Back in early November, before the frosts had withered every living thing in my garden I had enough foresight to pick all the remaining tomatoes off the vine and store ‘em indoors. Red, green or somewhere in between, it didn’t matter, I brought them in en masse. Over the next two weeks some ripened up, but a stubborn handful remained tough and green. Read More
“Still alive I am.
At the end of a long dream.
On my journey,
fall of an Autumn day.”
– Matsuo Bashō, The records of a weather-exposed skeleton (1684)
I sit in my living room, coffee in hand with the fire from the wood stove sputtering and popping behind me, toasty and content, while outside my austere little zen garden shivers and rots in the autumn frost… It’s all gone to seed. Read More
Tucked up next to the house is a motley collection of Rubbermaid containers filled with dirt and bushes of chilies. Big green Jalapenos, long thin Kung Pows, bright red Tabascos and tiny yet volcanically-hot Thai Bird’s Beak chilies. The cat avoids this part of the garden, as do the deer. In fact, I’ll bet even the bee’s start sweating with all the capsicum in the air. Read More
Duck is, by far, my favourite thing to cook and eat. Tender, juicy, deep ‘n woodsy, fat and formerly feathery. Fantastic in every way!
I always buy whole ducks, either from the store (usually frozen) or from a local farm (like Christine’s Quackery in Comox) and process ‘em myself. The breasts get sautéed, stuffed, roasted or whatever, the bones get cleaned up and go into a stockpot, the excess fat is carefully removed from all over the bird, chopped finely and rendered, and the legs… Ahh, the legs. They get some extra special treatment. The whole thing is like an event. Duck Day! Hurray! Read More