Bistro Springhouse

June 27 is SOLD OUT! New date added!

Thank you to everyone who signed up for the Flour & Water Pasta Workshop on June 27. I can't wait to spend the afternoon making pasta with you!

Missed out? A new workshop date has been added:

Sunday, July 19, 2:30–4:30 PM at Giuliano's Deli

Bring a friend, make pasta from scratch, and leave with new skills, fresh pasta, and your own pasta board to take home.

Ages 6–106 welcome.

Register here: https://bistrospringhouse.com

This week's curiosity purchase: Chinese cabbage.

Most of us know it as the base for kimchi, but Chinese cabbage (often called Napa cabbage) is one of the most versatile vegetables at the market. It's sweeter and more tender than regular green cabbage, with crisp stems and delicate leaves that can be eaten raw, stir-fried, grilled, braised, or added to soups.

I'm especially fascinated by ingredients that can completely change character depending on how they're used:
Raw in a salad – crisp and refreshing
Quickly cooked – silky and sweet
Simmered in broth – almost buttery

The rest of today's haul includes fresh peas, tomatoes, lettuce, yellow squash, scallions, garlic, cherries, blueberries, peaches, strawberries, and farm eggs. Summer is finally starting to show up at the market.

Thirsty Thursday: Hawaiian (by Thad Vogler)

Straight Applejack / Yellow Chartreuse / Lime / Pineapple / Rich Demerara Simple Syrup / Salt

This one earned a spot on my Thirsty Thursday list for its ability to surprise. Pineapple and apple aren’t a pairing I reach for often, but together they create something elegant, refreshing, and just unusual enough to make you stop and pay attention.

Farmers Market haul: peas + cherries edition 🌱🍒

This week’s haul feels like the official shift into early summer: peas, cherries, strawberries, rhubarb, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, and a beautiful orange cauliflower.

The curiosities this week are fresh peas and sour cherries.

Fresh peas are one of those ingredients that can make you forget everything you thought you knew from a can. They’re sweet, grassy, crisp, and bright — more like a tiny spring vegetable than a soft pantry staple. Canned and froze peas have their place, but fresh peas feel completely different: snappy, delicate, and worth slowing down for.

And cherries are having their moment too. Sweet cherries are easy to love, but sour cherries feel like a farmers market prize — tart, juicy, and only around for a short window.

Also in the haul: cabbage for sauerkraut, Kirby cucumbers for pickles, carrots, rhubarb, orange cauliflower, strawberries, sugar snap peas, red potatoes, russet potatoes, lettuce, and eggs.

Come curious. Leave with something seasonal.

Tonight's dinner was a bit of an experiment.

I gave ChatGPT a list of what was in my refrigerator—beets, beet greens, carrots, carrot tops, fennel greens, marinated artichoke hearts, red lentils, lemon, capers, yogurt and more—and asked it what to make for dinner.

The result: roasted beets and carrots with warm lentils, artichokes, plenty of greens, a lemon-caper dressing, and toasted walnuts for crunch.

The flavors were impressive. The presentation? Let's just say AI still has a few things to learn about color theory.

But that's part of cooking with curiosity. A meal doesn't have to be picture-perfect to be worth making, and this one made good use of ingredients that might otherwise have been overlooked.

Not a single carrot top, beet green, or fennel frond went to waste.

A new Flour & Water Pasta Workshop has been added for Saturday, June 27 at Giuliano's Deli in Glenside.

In just two hours, you'll mix, knead, shape, and take home your own handmade pasta while learning a few simple techniques you can use again and again in your own kitchen. No fancy equipment. No experience required. Just flour, water, and a little curiosity.

Each registration will take home handmade pasta and a pasta board to keep practicing.

- Great for ages 6–106.
- $30 per person with a minimum of two participants per registration.
- Spots are limited.

Register at bistrospringhouse.com

Want to support a small business? Likes are nice, but comments, shares, saves, reviews, recommendations, and word-of-mouth are what really help local businesses grow.

Here's my challenge: every time you catch yourself scrolling this week, pick one square and do it for a local business. A comment, a share, a review, or a recommendation might seem small—but that's how communities grow.

Thanks for helping make our community stronger, one small action at a time. ❤️

I missed my local farmers market this week, but a trip to Kingston, NY supplied plenty of curiosities.

This haul includes seeded rye from Rosie, Italian colatura di alici (anchovy essence), pickled pineapple, pickled asparagus tips, sauerkraut jarred straight from the bucket, soy-pickled jalapeños, fennel taralli, Jacobsen Italian fine sea salt, and a bottle of Brevis bittersweet vermouth made in New York.

Some ingredients are staples. Some are experiments waiting to happen.

Curiosity is the best ingredient in the kitchen.

Today’s pasta workshop group was a wonderful bunch. Thank you to everyone who came ready to roll up your sleeves, get curious, and make pasta together.

You inspired me so much that I came home and made my own pasta for dinner with radish greens pesto. Pasta energy carried right into my own kitchen.

A big thank you to Giuliano’s for the use of their space and for helping make this workshop possible. Grateful for this community and the chance to share simple food, handmade skills, and a really good afternoon together.

This week’s curiosity: fennel

I’m still learning my way around fennel, but I’m starting with a simple dinner idea: green beans, thinly shaved fennel, potatoes, and a grainy Dijon vinaigrette. Crisp, bright, a little sharp, and very spring-to-summer.

And the fennel stalks? Not going to waste. I’m going to thinly slice and candy them. They taste like Mike and Ikes, and the sugar syrup used in the candying process will be bottled and used for cocktails or to sweeten iced tea.

Other ways to use fennel greens/fronds:
- Stir into vinaigrettes or pesto
- Sprinkle over roasted potatoes, fish, eggs, or salads
- Add to herb sauces
- Tuck into stock or soup
- Use as a fresh garnish anywhere you’d use dill or parsley

Also in the haul: strawberries, broccoli, snow peas, potatoes, zucchini, spring onions, asparagus, garlic, garlic scapes, eggs, and focaccia (still warm!).