Blackberry Bliss

Blackberry. Blackblerry, as Claire calls it. One of my favorite things. Recently a flat of these divine brambles crossed my path. I can't get my nose close enough. I love the perfumey goodness that can only be experienced with mass amounts of blackberries. I so wish that that was how jam tasted. I have an idea for that but I will have to wait until next season. Because, of course I made jam. I brought them out to my moms and we made some low-sugar and some no sugar. It was like old times, canning with my momma.



There were so many berries left. What to do with them?? Well, as passed done for generations, just like jam, once must make pie. I am not going to pretend to have the all knowing pie crust recipe, that is reserved for my mom. In fact pie making in general should be left to my mom. But, I must learn. So I bought a pie crust, sacrileges to some I know. I followed a recipe and some knowledge passed down from momma. Here it is:



Isn't it beautiful? I was so proud of myself. My first real pie. I added some spices, not too much of course. I was certain it was going to be divine. Then reality hit. While it may look like perfection, it was far from it. It didn't gel at all. I was so sad. It was a lovely store bought crust with reddish berrilicious soup inside. The guys were such troopers. They said it tasted good. It did. But I wanted it to be a success. So, now I am trying to find my next pie. I think it'll be in the berry category. How about huckleberry?

Chai Experiment

I know that it is August and here in the NW it is H-O-T hot, but I am already preparing for fall. I think that there are a lot of factors at play. My family moved into a new home, it is beautiful and has been home since the second we signed the papers. It feel like this house was built for us. So, new home means another phase of nesting. Another meaning I experienced the first after having my daughter.

As you may have seen from some previous posts I am trying to do a bit of food analysis. I have definitely given up on the frozen boxed lunch. I have made it several weeks in fact! Trying to take more advantage of the goodness of our markets and local grub. But, if you know me, you know I love my chai tea! It has gone by the wayside for some time because it is fairly high in calories. In visiting some blogs I watch, I came across this chai tea recipe- can be found here.

Chai

* 1 1/2 cups of water
* 1 whole cinnamon stick)
* 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
* 1 heaping teaspoon cardamon seeds
* 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
(note I sliced some ginger, working on enhancing my kitchen tool repertoire)
* 2/3 cup milk
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 tablespoon loose black tea

Bring water and spices to a boil and simmer (covered) for 10 minutes. Add milk and honey; return to the boil. Remove chai from heat and add the tea. Cover and steep for two minutes.

(This recipe was taken from the aforementioned blog. I made some note, but stuck to the recipe.)

As it is a cardinal rule to try the original recipe first I did. Technically speaking she give the option to use powdered or whole. I typed the recipe for what I used. I think that next time I am going to do a variation using nutmeg. I am sure that down the line I will even write an Ode to Nutmeg!



This chai is yummy! I don't think it is so perfect that I am sworn off store bought though. But I think that with time I will tweak this to perfection! Maybe experimenting with different sweeteners, a different variety of spice, who knows.

What I do know is that all things spicy remind me of the best time of year, autumn. Folks, it is around the corner. I was looking out the window of my office to see the tops of trees starting to turn. Fall will be here before we know it. And with some new experiments with cooking and some recent preserving I am all the more ready!

Canning Goodness

This is another multi-purpose blog. I have been trying to get a canning entry in for weeks and now I had a deadline due for the blog at work. So here it is!

You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Genesis 6:21

Time for more of crafting as a spiritual practice. This time we will explore the craft of food preservation. Food preservation is another practice that has been passed down through the generations. I most definitely got the knack of it from my mother. She and I would often seek out the berries of the season and make them into jam. For most people, picking berries is worse than having to pick the seeds out of your teeth! For us, picking berries is meditative. (We had an opportunity to experience this together again recently.) We can and have picked berries for hours until our fingers were stained that bluey-purple-ish red that can only be achieved by berry picking. The most recent time it ended up with about 2.5 pounds of blueberries. Blueberries are small folks, that was a lot of picking! There is only one thing to do with that many berries…JAM! These in particular were made into a Spiced Blueberry Jam and Blue Blue Strawberry Jam (2 parts blueberry and one part strawberry). Both superbly delicious!









Since then, this wonderfully meditative preserving has turned into six batches of jam and a large batch of pickled goodies (beans, cukes and garlic). One of the best things about the items being preserved is that they are wonderful treasures to share with family and friends.

To me, each jar is like a handmade gem. I loved to mix and match flavors. To create something new and exciting, that you won’t find on the grocery store shelf. I love the process of stirring and seeing it transform into its own gem. Some “gems” are purple, some are pinkish-red, some are orangey-red. To me it is the equivalent to having jars of amethyst and rubies in my pantry. Better still because I made them. Each made them with the wonderful fruits of the season. And what a blessing that we can live in an area so abundant with this goodness!

Some years ago now, I signed up for the Master Food Preserving program. Should any of you have questions about canning, feel free to leave a comment, I’ll do my best to answer them. Happy canning!

Food for Thought

I am feeling inspired. As I understand it books have that effect on people. What book you ask? A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. You can find her at Orangette. I find her nothing short of amazing. I find myself on a sort of...self discovery. Reading her descriptions of food is like reading a romance novel, for me. My immediate defense on the subject of my weight is- I LOVE food! Do I? Do I really? Molly loves food. In that sense, food and I are merely acquaintances. If I really loved food what would I be eating? I am sure that it would not be the likes of frozen, plastic containers of low-calorie microwavable food! Is this a sign? A sign of the times? (I don't know where that came from but I liked it!) Some magical way of the world telling me if I don't want to be fat anymore maybe I should slow down. Why, day after day, do I torture myself with these frozen diet meals that don't appear to do me any good anyway. Wouldn't I be just as satisfied if I took an extra ten minutes and made something delectable like Molly's recipe for Bread Salad with cherries, goat cheese and arugula? (Not on her blog, but in her book.) It sounds divine! Goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, cherries! Honestly, aside from the cheese and the bread where are the calories?

All of the aforementioned has got me thinking, what do you love so much about food? Analyze it! I have been trying! Thinking about most everything that goes in my mouth the last two days. (Having reached a turning point in the book in the last few days.) I have even gone so far as to analyze my consumption of coffee. What is it? I am hardly some connoisseur like Jack Nicholson's character in the Bucket List, going so far as to consume coffee from beans excreted from a wild cat! I can only generally tell you the difference in the "roast" of the coffee. For all of those details, I don't particularly care. Coffee a prescription given to those who have given birth and sleep with one ear open will for the next 18 years (or longer) wake at the crack of dawn to savor every waking moment with their children. I drank coffee early on because I was from the Pacific Northwest and that was what we were supposed to drink. I was young, it was cool. I knew the lingo, even moreso now! After a stint of stomach problems I stopped drinking it from upwards of 6-8 years. Picked it up again when I was pregnant because it was hot and I could get it decaf! Coffee drinking is almost like a coming of age. Grandma did it, mom does it, doesn't that mean I am supposed to? No, I have no great snobbery about coffee. I enjoy the taste and flavors I get to add to it. I have even started making it myself. (That was a HUGE step for me!) It is what I drink on my way to work to wash away the daily grind and a good cup will last me until at least two in the afternoon.

I suppose the long and the short of it is, as a way to get back in touch with my "blog" you could be seeing more posts. This could be a good avenue to discover what exactly my food issues are. I have several more damned frozen lunches to consume so not to waste money. But, I think that food needs to start getting more interesting. I am sure that tonight, maybe even tomorrow I will have aother discovery to share. Hopefully something more exciting than my thoughts on coffee. In fact there are more, but this entry would turn into a book. So let's take it, one day at a time! Maybe tomorrow we will examine even further into the frozen wasteland that so often makes up my lunch!

Creativity

(Another blog entry for work that I thought I would share. Soon I will get back to writing them for this site!)


“It is our very nature to create.” –Matthew Fox

It is definitely in my very nature to create. When I see an object, I wonder, “how was that made?” That is how our society has matured. It is the nature of humans to create. As a society we are constantly looking for was to make things faster, better, stronger. While there are those that are looking to expedite life, there are those of us that work in reverse, the crafters and creators of the world. When I am in that creative state I want life to slow down. I want to start from scratch. If I want instant gratification, I can go buy a basket or a sweater. But, isn’t it much more gratifying to use your own hands? Making it yourself you can produce it to your own specifications. What material will you use? A basket, made of reed? Wood? Pine needles? What yarn do you favor? Are you allergic to wool, but like the pattern? Create the item to your liking. The key is simply to create. I hear some of you saying that you aren’t artistic or creative. Hafiz tells us that “all the talents of God are within you.” Maybe you can’t knit in a straight line, or weave with reed or wool. But maybe you are the best baker on the block. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. says “If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.” So what I say to you is find your street sweeper. Find your art, your craft, find that passion that keeps you going. For me, it is creating all things. I always have to have my hands in the pot of creation. Currently it is still knitting. But, my loom has been calling to me for some time now. So, perhaps it is time for more cloth. Whatever it will be, I know it will be made by me!

“Only creating can make us happy. For in creating we tap into the deepest powers of self and universe and the Divine Self.” –Matthew Fox

A New Spin on Creation Spirituality

(This is a blog entry I recently wrote for the blog at the Franciscan Spiritual Center where I work. I thought I would share it here as well. Enjoy!)



For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:1-3

These Hands

These hands are the hands of those before me
The hands of generations past
Ones who taught me about needles, yarn and thread
Skills of old that are built to last.

What do they make for me?
What do they make for you?
Is this my spirituality?
Will it help me to find You?

How can it be that You are my thread?
Weaving together the times of my life?
How will You help me,
Through happiness, sadness, strife?

Embroider, knit or even crochet,
These crafts get me through my day.
They bring about a sort of calm,
Soothing to me, like a psalm.

Something inspires these hands to work,
They always need something to do.
Ever searching on their quest,
To find the everlasting You.

Original Poem by Michelle Kroll
As long as I can remember, someone in my family has been doing needlework. It has changed from generation to generation. My great-grandmother (aka Granny) was an accomplished embroiderer. Many of her works are still floating around the family. But, she was a woman-of-all-trades. She also did latch-hook rugs and crocheting too! My grandma has done mostly crochet work over the years. My mom taught me to cross-stitch, crochet and knitting. While it took a few attempts, I was learning this as a teenager, the love for it remains! Over the course of my life so far I have dabbled in all of the aforementioned crafts. I think I am like my Granny in that way. I always need to be crafting, creating works with my own hands. I feel like being a creative spirit and crafter is what defines me and therefore defines my spirituality.



For most projects there is a rhythm. It is that rhythm that creates the comfort and calmness that for some is provided by prayer. I believe that each project could be considered a prayer for the person receiving it. That is definitely the case when the object is created with specific intention for that person, making the exchange all that more delightful!

I invite you to consider what your form of prayer is. Prayer can be found in many non-traditional activities. As we learned from Mary Erickson’s entry it could be walking, mine is crafting and needlework. What is yours?

Soul Searching

Wow, the amazing power of a good, intuitive massage. The massage therapist came on glowing recommendation from a friend. It was well worth it! I was instructed to be open minded, and it takes an open mind to have this "experience." Believe me, it was more of an experience than a massage. Anything beyond 2 hours is considered an experience. Since I allowed myself to be wholly open to receive, it allowed her to make a better connection.

It started with an initial convo that consisted of basically...tell me where it hurts. After getting ready and the 'massage' starting I knew I was in for something special. She would concentrate on an area and ask me very direct questions. Questions that no outsider would have any idea. Hell, I had no idea. She was able to bring up all the issues that I know exist but that I leave hidden. You mean I am actually supposed to talk about those things, out loud? What? She mentioned that I have a need for acceptance. Yes, I know that! What do I do about it? Like she said... what would happen if I let go of all that inhibition and let loose? Would I still be loved? My answer...my husband would! I know that there are others that would. But it all boils down to fear. Fear of being lonely, fear of being disliked, fear, fear, fear! How do I start that process? But if you really want to get down to the core of it I need to find me. She saw it, I think others can see it. I equated it to being stuck in my own body in the fetal position. So my task now? To bare this person? Do I know who she is? Do you know who she is? What has happened over the course of time to keep her so hidden? I don't know! I know that I had started thinking about it prior to this experience and now I continue to think about. This is such a small part of my time with her today. She got pretty deep in my head! I know that I am already wondering when I am going to go back. I also know that I have some homework to do!