Category: Food & Drink

By Alison Steele         The first flower I ever tasted was a honeysuckle blossom. Honeysuckle grows all over the hot rainy south in the summertime. It crawls along split rail fences, creeps up in the trees, and across old barns. My brother and I would spend hours following rivers over pasture and along railroad tracks, across bridges and through the mountains.… Read More

By Robin Marie Horn My friend Lynn is the queen of entertaining. Not only is she gracious and charming, she’s a natural planner, organizing and synthesizing details for all manner of theme parties in a way that seems effortless. She is ever calm, never rushed. When attending to last minute preparations as early guests arrive, she engages the guests as… Read More

By Alison Steele  I want to share a recipe from one of my greatest friends, Maya. Born in Russia the same year I was, and living in Virginia with her family for as long as I’ve been living in California with mine. We met in the summer in downtown Staunton when she was 8 months pregnant and running a booth… Read More

By Alison Steele We know that Spring has truly arrived when the elements align and that first warm egg is discovered in the lay box. What a surprise! What a treasure! What a delight! On a small backwoods farm, it would’ve been cradled and admired before being whirled into a pudding or fluffed into a pie for all to share.… Read More

By Greg Roe and Mike De Smidt When you think of fermentation, cheese may not be what first comes to mind; or even second, or third. But many types of cheeses are indeed the product of fermentation. Some are non-fermented, such as cottage cheese and paneer, where the curds and whey are separated simply by adding an acid. If you… Read More

By Mike De Smidt and Greg Roe Everyone can agree that Guinness is the iconic Irish beer given its history, distinctive character, and wide global recognition. The title of this piece is also in jest, since, aside from a heavier mouthfeel, Guinness is by most standards a fairly light beer, being both low in alcohol and easy to drink. However,… Read More

By Alison Steele Often linked with Europe, the potato is actually native to the New World. Captured by the Spanish from the Incas, potatoes were shipped back to be grown in royal gardens in order to increase acceptance of this strange new food. Stolen by peasants to try in home plots, it soon became a staple in French, British, and… Read More

By Mike De Smidt and Greg Roe This month, we’re going on a fermentation adventure. West Country White Ale, sometimes called Devon White Ale, is a seemingly odd beer with roots back to at least the 1500s, perhaps even the Middle Ages. An ale variety that existed before hops were a common ingredient, it was traditionally brewed in Devon and… Read More