What’s Tomater with You?

I suppose there are jobs where tomato growing prowess is prized. I’m not sure what they are. Perhaps in a greenhouse or at a restaurant with a good farm to table chef or as a farm worker. Unfortunately, I don’t have this skill or at least I haven’t yet developed it. So, it’s a good thing that it isn’t a job requirement where I work. In fact, in all my years of hiring, I’ve never asked about one’s ability to grow tomatoes. Despite this void in my work life, I was completely delighted when someone in our office asked me this question:

Do you grow tomatoes and other important interview questions

Do you grow tomatoes and other important interview questions

“Would you like some homegrown tomatoes?” Read the full post »

Paleo Politics and Free Speech

I’ve been contemplating the idea of sending out a weekly post with links to articles of interest. Specifically, I’ve been watching the US farm bill, some emerging issues in African agricultural microfinance and then this: Can the government throw you in jail for offering advice on the Internet about what food people should buy at the grocery store? Seriously?

Dashing off to get a Turkey Leg

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Kitchen Tools

Our kitchen setup is quite traditional. We have a beautiful Dacor range that we installed several years ago when we bought our home, a respectable stretch of concrete countertops where stains and acidic rings indicate frequent use, and a few other high-tech pieces that I’ve grown to love. In past posts, I’ve introduced you to Alex and you know that I rely on our Vitamix daily. Still, there is a short list of rather low-tech items that I’ve come to depend on and find useful everyday.

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Tibicos aren’t Typical

Ever wonder who was first? I do. The Colorado River Toad lives in our part of the world and is said to produce a chemical that belongs to the family of hallucinogenic tryptamines. These substances, present in the toad’s skin and venom, produce psychoactive effects when smoked or when one licks the back of the toad.

A Couple of Years ago after the Rain

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Tastes of Spring

Do seasons have flavors? For some of us, they do. A scent, a kitchen memory or a photo in the latest edition of Saveur causes action between the anatomic connections of the olfactory bulb and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus known as the the satiety center. In other words, they cause us to remember a flavor associated with an experience.

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Bitter

Dictionary.com defines it as one of the four basic taste sensations. It is not sour, not sweet and not salty. It is a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste like that of aspirin or wormwood. I’ve never tasted wormword. Today I’m using the word after receiving news that is hard to bear, grievous, distressful; a bitter sorrow.

Get Your Grains On!

It’s true that for two years of my life I lived on little more than beans and rice. Pinto beans and long grain brown rice to be specific. Now, they’re still a fall back food. They cook easily on their own and offer up that warm comfort that’s hard to match. So last Sunday, after receiving a lovely batch of homegrown pinto beans from my blogging friend, Linda, and a dozen thick corn tortillas from another friend, I decided to make a pot of brown rice to go along. One problem, there wasn’t any.

Get your grains on!

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Preparing with a Poem in my Pocket

The idea is simple. Find a poem that you love or one that makes you laugh or something that conjures up wistful memories. Write it down. Put it in your pocket and throughout the day, share it with your friends and your coworkers and the people in line at the coffee shop and the students in your class and your family at the dinner table and whoever else you come into contact with. It’s National Poetry Month. Read poetry.

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Tips for Less Food Waste

It’s not a problem in my home with three growing boys but when it does happen, it’s typically around food items like a tub of sour cream – purchased as an ingredient for one recipe yet afterwards, left to develop green scum in the back of my fridge. But, here’s the deal: This is a real problem and while I could already surmise that the U.S. would top the wasteful list, it’s a global issue.

Heading to the Compost Pile

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Bugged about the Bug

I confess that I’m not all that bugged about bugs. Now granted, I rarely visit Starbucks and when I do, it’s never been for a creamy, pink, Strawberry, calorie laden concoction but the outcry from consumers has surprised me a bit.  Meet the cochineal.

Cochineal on Host Cactus Read the full post »