Baby Radishes

In the sink, before rinsing then eating with fleur de sel

'Tis The Season

...for asparagus with green curry by the way. Need I say more?

Layer Cake Finally

I did it! I made a layer cake, and it didn't suck. In fact, it was pretty good, if I do say so myself. I felt ok enough about it that I brought it to my best friend's house as a gift. Maybe I don't have a black thumb when it comes to baking. There's just one teensy weensy problem: It was supposed to be three layers and it didn't come out tall enough to get three; I did two and put the rest of the curd on top of the cake like a glaze. Thinking about it now, I'm pretty sure I didn't beat the egg whites long enough; if I had, I think the cake would have had more body to it. Oh well. Try, try again!

Have A Snack On Hand

If you love this photo, check out Edible Selby, brought to you by photographer and illustrator extraordinaire Todd Selby. I have his book, The Selby Is In Your Place, so, when I heard he was documenting chefs, cooking, and all things edible, I knew I had to visit the site. I think you'll find the shoots unexpected but beautiful and hunger-inducing.

Credit: Todd Selby (Edible Selby)

KFW Test Kitchen

I tested a few recipes recently that I plan on making many more times.

First up: Moroccan Carrot Soup courtesy of Bon Appetit. It was scrumptious and easy. Can't wait to try it with the farm market's multi-colored carrots.

Next was Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis, also from Bon Appetit. Sooo chocolatey. I recommend topping it with chunks of Ghirardelli's Dark Chocolate with Raspberry candy squares. These boost the raspberry element and they're not too sweet. FYI: A clafoutis is a French dessert of cherries (typically) suspended in a pancake-like batter. I'd like to try it with strawberries.

Finally, I tried out what I'm calling the Effervescent Greyhound - a cocktail consisting of the usual Greyhound recipe (except with gin instead of vodka) topped with a bit of ginger liqueur and sparkling wine. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 oz gin
5 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (or high-quality bottled)
1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
Sparkling wine or champagne to top-off

Add first three ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Pour into chilled champagne or wine glass. Top with sparkling wine or champagne. Garnish with twist of grapefruit rind.

Feel free to play with this. I've added lime and orange in different quantities and I've even toyed with agave.

Couple more things of note:

I'm a huge fan of this article. It gave me a lot of ideas, which I've been putting into practice. The most successful so far was roasted salmon with Thai flavors served with blanched asparagus. Drool...

We were back in Philly recently for a quick visit. We hit Koo Zee Doo, a new-ish Portuguese BYOB in NoLibs. Deleitoso! It made us long for Portugal. Has it really been nearly three years since we were there? Think it's time to return.

The Garden Abounds

Well, not really, I guess, but it's looking pretty good so far. I just had to fit in a Big Lebowski reference for some reason. And now I know what I'm doing this afternoon...

Anyway, here's a short video of the pots. The ones that just look like dirt actually have one or two tiny sprouts in them - no lie. And the radishes and arugula are going crazy. The tall stuff in the background is a transplanted rosemary plant. It lasted all winter out on the balcony and now it's thriving.

In the same vein, I finally found a new place to volunteer on Mondays: Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, which I've mentioned before on KFW. I'm tilling the fields of Alexandria, VA, and loving every minute of it, but - most important - it's all for the greater good. I'm hoping to help out with the Mobile Market, too, but Arcadia has to raise enough money to get it on the road first. Six days to go!

Stay Tuned

There's so much to come in the next few days: gardening success 11 stories up, tilling the fields of Virginia, recipes to share, and a Philly gem. Please stay tuned!