Today I saw a single huge orange blossom in a pumpkin patch. Today I knit. Today I steeped coffee beans in cream for a custard.
Today I have taken joy in unexpected lonely orange. Today I have had joy in sitting by the pool watching my daughter swim. Today I have taken joy in creation.
Today I have loved, and lived well, and played, and been loved.
Today is a good day.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Creation
Out of nothing - something.
Out of chaos - order.
Out of tangles - skeins.
Out of fevered dreams - tales.
Out of heat and raw things - food.
Out of meditation - serenity.
Out of observation - wisdom.
Out of writing - peace.
Out of chaos - order.
Out of tangles - skeins.
Out of fevered dreams - tales.
Out of heat and raw things - food.
Out of meditation - serenity.
Out of observation - wisdom.
Out of writing - peace.
Friday, June 30, 2006
The Search for Delicious
Delicious is
grape leaf rice
homemade lemonade
hot sweet tea
perfectly cooked beans
cranberry pudding
thai iced coffee
Jane Austen's sense of humor
Chopin's music
chilled white wine on the fourth of July
and of course
a cold glass of water when you're very very thirsty.
grape leaf rice
homemade lemonade
hot sweet tea
perfectly cooked beans
cranberry pudding
thai iced coffee
Jane Austen's sense of humor
Chopin's music
chilled white wine on the fourth of July
and of course
a cold glass of water when you're very very thirsty.
Pu Erh
Pu Erh tea is unique. Like lapsang souchong, it's a tea you either love or hate.
There is no middle ground with a tea that smells like manure.
It's flavor is very rich and earthy - some people call it winy, but those people are also usually paying through the nose to buy pu-erh's that are years upon years old. While dark in color and usually sold with black teas, it is not techinally a black tea, having it's own unique processing.
Pu Erh tea is considered medicinal in Chinese medicine, and there is some scientific evidence supporting this - particularly suggesting that pu erh consumption can help reduce cholesterol levels. Anecdotally, I can offer my personal experience and opinion that a strong cup of pu erh tea is excellent for alleviating the digestive difficulties experienced after gall bladder surgery.
I brew pu erh tea very simply - 212 F water, five minutes.
Drinking pu erh tea makes me happy -- there is a peaceful pleasure in the careful brewing, in the scent of animal, in the spreading comfort in the belly. It is an experience of deliciousness and nurturing.
There is no middle ground with a tea that smells like manure.
It's flavor is very rich and earthy - some people call it winy, but those people are also usually paying through the nose to buy pu-erh's that are years upon years old. While dark in color and usually sold with black teas, it is not techinally a black tea, having it's own unique processing.
Pu Erh tea is considered medicinal in Chinese medicine, and there is some scientific evidence supporting this - particularly suggesting that pu erh consumption can help reduce cholesterol levels. Anecdotally, I can offer my personal experience and opinion that a strong cup of pu erh tea is excellent for alleviating the digestive difficulties experienced after gall bladder surgery.
I brew pu erh tea very simply - 212 F water, five minutes.
Drinking pu erh tea makes me happy -- there is a peaceful pleasure in the careful brewing, in the scent of animal, in the spreading comfort in the belly. It is an experience of deliciousness and nurturing.
On Yesterday.
Yesterday I read to my daughter, read to myself, and knitted. Yesterday I found joy in creation and in unexpected success.
Yesterday was a good day.
Yesterday was a good day.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Vital Signs
tea
solitude
sleep
writing
sunshine
reading
Without these things I wither. With them I bloom.
What are your vital things?
solitude
sleep
writing
sunshine
reading
Without these things I wither. With them I bloom.
What are your vital things?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Endings
I find joy in the endings of things.
Long walks.
Poems.
Writing projects.
Loud anger.
Bad books.
Strands of spaghetti I am sucking into my mouth.
Baking times - particularly the baking times of brownies.
Long walks.
Poems.
Writing projects.
Loud anger.
Bad books.
Strands of spaghetti I am sucking into my mouth.
Baking times - particularly the baking times of brownies.
A Few of my Favorite Things.
My joy is composed of simple things.
Hot tea with sugar, cold tea with lemon, a hammock in the sun.
A good book unread, a story unwritten blazing in the mind. The flow of ink from a fountain pen.
The smoothness of paper, the smoothness of skin, the smoothness of water.
Lemon, garlic, parsley, butter. Olive oil and sage.
Coolness in heat. Warmth in chill. Snow on the windowsill, dandelions in a bowl.
Vacuuming, and the brushed texture of a clean carpet.
The rhythm of the broom.
Music that sings tales.
Rice.
Hot tea with sugar, cold tea with lemon, a hammock in the sun.
A good book unread, a story unwritten blazing in the mind. The flow of ink from a fountain pen.
The smoothness of paper, the smoothness of skin, the smoothness of water.
Lemon, garlic, parsley, butter. Olive oil and sage.
Coolness in heat. Warmth in chill. Snow on the windowsill, dandelions in a bowl.
Vacuuming, and the brushed texture of a clean carpet.
The rhythm of the broom.
Music that sings tales.
Rice.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
On Today
Today I have cooked, and slept, and received gifts of myself. I have written and laughed, and given comfort.
Today I have tasted sweetness, and breathed of the green, and listened to water.
Today is a good day.
Today I have tasted sweetness, and breathed of the green, and listened to water.
Today is a good day.
On Passion.
It has been a passionate day here. Passionate writing, passionate posessiveness.
Passion lights us up - the depths and heights of experience are passionate ones.
Passion lights us up - the depths and heights of experience are passionate ones.
Gently and Long
There is a trick to cooking beans, a very obvious and simple and nearly impossible trick.
Patience.
Cook them gently - just below the boil, a medium simmer. Any setting in a slow cooker will do it, but nothing about medium on a stove top.
And cook them long - a decently fresh dried bean will be cooked enough for a recipe in perhaps 45 minutes, for eating on its own in perhaps an hour and a half. Chickpeas will take twice as long.
I cook beans thusly - beans in a pot with water to cover by two inches, a solid glug of a good olive oil on top of the water, a tsp and a half of salt per pound of beans, and a good shake of sage over the top of it all. Cover, if I can find the cover to the pot that I am using -- otherwise, I just add more water as needed.
Almost any bean is good this way - pinto beans prefer an onion and some garlic to sage.
It's the secret to a good pot of beans, and to a good lot of other things in life.
Gently and long.
Patience.
Cook them gently - just below the boil, a medium simmer. Any setting in a slow cooker will do it, but nothing about medium on a stove top.
And cook them long - a decently fresh dried bean will be cooked enough for a recipe in perhaps 45 minutes, for eating on its own in perhaps an hour and a half. Chickpeas will take twice as long.
I cook beans thusly - beans in a pot with water to cover by two inches, a solid glug of a good olive oil on top of the water, a tsp and a half of salt per pound of beans, and a good shake of sage over the top of it all. Cover, if I can find the cover to the pot that I am using -- otherwise, I just add more water as needed.
Almost any bean is good this way - pinto beans prefer an onion and some garlic to sage.
It's the secret to a good pot of beans, and to a good lot of other things in life.
Gently and long.
Monday, June 26, 2006
On Today
Today I heard bullfrogs by the pond at dawn. Today I saw two wild cats sit and regard me. Today I ate strawberries and chickpeas and drank fine beer.
Today I have worked, and today I have played, and I today I have loved, and been loved, and read an amazing book.
Today we went to the library and I was surrounded by shelves of writing and the scent of paper.
Today has been a good day.
Today I have worked, and today I have played, and I today I have loved, and been loved, and read an amazing book.
Today we went to the library and I was surrounded by shelves of writing and the scent of paper.
Today has been a good day.
Nameless
I have just finished reading Joan Didion's book, 'The Year of Magical Thinking'.
The writing stuns me with pleasure even as I weep at what is written.
The writing stuns me with pleasure even as I weep at what is written.
Haiku
from one tongue
haiku respoke in others
-tangles in the brain
One haiku by Basho and three translators
haiku respoke in others
-tangles in the brain
One haiku by Basho and three translators
The butterfly is perfuming
-RH Blyth
It's wings in the scent
Of the orchid.Orchid breathing
-Stryck
incense into
butterfly wings.Lady butterfly
-Beilenson
perfumes wings by floating
over the orchid.
Joyfully I took
ctrl-c ctrl-v to this page
-my thanks!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
On Today
Today I have had joy in tea in a public place, and in writing, and in a chicken sandwich made for me by my husband.
Today I have bathed in deep hot sweetly scented water, seen a rabbit dust bathing itself, and dreamed about the future.
Today I have worked, I have played, I have loved, I have been loved, and I have had bright conversation with a stranger.
Today is a good day.
Today I have bathed in deep hot sweetly scented water, seen a rabbit dust bathing itself, and dreamed about the future.
Today I have worked, I have played, I have loved, I have been loved, and I have had bright conversation with a stranger.
Today is a good day.
Chanoyu
I find happiness in tea. The gentle rituals of brewing and sipping, the minutia of leaf and temperature and time.
Beyond happiness there is chanoyu, the tea ceremony. It something that has had a presence in my mind for many years, and which I have only recently begun genuinely studying.
So far I have learned that my hands are large and I am uncomfortable with artful action - it pleases me to know these things, to think of chanoyu and to know that in the whole of my lifetime I will always have this deep bowl of learning to drink from.
Beyond happiness there is chanoyu, the tea ceremony. It something that has had a presence in my mind for many years, and which I have only recently begun genuinely studying.
So far I have learned that my hands are large and I am uncomfortable with artful action - it pleases me to know these things, to think of chanoyu and to know that in the whole of my lifetime I will always have this deep bowl of learning to drink from.
Renew your Spirit
My spirit is renewed by
tea
sushi and miso soup
green apple scented shampoo
laughter
creating mise en place of the mind before cooking
my fish
green and growing things
the humid green scented air of greenhouses
silence
solitude
wisconsin fried cheese curds at the county fair
What renews your spirit? What will you do today?
tea
sushi and miso soup
green apple scented shampoo
laughter
creating mise en place of the mind before cooking
my fish
green and growing things
the humid green scented air of greenhouses
silence
solitude
wisconsin fried cheese curds at the county fair
What renews your spirit? What will you do today?
On Yesterday
Yesterday I took joy in helping my elders, in drinking beer, in watery blue silk, in walking in a crowd.
Yesterday I walked at dawn and saw the lightening sky, and was light hearted. Yesterday I ate chirashi and drank green tea.
Yesterday I worked, and played, and laughed. Oh how I laughed.
Yesterday was a good day.
Yesterday I walked at dawn and saw the lightening sky, and was light hearted. Yesterday I ate chirashi and drank green tea.
Yesterday I worked, and played, and laughed. Oh how I laughed.
Yesterday was a good day.
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