sucking on a
popsicle. But you don't want to have to.
Because less time sorting through cookbooks + beautiful
summer afternoons = more time in the garden.
Thank you, EYB!
