My food journey is a little bit nostalgia and a little bit adventure. It’s a little bit of the things I took for granted and a little bit of finally being courageous to try something new.
Gooseberries and beans are both of these things for me.
On my grandparents’ farm as a kid, summers were waiting for the first gooseberries to ripen on the bush behind their house, and indulging in the sweet-tart pop of the berry in my mouth while I helped Grandma hang sheets on the clothesline. Summers were sitting on the porch, or at the picnic table in the shade, snapping green beans for canning. Green beans are still my favorite fresh garden vegetable.
Because of this, when I bought a house with my husband, I insisted we plant a gooseberry bush in the front yard and a small summer garden in the back. That gooseberry bush has produced a bounty of gooseberries for the past several years, but gooseberry recipes are in short supply in the US. This became a turning point for me, when I realized I had the confidence in my cooking and baking abilities to experiment and create my own recipes.
And beans seem to show up in all the best food experiences. My husband’s chili. Making my own hummus for the first time. Eating my first chana masala. The jelly beans my now-husband brought me on our first date. And of course the best beans – fresh ground coffee beans.
Maybe something here will spark some nostalgia for you, too. Maybe it will make you brave to try something new. Maybe it will help you find confidence in the kitchen or teach you something new. I hope this blog feeds all of those hungers and more.
Can’t wait to see what’s next!