Cumin is a smoky, warm spice used in a wide variety of dishes and cuisines - but this amateur cook finds it best paired with the sweet and smoky flavors of roasted, local eggplant. 

Growing up, I don't recall many spices being used in my mother's cooking. Somehow, though, all of her family-style meals were full of flavor, despite the lack of seasonings used. She also made enough food for an army, but that's an article for another day. Since I began cooking for myself back in college, however, I have become aware of the thousands of spices out there - current favorites being cayenne pepper, freshly-cracked black pepper, and cumin powder. 

Summer might be coming to an end, but there are several ways to savor its last few minutes. Going to the beach, drinking a mojito and biting into a juicy peach are all relevant activities that come to mind. 

I recently made the move from Arlington to Somerville, expecting more of a city life and even less of a chance of being able to enjoy fresh produce on a regular basis. An innocent walk down my new street one of the first days after my move, though, proved me terribly wrong – thanks to our neighbor with the lush, abundant garden at the end of our street.

For confidentiality’s sake, we’ll call this neighbor Greg. Greg grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on his small plot of land, including tomatoes, grapes and plums. Greg loves to share his homegrown foods, and takes pride in what he and his garden produce. As luck would have it, I happened to walk by Greg just as he was preparing his garden for Hurricane Irene – and I walked home, gleefully, with an armful of fresh plums.

At the Dedham Farmers Market last week, I visited Kate Canney (pictured right behind my daughter), one of my favorite local food folks who is the primary grower for The Neighborhood Farm in Needham, Massachusetts. After chatting with Kate for a bit, I looked to my left and saw a box of massive zucchini and squash, with a sign that read, "That's what 5 inches of rain in 48 hours will do to a zucchini!"

On principle, I just had to buy one of these giants.  I guess I considered it a great deal at $2.50, but I also saw the challenge that stood before me. What to do with all of the zucchini?

The very first week of our first CSA, as I was gathering my items in my bag, the guy who runs the stall in City Hall Plaza goes, “Oh wait, take one of these!”

I had never seen this before in my life. I looked at him blankly and asked “And just what IS that?” He told me it was kohlrabi. Again, blank stare. He told me it is a German turnip that tasted kind of like broccoli, kind of like lettuce, and kind of like apple. “Oooooookay” I said and stuffed it into my bag and went home.

I did some more searching and found that not only can you cook the kohlrabi, you can eat it raw. The first time we got it we roasted it and then sautéed the greens (very tasty). The second time we received some I decided that I would use them raw. Next time, I’d like to try pickling them.