The concept of the blog is very simple: Figs, Honey and Roses. Even if you have zero cooking skills, if you take a fresh fig and drizzle it with honey, you will have created an incredible dessert by using fresh ingredients and with very little work. The secret to creating fabulous, memorable meals is always use fresh ingredients, as simple as that. The fresher the ingredients the less work you will have.

This site sort of created itself. I am an avid gardener, home chef and a mom. I am pretty well known for my green thumb and my cooking skills in our community. As word began to spread, each time I would go to our local grocery store or farmer’s market, without avail, someone would ask me what to make for dinner. Did I have a favorite recipe?  Did I have a fast healthy recipe?  Why does my tomato sauce taste so good  (I can my own.)? My son’s brown bag lunches are the envy at his high school as are my daughter’s in middle school. Everyone always wanted a play date at our house so they could stay for dinner. I have introduced brussel sprouts, tomato and sugar snap pea to many. Many parents, time after time, have asked, “How did you do it?” How did I get their child to eat something “green” and like it? I tell them all the same thing – I use ingredients that are locally grown and that is why everything taste better at our house!

When I am out and about, I am also constantly asked gardening questions. Questions from roses to tomatoes. I always find myself giving garden tips everywhere I go. So, I have combined the two—my knowledge of gardening and cooking to create this blog.

It is absolute pure joy to take something that you have grown in your backyard or farmers market and to turn it into a fabulous dinner. There are a lot of misconceptions that using fresh vegetables to cook take longer. This blog will disprove that.

So as the years pass, I keep emailing advice about cooking and gardening to friends and family. Now, it is time to answer your questions and help all of you especially when it comes to that awful question, “What should I make for dinner?”

Hopefully, this site will inspire you to plant a tomato plant on your fire escape. Perhaps it will inspire you to clear a patch of earth for a garden in your backyard. Perhaps you and your neighbors will start a roof top garden. Perhaps it will encourage you to participate in your community garden. Most importantly, I hope it will inspire you to buy fresh produce grown by your local farmers and help you prepare a delicious meal for your family and friends.