Green Garlic Plants

They are about four or five feet from bulb to scape.

Kimchi progress:
I have strained and rinsed the cabbage, and added the other ingredients, following this recipe, except that I did not use any kimchi sauce. For the red pepper, I used two tablespoons of cayenne and about 7 whole red dried chiles, which I pureed along with the garlic (see above) and ginger. I did wear gloves to do the mixing.

Now comes the hard part—four days with no snacking.

I also prepared this very interesting and unusual beet palyaa from Sugar and Spice.

Kimchi Dreams

I may not have everything, but this week I have been blessed with the Lord’s own quantity of Napa cabbage (Chinese Cabbage). There is one thing for it: I am just going to have to make kimchi. I knew this day would come eventually, and really, it’s about time. I was enormously helped and encouraged by this very winning kimchi-instruction site. So far I have salted and set aside the leaves. It will be so cool if this actually works.

אַװאָקאַדאָ־קירבעס

די װאָך האָב איך צום ערשטן מאָל געפֿונען אין מאַרק „אַװאָקאַדאָ־קירבעס“, זוקינילעך מיט אַן אױסזען באמת ענלעך צו אַװאָקאַדאָ. זײער טעם איז אַ ביסל פֿעטער און זיסער װי געװײנטלעכע זוקיני. דאָס מאָל האָב איך זײ געזשאַרעט מיט מאַסלינע בױמל, און צוגעגעבן קנאָבל־שפּראָצן, סאָסנע־ניס, און מאַרינירטע טרוקענע פּאָמידאָרן. דאָס איז געװען באַטעמט מיט ראַזעװע ספּאַגעטי. עס איז געװאָרן אַפֿילע בעסער נאָך דעם װאָס איך האָב צוגעגעבן שװאַרצע „קאַלאַמאַטע“ מאַסלינעס, אָבער דאָס בילדל האָב איך געמאַכט פֿאַר דעם.

ייִדיש

Yiddish, pasta, garlic scape, farmers markets, Farms & Farmers , antioxidant-rich foods, Food and Drink, Recipes, Cooking, Food, Vegetarian, vegetables, avocado squash, garlic scapes

Which Superhero are You? (I am Superman!)

Well, I like capes, and I learned when I attended a taste physiology class that I am a supertaster, but I was pretty surprised when this quiz revealed my secret identity, in spite of my answers owning up to long hair and ladies' undergarments

No, wait: according to this alternate quiz, I might be somebody else:


Nope, Here's the tie-breaker, I'm Superman (or superchocolatelady).

נײַע און אַלטע לידער

בנימן װאָלט מסתּמא נישט געזאָגט

McCartney was just trying to be goofy and self-mocking so that no one could tease him for singing a moldy oldie like "Till There Was You."

װען ער װאָלט געװען געװוּסט אַז דאָס לידל, דאָס „נישט הײַנט געדאַכטע“, איז לכתּחילה געװען אַ ייִדישע. די אָריגינעלע װערטער האָב איך צופֿעליק אַנטדעקט צװישן די בלעטער פֿון יאַכנע קאָכלעפֿלס װיאַזױ צו קאָכן און באַקן עס זאָל זיך לאָזן אין מױל אַרײַן, יעהופּעץ׃ פֿאַרלאַג אין מױל, 1911.

איך האָב גאָר נישט געהערט אָט די צלצלי תּרועה,
נײן, איך האָב זײ גאָרנישט געהערט עלנט אָן דיר.
און די גאָלדענע פּאַװע איז מיר אַװעקפֿאַרשװוּנדן,
נײן, איך האָב זי גאָרנישט געזען עלנט אָן דיר.

און פֿאַראַן זמירות, און רױזן פֿון שרון, מע זאָגט מיר,
און זיסע גרינע טאָלן, גאָר אָן אַ שיעור;
אומעטום, איבעראַל, האָט די ליבע שײן געזונגען,
נאָר איך האָב זי גאָרנישט געהערט עלנט אָן דיר.

פֿאַרזעצט און פֿאַרבעסערט צו דער חתונה פֿון שלום בערגער און סעלעסט סאַלעד, י"ד חשון, תּשס"א

Tiny Food

Big carrot, Little carrot

I won't do this too often, but have a look at:

1. How to share a tiny carrot
2. How to prepare a tiny hamburger
3. How to eat a great big cheerio

Gillian Riley's Impressionist Courgette Soufflé

Henri le Sidaner, Tea in the Woods at Gerberoy, 1925. Reproduced in Impressionist Picnics by Gillian Riley, 1997.

Gillian Riley’s books on painters and food have been favorites of mine for years, but I don’t think I’ve prepared any of the recipes until this week. Usually, I just look at the pictures. I am therefore grateful to Alicat and Sara, whose Weekend cookbook event challenged us this month to find and prepare a picnic recipe in a cookbook long unjustly neglected. I found that not all the recipes in the book Impressionist Picnics are items I would choose to take on a picnic (boeuf bourguignon?), but all deserve consideration; this is a wonderful book.

I like that zucchini have those elegant little pointillist patterns on their skins, making most amenable to impressionist painting. I picked up two sorts from Yuno’s farm: the smooth dark zucchini, and the lighter, ridgier ones, which are a bit firmer and drier in texture.

I decided to make the courgette soufflé, which looked substantial enough to play the main course (Riley recommends it as a starter), but refreshing enough for hot weather. It also requires only 20 to 30 minutes in the oven, so you will be baking a soufflé, but not yourself [The text that follows is Riley’s. My comments are in the square brackets].

Courgette Soufflé

1 lb courgettes (zucchini) grated on the cheese grater

4 eggs [actually 4 whites and 2 yolks]

2 oz (60 g) grated Gruyère cheese

1 oz (30 g) grated parmesan

1 tablespoon flour [I think you might need just a bit more than this]

1 oz butter

1 cup milk

liquid from the courgettes [I did not end up using any of this liquid]

salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

An hour before making the soufflé, grate the courgettes, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander, catching the juices in a basin. Squeeze to extract as much juice as possible. Cook for a few minutes without water in a heavy-bottomed pan until the courgettes are soft [Whoops! I neglected to cook the squash. I think the subtle bit of residual crunchiness worked very well].

Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs, reserving 2 of the whites for something else, perhaps the dessert on p. 54 [I did in fact try to make this dessert as well, but I forgot that an English pint is 20 ounces, and whether I had doubled or halved the recipe, so can’t really say yet how it would work if made properly].

Melt the butter and cook the flour in it, add enough of the courgette juices and milk to make a stiff sauce, and let it cool for ten minutes [Even though I used only the milk, the sauce was not especially stiff].

In a blender or food processor, mix the courgettes, 2 egg yolks, the sauce, the Gruyère, salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg.

Whip the egg whites until good and stiff. Add the courgette mixture quickly and deftly, slicing downwards into the bowl, sprinkling the parmesan in as you go. Tip into a soufflé dish, or ovenproof container, and stand the dish in a tin of water to prevent the sides burning. Cook in a hot oven [400 F] for 20 to 30 minutes.

More soothing greenery at Sweetnicks.

Riley, Gillian. The Dutch Table: Gastronomy in the Golden Age of the Netherlands, Painters & Food. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1994.

———. Impressionist Picnics. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1993.

———. Renaissance Recipes. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1993.

Riley, Gillian, and National Gallery (Great Britain). A Feast for the Eyes. London: National Gallery Publications ;Distributed by Yale University Press, 1997.

װעגן דער היץ

A few more colorful Yiddish expressions about hot weather:

װאַרעם װי די זון
Warm like the sun

װי קױלן
Like coals

װי אין באָד אױף דער אײבערשטער באַנק
Like on the top bench in a steam bath

װי אין אַן אױער
Like in an ear (!)

װי אונטער אַ פּערענע
Like under a featherbed

װי אין אַ װאַטאָװן לײַבל
Like in a padded union-suit

װי אין פּױשטן
Like in felt

װי אין אַ פּאָסעכע
Like during a drought

װי פֿײַער װאָלט געפֿאַלן פֿון הימל
As if fire had fallen from heaven

עס איז קײן טראָפּ לופֿט נישטאָ
There is not a drop of air

מען קען צעגאַנגען װערן
You could melt

װאָס עס גײט אַװעק װינטער אױף הײצונג גײט אַװעק זומער אױף נאַרישקײטן.

What you spend in the winter on heat, you spend in the summer on stupidity.

I especially like that last one. Not sure what it means.

I Want More and More Moru

A few months ago I had a wonderful meal at Pongal which was made even more wonderful when I tried a glass of moru, cold buttermilk seasoned with mustard seeds, chiles, and fresh cilantro. There is something about the combination of, sour, salty, and spicy seasonings that is at once refreshing and satisfying. I have tried to reproduce it a couple of times, and while I have not quite matched the platonic moru, I’ve had some very decent cool drinks for these endless sweltering days.

I was a little confused in my initial recipe crawl because it seems that the word “moru” can mean the drink I am seeking to replicate, or just buttermilk itself, or any number of curries and sambars made with a buttermilk base. I think I was able to come pretty close this time.

Approximate Moru

1 quart buttermilk

2 teaspoons neutral cooking oil

3 tablespoons shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

1-7 dried red chile pods (I used 2 medium-hot pods)

½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon brown or black mustard seeds

several sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped (1 or 2 tablespoons)

salt to taste, possibly a bit of sugar

Decant the buttermilk into a wide jug or bowl. Heat the first two teaspoons of oil in a small iron skillet and add the coconut, coriander, cumin, and chile. Stir and toast for several seconds. Transfer to a blender, or processor or other grinding device, and grind to a paste, adding a bit of water as necessary. Add the spice and coconut paste to the buttermilk.

In the same skillet, heat the last teaspoon of oil and add the mustard seeds. When they begin to sizzle and pop, stir them into the buttermilk. The hot oil sings beautifully when it hits the cold buttermilk. Add the herbs and about 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and possibly a tiny pinch of sugar. Serve chilled.

If I had had some around, I would have loved to have added a few slices of fresh ginger and some fresh green chiles to the first step. Many folks also add some raw diced onion to the finished drink, but I have been skipping that so far.

Find more cooling herbal potations at Weekend Herb Blogging.

Food and Drink, Recipes, Cooking, Food, Vegetarian, vegetables, Weekend Herb Blogging,
moru,buttermilk,Indian cuisine

טײַלאַנדער טעמפּל אין בױרקלי

סטרושקעס, טאָפֿו, און באַמבו מיט רײַז

אין בױרקלי, האָב איך געגעסן אײן טאָג מיטאָג אינעם באַרימטן טײַלאַנדער טעמפּל. אין טעמפּל, דערלאַנגען זײ אַלע זונטיק געשמאַקע עסן, כּמעט אין גאַנצן װעגעטאַריש.

װען איך בין אָנגעקומען האָב איך זיך אַ ביסל דערשראָקן. הונדערטער מענטשן זענען געשטאַנען װאַרטן אין לאַנגע רײען. באַלד האָב איך זיך דערװוּסט אַז איך האָב געװאַרט שױן אַ ביסל צײַט אױף אַ פֿאַלשן רײ. קודם, מוז מען װאַרטן אין אַ רײ צו בײַטן געלט. עסן קאָן מען קױפֿן נאָר מיט זשעטאָנען װאָס זײ פֿאַרקױפֿן דאָרטן.

נאָכן עסן, קאָן מען צוריקפֿאַרקױפֿן די איבעריקע זשעטאָנען, אױב מען האָט גענוג צײַט און געדולד. זיכער פֿאַרדינען זײ אַ סך פֿון די װאָס אײַלן זיך און נעמען מיט די איבעריקע זשעטאָנען.

נאָך דעם װאָס מע האָט שױן זשעטאָנען, גײט מען װאַרטן אױף באַזונדערע רײען פֿאַר רײַז מיט „קאָרי“, לאָקשן מיט יױך, סאַלאַטן, געטראַנקען (איך האָב צום בעסטן ליב קאַלטע טײ מיט זיסע מילך), און אינטערעסאַנטע לאַטקעלעך פֿון קאָקאָנוס װאָס הײסן „כאַנאָם קראָג“ און „כאַנאָם באַבין“. כאַנאָם באַבין האָט אױך טאַראָ.

מיט געדולד אָבער, שעפּט מען אױס אַ קװאַל; דאָס עסן האָט טױזנט טעמים.

די װאָס װילן מעגן זיך אַרײַנכאַפּן אין טעמפּל ברענען סענסן און טאָן תּפֿילה, אָבער זײ מאַכן נישט קײן „קירובֿ“. אַלע מעגן אָפּעסן בשלום און אַװעק.

Just Bulbs

Before the end of the week I will make a real, good-faith effort to photograph some vegetable other than kohlrabi, but who can resist these guys? They have it all: leaves, bulbs, stems, that almost artichokey pattern in which the stems connect to the bulb, and they are so delicious. The raw bulbs are sharp and radishy, but also a bit sweet.

This week, I just peeled the bulbs and sliced them up and served them raw. It is too hot to do anything else. They are fine on their own without any dressing.


More cool crunchiness is at Sweetnicks.

Food and Drink, Recipes, Cooking, Food, Vegetarian, vegetables, vegan, antioxidant-rich foods, kohlrabi

Sir Paul's Potatoes

If you dare, watch Paul McCartney making mashed potatoes. I found this difficult to watch for any number of reasons. Sir Paul comes close to slicing off his fingers several times, stirs the pot with the point of a knife, uses margarine, and talks about "organic sea salt," but perhaps those can all be seen as enchanting little Paulisms like "Thank you very mooch, spoon-man" (and thanks to Grow a Brain for this one).
If you need to restore your eyeballs and soul after this experience, have another look at Abbie Hoffman z"l making gefilte fish.

Here's a collation of references to food in the music of the Beatles.

קאָכעדיק װי אין סאַמאָװאַר

דאָבע רעסלער און אַנדערע שפּילן אין ברוקלײַן

גאָט האָט אַרױסגעלאָזט די זון פֿון פֿוטערפֿעסל. אין ברוקלײַן נעכטן איז געװען הײס װי אין אַן אױװן און קאָכעדיק װי אין אַ סאַמאָװאַר. סײַ װי סײַ, בין איך געגאַנגען מער װי אײן מײַל כּדי צוצוהערן צו אַ װוּנדערלעכער קאַפּעליע כּלי־זמרים װאָס האָבן געשפּילט אין דער פֿאָן־פּאַראַדע. איך האָב געקאָנט זען פֿון די פּנימערע פֿון אַלע אױף דער גאַס אַז אַלע האָבן שטאַרק הנאה געהאַט פֿון זײער שפּילן.

גאָט האָט אַרױסגעלאָזט די זון פֿון פֿוטערפֿעסל (איך האָב נישט געזען דאָס װאָרט „פֿוטערפֿעסל“ אָדער „פֿוטערפֿאַס“ אין קײן אַנדערן קאָנטעקסט)

God let the sun out of its container (This is the only context in which I have seen the word futerfesl, which means case or container. Fur-barrel?)

קאָכעדיק װי אין סאַמאָװאַר

Boiling like in a samovar

More Great Scapes

My copy of The Haimishe Kitchen, a cookbook produced by the Ladies' Auxiliary of Nitra, has an eight-page section on the proper procedure for examining vegetables insect infestation. The instructions are so detailed and difficult (both sides of each leaf of lettuce must be flattened out and examined, for instance), that they could easily scare many folks away from fresh vegetables entirely. Kohlrabi alone is listed as safe to use without inspection. Every day brings new reasons to be grateful for kohlrabi. Oddly enough, the book provides no kohlrabi recipes. This week I prepared the leaves from this bunch of purple kohlrabi. I haven’t decided what to do yet with the bulbs. These were very tough leaves and I had to cook them for close to an hour altogether. The stems were much to though to cook. The garlic scapes were nicely tender and mild.

Kohlrabi Greens with Garlic Scapes

Olive oil

Greens from about 4 kohlrabis, about ¼ pound, cut into 1 ½ inch lengths

Eight garlic scapes ¼ pound g

2 or 3 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

Wash the greens and remove the stems. Cook them in simmering lightly salted water for about thirty minutes. Remember that the tomatoes will add a great deal of salt. Heat olive oil in a skillet, and add the garlic scapes. Cook over high heat for a few minutes and add the tomatoes. Remove the greens from the pot reserving the pot liquor, and chop them roughly. Add the chopped greens to the skillet and continue cooking, adding some of the pot liquor as needed, until everything is tender, about twenty minutes.

More herbal discoveries are to be found at Weekend Herb Blogging.

Food and Drink, Recipes, Cooking, Food, Vegetarian, vegetables, vegan, Weekend Herb Blogging, antioxidant-rich foods

Oh, There it Is

Now I remember; I placed the cake on a high shelf out of the way while I was cleaning up. This is from Maida Heatter's recipe for chocolate gingerbread in her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts, which may be the hardest working cookbook in this house.

Where's The Cake?

I wouldn't have thought even I could do this, but I just mislaid an entire chocolate cake, or more precisely, a chocolate gingerbread. It is not that big of an apartment.

Methi, Fenugreek, Khilbe, כילבע , חילבה

Gernot Katzer, who runs the very helpful Spice Pages, wrote to ask about Yiddish names for herbs and spices. I am very happy that this valuable resource will be including Yiddish lexical material soon, and wanted especially to endorse Mordkhe Schaechter's Plant Names in Yiddish to all culinary logomanes.

I was interested to learn from Gernot's Fenugreek page that the Hebrew and Arabic names for this plant are khilbe ( חילבה). The Yiddish term is כילבע , also pronounced khilbe. I was tempted to imagine that the Yiddish word came into the Yiddish language via loshn-koydesh, the Hebrew-Aramaic component of Yiddish, but I think the phonetic spelling in the Yiddish word might indicate that that the word took the scenic route.

Email info@leagueforyiddish.org to order.

פֿאַרמערס מאַרק אין סאַן פֿראַנסיסקע

אין סאַן פֿראַנסיסקע האָב איך געזען אָט די שײנע געװיקסן׃

אַלערלײ שװאָמען

אָראַנזשע לימענעס און געלע „גרינע לימענעס“

אַזױ פֿיל װוּנדערלעכע אַרטישאָקן-כּמעט אַ קונדסא מיט אַרטישאָקן

צוקערראָר

Happy Birthday Sam

Sam, of the wonderful food blog Becks &Posh, has been painting the town to celebrate her birthday. Have a look at her recent posts of the food worlds of New York. It was a joy to join in toasting her with The Wednesday Chef, A Chicken in Every Granny Cart, A Finger in Every Pie, The Amateur Gourmet, The Food Section, The Girl Who Ate Everything, Megnut, Prepare to Meet Your Bakerina, and Cookin' in the Cuse. Happy birthday, Sam; In bocca, food bloggers. Hope we'll do it again.

You can tell that those garlic scapes above are trying to pose as a heart, right?

The Great Scape

Parabolic and hyperbolic garlic scapes appear in the greenmarkets this time of year. The beauties above are from Maxwell Farm. These are the immature tops of garlic plants and they have a flavor similar to garlic but milder and greener. Usually I shave them into salads but this was the first time I cooked them as a vegetable. I am very happy with the results; the cooked garlic scapes have a mildly garlicky flavor and a very pleasant texture, retaining a satisfying toothiness when fully tender.

I didn’t get any fat-stemmed golden chard this week, but I did find this sweet little bunch of petal-pink chard from Yuno’s Farm. There’s the color of June right there. Just look at them. If that doesn’t make you want to braid flowers into your hair and dance barefoot down East 14^th Street, I don’t know what will.

Fedelini with Walnuts, Chard and Garlic Scapes

12 walnuts, whole or coarsely broken

¼ pound fedelini or other thin pasta

¼ pound tender chard (1 smallish bunch)

¼ pound garlic scapes (eight scapes)

a few tablespoons butter at room temperature

several tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano

salt and lots of black pepper

If you happen to have some on hand you can add a bit of cream, or a blob of bechamel, maybe a scraping of nutmeg.

Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in a moderate oven for 15 or 20 minutes. They will be done just in time to assemble the dish.

Chop the chard roughly and cut the garlic scapes into ¾ inch lengths. Bring a large pot of lavishly salted water to the boil and add the pasta and the vegetables. Return to the boil and cook, giving an occasional stir. Everything will be perfectly done at exactly the same moment. Sometimes it is our privilege to see that there is such a thing as providence in the world. Now here’s where you have to pay attention: drain the pasta and greens and place them in a large warm bowl. Add a few tablespoons of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and mix, mix, toss, toss. Add a tablespoon of butter and several grindings of black pepper and mix, mix, toss, toss. Repeat until you have added as much butter and cheese as you are willing to permit yourself. Salt and optional ingredients to taste. Take the walnuts out of the oven, and sprinkle them over the pasta.

You might be thinking that the amount of greens is way too much for the pasta, but bear in mind that during cooking, pasta gains volume and the greens deflate. This recipe will provide the best ratio of greens to fedelini in each forkful or fingerful.

Other herbs of varying degrees of curviness can be found at Weekend Herb Blogging.

garlic scape, farmers markets, Farms & Farmers , antioxidant-rich foods, Food and Drink, Recipes, Cooking, Food, Vegetarian, vegetables, chard , Weekend Herb Blogging

Golden Chard in the Edible Gardens at Copia

Just have a shifty at this lush, luxurious, satiny golden chard from the edible gardens at Copia, the American center for wine, food, and the arts, where we concluded a conference on food and wine in Jewish culture at UC Davis. I will hope to be reporting further about the conference and Copia itself, but good golly, look at those STEMS:
Chard-prose would typically call stems like these "fleshy" but that seems inadequate. How about voluptuous? And here's one perfect leaf:
Recipe to follow (and I haven't forgotten the blintses either)!

צעזאַר טשאַװעז טאָג

 

טוט'ץ אַ קוק אויפֿן װעבזײַטל פֿון די פֿאַראײניקטע פֿאַרם־אַרבעטער (United Farm Workers). אױב עץ װילץ, קאָנץ עץ אונטערחתמענען צו װידמען אַ טאָג צעזאַר טשאַװעזן.

עסן און אַרבעטער-רעכט זענען  טיף אײַנגעװאָרצלט אין האַרצן בײַ אַלע ייִדן

װאָס  דעליקאַטער און געשמאַקער די געװיקסן זענען, אַלץ שװערער און ביטערער איז די אַרבעט זײ צוזאַמענצוקלױבן. ( איך בין געװאָרן אױס־מענטש נאָך 30 מינוט רײַסן ספּאַרזשע). צעזאַר טשאַװעז האָט געבױט אַן אַרבעטער־בעװעגונג אַ רײנע פֿון ר"ל נאַציאָנאַליזם און ראַציזם. זכותו יגן עלינו.

Thou Shalt Not Muzzle thy Chocolate Lady When She Treadeth Out the Asparagus

It took three of us about half an hour to pick one bunch of asparagus at Greig Farm in Red Hook New York, where Mr. Chocolate Lady and I were taken by our most awesome hostess, Tsirl. It was close to the end of the season, and I think most of the asparagus field had been pretty well picked over, so we had a bit of a challenge finding the remaining spears among forests of wild rhubarb and giant asparagus trees. I had never seen what an asparagus looks like if allowed to grow up and go to seed, and I don’t know if these pictures really give you a good idea, everything in the background being green as well—funny about vegetables. I could not resist nibbling a few of the succulent sun-warmed spears immediately.

The ones that made it to the cooking pot at Tsirl’s place were the best I have ever tasted. I brought the peelings and woody bottoms home for soup.

Dill and Asparagus Soup

About 2 pounds of asparagus
Butter and olive oil
1 large onion
1 large parsley root
¼ cup rice
1 small bunch dill, chopped
milk (optional), salt, pepper, paprika

Clean and peel the asparagus. Snap off the woody bottoms, and cut off the very tips. Scrub the parsley root. Put the asparagus peelings and bottoms in a large soup kettle with the parsley root and cover with water (about 3 quarts). Bring to the boil, lower heat and allow to simmer, de-scumming occasionally for about forty minutes.

Meanwhile heat the buter and oil in another pot. Slice the onion and cook slowly in the butter and oil over low heat. When the onion is quite soft, add the asparagus middles and raw rice. Fish the parsley root out of the stockpot, cut it up and add it to the onion-asparagus pot. Submerge the asparagus tips briefly in stock to blanch, and set aside.

Strain the stock into the vegetables. Cook until the rice is quite tender. Add the dill and puree in batches, and add milk if desired and season to taste. Serve hot or chilled (I like it chilled) with a sprig of dill and a couple of asparagus tips on top.

More herbal creations at Weekend Herb Blogging.

בלינצעס

איך האָב יאָ געמאַכט בלינצעס! איך גײ אָנבלאָגעװען דעם רעצעפּט נאָך יום־טובֿ. אַ פֿרײלעכן שבֿועות אַלע!

Fran's Grey Salt Caramels

I offer adoring slobbering thanks to the brilliant and winsomely lovely young lady I call The Girl of the Limberlost for going all the way to Seattle to bring me a box of Fran's extraordinary grey salt caramels. Above left is the grey salt caramel, and above right the smoked salt caramel.

Thanks also to Gluten-Free Girl from whom we first learned of these.