Elderflower cordial
(dancing on the edges of things) I remember the day I first fell in love with the elderflower: it was a hot Glaswegian summer day. I was sitting on my favourite grassy knoll, in the shade of a big craggy old hawthorn bush, with a bounty. All of my adventures involved a bounty of some kind, be it wood sorrel (no plant was safe), wild blackberries, or, in this case, chocolate chip... Read More
Crying over smoked milk
This post is being submitted to the Wild Things roundup over at Hunger and Thirst. If you [still] haven’t checked it out, please do! Few things are as evocative as smoke. It’s primal. We humans have been using smoke since we started using fire. Which, if you think about it, was a long long time ago. It’s magic stuff– stuff that gets into your lungs and into... Read More
Intention
[conifer sirup for expectorance and yum] Last week Los Angeles was blessed with the presence of the herbalist Matthew Wood. Surprisingly humble for someone who’s spent longer than I’ve been alive dedicated to the study of herbal medicine, being around him is always fun. At one point, we were sitting in my mum’s kitchen while he read my pulse and tongue. He wrote... Read More
Eggnog. In a mug.
(on the warming magic & merits of cinnamon) For a week we experimented with keeping the heating on all the time. It was nearing 40 degrees in Los Angeles and living in Southern California for any length of time does something to your temperature tolerance. That is, it destroys it. But having the heating on all the time didn’t work. Not one bit. We’d both wake up... Read More
Rose passion tea
I was at the farmers market when I saw a man who I recognised. But I couldn’t place his face. I followed him around a few stalls, stopping to ask the chicken lady if he was famous. He wasn’t famous. But I couldn’t remember. So I let it go and forgot about it. A few months later I was walking down Beverly Boulevard on the way to FedEx, when I saw him walking on... Read More
Yucca syrup
I was out wandering in the hills at sunset the other night. The clouds were rolling in from the Pacific below me, blotting out most of the signs of civilisation. And I climbed- up to the area that I call the dragon’s back, though it has another name that is much more boring. I much prefer to pretend that I’m clambering along the spines of some great big slumbering beast... Read More
Blackberry and elderflower mojitos
I’ve been getting into this whole ‘drinking’ thing lately. I’m not a big drinker in general, usually- I mean, 4oz beer is enough to make me start acting very silly. Last time I had 2 beers I think I danced on a table. And the last time I had 3 beers I actually threw up for about 2 hours. Plus then there’s the foggy head and all the new friends that... Read More
Pumpkin spiced chai
I imagine you’ll laugh at me if you live in, say, Colorado. So let me tell you that when I say “cold”, I completely understand that, living in Southern California, I have absolutely no ground to stand on. Unless you count the Pacific in January. “Cold” in Los Angeles is not cold in Nova Scotia. I know this because I’ve been to Nova Scotia in... Read More
Beet Kvass– nicer than it sounds
The first time I ever tried beet kvass, I drank it for the health benefits alone. My mind couldn’t get around the salty beet flavour, and, as it turned out, my gut couldn’t either. My digestion wasn’t that great at the time, and so after a couple of pints, I was doubled over in pain. For the record: Lots of bacteria + unhealthy gut = gas pain for days. To compound... Read More
The home-roast (how easy it is)
All it took was one read of this blog post, and I was desperate to try it. And boy, am I glad that I did. I Ebay ordered a popcorn popper (the West Bend Poppery II) and ordered some green beans from Sweet Maria’s. It works out a lot cheaper than buying it freshly roasted from Whole Foods every few days, plus there’s the divine smell, and, as Mr. Huenink points out,... Read More
