February 12, 2012

About Me

 Hi. My name is Amanda Ehret. I write this blog. I find inspiration in trying to cook and garden to feed my family well.


I live with my husband, Gordie, and our son, Willem, in an old house in New Hampshire.  

When Willem was born, everything about how we lived, including how we ate, suddenly mattered so much more. I want my son to grow up with good eating habits and know how to take care of himself, as I think we all should know how, in the garden and the kitchen. This gives me lots of motivation to try to make delicious things. 

I think everything tastes better when it is made from scratch. There isn't always time for that, but if you plan for it, food from scratch can be more of a way of life.
When I was a kid I thought berries were the most luxurious food imaginable. (I still do.) I knew where to find each kind as they ripened throughout the summer, and didn't mind a few scratches on my arms to get them. The seasons were just so short!
 
I had Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I loved the ending: "But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper." The idea of having a meal that was as divine as to have a big bowl of summer berries at its center has always stuck with me. I still wish for good, fresh things that have grown close to home to be the stars of of every meal.


As a grown-up, I think tomatoes are another luxurious food. I love everything that grows in my garden. I love cheese. I love wine and have been lucky enough to do some traveling with my husband and my sister and brother-in-law focused on the incredibly fun task of wine tasting.

In our household we eat meat once or twice a week. We did not set out to be "flexitarians," it's just what makes sense and feels like a natural fit for us. I seek out well-raised meat and appreciate it all the more for less frequent appearances in our diets.  

I love to cook. It took me a while to embrace cooking as a thing worth spending time on, but now I allow myself to enjoy it rather than feel burdened by it. I try to focus on doing it well and actively finding routines that allow it to happen. I get joy from learning new techniques, feeling more capable, and becoming more intuitive in the kitchen. 

The Blog
I have been keeping this blog since 2008 as a way to store recipes and share them. It started out as a simple, just-recipes blog, and that was handy for me. These days I've branched out a bit and the blog gives me an outlet to have some fun writing. 

You will find here recipes of all sorts, but I especially love seasonal and vegetable-based, great salad combinations, and warm dishes of pasta strewn with tomatoes and topped with shaved Parmesan. I make some pretty great desserts from time to time, and desserts were how I began in the kitchen. What you won't find here is anything, ever, featuring mushrooms; it is the one food I detest.


Sometimes, I fill this space with thoughts on gardening or preserving or wine or feeding a family. A few times a year I post about a tasting extravaganza-- a tasting event of multiple courses featuring food or wine or both that we usually orchestrate in conjunction with my sister and brother-in-law, who are both chefs by training. (One of these tasting events we have called "Apple Weekend" for about the last ten years. We do it almost every fall and make a scrumptious meal featuring all the wonderful things available in late September. There's some (usually) friendly competition involved as well.)
I think we all should gather at a table every day for good food and conversation while setting all else aside for a bit. Food that you eat slowly and savor tastes better. 

Thank you for visiting! 

Contact
amanda [dot] ehret [at] gmail [dot] com 
milk and blackberries on Facebook 

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