Hello Summer. It’s so nice to see you again, it’s been a while. Oh, and how kind of you to bring along your Excessive Heat Warnings, too. I can’t say I appreciate that…sigh…but, welcome back anyway. I suppose you plan to stay? Well then, I’d say this visit calls for a nice, refreshing beverage, don’t you?
Well, I am sorry to say I’ve got myself all wrapped up in my crazy chaos lately and I’ve been sadly neglecting this space. I have been missing you, it’s true. I started on a new adventure a few months ago, bravely stepping outside my box to explore an opportunity that just happened along my path. It seems that in stepping outside the confines of my comfort zone, the Universe immediately sensed my vulnerability, my openness to possibility and slyly set in motion a series of events, challenging me to extend the boundaries of my box. Needless to say, things are in disarray around here and I find myself more grateful than ever for the tiniest little bits of inspiration.
Sometimes I get the greatest satisfaction from the simplest of things. I often have this experience with food. I love those moments when you create something beautiful and delicious and it fills your body and soul with delight. I have not been having many of those satisfying kitchen experiences these days. Lacking excitement and filled with frustration, my healthy food explorations have been uneventful and devoid of delightful discoveries. So, when I unexpectedly experienced one of those increasingly rare moments of culinary satisfaction, I decided I better milk it for all its worth.
Well Summer has definitely made her way around and seems to be settled in for the season. With temperatures above a hundred we are beginning to wilt around here. Welcome July. There are many things I love about my summer season, but the heat is not one of them. I don’t know about you, but when the mercury rises, my appetite drops. I don’t desire much but sweet summer fruits, simple salads, smoothies and such. So, here are a few suggestions for healthy and refreshing ways to keep your cool in the midst of this summer heat.
I can’t believe we are already this far into April. How did that happen? I hear myself say it again and again, I sound like a broken record. But time…where does it go? Well, you know what they say about time flyin’ and havin’ fun. And since I seem to be starting out this fine April day with broken records and flying time, I may as well toss in another classic cliché while I’m at it – the mason jar. It’s a little overdone in the foodie realm, I get that. But I do love my jars. You can store just about anything in a mason jar. Grains and beans, buttons or ribbons. Nuts and bolts, cotton balls or caterpillars. Salads, smoothies, water or cocktails. But my favorite of late, has to be breakfast. Breakfast in a jar.
It is that time of year again. Spring is in the air. The light has shifted with the clock and that little leap forward brings the morning sun through the kitchen window at just the right time. That beam of spring sunshine resting on a bowl of nature’s most beautiful bounty, highlighting those vibrant colors just as you saunter, sleepy-eyed, into the kitchen on a lazy weekend morning…I am suddenly struck with a realization. A deja-vu sort of moment. I have been here before, no? I recall the first time I was so smitten with this spring sensation that I felt compelled to express my silly delight in all things green and bright. That was the day I started my blog, nearly one year ago.
I haven’t written about food in a while. And I can’t say it’s because I haven’t been spending time in the kitchen. A large portion of my everyday is devoted to preparing produce, cooking up recipes, washing dishes, washing dishes, washing dishes. That hasn’t changed. I grocery shop on a daily basis and our produce box is still providing us with weekly organic delights. But still, things have been feeling a little uninspired in that favorite nook of mine lately. New recipes are at a standstill. Homemade energy bars and hummus have been replaced with the packaged variety. Meals are cooked and consumed without even a thought to pause and pose them for photos. My heart just hasn’t been in it lately, I don’t know why. Yesterday morning I happened to emerge from my cave of an office just in time to catch that one, elusive stream of morning sunlight as it made it’s brief daily pass by the kitchen window. And I suddenly realized that my recent lack of inspiration and creativity in the kitchen is simply a matter of light. It is the light that brings color to my foodie realm.
I love pomegranates. They are a pain to prepare, they make a mess and all that effort seems to yield so little usable fruit. And yet, there is just something so endearing about pomegranates in the fall.
Since we started receiving our weekly box of organic and locally grown produce, I have come to adore this time of year. And that is saying a lot. At this point in the year, I am mentally and physically done with summer. The desert heat is trying my patience, it is draining my energy and any twinge of adoration I might feel for this season is attributed to only one thing: food, of course. I may not feel it in the air just yet, but I can see the beginnings of that blessed seasonal transition in the contents of our weekly produce box. Heirloom tomatoes, Asian pears and fresh figs. I absolutely love fresh figs and their appearance in my box is a reassuring sign that yes, autumn will eventually bless us with its presence. And yet, the bounty of beautiful fresh figs in my kitchen provokes that all too familiar question: what to do with this?
At the last minute, my hubby and I decided to take a break from the everyday and indulge in (what seems to be turning into an annual thing) an adventure of a different sort…Las Vegas…Star Trek convention. Yes. That’s what I said. And while we were there, we experienced quite a few fun Trekkie moments. But my favorite was this…Teacher got herself a new lunchbox!
Seek a Little Solace 