Let's step away from the bookshelf and into the garden for a moment, shall we?
I don't know if there is a time of year when I am more grateful for EYB than midsummer. This year especially, when a temperate spring and a balanced summer have made my vegetable garden yield up treasures nearly every day. A good garden calls for care--in the harvesting, in the weeding--just as a bad garden does, though. And that means less time for cooking and the pondering that goes with it.
That is why every afternoon at 4:00 finds me washing the dirt off my hands and going hunting on EYB. Radishes + peas = Sugar snaps with diced bacon and radishes. Zucchini + mint = Sicilian zucchini and mint frittata, one of my all-time favorites. Carrots + tarragon? = Chicken Salad à la Danny Kaye! And if I am too hot to eat and just want a garden cocktail? Who can resist Lavender + blueberries = Lavender Lush, deep-dyed in indigo?
I'm not saying it's not fun to browse through cookbooks--preferably while slung in a hammock and sucking on a popsicle. But you don't want to have to. Because less time sorting through cookbooks + beautiful summer afternoons = more time in the garden.
Thank you, EYB!