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By feral, on January 16th, 2012%
From a recent aprés-ski conversation in Aspen with a lady from Iowa who thought I looked like Edward Scissorhands:
– Are you from a different country? – Yes, I’m Russian. – Oh, really? I’m drinking a “White Russian.” – I’m actually from Belarus, which means “White Russia,” but the cocktail has nothing to do with the country… – [blank] [pause] Do you own a private jet? – No, not yet. – But are you working on it? Because if so, I’d like to be friends with you!
Aspen might be the only place in America where if you say you’re Russian, people assume you rake in the dough. Sadly, I had to disappoint the gregarious Iowa lady — the only kind of dough I’m good at making involves flour and yeast. And that’s what this post is about.
This dough recipe happens to be the answer to the last photo quiz. If you ever want to bake a Russian-style pie (пирог = pirog) — like these two I made with cabbage filling for the Russian “Old” New Year party 2 days ago — it is simple, quick, easy, and really, really tasty.
![]( "Russian-Cabbage-Pies - <span style=") . . . CONTINUE READING → How to make Russian dough
By feral, on January 13th, 2012%
What am I up to?
 And why?
By feral, on October 10th, 2011%
Generally, I don’t allow myself to feel proud that often – but yesterday I did. And here is the reason:
 In the morning I thought to myself: Wait, I forgot to include carrots in my previous Orange post! What a scandal! But then I unearthed this specimen and was happy about this oversight. In my opinion, this carrot fully deserves its own post.
This is what you might call a perfect carrot — I immediately thought of Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh and his garden — long, straight, thick, and totally blemish-free. Full of excitement, I ran to James to ask him to take a photo of me with my new best friend.
 Which turned into an entire photo shoot. Have I missed my calling as a carrot model?
James was just as fascinated by the giant orange tuber as I was and insisted that Carrot and I pose for a whole series of silhouettes.
![]( "big <span style=") . . . CONTINUE READING → Carrot Pride
By feral, on September 11th, 2011%
Helen and Russel visited us for lunch today and we fed them pizza. 2 pizzas, to be exact, James and I designing a pie each. (There was also some leftover tuna casserole involved, served as a semi-cold appetizer, but we don’t speak of it.)
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to log the pizza crust technique — because it was a success! (Helen even asked me to email her the recipe but I said she’d have to look it up on FG, so there…) Here’s the dough recipe I used (twice now), loved it, and am adding it to my list of notable recipes. It’s pretty fast — took about 20-30 minutes to make and 1 hour to rise – light, tasty, and soft. To bake, I preheated the oven to 475F with the pizza stone inside, for about 20 minutes, arranged the pies on parchment paper dusted lightly with cornmeal, slid them onto the pizza stone, one at a time, and baked each for 15 minutes.
And now on to the artistic part. James’ idea was to use squash flowers that are still blossoming in abundance, and so we did! He picked some (butternut squash, I . . . CONTINUE READING → Feral Pizza — it’s all in the dough
By feral, on June 14th, 2011%
Complete the phrase: Rhubarb and … ?
Yes, they are a match made by nature, those two, rhubarb and strawberries — ripening around the same time and often even grown as companion plants — and it is not my intention to question the wholesomeness of that relationship. However, as I recently learned, rhubarb is not as monogamous as culinary stereotypes traditionally suggest, and the photo above serves as incriminating evidence that it likes being with other berries too…
Rhubarb, you see, is a very strong and independent plant. My garden has 4 of them. A bit of history: last year James asked for a pet project, and I ordered a few rhubarb seedlings for him. Why rhubarb? Because, according to my sources, it’s highly tolerant, which seemed like a required personality trait. We planted those seedlings very early, and they survived a really bad winter relapse just days later. Even this year, despite the cold spring, James’ rhubarbs were thriving, and we were able to harvest a couple of nice fat stalks already in May. It was time for their debut. But — oh . . . CONTINUE READING → blue is the new straw
By feral, on March 16th, 2011%
What is your antidepressant for a cold rainy morning, like the one we’re having here today? You don’t have to answer this question if it’s too embarrassing. As for me, I have nothing to hide. Today, it’s 5 things.
(1) Fame. I just got a shout-out from our friend Anna‘s friend, The Amateur Gourmet, whose blog I follow and whom I met last Friday at Katz’s Deli under the circumstances described here. There, over some half-sour pickles, we discussed the possibility of using The Feral Gardener’s produce in The Amateur Gourmet’s kitchen and I’m extremely excited about this prospect. And this gives me hope that one day my basket’s fame will measure up to that of a Katz’s Deli hot dog or even of Jane Eyre’s.
(2) The snow is melting! This is how the garden looked yesterday. I scattered around some ashes from the fireplace (black spots on the snow), hoping that a darker shade might facilitate faster thawing. Luckily, today’s rain is also contributing to the process.
. . . CONTINUE READING → 5 happy thoughts on a rainy day
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