2011

Herbal Tuna Salad

Sanura
Herbal Tuna Salad garnished with fresh Celery and Thyme Leaves
Herbal Tuna Salad garnished with fresh Celery and Thyme Leaves

Tuna fish is that canned essential ingredient in a well-stocked pantry. It’s not a coveted meal. It’s the lunch or dinner served the day before a paycheck, or in this Great Recession, it’s a deposit from the unemployment agency into the bank account. Yep, I know about those emergency meals. Truthfully, I crave a fresh tuna steak. Thinly sliced revealing a bright pink flesh with a tender, mouth-watering, saline taste seasoned only with good quality olive oil, sea salt, and fresh black pepper. Oh, those were the days when life was worry-free. These days, I use a can opener. Read more →

Ginger Lentil Soup with Eggplant Puree

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Ginger Lentil Soup with Eggplant Purée
 
Lessons in Moments of Silence
A couple of weeks ago, a beloved neighbor passed away unexpectedly. Of all the people I know, why did it have to be him? My neighbor is known for being bright and positive, and such a statement is not of his spirit. That being said, I realize it’s a terrible thought to utter into words. Grief over a loss has mostly been my experience of late, for his passing is the fourth memorial in less than six months. My perception of life has tilted toward the negative. Attempting to wake up happy, I’m moving with a heavy heart against a strong wind that doesn’t cease to take a break. Read more →

Nutty Appetizing Events: Peanut Butter

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Photography by ©Theresa Raffetto at TheresaRaffetto.com
Photography by ©Theresa Raffetto at TheresaRaffetto.com

The photograph above, I didn’t make that delicious dish, but it’s easy to assemble. It’s layers of pizzelle, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and peanut butter. Peanut butter, you ask? Of course! I crave it all the time in the form of peanut butter cups.  Read more →

Hibiscus Tea featuring “Teaspoons and Petals”

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Loose Leaf Hibiscus Tea sweetened with Cream Honey
Loose Leaf Hibiscus Tea sweetened with Cream Honey

Besides talking and thinking about food, I dream of mint, matcha, oolong, pu-erh, ginger, darjeeling, and sencha tea to name only a few. Similar to my passion for rediscovering and developing classic recipes with real ingredients, I am curious about the origin tea. It started with purchasing inexpensive green tea bags in Chinatown. Over a few weeks, my complexion cleared. A friend would later tell me how green tea detoxes the blood. My interest in tea starts out of vanity, and it expands into how different teas benefit our health.

Across the blog universe, I discovered Alexis Siemon’s Teaspoons & Petals. Her writing is poetic and quaint. Reading her blog is similar to taking a tea break in a whirlwind of a busy day. My knowledge about tea skims the surface, but her passion for tea is deep. I invited Alexis to write a guest post, and she provided a collage of beautiful teapots. Read more →

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

My Shamrock Wine Plant gifted my apartment a beautiful gift. It blossomed tiny white and lavender flowers in the middle of a winter snowstorm, a few weeks shy of Spring. It’s been flowering ever since. Maybe in a few days, I’ll start seeing crocuses peering out from the leftover snow. Snow once glistening pretty, now gritty and soiled. It’s melting away, but perhaps more snow will arrive. This is New York after all because it still snows in April.

I’m pretty excited with anticipation. It was an emotionally harsh Winter, but the energy in the air is changing. Perhaps it’s for the better. It’s been a while since I’ve hoped, dreamed, and fantasized about the near future. However, these changes will not start unless I put in the work. March is looking quite industrious. Let’s hope it pays off. Read more →