We've lost count of how many times we've vacationed in Amsterdam. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 trips we reckon. It's a city that is fulfilling to the soul and the Dutch people rank at the top of our list when it comes to world favorites.

They're friendly pragmatists, just like the scrumptious crew.

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When that first cold spell recently blew into Austin for a few hours we hit the kitchen like a freight train so we could utilize our oven that had lain dormant for lo these many months.

We wrestled our giant Dutch oven out from the cabinet and went into a flurry of motion so we could get our ragu started before another heatwave settled in that would render our efforts naught.

We have a good history of Italian cooking though it does not stem from genetics. Back when we lived in Alabama we had full access to the kitchen of Agata, a Sicilian granny woman who regularly put out feasts that could make a grown man weep with pleasure.

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The Austin vegan community lost Iggi's Texetarian earlier this year so let's hope the herbivores of our city will unite and come together as one to support Arlo's food truck, Austin's newest entry into our burgeoning vegetarian community.

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Do you like your foods served raw?

Are you a vegan?

Tired of the "lawn in a bowl" syndrome so many raw food folks suffer from?

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This time of year in Austin, Texas everything we cook has Hatch chiles in it. Breakfast tacos? Hatch chiles. Pot Roast? Hatch Chiles. Tuna Sandwich? Hatch chiles.

Yesterday I was knocking out a batch of banana bread and I damn near put some Hatch chiles in it.

The harvest only comes once a year and we have to eat as many peppers as we can for a couple weeks, then roast 15lbs to put up in the freezer to get us through the Winter.

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As avid omnivores there is very little we won't consider eating. While it is true that we failed spectacularly at our attempt at vegetarianism there are still times when we leave the meat in the fridge and concentrate on other things.

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After a brief, disastrous bout with vegetarianism over ten years ago [ I gained 15 pounds in a few long weeks ] I stepped back into the clearlight and embraced being the omnivore I'd been my entire life.

As a vegetarian I could not stop eating. I was never satisfied no matter how big the plate or bold the flavors.

I remember sitting on my sofa at night with a giant, steel bowl of cut up mangoes, bananas, apples, papaya....anything I could buy at the grocery store that I thought might fill me up.

After methodically consuming 3-5 pounds of chopped fruit each night I could finally get the level of fullness that I'd come to associate with the pleasures of a pork chop, a burger or a BLT.

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A few years ago I realized I had to make a change. If I was going to be able to keep on eating all the cake, pie and donuts I wanted, I was going to have to figure out how to get a chunk of sugar out of my diet or I'd be dead from the diabetes by the time I was 40.

Since I drink upwards of ten cups of coffee or tea per day-every day I reckoned the 30 or so teaspoons of sugar I was consuming via beverage.could be dialed down a notch or two with an alternate sweetener.

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Any home gardeners reading?

If so hit the link below to find out what you should be planting right now in Austin Texas in Mid April.

This will allow you to reap a nice harvest in the coming months .

Thanks to Lewisvillehounder over on the Chowhound board for providing the link. Since I travel during the month of August I haven't been able to put out a garden in recent years.

I'd love to hear from a home gardener who's had good luck withstanding Austin's beastly summers.

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/agext/garden/veggies/plantin Spring Planting schedule For Austin Texas

There is an arc of popcorn in my life that began when I was a just a farm kid growing up near Redbrush Kentucky. My parents gave my sister and I some popcorn seeds and we grew a few popcorn plants to test our green thumbs.

Being sequestered on a farm in the Appalachians meant this activity was pretty exciting [there wasn't anything else going on]plus we got to eat what we grew, setting in motion a lifelong addiction to the stuff.

I loved sitting in my bedroom when I was a kid eating popcorn hot out of a Joe Namath popcorn machine and listening to the Kentucky Wildcats on my Sharp am/fm radio set.

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