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One Bowl Greek Salad

One Bowl Greek Salad

One Bowl Greek Salad with salty feta, tangy olives and flavor packed tomatoes is a stellar match for the zing of fresh oregano. Tossed with refreshing cucumber and perched on a bed of crisp romaine One Bowl Greek Salad is a favorite.

“On the wide level acres of the valley the topsoil lay deep and fertile. It required only a rich winter of rain to make it break forth in grass and flowers. The spring flowers in a wet year were unbelievable. The whole valley floor, and the foothills too, would be carpeted with lupins and poppies.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

My oregano plant thrives in the winter. It had outgrown its’ space and got a good trim. Oregano is very pungent when fresh. It pairs well with other strong and assertive flavors. One Bowl Greek Salad with salty feta, tangy olives and flavor packed tomatoes is a stellar match for the zing of fresh oregano. Tossed with refreshing cucumber and perched on a bed of crisp romaine One Bowl Greek Salad is a favorite. READ MORE . . .

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Tomatoes with Bread Pudding and Roasted Carrot Salad

Tomato Bread Pudding

Looking for John Steinbeck

“You can see how this book has reached a great boundary that was called 1900. Another hundred years were ground up and churned, and what had happened was all muddied by the way folks wanted it to be–more rich and meaningful the further back it was.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

East of Eden is a work of fiction that also includes real Steinbeck family history. Which makes for a very fascinating story. While John’s family history in the Salinas Valley unfolds the biblical parable of Cain and Abel is told with (mostly) fictional characters. John Steinbeck includes his mother’s, Olive Hamilton, family members as main characters in the novel. Olive’s parents, Samuel and Liza Hamilton are featured prominently in the novel. He wrote very little about his father’s family, the Steinbeck’s. I visited the San Benito County Historical Society to learn more of John Steinbeck’s paternal family history. READ MORE . . .

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Stuffed Zucchini

Stuffed zucchini with oregano

Summer Dreams

“Adam brooded around the house all morning, and at noon he went to find Lee, who was spading the dark composted earth of his vegetable garden and planting his spring vegetables, carrots and beets, turnips, peas, and string beans, rutabaga and kale.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Each spring I get excited about gardening and have dreams of growing vegetables. Nothing exotic, tomatoes and zucchini would make me happy. I would love to be complaining about too much zucchini and hundreds of cherry tomatoes! My enthusiasm is always dampened by the coastal fog and the stealth army of snails that that greedily devour our little seedlings. I am hopeful. This year the month of May has been filled with sunshine. Even when the day begins covered with a gray blanket of damp fog the sun has arrived mid-day. With almost daily sunshine the tomato plants are growing. The snails are being snobs and ignoring the Romano beans I planted on a whim. After I transplanted them I wistfully wondered if they would last. The second planting of zucchini is surrounded by a copper rings and the snails have mostly found other tender delicacies for their insatiable appetites. I am hopeful. READ MORE . . .