This year we are growing Rosa Bianca eggplants, a beautiful Italian heirloom variety from Seed Savers. The plants are prolific and produce tender eggplants with a thin skin and few seeds.

If you have been hanging out here for some time you may be familiar with our obsession fascination with a certain triple ginger cookie from Trader Joe’s. Mixed into peachy kefir ice cream, crushed beneath a bright key lime pie, or supporting an oozing toasted marshmallow and dark chocolate- we can’t live without a stash of ginger cookies! You can imagine my dismay when I realized that once my parents moved nearby, our regular care packages from Trader Joe’s would disappear along with the steady supply of ginger cookies.

This desperate situation called for action and I immediately began trying different recipes in an attempt to recreate our favorite cookie. Too soft, too hard, not enough ginger; I felt a bit like Goldilocks as I searched for the perfect recipe. Nothing turned out like I wanted and I began to think we may have to adjust to a life without ginger cookies.

When I attended David Lebovitz’s book signing in New York, I picked up a copy of his newest book “Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes“. I have shared with you previously my love of David’s ice cream book “The Perfect Scoop“, which in my estimation is one of the best ice cream books on the market. Everything I have ever made from that book is a winner. So it was with great anticipation that I sat down to read David’s latest work. The pages fell open near the middle of the book, instantly revealing an irresistible recipe for lemon frozen yogurt made with Greek yogurt and accompanied by gingersnaps. Swoon. I decided that it was fate telling me to make this recipe right away (my adoration of all things lemon and ginger had nothing to do with the decision- really!)

Mr. B and I witnessed these unusual storm clouds driving north from Omaha, Nebraska earlier this summer. They were unlike any I’ve seen before. Crazy shapes and colors filled the horizon for miles. (Click on a picture for a larger image.)