Going to the root cellar is likely a dying tradition, however still very much alive amongst a certain style of Mainer.
Winter cooking used to be entirely informed by this. When people stored and ate what they grew (what remained in February were root vegetables, apples, cabbages, etc…and things that were “put by”, such as jams, jellies and pickles , salted meats and ferments) you’d better believe that there were some hearty soups and stews slated for the coldest days. So, get yourself some carrots, turnip, a rutabaga , cabbage, some creamy white beans, diced tomato, bone broth and a beef shin …OR MISO!…and go to town!
It seems like that this winter has really gotten real and we’re had weeks of“the coldest days”. Perfect for soup.
This is the sort of thing I want to cook and eat. I was first aquainted with it in Tuscany. They make a hearty soup, served over a slice of their saltless Tuscan bread called Ribolita. It means re-boiled and when you make a big pot, you’ll be eating it for a few days. So it must be “reboiled” or at least reheated!
It’s perfect! We know those days when it’s too cold to even get out of the house . Who wants to shop or cook? Do it once and enjoy the fruits of your labor for days!
Please pop over to SEASONAL RECIPES to learn some of the secrets to a successful RIBOLITA.
I was just checking with my Google Personal Assistant about the year ahead, 2026.
Beginning in mid February, the year of the Fire Horse begins, occurring once every 60 years. This represents a combination of the horse sign and fire element, expect dynamic action, adventure, and a shift from planning to rapid growth and bold execution.
What type of person will thrive this year? The entrepreneur for one, creatives, communications fields, travel and adventure… and leadership/public service ( nick of time!).
Food Safari is about travel, in this case traveling deep within to pull out aspects of the creative adventurer inside.
Sit in stillness to form your intentions for 2026. Release the things, habits, people that no longer serve, vision what you hope for and desire.Speak gently to yourself, try to serve others without expectation. Breathe, move into your fullness and remember to be grateful for the abundance that many of us are fortunate to know. Spread the love.
Bright Blessing for all that strengthens humanity and our paths on this fragile planet we call home.
Keeping Christmas. It’s a personal thing, what does that mean to you?
As I think back on childhood Christmases ,it was about family traditions like dressing up and going to church, decorating the house, actually, everything. We loved baking Old Country goodies with Grandma Marad from Austria, traveling to see relatives who lived waaaay out in the country and enjoying their Penna. Dutch ways, and nights at home watching Walt Disney specials with Dad’s arm around me on the sofa. Or maybe Laurence Welk, Christmas edition, with Grandma Reigel, cuddled up on the big rocking chair. Alvin and the Chipmunks records come to mind, suburban parties with little friends (in the rec room, natch) where Dad had buffed the waxed floors to a shine.
No one ever brought up the fact that half my family was Christian and half were Jewish. It was a complete non-issue that I only figured out by looking back on the cuisine we shared as a family. What deliciousness!
I remember certain Christmas gifts that gave my growing years a kind of structure….a Little Genius doll by Madame Alexander when I was seven, a Peter and the Wolf recording, in order to learn the orchestra at ten, “the last bike that Santa would ever deliver to me”, given to me at ten, my first Beatles LP at eleven or twelve ( Beatles “65, I still know all the songs in chronological order ).Then the first cherished gifts from high school sweethearts, like a necklace, ticket to a rock show or love letter. Slightly later an illicit bottle of Mateus, the wine of many beginning wine aficionados, intended to make shenanigans even more heightened!
Most of the players who make up my holiday memories are gone today. The spirit of love and acceptance remains, as do the recipes handed down and made time and again, shared with others. Gathering in a spirit of good cheer and gratitude as we experienced growing up remains in my repetoire . So does helping others . Consider some community outreach and helping the less fortunate…there’s always time to volunteer, anytime of year.
To me, bringing in this sort of mindful practice of attention and kindness everyday…that’s keeping Christmas. And the wonderful thing is that you can do it everyday of the year.
Geese are heading south. The tender garden annuals have taken a hit. The leaves have changed into their final act…the burnished oranges, yellows and rich browns of the oaks, known to hold their leaves the longest.
Summer’s gone along with those 80 degree days. But I’m grateful for the oaks last hurrah!
Once the other hardwoods have given up the ghost of their summer grandeur, the kaleidoscope shifts to those mighty oaks that often grow in close proximity to the water at the coast in Maine.
The Autumn light, bright blue sky, blue waters and fanfare of remaining color all conspire with the puffy, white clouds to create a quintessential moment in time. It’s late Fall in Maine. A moment that stretches from the energy of summer and spans the gap to the solitude and thoughtfulness of winter. A time to gather, assess, reflect. Whether you’re a squirrel collecting acorns, a fellow chopping and stacking wood, out at work harvesting winter squash in the garden ,curating your reading list, or even inviting your friends in to dinner, that’s what we are essentially doing.
The Gather. A way to share… elevate… prepare.
It speaks to simple abundance and a quieter time to celebrate both the source and those we share it with.
When I purchased my little farmstead 20 years ago, the first thing I did was plant 3 Wolf River apple trees.
Photo Credit Laura Cabot
Why, you may ask? Well, when I first moved to Maine, I moved to the sleepy central Maine area, near St. Albans. I used to enjoy hiking in remote areas near there and it wasn’t uncommon back in the 70’s to find still undisturbed, ancient farmsteads, lost in time and marked only by a granite foundation, a lilac bush or three and a couple of Wolf River apple trees. The size of the apples on these old trees was astounding! I gathered a pail full and made my first Wolf River apple pie with just two. Often weighing a pound or more, these creamy fleshed apples are dry fleshed but perfectly suited for baking, with a flavor that develops in the oven. So bake I did, and the pie was unforgettable! The apples were soft and delicious, but held their shape.
Photo Credit Laura Cabot
And they’re pretty with a stripy pink blush over a greenish skin. The trees are hearty and attractive. This strain is over 150.years old. Originally found in Wisconsin in 1875 on the banks of the Wolf River, this is a cold hearty type of fruit tree and beautifully suited for a Maine winter.
Autumn is a great time to plant trees and shrubs. If you can get your hands on a Wolf River apple tree, I can tell you you won’t regret having one on your property, especially if you are a baker like me!
For many of us in food service, September affords an opportunity to step away from the stove and maybe take a drive to try other chefs’ food.
A busman’s holiday, to be sure…but it’s a welcome break and also informative to see something new and different. Learning and enjoyment together, it’s a great combo !
There’s only so much “gilding the lily” that’s appropriate to really good, fresh lobster meat. I’ve hit all the best places in search of ecstasy at lunch time, Red’s Eats, Claws, Sprague’s, McLoons Lobster Shack and plenty of others.
But I found it …Mecca …at Home Kitchen Cafe, James Hatch’s excellent breakfast and lunch jointing Rockland, Maine.
They put out a stacked lobster BLT that was an embarrassment of riches, so to speak. So good that I was the embarrassed one when I polished it off in record time…
I recommend the Home Kitchen Cafe in Rockland heartily. And you won’t even have to fight the seagulls for your lunch!
Garlic is not hard to grow. It’s a bulb that gets planted in the fall, just like a tulip bulb and many others.
Its medicinal values are well known and documented. Plus, the Vampire thing!
What some do not understand is that you have a “head” of garlic ,but you plant the “cloves”. The type I favor, hard neck, have larger but fewer cloves so, in the kitchen, easier to peel and slice…more punch for less work. I’ve tried Russian Red, Elephant, Hard and Soft necked varieties, Magic and so many others. Siberian is said to be the most medicinal, due to it’s high levels of allicin.
It’s cultivation isn’t complicated , plant in the fall in rich, well tilled soil. I cover mine with straw to let it winter over, then when you see it poking thru, remove the straw and it grows quickly maturing into gooseneck scapes inside of 2 months. It’s important to cut off the scapes, which otherwise become a flower and go to seed, in order to direct the energy downward to the developing bulb. We want that head of garlic to grow big! And there are many ways to cook and enjoy the scapes, pesto being a favorite.
This year was an early harvest, mine’s been out of the ground for about ten days already…much earlier than last year.
Once the stems dry out I’ll clip them down close to the bulb and store them in a dry, airy spot to throughly cure.
This year I’ll try making fermented black garlic. Click to Seasonal Recipes to get the skinny!
Mine are still in bloom, so it seems unlikely that I’ll have peas for the Fourth. Being a cool season crop, you can plant them early in spring, weather willing and conceivably have them on your plate for July Fourth.
But what fun to watch how fast they shoot up! And the plants are so pretty with their pink and magenta blossoms that I put them and the tender shoots into a green salad that is so “of the moment”, along with my speckled trout lettuces, mesclun and endives. Pretty soon there will be calendula and nasturtiums too!
I usually like to grow a few types of peas. The English shelling peas are the treat to go with the traditional July 4th meal, but sugar snaps and snow peas also have their place in my garden. Especially because peas actually improve the area where they’re grown by fixing nitrogen in the soil.
Once you grow your own peas, you’ll never eat another pea from a can…I promise you.
This month’s Food Safari is short and sweet…because there’s so much to do! With the extravagant rains Maine has experienced, the weeds are growing well…like weeds!
Business is picking up, kids are back from college, summer folk are returning and it feels like turning on a spigot.
We enjoy Air B and B guests, so I keep my culinary gardens for my use and theirs.
Gardens give back so much. Here’s to summer! Don’t you want to have a catered party?
I remember the sheer delight of seeing my first violet in the woods.
We were lucky enough to grow up in a wooded area with a large backyard that sloped down to a lively creek. As kids, we love to sail leaves on the stream and generally play in the dappled shade near the water. So the trips down the slope were many and one spring day I spotted the jewel-like tone of deep violet blue in the shade. It was a moment of simple gladness that such beauty would freely exist for the picking.
I still feel that way when April showers bring forth the first violet blooms of early May. I’m so smitten with violets that I have a collection of them growing on my land….reddish Canadian Labrador toilets, pure whites one, a tiny white violet that has a different shaped flower, Dog toothed violets, a simple yellow violet, fragrant violets. Spy much beauty
I love collecting them for a miniature bouquet , I have made simple syrup for refreshing beverages , drank the tincture in moments of heartache, candied them for cupcake garnishes, eaten them in salads along with their leaves …and garnished a million bridal dishes with their blossoms and heart shaped leaves( which happen to be rich in vitamins A and C). Said to gladden the heart, I say,” let the violet eating begin!”
Luckily, there are many! The Viola genus is over 600 species strong, growing largely in North America. Not especially fussy, violets grow in a variety of conditions , from deep shade to semi- sunny fields, and spread freely.
Over the centuries, pansies were created from the humble violet.
THANK A WOODLAND VOILET WHEN YOU PUT IN YOUR SPRING PANSIES!
Keeping Christmas. It’s a personal thing, what does that mean to you?
For many of us in food service, September affords an opportunity to step away from the stove and maybe take a drive to try other chefs’ food.
This month’s Food Safari is short and sweet…because there’s so much to do! With the extravagant rains Maine has experienced, the weeds are growing well…like weeds!
I remember the sheer delight of seeing my first violet in the woods.
