April: Five Things for Right Now
Hello Spring! Looking forward to what's ahead for this month — ramps!, books, gardening and more
This moment — as March turns to April — is that beautiful, urgently needed precipice of change. Just as I can barely contain my contempt for my sweatshirts and long pants and yearn to exile them to the basement, I also long for the fresh dishes of Spring — new flavors, new textures and switching up cooking methods (no more stews and braises for a little while please!) April bears the promise of this and so much more. Here’s what I’m looking forward to this month.
Five (ish) Things for Right Now
1.) Number one for April (emphatically, no contest) is looking forward to buying ramps at the farmers market this month.
Ramps have a brief window of appearing in early Spring, and usually aren’t carried by major grocery stores. I have occasionally seen them in a local natural grocery store. They look a little like a scallion but as the bulb turns to stem, instead of being almost tubular, they flatten out like a leaf. My favorite way to prepare ramps is to sauté them in butter and watch the stems puff up as they cook. And then serve them on top of a perfectly cooked steak. But, they can dress up anything, from an egg sandwich to pizza to mixed in a quesadilla. It’s actually not easy to describe what they taste like; they share the flavor profile of a somewhat delicate onion (they are often described as tasting garlicky / oniony), but that doesn’t quite convey their unique sensibilities.
14 Ramp Recipes to Celebrate Ramp Season (Serious Eats)
2.) Sitting outside, curled up with a good book, feeling the warmth of the sun.
Book recommendations: Still Life by Louise Penny and Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever.
Making it through a typical dreary and chilly March has me overenthusiastic about such things. I don't usually reach for murder mysteries, but the unusual recommendation for Louise Penny’s books caught my attention, because it wasn’t that they hold you in suspense (although it does so far), but because of their immersive descriptions of French cooking. (That’s all I needed.) I’m halfway through Still Life, the first book in the Inspector Gamache series, and I’m hooked.
Food and drink is ever present, absolutely an undeniable part of the texture of the novel. In the small town south of Montreal, where the murder takes place, the Bistro serves as the gathering place. While there is much detective work happening, there are also many ways to tuck a pastry into a scene. As people come and go, they leave with “a flaky, croissant, still warm from the oven”. They show up with brioche, eclairs, and chocolate donuts to curry favor. A “tray of mille feuilles, meringues, slices of pies and little custard tarts with glazed fruit on top” is passed around at a service.
As a fellow coffee lover, this early line from the Chief Detective made me laugh: “Only while on a murder case did he drink fast-food coffee. It was so associated in his mind with the teamwork, the long hours, the standing in cold, damp fields, that his heart raced every time he smelt industrial coffee and wet cardboard.”
And speaking of beverages, this transporting passage: “Monarda was the zucchini of the flower world. It, too, figured prominently in the harvest market, and subsequently, the Thanksgiving bonfire, which would give off a hint of sweet bergamot so that it smelled as through every cottage in Three Pines was brewing Early Grey tea.”
If you haven’t read any of her books, I strongly recommend — for the food and the suspense! I’m already looking forward to picking up the next book in the series.
Out this month is Care and Feeding: A Memoir by Laurie Woolever, in which she spends some time dishing on her time working with chefs Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. New York Magazine ran an excerpt of the book — “Drinking Was the Job” — which I expected to just quickly scan, and ended up reading the whole thing on the spot. Her writing is exceptional, and I look forward to reading the entire book.
3.) Spending time with Martha’s splashy new garden book
As soon as I heard the news, that Martha Stewart was publishing a new gardening book, the first one in 30 years (and her 101st book!!), the anticipation was high.
No surprise coming from Martha Stewart, but The Gardener’s Handbook: The Essential Guide to Designing, Planting, and Growing is something. It is a tome. No corners were cut creating and printing this book. It is luxurious in its heft, heavy in your hand in a thrilling way. And page after page, nothing short of gorgeous layouts and photos, ideas and explanations. (And really makes me miss the print edition of Martha Stewart Living.) The Gardener’s Handbook is true to its title, and covers so many topics that I will return to time and time again — essentials like propagation and pruning, but also inspired ideas like making your own seed balls.
NPR Interview with Martha: At 83, Martha Stewart celebrates gardening with her 101st book
4). Tinned fish Fishwife is a female-founded tinned seafood company with a focus on responsibly sourcing their product. The Albacore Tuna in Spicy Olive Oil is a treat, and I am lured in by the fancy packaging that brightens up my pantry. It is delicious simply strewn over fresh spring greens. But also an easy ingredient (pantry staple, great source of protein, doesn’t need to be cooked, already seasoned) that’s ready to go for an impromptu, pampered picnic. And if you feel like you wouldn’t have any ideas for what to do with Fishwife’s fancy tinned seafood, you can reach for their colorful new cookbook, The Fishwife Cookbook. Perhaps Sardine and Pesto Pasta with Charred Broccolini, or what about Smoked Salmon Dip with Crackers for your next game night?
Speaking of new cookbooks, Meera Sodha’s Dinner: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes is out this month, with a title that completely grabs my attention. Aren’t we all always searching for new dishes to cook for dinner? I’m a big fan of her Made in India, so I really can’t wait to start cooking through Dinner, starting with her Lentil Soup with Harissa and Preserved Lemon recipe.
5). Getting my fingers in the dirt. Mid-April is when (around here) we are finally (usually) past the last frost and can fully embrace planting some vegetables in the ground. Getting my fingers in the dirt led my mind to Digging in the Dirt, one of the many wonderful songs on Peter Gabriel’s Us album (a recent pick up from a used record store that has been playing lately in the house — good for any time of year of course.) Some of my little seedlings are starting to burst through the soil, so delicate but strong. I’m hopeful that some can survive my learning curve.
What are your five things?
April by the Days
April Fools’ Day (and who knew? National Sourdough Bread Day) April Fools’ Day means something at my house and I’m always on red alert all day for pranks…
World Health Day is April 7th Organized by the WHO, this year’s theme is Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures, which has a global focus on maternal and newborn health. The campaign encourages governments to ramp up efforts to increase maternal survival and end newborn deaths. “The health of mothers and babies is the foundation of healthy families and communities, helping ensure hopeful futures for us all.”
Speaking of lifting up Women’s Health, a special preview is out of the newest journal from the esteemed UK-based The Lancet. The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health’s mission statement is encouraging — not only will the journal look at clinical aspects of health but also social determinants of health, “addressing the unique needs of half the global population” (emphasis mine) and to support research that paves “the way for change in clinical practice and policy internationally.”
National Hug Your Dog Day April 10th (or April 11th is National Pet Day) For some reason I’m thinking about this recent NYTimes article about updates to the Oxford English Dictionary: Overwhelmed by Cuteness? There’s a Word for That (The word by the way is gigil (pronounced ghee-gill).)
And so many more days to look forward to in April like Earth Day, which will get its own newsletter with a discussion on plant-forward eating.