By Maria

Celebrate Tomato Season! Tomaquet: Catalan Tomato Bread

Celebrate Tomato Season! Tomaquet: Catalan Tomato Bread

I have just harvested my first ripe red tomato, and now I am going to celebrate by sharing my favorite tomato recipes (other than sauce). This first recipe is called tomaquet in Spanish, and I only recently discovered it on my trip to Barcelona. When Eve and I first arrived at our hotel, they brought […]

Read More
My Magic Running Shoes

My Magic Running Shoes

I was one of those depressed, overweight, overstressed people who always had a reason why I wouldn’t or couldn’t run. The most pressing reason was that sneakers made my feet feel so hot that I couldn’t bear to wear them. Ever. Lucky for me, I am the CEO of the company that owns Runner’s World, […]

Read More
A Visit to My Back Porch: Seth Avett

A Visit to My Back Porch: Seth Avett

First of all, here is a sad truth I didn’t have to disclose but will: My lucky assistant Dana did this interview, so I didn’t get to talk directly with Seth, of the Avett Brothers. But maybe that’s a good thing. I would have just started screaming hysterically into the phone. Dana didn’t quite know […]

Read More
How to Grow Garlic in 5 Easy Steps

How to Grow Garlic in 5 Easy Steps

If you are married to an Italian (like I am), are Italian yourself, or have any fantasies of being Italian, you probably want to grow garlic. Don’t tell the Italians, but it’s one of the easiest things to grow in your garden.  Recently Pat Corpora, a real 100% Italian born in Sicily, stopped by to […]

Read More
Why All the Floods?

Why All the Floods?

Is it me, or are we being inundated with catastrophic floods? Cedar Rapids, Nashville, Australia, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana…the list goes on, and while it seems like an especially bad year, the trend has been growing. You can blame it on global warming, the rapture, or just plain bad luck. But I have a different theory. […]

Read More
How To Stake a Tomato in 5 Easy Steps

How To Stake a Tomato in 5 Easy Steps

I have admired and coveted the staking skills of my friend Pat Corpora for decades. He is Sicilian, so I think his blood is made of tomato sauce. I finally got him to come to my mess of a garden and do a tomato-staking intervention. Watch the video for the full details. But in case […]

Read More
Beth Terry’s Plastic-free  Gardening Adventure, Part 3

Beth Terry’s Plastic-free
Gardening Adventure, Part 3

Is it possible to garden without plastic? That’s the challenge I’ve set for myself with the help of Rodale.com and Eric Hurlock of OrganicGardening.com.  (See my blog, MyPlasticfreeLife.com, to understand the problems with plastic and get tips for how to live with as little of it as possible.) In Part 1, I described how I […]

Read More
Top 10 Reasons to Sign Up for My Newsletter + Giveaway

Top 10 Reasons to Sign Up for My Newsletter + Giveaway

I’ve been blogging for about two years now, and it’s time to step up my game—with a newsletter! I really love blogging. It’s the perfect creative outlet for all my diverse interests—whether it’s organic tirades, utterly simple and yummiful recipes, or insights into my eclectic reading and musical tastes. And whether you read these posts […]

Read More