Gherkins & Tomatoes

Gherkins & Tomatoes

Meditations and Photographs about Food, Cooking, and Life

Main menu

Skip to content
  • 365 Days – Photo-a-Day Gallery
  • About Gherkins & Tomatoes
  • Culinary History Resources
  • RECIPE INDEX

Archives

Show Grid Show List

Post navigation

Artist palette film grain rs

A Bare Table is Like an Artist’s Canvas

May 16, 2013 by Cynthia Bertelsen

There’s something about tables, big, little, or bare – and those bare ones  in particular – that make me want to festoon them with food I’ve cooked, like floral garlands at a grand wedding. I feel an urge, too, to seat people on the equally vacant chairs, saying, “Come on now, sit down a spell, and let your worries fade away like the mist on a hot summer morning.” Well, maybe I wouldn’t say it exactly that way, but the […]

Categories: Art, Beans, Cassava, Chile Peppers, Corn, Latin America, Photography, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Tomatoes, United States, Virginia • Tags: Beans, Cassava, Chiles, Corn, Photography, Potatoes, Squash, Tomatillos

4

Eat a Meal of Solidarity: Haiti’s Sos Pwa Rouj

January 17, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

As in a nightmare wrought by Quentin Tarantino, I watched the horrors unfolding in Haiti after the earthquake. Hands tied, unable to help in any major way, I turned to my pantry, memories of the lovely Haitian women who cooked for us stepping into my mind, smiling, images of hope for Haiti’s future. Here’s a dish that soothes and nourishes. To Haiti … in hopes that all will be fed. Sos Pwa Rouj (Red Beans in Sauce) Serves 8 2 […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Haiti, Recipes • Tags: Beans, Beans in Sauce, Haiti, Haitian Cooking, Sos Pwa Rouj

13
Photo credit: Judy Baxter

Counting Beans: A Soupçon of History

June 26, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Not too long ago, I looked at the messy pile of one-pound bags of beans in my pantry and knew I needed to start using them up. But how? For some reason, the night before, I’d cooked chicken-and-sausage gumbo and maybe I could just make red beans to go with the leftover rice. Yes, that would be it. Never having made red beans and rice in the style of New Orleans, I could feel that little frisson of excitement that […]

Categories: Africa, African Cooking, American Cooking, Beans, Haiti, Recipes, Southern Food • Tags: Bean Soup, Bean Stew, Beans, Haiti, New Orleans, Southern cooking, West Africa

4
platter-of-figs

The Washington Post on Best Cookbooks (Gifts) of 2008

December 22, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

An interesting and REAL list (for the most part) of cookbooks for serious and not-so-serious home cooks. Some of the 18 titles anointed and blessed  by The Post include: A Platter of Figs, by David Tanis (So popular right now that it can’t be had from any of the big online — or local — stores.) Summer on a Plate, by Anna Pump and Gen LeRoy (The Hamptons, yeah, Loaves & Fishes shop food) Outstanding in the Field: A Farm […]

Categories: Beans, Book Reviews, Cookbooks, Recipes, Soup • Tags: Beans, Book Reviews, Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Soup

Growing, growing, growing (Used with permission.)

Yin-Yang Beans

October 7, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Yin-yang beans, also called Calypso or orca or black calypso beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris), resemble nothing more than the ancient Asian symbol of “yin-yang,” even to the point (no pun intended) of the eternal black dot. The beans take 70-90 days to produce “fruit.” According to gardening catalogs, these hyrbids grow to be fifteen inches high. Each bean pod contains four to five seeds or beans. Wait until 90 days after planting to harvest for dry use, but you can cook […]

Categories: Beans, Photography • Tags: Beans, Calypso bean, Cooking, Food, Food Photography, Yin-yang beans

6
White Beans (Used with permission.)

White Beans with Cream, Prosciutto, and Parmesan

September 14, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Autumn teases you, you know, with its chilly mid-September mornings, urging you to dream of sitting outside on cool evenings, wrapped lightly in woolen shawls, a bowl of hot bean soup nestled in your hands, a glass of Pinot Grigio resting on the small table next to you. Dreaming of a stone cottage in Italy’s Piedmont or a small crowded house in Rome, the smoke from the fireplace coating the walls, the whitewash of centuries peeping through. Listening, as it […]

Categories: Beans, Italian Cooking, Pork, Recipes, Soup • Tags: Beans, Cooking, Food, Italian Cooking, Recipes, Soup

1

Post navigation

Food forms the very essence of life, from the fruit fly to the elephant, with humans in between. So much of what we do revolves around cooking, eating, and the finding of food. Here you'll discover stories, meditations, and photographs celebrating the places that we call home. And, of course, the food that garnishes it all.

My book, due out September 15, 2013

Looking for Something? SEARCH

What’s Cookin’ Here

  • A Bare Table is Like an Artist’s Canvas
  • “Stew’s so comforting on a rainy day.” *
  • Singkong, Manioc, Mandioca, Mandió, Tapioca, Yuca: Singing the Praises of Manihot esculenta (Cassava)
  • The Promise of Apple Blossoms

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 405 other followers

On the home page, click on the pictures to go to the posts. Or click the little boxes in the upper right-hand corner to display posts and first paragraphs.

What We’re Talkin’ About Here

Africa All Souls' Day American Cooking Art Barack Obama Bibliographies Book Reviews Bread Christmas Cookbooks Cooking Cooks Cuisine Francaise Culinary History Day of the Dead Eggs England English Cooking Fish Food Food History Food Photography France French Cooking French cuisine Gardens Haiti Halloween Herbs India Italian Cooking Italy Julia Child M. F. K. Fisher Monasteries Monks Morocco Mushrooms Paris Photography Provence Recipes Southern cooking Virginia White House

Who’s visiting?

Beautiful Blogger Award

Reader Appreciation Award

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Customized Gridspace by Graph Paper Press.
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 405 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com