State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

recipes

  • Planning A Vegetable Garden

    Since retiring on Tuesday there has been one good day to work outside. Tuesday and Wednesday were cool and dark with scattered showers. I read two books, reworked the family budget, and spent most of my time indoors. Thursday was a glorious spring day when I measured and cleared the remaining three garden plots and… Read more

  • Nostalgic Breakfast Tacos

    There is a 25 percent chance of rain beginning at 9 a.m., according to the weather application. I pulled the cars out of the garage so that space can be used for other projects if the forecast proves to be true. Despite the coronavirus epidemic the waste hauler is working today so I put the… Read more

  • Cavendish Banana Bread

    Three bananas were going bad on the counter so I decided to make banana bread. That’s what people do, or at least did when I was still at home. These were Cavendish bananas as most commercially available ones are. They were also organic although I’m not sure how cultivation is different. Like its predecessor, the… Read more

  • Saturday Luncheon – Red Beans and Rice

    Preparing to cook red beans and rice has been a year-long process because most of the ingredients were produced in my garden or on farms where I work. The garden produced red beans, okra, tomatoes and celery. Local farms produced onions, garlic and bell peppers. I also grew red pepper flakes and blended the powdered… Read more

  • Bean Soup

    Three cups of mixed beans had been resting in a jar on the counter for a long time. To use them up I made bean soup. I soaked the beans overnight, then rinsed them in a colander with cold water from the faucet. They went back into the Dutch oven where I covered them with… Read more

  • Chickpea Salad

    An acquaintance from the Climate Reality Project posted a photo essay depicting the process of making a “‘No-Tuna’ Salad Sandwich” on Instagram. I found the recipe on line and made the dish for lunch. Mostly vegetarian, I long for food eaten at home with Mother. Because of over fishing, slavery in the Asian tuna business,… Read more

  • Meditation on Hot Sauce

    After planting garlic last week I made hot sauce using leftover seeds: Jalapeno and Serrano peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, apple cider vinegar and salt. The recipe evolved over time from one Juan San Miguel explained in 1977 when we both garrisoned in Mainz, Germany. Those were days before a four-foot section of assorted hot sauces… Read more

  • Okra Summer

    This year I grew okra for the first time. It was an experimental change from store-bought to growing my own. I use okra mainly for gumbo and after this gardening season I have plenty sliced and in the freezer. Okra is easy to grow and the plant produces for a long time. I now understand… Read more

  • Soup for the Polar Vortex

    Monday I made a big pot of vegetable soup using what has become a standard process. Mirepoix of onion, celery, carrot and salt sautéed in a couple tablespoons of vegetable broth. Potatoes peeled and cut in large chunks, a 15 ounce can of rinsed, prepared beans, a pint of diced tomatoes, a quarter cup of… Read more

  • Bunkering in During Snowfall

    Snow began overnight and is expected to continue all day — the first real snow this winter. We need more from winter, a week of subzero temperatures to kill bugs in the ground and to stop the sap flow in trees before pruning. Today’s snowfall gets us started, although the long-range forecast shows ambient temperatures… Read more