Black [tea] and white [fir] cake
Today marks the shortest day of the year, where the sun, our source of warmth and light, is furthest from us. Living in a city, in the modern world, with electricity and lights and all kinds of noises blocking out the silence, it’s easy to forget that we still live in bodies that have cycles, on a planet that has cycles. Years ago, before all of that stuff existed, as the... Read More
Polenta
(a trip to San Francisco in which I cook for my brother and his roommates) I drove up to San Francisco last week. I’d never actually been for more than a few hours, passing through, so I was excited to spend some time exploring. And luckily, there’s a Twitter-verse, in which you can do things like say ‘hey folks, where should I go in San Fran” and folks... Read More
Traditions
When I started to write this post, I was sitting in Butter’s kitchen, with the smell of wild plums and sugar infusing the air. I was visiting her as part of a road trip that led me through New Mexico, to the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference, then up to Northern Colorado for some mountain and foraging time, then back across the mountains and the desert to Los Angeles.... Read More
Lonely tower cove
I do not sleep well at anchor. En route to Alicante, we sailed into a little cove- a magic cove really- that Jam has named “cala de torre solamente” (lonely tower cove). He spotted it from a mile out, and insisted we sail in to explore it. Some people would call it luck, but I say it takes great talent to pick out the perfect spot from a mile away. A turquoise-bottomed cove,... Read More
Tortilla Espanola
I forgot about how nice some things are at home. Like clean sheets and a comfy bed that is so big you can stretch out in your sleep and still not know there’s someone else there. And like having a bathroom that you don’t share with a hundred other people in the marina. And good coffee. Jamie and I jumped ship in Alicante. Gatablanca and I had a tearful goodbye. That... Read More
The good ship.
As I write this, big fluffy cumulus clouds are forming on the horizon, and my brother, Alex, is checking the weather reports to make sure we won’t run into a storm later this afternoon. We’re in Spain. Torrevieja, to be exact: a small resort town on the East coast. We’re on a boat. Gatablanca, to be exact: a beautiful white catamaran with a blue stripe down the... Read More
Idli with Coconut chutney
I am standing in my own kitchen. After a month of not having access to a kitchen. Or at Pushpa’s, having a kitchen but absolutely no permission to do anything except watch and/ or chop onions), I am back. A month of bookmarking things that I want to try and jotting down notes. A month of trying things that are delicious (home made butterscotch ice cream at Guy’s in... Read More
Dosas with tomato chutney
My days here look something like this: Wake up as Lou and Meghan are going to yoga class. Have an Indian coffee (2 spoons of instant, 2 spoons of sugar, top up with milk.). Take a bucket bath (with warm water now!). Skype Jam, write for a wee bit. Then go to yoga. After yoga I’ll go to the coconut stand and have a couple of young green coconuts, then wander home, past the... Read More
Pushpa’s lemon rice
I’m in India. South India, to be specific. Mysore, to be even more specific. I’ve been wanting to come here for years, and was getting so sick of seeing my [lovely] sister post amazing photos of all the stuff she was seeing, that I booked a ticket to come out here myself. So far, I’ve been on sensory overload. The colours and the smells and the tastes. Mysore... Read More
