Cucumber Agua Fresca

How to make a cucumber agua fresca with lime and a touch of salt. This is a great hot-weather drink that also uses up cucumbers if you have too many.

Olive Oil Rosemary Cake

A recipe for an olive oil rosemary cake with pine nuts. This is an Italian cake that isn't too sweet, and is great with preserved fruit and a little liqueur.

Pine Nut Cookies

How to make pine nut cookies, pignoli, with American pine nuts -- although any kind of pine nut works. These cookies have a touch of rosemary in them and are not too sweet.

Butternut Squash Bread

My take on the classic, butternut squash bread is like pumpkin bread: A semi-sweet, breakfast type quickbread studded with pepitas.

Fig Bread

A semi-sweet, moist fig and nut bread that's great for breakfast or a snack; it's a hybrid fig bread and fig cake. Walnuts add a nice crunch.

Fig Syrup

Tired of maple syrup? Make fig syrup. You can use fresh or fried figs, wild or store-bought.

Elderberry Ice Cream

I love ice creams. They are my main weakness when it comes to sweets, and I specialize in weird ice…

Blackberry Panna Cotta

Blackberry panna cotta is a joy of summer, and can be made in several different ways that I’ll go through…

Elderflower Liqueur

Making your own elderflower liqueur is a way to remember that moment when spring becomes summer, even in the depths…

Candied Angelica

Angelica is a giant herb that grows wild all over the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Candying its hollow stems is a great way to enjoy angelica or lovage.

How to Eat Manzanita Berries

Manzanita berries are ripening all over California right now, but few know that they are not only edible, but are well worth your time to collect. The secret? Grind the dry, apple-like berries to make a sort of manzanita sugar.

Huckleberry Muffins

It's huckleberry season here in the West. And while my favorite way to eat hucks is in a bowl with cream, I also love huckleberry muffins. My version has a bit of a tang to it from sour cream.