Homemade Potpourri for the Holidays

Homemade Potpourri

The warming spices of winter in an easy potpourri recipe for the holidays.


Aron seemed perfectly calm. He sat in the living room, looking at cartoons in old numbers of the Review of Reviews. From the kitchen the odor of the bursting juices of roasting turkey began to fill the house.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

We humans are makers, creators, hands busy creatures, dreamers. We know what motivates us, where we find our joy. All that talk about results oriented, achieving goals can cloud the joy in doing. I find it spilling over from my previous life in management. I track myself with lists, the daily, the goals. The, the, the. Attending the International Food Bloggers Conference really clarified my motivation to blog. I find joy in the making. When lost in the process, the doing is my bliss. I’d bet you’re a creative too, because we all are. This year’s IFBC experience was like having my vision checked and then realizing that my new glasses helped so much. I couldn’t believe I was making do with my old pair. Why did I wait so long to see clearly?

Essentials

Homemade Potpourri for the Holidays is a project that rewards the doing. The best way to start making potpourri is to take a brisk autumn walk. Gather fallen pine cones, seed pods or dried berries. All these autumn things are currently littering every path and sidewalk. The experience of gathering and choosing each item begins the creative process. I like an array of colors, shapes and textures but choosing just one item from outside and bringing inside is all you need. Once in the kitchen the aroma of warming spices, apple and tangerine are a pure jolt of winter bliss. I made a big batch so I would have extra for gifting. Even a small project of one bowl of Homemade Potpourri for the Holidays has its reward. This isn’t an exacting recipe for potpourri, it’s more of a nudge of inspiration to set you on a path of autumn discovery. Make your own joy. READ MORE . . .

Salt Dough Trees

Salt Dough Trees

Good Bye, Zeus

“It’s one of life’s great fallacies, it seems to me, said Lee, that time gives much of anything but years and sadness to a man. And memory. Yes, memory. Without that, time would be unarmed against us. “

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

We said good bye to Zeus, our 13 year old chow-chow, the day after Thanksgiving. It’s been tough. We knew his time with us was coming to an end, but still. I’m a cat person who fell in love with a ten year old rescue dog. That says so much and yet so little. We knew he was old when he became a part of our lives. We adopted him anyway. We accepted him for who he was and he accepted us. We stayed with him every step of his journey. We navigated his challenges as he aged and loved him even more. We miss him. READ MORE . . .

Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs

The Kitchen Table

“When we were children we lived in a story that we made up. But when I grew up the story wasn’t enough. I had to have something else, because the story wasn’t true anymore.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Our kitchen table top was made from packing crates. Covered with a plastic cloth patterned to match the seasons it is the table my mom still uses. My dad was in the Army and we had returned to the states after his tour of Austria and Italy. There were six inexpensive chairs purchased in Italy but there was no kitchen table. Sitting on my dad’s lap I banged my knees on the huge gray trunks that held up the makeshift tabletop before he added four proper legs at the wood shop at Fort Bragg. So much has happened around that kitchen table, the history of our family is embedded in every piece of scrap wood. READ MORE . . .

Goat Cheese Biscuits with Wild Radish Flowers and Sage

Goat Cheese Bisquits

Spring Foraging

“Romie Lane was muddy with pools of water standing in the new wheel ruts, and the tall wild oats and mustard grew beside the road, with wild turnip forcing its boisterous way up and stickery beads of purple thistles rising above the green riot of the wet spring.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Early spring is an astonishing time to forage along the coast of California. Every patch of soil that was graced with winter rain has sprouted new shoots with tender blossoms floating on a sea of green leaves. Joy Colangelo gave Athena and me an introductory plant foraging lesson in Monterey. Joy is a co-owner of Monterey Bay Sea Salt and has been foraging for almost thirty years. Her knowledge of plant foraging is focused on survival skills. Not only what can be eaten to survive, but what plants can be used as shelter or even to supplement clothing to keep warm. It is the ultimate serendipity to find what you need right where you are! Time spent with Joy is inspiration to spend time learning more about the planet we inhabit. READ MORE . . .

New Beginnings and Spring

Easter eggs

For Easter

“I want a purple egg.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Spring and Easter are all about new beginnings. For me that means trying something new; using my imagination to reach past self imposed boundaries and limits. Waking from winter hibernation there is a lethargy that lingers. Only a sunny, crisp spring day can shake off that last winter heaviness and push us out into the light. READ MORE . . .