Yesterday morning, I went to the Charlottesville farmers’ market and almost bought beautiful figs.

It was too difficult to choose between the tomatoes

that stretched out in breathtaking rows at Waterpenny Farms and Radical Roots.

I reluctantly left this place of thoughtful people and food, and drove to the District, where I came upon a group [...]

After a storm, suspended rain drops reveal hidden webs on plants, dot the insides of flowers.

On my way to the University of Virginia this morning, I paused at a small outgrowth that held up a canopy of interlaced threads, much like I was about to do for a small audience of colleagues in the [...]

I usually visit farmers’ markets alone—partly because I like to wander dreamily, mostly because I fairly run once it’s within sight, unable to contain my childlike excitement to see what treasures the market vendors have brought that day.
Approaching the Ferry Building yesterday morning, I caught my breath at dusky plums,

deliberated between glowing dried [...]

Friends came over last night, and drinks at the magic cottage turned into small plates of dinner. I stirred this tomato pesto into sautéed corn and annelini pasta, little ring shapes sometimes found in soups or salads.
Smaller pastas are often reserved for children, but why should they have all the fun?
Like green pesto [...]

My friend Pilar has just opened an empanada shop with her husband Juan on Washington Avenue (right next to Lincoln Road) in Miami’s South Beach called Half Moon Empanadas.

The food is as satisfying as the great typefaces in the logo, and Pilar tells me everything is made in the restaurant:

My favorite is the [...]

Were I to be scrupulously honest, I suppose I might admit this is less a salad and more a deconstructed guacamole.
But as I’m not so inclined, this recipe is a light dressing, a sharp uppermost layer for soft, green flesh encrusted with red salt that sparkles like garnets on top of the fruit Jenne [...]

My beautiful friend Jenne drove with me to the end of the world today–or, at least, what felt like the end of the world as the road ended and we got out to look around.

She smiled as we heard the sounds of things uncivilized approaching…

and an ATV trio rumbled past in their mudded glory. [...]

The wild winds of Tropical Storm Fay are whipping around the magic cottage today.
So we’re making my favorite breakfast food, pancakes, with crispy edges (more edges in HD version here):

Recipe: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt. Stir. Crack one egg in middle, add 1 cup buttermilk. Stir. Drop [...]

My good friend Antony, who lives in Sydney, just reminded me of this great clip with New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo.
My favorite part is the supermarché aisle sequence, and it strikes me that many of my beautiful American readers may be in [...]

Last week, I found another reason to worry about disappearance of honeybee hives.
Like touring punk bands, bee swarms travel a country pollinating different audiences (more widely in the United States than abroad), and their demanding migratory schedule may be one of many reasons for their rapid decline in recent years–part of a syndrome called [...]