I have a friend with a farm.

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I was trying to channel Isak Dinesen's line, "I had a farm in Africa..." This friend COULD have a farm in Africa or anywhere the hell else she wants vegetables to grow. If she wanted vegetables to grow on your couch, grow they would. She is almost all-powerful. She can't prescribe medication in the state of Ohio like I can, but aside from that, I can't think of a single thing she can't do.

She has a recipe on her website today, a skeleton of a recipe, really, for ratatouille. Her site is worth checking out if you are interested in gardening, have ever looked at a garden or wondered what it might be like, especially if you are interested in community gardening. She knows everything. EVERYTHING. I mighta mentioned her before. And the recipe makes me want to grab some warm pita and dig right in. At this time of the summer, when tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini are everywhere, and an eggplant can certainly be had SOMEWHERE, make this. Put some in the freezer. In February, when it's cold, gray, depressing, and you think your mortal soul is in peril, thaw your summer goodness. You'll make it another week, I promise.

Too Much Garden Bounty? Ratatouille to the Rescue!

Most interesting herbaceous friend

I have the most interesting friends, really, I do. You'll just have to take my word for it, reader, although I'm sure that many of you are quite interesting, too.

One of my more interesting and fast-talking friends, I'll call her Garden Gal, maintains a most informative website about her fabulous community garden experience. If there's anything I need to know about community gardening or gardening in general, Garden Gal is the one I call. She has a recipe for roasted red peppers that I'd give oh, I don't know, not quite a right leg but close in order to get that recipe from her. I get all flustered when I think about it. Oh, Garden Gal, if you're reading:

1. I really am going to send you a thank you note any day now for the wonderful dinner I had at your house lo, these many weeks ago, and
2. That arugula still makes me weep, and
3. I'd really, really love that roasted red pepper recipe. Maybe you should post it on your blog?

For an example of Garden Gal's style, do check out her latest post, all about, and I mean EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW about herb preservation. In person, I assure you, she has the same authoritative and humorous style. She talks really fast too, so for the full Garden Gal experience be sure to read really, really fast, preferably with a glass of wine close by.

Harvesting and Preserving Herbs the Quick and Easy Way