Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada
Cherry blossom earliest peak-dates have been reported in Japan, as well as other countries, including Canada. Ironically enough, these, along with pandemic-related circumstances, have confabulated to grant my daughter a full-bloom Japanese farewell, and a full-bloom Canadian welcome ... click on title for more
Although temperatures are still going up and down in Southern Ontario, the spring season has definitely arrived; in addition to birds singing and looking for a place to nest, grass turning green, and budding trees, I have spotted the first bloom in my backyard, a yellow daffodil (pictured above). A small forsythia is also blooming, a sure sign for sowing cool-weather crops outdoors, such as carrots, lettuce and radishes, and transplant some of the sturdiest seedlings from indoors ... click on title for more
The Sunchoke, or Jerusalem artichoke, is a perennial plant of the sunflower family; sunchoke tubers were an important part of the native American diet, and continued to be grown by settlers in North America and also after being introduced to Europe, but they were eventually forgotten when potatoes and other New World vegetables became staples. There have been some efforts to bring sunchokes back to the table ... click on title for more
Temperatures are still going up and down in Southern Ontario, but the morning frost last week killed the tender annuals in my backyard, a sign that it is time to prepare the garden for winter and wrap up the harvest, including my herbs ... click on title for more
Huauzontle (Chenopodium nuttalliae) was one of my featured crops last year; I allowed a few plants to go to seed, and this spring, I got lots of volunteer sprouts, which grew very differently from last year’s crop ... click on title for more
