blogfromafar

The fig harvest is a sensual thing. The sweet smell of the sap is a primordial memory for me. The vision of shifting light slanting through the fingerling leaves recalls childhood days of hiding under the fig tree’s skirts.

Some of you may recall we had a little crisis of figlessness last week. Dr. Randy Romig suggested a little water, and that or something else has finally caused the hard little green fig knobs to hold on and ripen, rather than peppering the sidewalk below. (more…)

The hardest part of this recipe is finding the right tomatoes. I’ve waited all summer, tried tom’s from Jefferson, from Canton, and they’re just not the same. I have a particular yen for tomatoes from Gilmer, home of my grandparents and many happy summers. True Gilmer tomatoes come through the sandy gray soil in Upshur County and there’s just nothing like them. I finally rassled some up – had to fend off a somewhat friendly guard dog in an uninhabited roadside stand just out of town on Highway 154 (left the $2 under a vinegar jug on the table) and here they are! Don’t know why they’re so good; I love the ones that are a little cracked or off-color. The taste is acid, mineral, even maybe a little sulphur. (more…)

Local Farmers Caroline and Allen Fruth arrive at Flavors From Afar Saturday July 18 for a cool little country visit to the city. They raise goats, cows, and chickens at their farm near Greenville, Texas. They’ll bring not only their rainbow eggs, but also beef from their heritage Belted Galloway cows and goat butter. For more information about the Fruths and their farm, read this article by Joyce Saenz Harris. Then come down for a visit, chill out, and meet the real article. For recipes from the Fruths, enter “Fruth” on the Search bar at right (more…)

I’m in a spat with my fig tree. It’s not the let’s-call-the-whole-thing-off kind of spat. It’s more like one with a long term love where you argue about the shape and framework of things, not their very existence.

Fig sap runs in my veins. Unacknowledged and unnoticed in my early years, it’s a constant thrum each July. Waiting, planning, hoping for the figs. I love to stand under the canopy of the tree in the hot sun and watch the light bounce off leaf after leaf. I love the sticky scent of the leaves as they exhale in the sun. (more…)

Houston on Sunday night is a dry gulch, like mid-day in Italy; everyone’s home with their family. We prowled around as the orange sun set, masked by nuclear-looking clouds emitting a radioactive haze over the cement streets and skyline. We drove along the canyon-like wasteland of darkened office buildings and shuttered stores, lying in wait for a busier Monday. We drove and drove, past big-name restaurants; could have been anywhere! We gave up on the unique Houston experience and decided to settle on a chain restaurant, just not one we have in Dallas. And then we saw it: Acrodoro, a Dallas favorite we hadn’t visited in awhile. (more…)

Gary came up with some adventurous salad recipes with herbs from the garden the other night. For those of you who know Gary, the concept of a salad is in itself, to him, an adventure. So here’s a pretty picture above. Starting with the deviled eggs with tarragon at 6:00, going clockwise we have basil coleslaw, rosemary potato salad, and lemon-thyme tuna! What are your latest ideas for summer salads and fresh herbs?

Only one night in New York, and so many wheres to go! Torn between the desire to experience something new, and the need to revisit old haunts, we did a little of both. It turned out to be a dinner with two sons.

First, we tried Chez Josephine as our “new place” to go. Technically in Hell’s Kitchen, it was near enough to our hip little hotel Stay to walk. Josephine’s is, of course, run by her son Jean-Claude Baker, and the place is an homage to her, …all of her, if you get my drift! (more…)