A Buffet Of Spring Stories For Your Sunday Reading
From new books to state dinners, gardening to tourism
Happy Sunday! In Michigan, we were deluged with rain last week. That’s not unusual for April, which can swing from snow to summer heat (it’s supposed to get up to 76F today). We’re seeing the first spring flowers, including forsythia, daffodils and some early tulips, and trees are starting to bud.
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Thanks — and here are some interesting stories that caught my attention this past week.
Martha Stewart Changes Her Vegetable Growing Methods
If you follow Martha Stewart on social media, you know that she has a vast garden on her 156-acre farm in Bedford, New York, as well as more plantings at her summer home in Maine. Last week, Martha told her followers that she is switching up the way she grows vegetables.
Rather than vast rows, she is shifting to raised beds. One reason is to avoid food waste. "I'm not going to eat more than a cabbage a week...so, don't plant any more. Plant something else," Martha said during an event sponsored by Miracle-Gro. Along with her head gardener, Ryan McCallister, she dedicated a half acre to her new gardening project, and created 56 raised beds for her vegetables.
I agree with Martha that raised beds are a way to keep crops under control, and it also makes for easier fall cleanup. I only have a pocket garden, but I find containment is a much better way to go.
Libraries Are Giving Away Seeds
I received a delightful email from the Ann Arbor District Library. It offered packets of flower and vegetable seeds to residents of Washtenaw County, where I live. I signed up for a packet of each type.
It turns out this is a statewide practice in Michigan. We have a seed network, with a map of libraries that are providing free seeds. It is part of a national effort to ecourage gardening and to fight food insecurity. The offer came just as I was about to order seeds for my spring planting. Does your library offer seeds? Have you grown anything from them?
New Books Are In The Works
A couple of weeks ago, international trade expert Jeffrey Garten told me that his wife Ina had a new book coming out in the fall. And now, Ina has revealed the cover. Her upcoming book is called Be Ready When the Luck Comes, and it will be published Oct. 1.
Ina has a fascinating background, working in the White House Office of Management and Budget, and running her store, The Barefoot Contessa. She did not publish her first cookbook or launch her TV show until she was in her 50s. I’m betting her memoir will have a lot of wisdom to share, especially for the younger women who are some of her biggest fans. You can place a pre-order here.
Meanwhile, I was pleased to see the announcement that Margaret Li and Irene Li have signed a deal to write another cookbook. It’s called Make Way For Dumplings, inspired by their Boston business, Mei Mei Dumplings. (As a big fan of Robert McCloskey, I thoroughly applaud this title!)
Make Way for Dumplings will include “modern dumpling recipes, folding techniques, weeknight hacks, dinner party menus and more” all aimed at inspiring home cooks. I love their previous book, Perfectly Good Food, which encouraged people to make the most of what’s in fridges and pantries. As the Lis said, “We can’t wait to plan allll the dumpling parties for book launch season!”
I’ll post a link down the road when it is time for pre-orders. Fingers crossed they come to Ann Arbor.
A Sakura Theme For A State Dinner
Last week, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko for a state dinner. It coincided with cherry blossom season in the United States and Japan, so not surprisingly, the dinner menu featured a sakura theme. According to the White House, guests were served a first course of house-cured salmon; a salad of avocados, red grapefruit, watermelon radish and cucumber; and shiso leaf fritters.
Dry-aged rib eye steak with blistered shishito pepper butter, fava beans, morels and cipollini was the main course, with a sesame oil sabayon. Dessert was this gorgeous salted caramel pistachio cake, a matcha ganache and cherry ice cream, with raspberry drizzle.
I’ve been lucky enough to see the cherry blossoms in bloom in both DC and across the Japan, and I hope you’ll get the opportunity to experience them in both places.
Oaxaca Looks To Combat Overtourism
The cuisine of Oaxaca, Mexico, has inspired chefs around the world, turning Oaxaca into a foodie destination. But like a number of popular places, Oaxaca is running into a problem with overtourism. People line the streets to hear the sounds of brass bands, buy souvenirs, see colorful puppets, and of course, eat.
Since 2020, the city has seen a 77% rise in the number of national and foreign tourists, according to figures provided by the Center for Social Studies and Public Opinion, a Oaxaca-based research organization. On Jan. 27, according to CityLab, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to decry the soaring cost of living and displacement created by the wave of visitors. “Oaxaca is not a commodity,” readmany signs and banners.
Oaxaca hasn’t taken formal steps yet, but there are suggestions it needs to impose a tourist tax like the one that Venice recently imposed on day trippers. Stay tuned to see whether activists can push that through.
Restaurants In The Totality Zone Lucked Out During The Eclipse
I hope you were able to see last week’s solar eclipse. I watched it from the Saline River Preserve, an open space a few miles from Ann Arbor. We were encouraged to bring snacks and water to the viewing area. As it turns out, restaurants in the zone of totality found the eclipse to be great for business, according to Square, the payment app.
Restaurants in Niagara Falls, Ontario, that use its technology reported a 404 percent increase in revenues. In nearby Hamilton, Ontario, there was a 67 percent jump. And some spots in the United States saw their income rise 500 percent on eclipse afternoon.
Many towns in the zone spent weeks and even months promoting their eclipse specials. In my area, highways leading to Ohio towns were clogged with traffic as people south the chance to see the eclipse in its corona glory.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
Last week, I wrote a couple of stories for Food & Wine. Open Table is about to banish anonymous reviews, which has to be a welcome step for restaurant owners. (Thank you to a CW reader for the tip!)
I also wrote for Food & Wine about the push by Whole Foods and Trader Joe to open smaller stores, a topic that I previously discussed in the newsletter.
The latest episode of Lions, Towers & Shields classic film podcast looks at A Place In The Sun, the melodrama that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff at the dawn of their careers. The movie features a lu’au scene that might bring back memories if your parents entertained that way.
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Etsy shop: City Tips Vintage
I’ll see paid subscribers tomorrow with Red Beans and Advice. I’m sharing tips for shopping in one of my favorite places for gourmet foods: Home Goods.
Have a great week, and enjoy those spring flowers!