The Once and Future Apple Cake

The Once and Future Apple Cake is a cake with a story. It began with a little girl whose mother baked apple cakes, but then died when the girl was young. When the girl grew up, she searched and searched for an apple cake like her mother’s. Please read the story and recipe here. I can’t tell the story any better than it has already been told.

Spicy Pickled Okra

I love the blog Homesick Texan because I am also a homesick Texan. Maybe I’m not as homesick as the author of the blog though because the last time I lived in Texas was when I was 8 years old. Still, I love a lot of Texas foods, so I enjoy reading that blog.

My grandmother used to grow okra in her garden in Kansas and I can remember helping her pick them. The plants were so tall! Now they’re still tall in my own garden, but not as tall as I remember them. They’re supposed to reach  6 feet!

Cilantro Sauce

I was listening to the Splendid Table podcast (the October 10, 2009 episode) last week. There was a guest, Martha Rose Shulman, talking about cilantro sauces. I was interested because we had so much cilantro in our garden and we’re going away for 2 weeks, so I needed ideas for using it quickly!

Vegetable Flowers

okra flower

I’ve been amazed recently at the beauty of nonornamental flowers. We planted okra and squash for their vegetables, not their flowers! Did you know that okra is related to hibiscus? I guess that’s why it’s flowers are so beautiful.

Pesto

It’s so great to finally have Italian basil growing in the backyard. I like the Thai basil that is available at the market, but sometimes you just need Italian basil. Thanks to Meghan for sending the seeds! I know this is not the most authentic pesto, but you can’t expect to find lots of authentic Italian ingredients in Southeast Asia! I’m happy to have olive oil. Pinenuts or walnuts are a great addition to pesto, so use them if you have them.