Rooftop Garden

Last summer I lived and worked on this organic farm in the Shenandoah valley in Virginia. Although I ended up badly damaging my knee and having to leave early it was a great experience. I loved seeing the sun rise over the mountains every morning. I loved the way I could go pick something out of the ground and then go cook with it. I like our crazy neighbor Pete. I loved how all the food I cooked tasted amazing. Honestly, working on the farm sucked. I hated going to work. It was incredibly physically demanding work that went on for ten hours a day, six or seven days a week. However, it made everything before, after, and in between work feel amazing. Everyday, after a long days work, we would celebrate like it was some special holiday. We'd pick some veggies, cook a big meal, go hiking, visit Pete, go to a farm party . . . And then this summer, in my industrial Brooklyn apartment, staring out at the big blocks of concrete all around me, I felt like I was missing out on summer. There was an old bathtub on the rooftop that I kept on talking about turning into a garden, but my sister knew that I would never get around to it. So, for my birthday, she secretly planted a garden in the bathtub for me. It was one of the best presents I've ever received, I was ecstatic. And now I've seen the plants grow from little babies into beautiful young adults, I'm like their momma. And it makes me happy, when I wake up every morning, to go water them and see if any of the tomatoes are ripe. I'm sad that it's going to have to end soon. Maybe I'll plant some potatoes for the winter . . .

Recipe Book

Up until now, the only documentation of what I cook or eat or food ideas has been in my sketchbook/recipe book. But even that has very limited information and is completely unorganized. It's a collection of random thoughts, scribbles, and doodles. This blog thing is new, so I'll see how much I like it as I go along. It is a possibility that the sketchbook might win over the blog, mainly due to my laziness.The blog, on the other hand, will probably never win over the sketchbook, but they could coexist. So here we go . . .

P.S.
I thought that first I would warn everyone that my recipes are often written in old Jewish grandma style, meaning that exact proportions are not a priority. Getting a feeling for the food, using your instincts, and exploring all your senses are. So, I will tell you to use a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and how it should look/feel/taste/smell.