Tag: vegan

Zucchini Apocalypse – Zucchini Scarpaccia

Zucchini Apocalypse – Zucchini Scarpaccia

Every year it happens. The weather gets hot and sweaty, and the zucchinis grow from finger to baseball bat-size in a matter of hours. I am swamped. It’s the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse in the garden. They can be so prolific, it’s almost obscene. 

The Benefits of Retirement – Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches with Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

The Benefits of Retirement – Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches with Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

I am hesitant to talk about the current state of my garden in the same way that when traveling I don’t discuss the traffic, lest a sea of red taillights appears around the next bend in the highway. I don’t want to jinx anything. But 

Schooled By My Daughter – Crispy Sesame Tofu and Broccoli

Schooled By My Daughter – Crispy Sesame Tofu and Broccoli

As a very young child, my daughter Ariana was the meanest teacher around. She loved to play school with a pointer and easel, standing in front of the class made up of my wife Marci, my son Jacob, and me. She wielded the stick dangerously, 

Let Your Kids Be – Eggplant Caponata

Let Your Kids Be – Eggplant Caponata

When I was a five- or six-year-old kid, my father occasionally took my two older brothers and I to the Palestra, the arena that opened in 1927 at the University of Pennsylvania, to see Big 5 college basketball games. We would wander in, find our 

Searching for Schnitzel – German Potato Salad

Searching for Schnitzel – German Potato Salad

Last year my daughter, Ariana, spent the spring semester of her junior year in college abroad. She went to Berlin. Of course being good parents of a child so far away, we had to pay a visit. The city was lovely; cultured, vibrant, and scenic, 

Dilly Beans – Pickled Green Beans

Dilly Beans – Pickled Green Beans

Overabundance in the garden is a problem I can deal with. To even use the word ‘problem’ is a stretch. Nonetheless, when there is too much of a given crop in the heart of its harvesting season, the gardener must find a way to use 

Worth The Hype? – Fried Jimmy Nardello’s Peppers

Worth The Hype? – Fried Jimmy Nardello’s Peppers

The story of Jimmy Nardello’s peppers is an immigrant tale. Giuseppe and Angella Nardello arrived from southern Italy in the late 1800s, immigrating to Naugatuck, Connecticut. With them they brought seeds from their Italian garden, including a sweet frying pepper. They grew these peppers to 

The New Vinegar-Slithered Green Cabbage

The New Vinegar-Slithered Green Cabbage

The first thing I learned to cook when I was young was pizza; every Wednesday, two pizzas for the family. The second thing I learned to cook was Rock Sugar Chicken, a Chinese stewed chicken with bamboo shoots and shitake mushrooms, the sauce saturating a 

Ginger Broccoli

Ginger Broccoli

When we visit my parents in Philadelphia, we always go out to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Lee How Fook. We’ve been dining there literally for decades. They immediately bring a pot of hot tea for the table, and for my mother, without asking, a pot 

Vegan Ramen

Vegan Ramen

This summer amid the pandemic, my college-age daughter was stranded at home like many of her generation. An internship was not in the cards, so she kept busy with a small, online, used clothing business she created. Likewise, her friend from Brooklyn wanted to get