Kitchen gardeners love EYB

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!