straight from our garden

Even though I have been pretty uninspired to cook these days, I must say growing our own food is helping.  We have so many good things growing in our garden at the moment (thanks to my mother and husband).  I am not the gardener in the family, but am happy to use what comes along.

We have been enjoying greens from our garden every day for the past week, spinach, lettuce, arugula (rocket), as well as a variety of herbs, especially the cilantro (coriander).  So, last night I decided to use up some of the cilantro and make a pesto with it.  We had baked salmon with cilantro pesto (recipe below), baby greens, and roasted red pepper with quinoa.  It was actually quite delicious and I am usually not a big salmon fan.

The sugar peas are also growing, as well as tomatoes, broccoli, squash and hopefully my beets survived the nibbling it got from the bunny.  Yes, there is a bunny that seems to be enjoying my garden too!  If the garden continues to grow the way it is, it will be hard to keep up but I am excited to live off our land...at least a little bit.



Cilantro (Coriander) Pesto
3 garlic cloves
2 cups cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts (or almonds)

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and add salt & pepper to taste.  These measurements are a bit of a guess so feel free to tweak it to your taste!

(You can also add chili flakes to give this a bit of spice and you can substitute almonds, walnuts or another nut of your choice).

Table Talk

Since I have not been able to consistently blog for a while and cooking has been put on the 'back burner' (no pun intended), I have decided to share what is really going on in my kitchen.  I am calling this 'Table Talk' - real sharing of real life, real heartache and real hurt.  I know that in most social situations especially at a table full of strangers it would probably not seem kosher to spill your heart and go deep.  But I also know it is usually this type of conversation that takes friendship to new levels and you often realize you are not alone as you think in whatever it is you are going through.

So, I am going to put myself out there and share what my world is really like, because at the moment that is all I have to put on the 'table' - no fancy four course dinner, just my story.  The past few years and 6 months in particular have been the hardest times of my 32 years thus far.  And I have been extremely grateful for cooking as a therapeutic outlet as well as for friends, a loving husband and faith to carry me when I have been unable to carry myself.

Almost four years ago my husband and I starting trying to conceive...it's weird how as a female I never really thought much about not being able to get pregnant, but have probably been picturing myself as a mom since the age of five.  These years have opened my eyes to a world of pain, grief, sadness and helplessness that I did not know existed.  I heard it mentioned that sometimes it takes a while to get pregnant and sometimes people are not able too, but I never really thought how that would make someone feel or that I would be the one in those shoes.

So, after numerous attempts of different fertility treatment, months and months of waiting and watching what seems like everyone around me get pregnant, I am exhausted.  I am exhausted from being hopeful, exhausted from processing, exhausted from waiting, exhausted from dealing with bitterness, exhausted from every aspect of this journey and this is where I sit.  No new recipes or dinner parties on the calendar but just doing my best to deal with the hand I have been dealt.

I am so thankful for tablenosh and the joy that cooking and people have brought to me over the past few years and I certainly hope that my Nosh dinners and kitchen experiments are not over, just on pause...