Organic Granny

Root veggies, like carrots, potatoes, onions and beets have a high profile in Canadian winter meals.  Not only were they easily stored for most of the cold season, but they are also hearty and lend themselves to a great sense of satiety.  Today's recipe for roasted beets and raw walnut cream is an adaptation from the cookbook called Whole Foods To Thrive by one of British Columbia's stellar athletes who eats "high raw", Brendan Brazier.  My husband is a fan of Brendan's, and also really enjoyed this meal. INGREDIENTS: (To feed 4) 4 Beets Method : Preheat oven to 450F/232C.  Wash up the beets (scrub if necessary) and wrap in aluminum foil.  Roast in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  When they are cool to touch, peel off the skins and slice into strips (as I did), or cube. FOR THE RAW WALNUT CHEESE: 1/2 C. Shelled Raw Walnuts Juice from 1/2 Lemon, or from 1 Lime (which I used) Zest from fruit (optional) 1-2 Clov

This is the bitter-sweet time of the year when parents are sending their kids back to school ... or when kids have made the actual flight from the nest.  Sweet for some parents who are overwhelmed with responsibilities and jobs and who are happy to see the kids "safely" back in school... but bitter when parents are not ready to release their quickly maturing child to a non-familial environment, like a school, a college, a work place, a move far away from home for whatever reason. These are some of the schmaltziest, most gratuitously sentimental songs ever recorded.  They exploit the tenderness that a parent (or grandparent) has for a child, the fears they have for their loss, and subconsciously, hark right back to a time when the listener was negotiating his/her own passage to independence from her/his family of origin. Some of this music will sound downright cornball, but you will likely catch a phrase that will touch you heart, and you will generally begin tearing u

In our yard we have a little green fig tree that has launched into an abundance of fruit-bearing over the recent past.  In its initial 8 or 9 years, it languished.  Its little buddy expired fairly early on (not unusual for fruit trees in our front yard soil, which could be described as a gravel bed with a slim overlay of topsoil. An idea of how many figs this tree is putting out-- every branch is laden like this with a couple of crops. And a shot of some of the 'baby' figs that will form the second crop later in the summer/early Fall. The same fig tree just four years ago-- barely hanging on, and only producing a few figs that year. We have fertilized/amended the soil around its roots with lime and rock phosphate.  Those mineral nutrients have made a huge difference. Here my d.h. is demonstrating that the tree is about 6' in breadth, not that the big one got away. What do you do with your harvest of figs?  I would appreciate some more ideas. Comment below

It could have been another day lounging around with the tablet on Facebook... but, twigged by something someone said (or inferred) about how lazy I am, I suggested to dear hubby that we might check out the new-ish Cumberland Farmer's Market .  It is open from 11am on Sundays throughout the summer.  Off we went. These gorgeous hydrangeas greeted us at the entrance to Village Square Park where the Cumberland Farmers' Market is located. I personally have never seen this sort of hydrangea before.  Have you?  It was gorgeous... The Cumberland Farmers Market at the Village Square Park, Dunsmuir Rd., Cumberland BC Sundays 11AM-2PM This is really a pretty little Farmers' Market -- it's new-ish (just opened this year) so really doesn't seem to have caught on yet.  The bonus is that it is a little less cheek-to-jowl with people and vendors, for those who prefer a bit of a stroll and a chat vs. a push and a shove and jostle for the coin.  The Market operates 11AM-2