Stories by Gwyn Mellinger

Repairs send household into pioneer era
May 9th — I’ve developed a new appreciation for the trials of my pioneer foremothers, even if my own compromised situation is a ...
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Asparagus shunned by skeptics
Apr 27th — While I fantasize about having more asparagus than I can possibly eat, I understand that not everyone shares this passion. ...
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Boomer-friendly garden gadgets popular
Apr 18th — Long ago, in a much simpler time, growing vegetables was a straightforward matter. When our grandparents were wielding the hoe, ...
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Tillers’ effectiveness, cost vary
Apr 11th — For many vegetable growers, April is the most important month in the gardening cycle. People who do not plant early ...
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Carrots a challenge, but can be grown
Mar 29th — One of the vegetables that can be directly seeded into the garden this time of year is the carrot, which ...
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Different techniques head off nature’s interlopers in the garden
Mar 24th — As we begin planting this year, it will be important to think proactively about protecting new plants from the local ...
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Difficulties increase in finding nutritious, affordable food
Feb 22nd — Strolling through the supermarket last week, I spotted a cherry pie on sale for $2.99. If I pick and pit ...
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White chocolate makes cookie guilty pleasure
Feb 7th — Every so often, I am confronted by what I deem to be the tastiest cookie ever invented, which features hazelnuts ...
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Too-far-gone fruit isn’t necessarily a bad thing
Feb 4th — I found myself a few weeks ago with a supply of over-ripe bananas. I like my bananas with sugar spots, ...
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Root vegetables add heft to hearty soup
Jan 25th — A lot of people are complaining about the weather, but I don’t mind a few weeks in the dead of ...
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Breakfast nutrition takes back seat to sweet tooth
Jan 22nd — For at least 30 years, I have embraced the adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. ...
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Mac and cheese fit for winter comfort
Jan 18th — When the weather is cool, my appetite gravitates toward comfort food, which tends to be tasty, filling, fattening and unglamorous. ...
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Incorporating dates into diet is easier than you think
Jan 3rd — It’s not every day that the UPS guy drops 11 pounds of dates on the front porch. But that’s exactly ...
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Recipe reminder of aunt’s legacy
Dec 15th — Many of us complain of the stress associated with the holidays as we juggle cooking, shopping, decorating, work, travel, in-laws ...
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Gifts for a foodie: No, not a blender
Nov 28th — Because cooking can be viewed as either a pleasant diversion or domestic drudgery, giving kitchen appliances as holiday gifts can ...
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Hot soups: the cure for chilly weather
Nov 24th — On a chilly evening or weekend afternoon, there’s no more fitting meal than a steamy soup made with seasonal ingredients. ...
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Twist on pecan pie adds flair to tradition
Nov 10th — Shockingly, just 12 days separate this column from Thanksgiving. For those who will be wearing the apron on Nov. 22, ...
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In seaport, diners connect with food
Nov 5th — Many of us, often the urbanites among us, live lives disengaged from the source of our food.
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Food service grounded
Oct 30th — Whenever I fly, I pine wistfully for the time when planes flew half-empty and a person could stretch out, maybe ...
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Recipe capitalizes on pumpkin season
Oct 12th — I tend to view the stretch from Halloween to Thanksgiving as one segment of the culinary calendar. In part, that’s ...
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Apples deserve autumn reverence
Sep 28th — As I was pondering this reverence that people have for the apple, I decided that the apple had two things ...
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Brownie substitution tasty, but not low-cal
Sep 22nd — I subscribe to several cooking magazines, and one of the best for dessert recipes is Cooking Light. Leafing through this ...
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Cooler air ushers in fall, winter fare
Sep 15th — I am convinced that the seasonal change in food preferences is more than habit or custom. There’s a physical component ...
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Fresh lime key flavor in cheesecake variation
Sep 8th — One of my favorite desserts is the key lime pie, and another is the basic cheesecake. For some time now, ...
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Bedtime just as crucial as awakening in garden
Aug 31st — With the temperatures stuck in the 90s and this year’s vegetable garden petering out, it’s hard to think about replanting ...
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Culinary icon takes cake with classic recipe
Aug 25th — I recently was in need of a recipe for a substantial cake to give as a thank-you gift, but it ...
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Black bean & corn salad
Aug 21st —
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With yellow wax beans, flavor depends on prep
Jul 28th — I’ve fallen in love. The object of my recently ignited affection is a yellow wax bean called Goldito.
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Sweet, fresh peaches base for delicious dessert
Jul 13th — I rounded a corner in the supermarket the other day and was nearly knocked off my feet by the aroma ...
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Basil, tomatoes an aromatic, flavorful mix
Jul 3rd — When I load up my purchases at the nursery in the spring, I always set the tomato and basil plants ...
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Founding father’s methods blossom in modern gardens
Jun 27th — I found myself in central Virginia last week, I did what any red-blooded American vegetable gardener would do: I took ...
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Busy bees keep gardens growing
Jun 13th — All vegetable plants that produce a bloom depend to varying degrees on bee pollination to produce fruit. For those of ...
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‘Seasoned’ straw makes best mulch for vegetable gardens
Jun 5th — Most people wouldn’t lament the fact that they had run out of partially rotten straw, primarily because they wouldn’t keep ...
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Heavy rains keep gardeners at bay
May 12th — How quickly a saturated garden will dry out depends on a number of factors, including the type of soil you ...
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Vine-ripe tomatoes turn heads, tempt your taste buds
May 5th — The No. 1 reason people plant vegetable gardens or go to farmers markets is for the tomatoes. Over the years ...
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Carrots: The lazy gardener’s best friend
Apr 4th — As a general rule, carrots are the easiest vegetable to grow in the home garden and the hardest to mess ...
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Garden becomes battlefield in war on rabbits
Mar 21st — Every time I come up my driveway at night and park in front of my house, cottontail rabbits scatter in ...
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Daylight-saving gardening: Practical do’s and don’ts
Mar 8th — When Congress changed the date on which daylight-saving time would commence, it’s unlikely that the needs of vegetable gardeners figured ...
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Spring the time to retool garden
Mar 5th — Just as we occasionally change the carpet and drapes in the living room, it also makes sense to remodel the ...
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Clever reader defies tomato-free winter
Feb 10th — If vegetable gardening has a downside, it’s that eating vine-ripened tomatoes ruins us for lesser specimens. Having tasted the real ...
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Sale sweetens stuffed pepper recipe
Feb 6th — The stuffed bell pepper may be something of an artifact. It certainly was ensconced in the repertoire of 1960s family ...
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Cold weather calls for a veggie compromise
Jan 17th — No sooner was I plunged into deepest winter than I found myself craving fresh vegetables. The incongruity in this situation ...
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Global warming’s silver lining could be longer growing season
Jan 10th — My cilantro bed, which usually reseeds itself about three times each year, from early spring to fall, came alive during ...
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Classic soup sticks to ribs
Jan 9th — Some foods belong to the season. This is certainly true of the summer produce that comes from the garden, and ...
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