new pota­toes

Growing up in Prince Edward Island made me a potatophile from day one.

I made mashed pota­toes for my after-school snack, eaten while watch­ing “The Facts of Life”.

I dated a guy in high school based solely on the fact that he worked in a dairy and could be counted on to show up at my door with a tub of sour cream, our family’s favourite condi­ment, every time he came to take me to the movies.

Walking through my mother’s herb gar­den past normal-sized patches of thyme, rose­mary and chervil, you’d be ill-prepared for the sud­den “Day of the Triffids” moment when you came to the end where the dill and chives grew. The dill and chives were a gar­den unto them­selves, a mas­sive plant­ing that got attacked with scis­sors every day until the snow flew. Continue »