33 Comments
Dec 16, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

Fennel in the garden is great for swallowtail caterpillers!

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Good to know!

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Dec 16, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

That is a great scarf!

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Here’s to you and Ron, and to Thurber’s silks!

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Roz!

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Dec 16, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

I love Roz Chaz and I can totally see you guys being friends and enjoying each other’s company. And how nice that she gave you that scarf! A true friend it seems. Glad you had a day away from the news.

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

Very Cool. All counts. 😎

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

Oops… sorry Roz Chast! My bad

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

I read this while I was waiting for my fennel, sweet onion, sausage, pizza

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Yum!

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Many people toss the fronds, rather than use them, including my hubs. I like to mince fennel fronds and sprinkle licorice-y delicious on top of whichever fennel thing we’re making. Tonight it’s a NYT roasted dish with chicken, onions and delightful fennel. 😋

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That's what I'm making tonight! Chicken and fennel and apples--NYTImes recipe, my go-to place.

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

Super good! Remember to “frond it”!

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Love the gift from your friend (and your cartoons).

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Is this possibly the FIRST cartoon about fennel. I

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I think you may be right! The New Yorker should have bought that for that reason alone!

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

Thurber is extraordinary and these dogs are a delight. Enjoy this great memory of a super fun day!

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

I love cooking with fennel. You can use the fronds to garnish dishes and I have a recipe for a sauce using the fennel fronds. I love your cartoons and the Thurber scarf.

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What a lovely friend you have in Roz Chast, and in Fennel Fronds you have alliteration at its best... I laughed out loud!

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Thanks, D.L.! It is a great sound, fennel fronds, right?

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Yes! Onomatopoeic!

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What is that word? I will have to go look it up...

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Its a literary term that describes words that sound like themselves.

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Dec 17, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

I may always look at fennel with a laugh now! That silk is lovely! What a treasure.

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Glad to make people laugh at every day things! Thank you, Jonathan!

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Wonderful way to begin a gray snow wrapped Sunday morning in Vermont. The fennel conversation raises many opportunities for discussion. I'll add the word arugala to the cooking discussion (not my area) --such a fun word and it matters not that I am not exactly sure what it is--except that it is in healthy "Vt" salads of my friends.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her amazing Braiding Sweetgrass, reminds readers of multiple ways to have respectful/loving relationship with nature's gifts. (Translation: go for a walk and touch, smell, see plants and trees--and all creatures for that matter). Most of us, including our kids, already have a small circle of species that touch our hearts: chickadees, plovers, birch trees, field mice (outside my house) and more.

There are many ways we can support earth--wherever we live. I imagine Liza illustrating an entire book with this as a theme. I remember exploring the Hudson beaches growing up in Dobbs Ferry--bottles and beer cans and fishing tackle comes to mind. Here in VT, my small lawn is a natural meadow for butterflies. And I am reminded fondly of a house painter who asked to move all insects she encountered. At the same time, a 7 year old friend was building pathways for the many ants and insects he found in the grasses. The insects ruled!

Closing with ferns, check out where we might find maidenhair ferns in our bioregions. Find them and many of us will fall in love again. Easily.

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Lovely, bob. I adore ferns, and so did my mother. That reminds me that I don't have any growing at our house--I need to change that! My husband and I rescue insects that get inside...except mosquitos, I have to say.

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Don’t make an anise of out yourself, I always say.

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