• April in the Garden

    I was so inspired by Meg’s post at Grow and Resist the other day, meandering us through her Seattle garden, that I decided to do something similar. We’re in the thick of spring, and plenty of things are taking off in the garden — or not. Here’s a collection of highs and lows, starting with…

  • Yuzu & Quince

    Guess what’s new here? If you follow the Hitchhiking to Heaven Facebook Page you probably already know that we’ve been building a pigeon house. (I should probably call it an aviary or dovecote, but to me it’s a pigeon house.) We’re still working the details — nest boxes, perches, and so on — but right…

  • Clementine Pâté de Oops

    Aren’t these cute? It’s too bad they suck. I was so excited to attempt my first pâté de fruit. A couple weeks ago, when I was visiting Austin, Texas, I found a clementine pâté at a little place called Antonelli’s Cheese Shop. Borrowing a phrase from Paula Deen: It knocked my socks clean off and…

  • C is for Celery Citrus Salad

    We are having warm spring temps here. It’s almost 80 degrees! That pleases me for many reasons, mostly having to do with the garden and a long list of dirt-digging tasks. But it’s also a perfect day to have this Celery Citrus Salad for lunch. Doesn’t it look like spring? Last week I wrote about…

  • Candied Grapefruit Peel

    These candied grapefruit peels don’t look quite the way they should. They are supposed to be white-sugar studded and sparkly. But to me, they look like a whole lot like French fries. That’s why I went down to our local burger joint and got one of those little white French-fry baggies to put them in….

  • Happy Birthday, Mo

    March 19 is a very special day. It’s Mo’s birthday! Okay, so it’s my birthday, too. But for several years, I was blessed to share this day with Ms. Moreka Jolar in a magical spot on the island of Moloka’i. When Mo is in residence at Hui Ho’olana Retreat Center, she manages kitchen and garden…

  • Supremed and Preserved Oranges

    This post could also be called “Experiments with Oranges,” because that’s what’s happening here. The jars above contain orange segments preserved two ways: half in light sugar syrup and half in a light syrup made with organic agave nectar. Trying agave is part of my new interest in preserving fruit without refined sugar. My plan…

  • Gluten-Free Bananacot Cake

    In my post on making sugar-free jam, I mentioned that I am able to easily metabolize large quantities of sugar. The same does not go for flour. I’m not gluten intolerant to the degree of many folks I know, but there’s no doubt I do better without it. There’s also this: You would see a…