Peachy the Magazine August September 2014 | Page 64

Photo: Valerie Rice On the Go with Valerie Rice We entertain often; it’s my favorite hobby! Friends wanted information about about my recipes, where I found that cheese, the trick to getting my kids to eat broccoli and radishes or how I pulled the table together (the garden informs not only what we eat but how I decorate the table, too). I launched eat-drink-garden in late summer 2009. What started as a way for me to share information with friends about what to do with all that zucchini you harvest and what wine to pair with spicy food has blossomed into a blog community that reaches way beyond Santa Barbara.  62 PEACHYTHEMAGAZINE.COM Is there someone who has influenced your cooking and gardening? My mother is Belgian, so as a child I was lucky enough to travel and eat my way through Europe in the summers with my family. My grandmother was a wonderful inspiration. She had an abundant vegetable garden behind her house in her tiny village. I remember pulling carrots, picking bush beans and turning the most delicious red currants into jam for our breakfast toast. For an Orange County girl who had only gotten vegetables from the local Ralphs, this was a total culture shock and the start of my garden love affair. Remembering