Foodie Sunday: Family, Feasts and Fruitcake

By Beth Oh my goodness…how can it be December?  Autumn just flew by and now it’s time for Christmas? I can barely believe it!  I hope that all of you had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving. I did, spending it in Boulder Colorado for the very first time with my husband’s side of my family and of course Alex who came with us.  It was a wonderful trip and of course I spent all of the holiday in the kitchen doing what I love to do best. I had a wonderful time but Thanksgiving this year was made even more memorable by the fact that my mother –in-law (a fabulous cook in her own right) cocked her head and proclaimed my turkey absolutely delicious.  This was truly big deal as she makes it for the family every year and I was very nervous about stepping on her toes.  I got up at 6:00 in the morning and began to cook. By 8:00 am I’d made two pans of Brussels sprouts au gratin, twocasseroles of creamy, garlicky, parmesan laced spinach and a huge stockpot of chestnut, sausage and dried fruit stuffing.  My darling husband spent his time peeling at least 20 of the largest baking potatoes that I’ve ever seen. The man is definitely a keeper; the best sous chef that any woman could ask for… exceptionally good with his hands! Mine is a family that loves them mashed and there had better be plenty of them. Fortunately for me by the time it came to mash them my niece Nicholle had arrived bringing her boyfriend Ian who is a wonderful cook in his own right.  Grateful for the help, I tossed him the hand mixer! We made three kinds; one with lots of butter and sour cream, one with plenty of infused garlic, butter and whipping cream and onewith sour cream, butter and cream cheese. Of course everyone was happy! There were so many left over that the next night my sister- in -law Barbara used them to make homemade pierogies with smoked sausage and sauerkraut. I was reminded all weekend of how much fun it can be to spend time in the kitchen with the people you love. Cooking together is such a wonderfully simple way to enjoy each other’s company.  When Monday came I left Colorado very reluctantly but completely refreshed and soul satisfied.  So now I’m home and I’ve a goal this year starting on December the 1st  (Yikes that’s NOW!) to make some sort of delicious homemade gift at least every other day. I’ve already got a beautiful spiced apple syrup in the refrigerator just waiting for the addition of a few cups of Red Stag bourbon that when bottled will make a lovely addition to any bar. Next week I’ll start making chocolate bark…several different kinds just filled with fruits, nuts and crystallized ginger then drizzled with lots of chocolate, both white and dark! I’ll be making marrons glace’ too and if you’ve never had those delectable morsels you really owe it to yourself to taste them just once. Simply put, they are chestnuts that are boiled in a bath of thick simple syrup over and over again until the water in them has been replaced with sugar. They are crystalline and wonderful; a very French Christmas staple.  I make them almost every year and eat them as quickly as I bottle them. Crumbled over vanilla ice cream and drizzled with a bit of brandy there is almost nothing more luscious, unless of course you take those same chestnuts and layer them amid folds of whipped cream, custard and jam to create a perfect English trifle. I intend to make my own Yule Log this year for my annual Solstice party, covered with dense chocolate frosting, meringue mushrooms, filled with ganache laced with those very same chestnuts, whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar snow! I’ve been working at Williams Sonoma this season and of course for someone like me who’s kitchen obsessed that’s quite a lot of fun but my trip to Colorado actually inspired me to make more presents myself and buy less of what I could actually be creating. These days in America the holiday season is full of built in obsolescence and I’ve begun to grow weary of store after store filled with trendy merchandise blessed with approximately one year of a shelf life. I believe that it’s time to reclaim the traditions that we love instead of allowing a marketing department somewhere far away to dictate our plans for the season. When I was a child we made garlands of popped corn and cranberries and strung ribbon candy with streamers and bows. It was a homemade holiday, butthose are the ones that I loved the most, spending hours with my family creating the beautiful decorations for our tree. I for one am tired of being frantic by the time that I get to Christmas eve and I’m determined this year to take a trip back in time and reclaim the traditions that fill my Christmas season with all of the old fashioned beauty and love that I remember. So to start I’m going to make my mother’s fruitcake!  I already hear your groans, but trust me her fruitcake is really very good, full of fruits, nuts, plenty of spice and very little batter. The loaves smell like heaven when they’re baking, but the fun really comes when I cover them in sherry soaked cheesecloth and spend the next couple of weeks soaking them in spiced rum. My mother taught me to make them one year when I had very little money for gifts. Wrapped in a pretty Christmas towel and bow and gifted with a recipe for hard sauce (brandy, butter and confectioners sugar!) they make a delicious present.  This is the recipe that she used, straight from Southern Living magazine, but as old as the hills. I promise you that it’s delicious! More Fruit and Nuts than Cake Fruitcake 2 cups golden raisins 3/4 cup dry sherry 2 cups chopped candied pineapple (about 1 pound) 1 1/2 cups chopped red candied cherries (about 3/4 pound)  1 1/2 cups chopped green candied cherries (about 3/4 pound)  4 cups chopped pecans  3 cups all-purpose flour, divided  3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened 3/4-cup sugar 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 6 large eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground mace (optional) 3/4 cup whipping cream  1 (10-ounce) jar strawberry preserves 3/4 teaspoon almond extract 3/4 teaspoon orange extract 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract Preparation Soak raisins in sherry 8 hours; drain and set aside. Combine pineapple, candied cherries, pecans, and 1 cup flour, tossing to coat. Set aside. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine remaining 2 cups flour, salt, allspice, cinnamon, and, if desired, mace. Add to butter mixture alternately with whipping cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Add preserves and extracts, beating well. Stir in reserved raisins and fruit mixture. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-inch loaf pan. Bake at 275° for 3 hours or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 20 minutes; remove from pan, and cool completely on wirerack.   Soak cheesecloth in 2/3 cup dry sherry, wrap around cake, and place in an airtight container; refrigerate 7 to 10 days. Every other day, baste the fruitcake with your choice of spiced rum or brandy. My other long-standing holiday tradition? A dab or two of Caron’s gorgeous Nuit de Noel perfume from Thanksgiving til New Years day. A dear friend sent me a bottle of the vintage perfume last year as a special gift and I am so enjoying its loveliness. I know that it’s a cliché, but no other perfume says Christmas to me! So tell me, what are your holiday foodie traditions? What do you do to make the season your veryown?  Next week ? My mother's recipe for Christmas Pears with whipped cream and bittersweet chocolate!

Foodie Sunday: The Rain is falling, the house is quiet, and all I want are last night's leftovers!

By Beth Oh my god, what a gorgeous gray morning. It's finally raining in northeast Ohio after a summer that was probably the hottest and driest on record. It's been storming on and off for a week, but last we snuggled up together with our windows open and the ceiling fan spinning and I woke to a cool wet breeze that was absolutely intoxicating. I'm fond of teasing my husband somewhere around the middle of August that I can smell autumn creeping in just around the corner and generally he tosses up his hands and says "NO YOU CAN"T" but having an overly sensitive nose like most of you I definitely CAN and I know that probably all of you can too! But this year I just couldn't and it kept making me sad in a way that only the marrow of my bones can explain. I'm sure that you can imagine my joy at waking up and have the crisp windfall apple breezes of early fall come blasting through my windows! Maple syrup, coffee and pancakes from the neighbors house next door came wafting through as well and that's when I began to get really hungry. We were still snuggling when rather uncharacteristically our son Alex came bounding up the stairs. I say "uncharacteristically" because it was before noon! He lives with us right now while he's going to school. All I wanted to do just then was stay curled up against the yummy warm man in my bed, but Alex definitely had something else on his mind. "Eggs mom?" and when I said I would consider it I was hit with a relentless barrage of requests, designed to force me out of bed and begin cooking. I must have stayed under the covers a little to long because the next comment from both of them was, "Well fine ..if you're not getting up Dad and I will go GET eggs." Now, you have to understand that this was designed to get me to become so jealous that someone else would cook for them that I would instantly jump out of bed and fire up the sauté pan…a rare miscalculation on both their parts. I said rather nonchalantly "Ok, that's fine" and dove back under the covers as I definitely had a plan. So the two of them went off happily in search of crispy bacon and some father - son bonding time and I stayed in bed luxuriating long enough to hear the door slam and then went dashing for the refrigerator where I knew that real treasures awaited. Last nights supper was at a wonderful restaurant in town called RED. RED is a wonderful Cleveland steakhouse and although I love a good cut of meat I generally like the way that I cook it better so I don't order it there. But they have one of the loveliest wine lists in town and the best side dishes to be found anywhere. We sat happily on their patio with a couple of glasses of bloody red zinfandel and Jim had the steak tartare and a well earned cigar. I opted for a plate of their creamed spinach and their incredibly fragrant truffled mash potatoes. In true steak house form they give you easily enough for three meals and that my friends is what was waiting for me to eat this morning! So here I sit all alone listening to Lisa Loeb on Spotify and singing at the tops of my lungs, drinking a hot cup of coffee and enjoying the loveliest plate of spinach and potatoes….truly the best leftovers ever with the exception of my mothers meatloaf , the secrets of which she took with her to the great kitchen beyond the veil. The rain is still falling, the thunder is rumbling, the cats are fed and happy and the windows are all flung open wide and the breezes are so fragrant, smoky sweet and cool. I've got a mountain of perfume samples to sniff and Zoe curled up at my feet. You are all here with me and my life at this moment just couldn't be any better. So tell me….what are your favorite leftovers and how do you like to eat them? Intending that all of you are having a marvelous day, Beth

Foodie Sunday: Carrots

By Beth I do so love carrots! When I was a pigtailed horse crazy girl, they were my favorite snack and life was a delightful and always present struggle between me and my ponies as to who would get to the carrots that I had stuffed into my pockets first. It wasn’t until many years later that I learned to appreciate them eaten any other way than raw. Carrots were an integral part of many a midwinters eve steaming hot bran mash for my horses at Windesphere, being a root vegetable they are such a superb source of grounding, warming and nutrient dense energy. I loved to walk into my barn on Christmas morning, give each of my horses a flake or two of hay and grab their buckets into which I would ladle a scoop or two of bran and a handful or two of dried beet pulp beforeheading towards my kitchen. Once there I would turn on the Christmas carols and start to chop. Handfuls of sweet apples went into each bucket first as well as a cup of the flax seed which had been simmering in a crockpot all night and turning itself into a nutritious jelly. Several heaping tablespoons of local raw honey were next, as well as a clove or two of pressed garlic and a cup of dried red clover blossoms and a small handful of dried mint. Then I would add the carrots that I’d shred in the Cuisinart, 3 handfuls for each horse filled with sweet, earthy juicy goodness. I'd cover each bucket with about 2 quarts of steaming hot water, stir, let sit for about 3 minutes andserve. Carrots are still a constant source of happiness for me and I try to always have a patch of them growing in sandy spot in my garden. I love the way that they smell when they’re just moments out of the earth, like sugar and sun and cinnamon and dirt. They’re dense, sweet and strong; they tend to be ready to eat at the same time that we’re about to turn inward, away from the cold. I must be honest here and say that the little baby ones that you find in fancy (read FAWNNNcy!) restaurants are not my favorites. I appreciate their cuteness, but they lack the meaty, earthy flavor that I crave. Carrots, like beets, turnips and rutabagas and onions and garlic need their time in the earth to be as potent as I like them. They need to live with their roots buried deep in the dirt through the first crisp snaps of fall, the first frost and the first flutters of snow. That is whenthey firmly anchor themselves to the soil, looking for warmth and producing the generous grounding energies that we use to keep ourselves warm all winter long. I love them in all of their colors, bright yellows, rich warm burgundies and even white and shades of purple! I do not like, nor will you ever see me use those cut up shaved down little ovalorange things that come in bags. By the time you get them, they’ve lost all of their carroty goodness. Don’t waste your money. Even if you think that your child doesn’t like carrots just hand your child a real one someday complete with the leafy fronds and see what happens. If you give him a homemade dip of yogurt sweetened with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice , you’ll see a complete and total transformation! Carrots are a simple vegetable and they do best either with simple pairings of herbs , spice and fruits or cooked for hours in long slow braises where they infuse their sweetness into the basting juices of a roasted chicken or beef roast. My mother used to cook them simply, quickly sliced and steamed, then sautéed with a knob of fresh butter , salt , pepper and dill. That’s really all they need. I think that most people’s aversion to cooked carrots comes from that hideous (and I apologize in advance if anyone truly loves these) dish called “glazed carrots". I’ve never understood that recipe, carrots being so naturally sweet that they really don’t need a glaze, especially one of thickened orange juice concentrate, sugar and cinnamon. If you’re wanting your carrots sweetened then I think that it’s better to make a Tzimmes, which is a delicious Sephardic stew of carrots, sweet potatoes, onions and dried fruit slowly braised together with a bit afreshly squeezed orange juice and liberally laced with cumin, cardamom and cinnamon. This is actually so delicious that I’ve served it warm over fresh vanilla bean ice cream with a dollop of freshly whipped maple syrup sweetened whipped cream. Yes I know, I’m definitely not the queen of understatement and trust me, don’t be put off by the onion. Onions are sweet by nature so they caramelize and blend beautifully with everything mentioned here. In the late summer or fall, serve it with the ice cream and in the winter serve it over the top of warm rice pudding. Trust me on this. My easiest summertime carrot recipe? Throw several large cut up carrots into the vitamix with 1 quart of chicken or vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste, the juice of one lemon and it’s zest and a handful of fresh dill. Process on high for a few moments and add one large ball of fresh burrata cheese. (Burrata means buttered! Don’t you love that!) Process until smooth and reheat and serve quickly with a drizzle of walnut oil. You can serve this soup chilled by adjusting the seasonings which will need to be a little stronger. A plate of wonderful raw milk cheeses and a chilled Riesling is all you need for company! Well that and a few spritzes of Dior's Escale a Portofino & Pondicherry, my scents for today! How do you like to eat your carrots and what's your favorite eau de toilette for these blistery hot summer days? Recipes and suggestions please! Wishing you all a lazy, yummy Foodie Sunday kind of day! Beth Beet and carrot photograph from the TheLunaCafé.com Burrata photograph origins unknown

Foodie Sunday: Memories of my Father

By Beth   Happy Foodie Sunday my friends and Happy Fathers Day ……Two weeks ago on Memorial Day , my own father finally succumbed to a ripe old age of 93 and a horrific bout of pneumonia. I miss him terribly, but I do not miss the last 10 years of his life, a period of time where the complications of nursing home living began to shape his life and ours. They do not call this period of time “The long goodbye “ for nothing, for it truly is the longest goodbye that you’ll ever experience. That being said, the strangest thing has happened in my life. Ihave the feeling of being shot from a cannon , of relaxation that I didn’t know could exist anymore. My time is once again mine and so are my memories and as I look back over my life, I realized that it was my father as much as my mother who I need to thank for this ever passionate, totally consuming interest that I have always had in food!   My father taught me many things that I have found useful throughout my life. One of my earliest memories of my dad was a trip that we took to Seattle where every morning my mother would eat oysters but daddy and I would gorge ourselves on huge, warm , just baked oozy runny pieces of the local fresh blackberry pie. Now I don’t think anyone would find this unusual, but my mother (always the definition of appropriate!) was perturbed. It actually wasn’t the pie that she objected to, it was our choice of the dark chocolate ice cream that topped that pie. It was absolutely delicious, a combination of fruit and flower and earthy chocolate yumminess. I missed that taste for what seemed like centuries until 7 years ago when one of our wonderful local icecream companies created a flavor called Black Raspberry Chip. Daddy and I were completely entranced. If you’ve never tried this combination, it is the essence of alchemy.  My father taught me many other good things, such as how to make May Wine when the Sweet Woodruff has flowered, what healthy soil smelled like (his gardens were always gorgeous!) , that cheese wasn’t ready to eat until it smelled like the bottom of my horses hooves and that Laphroaig was the only single malt that I’d ever find worth drinking. He loved fancy restaurants and continental service. I think that wasone of the things that drew him to my mother because she’d been raised in family where white gloves and polished silver were the standards, unlike his family where his father ate the same thing every day of his life (broiled lamb chops and melba toast with mint jelly) because my grandmother was an absolutely abysmal cook. My mother was an exceptional cook as were her mother and grandmother before her. My father was crazy about that grandmother to the point of really irritating his own wife. Who could blame him? I’m to understand that her floating island pudding was the stuff of gossamer dreams and her leg of lamb stuffed with garlic and rubbedwith curry and mustard is a recipe that I use to this day as well as the stuffed peppers that I make in her enormous stock pot…a pot that’s been well seasoned for over a hundred years.   Daddy ate sweetbreads and tripe and truffles and all kinds of things that would make the normal man run panicked towards the nearest barbecue, coincidentally a type of cooking that he gave up over 40 years ago when he read that charcoal grilling produced fumes which were carcinogenic. He did live to a ripe old age, ate red meat meat like a hound, fromage like a Frenchman, enjoyed steak and kidney pie with plenty of ale and never had one day in his life except when he was hospitalized without some form of sugar, most always something chocolate. The day that he died I found myself with one more memory from long ago, quite a precious one. On a trip over 40 years ago through the English countryside, we left my mother reading her Gourmet in the hotel while we went off in search of my father’s afternoon sugar fix . The streets were cobblestone and my father held my hand the entire time as I skipped down the twisting lanes. We found a bakery full of warmth , sugar and chocolate. We bought two lacey burnt sugar covered cookie cones that were filled with chocolate ganache (way before it was even popular to know what that was let alone how to spell it!) and covered with sweetened dark chocolate. Hand in hand we walked slowly back, quietly munching and just enjoying the soft sounds and luscious smells of the British countryside. Just me and my dad and chocolate….. this little girls Holy Trinity.  Godspeed daddy…if there’s great food in heaven I’m sure that you’ve found it. Kiss mom for me and by the way thanks…my gardens are gorgeous this year and my vegetables are abundant even with the lack of rain. I could swear that I see you in them everyday pruning and watering with an ice cream cone in your other hand and your dog by your side. Happy fathers day…I love you.

Foodie Suday: Garden Fantasies & Grilled Dinners

By Beth Happy Foodie Sunday everyone! What are you planning for this lovely long weekend? I’m spending today out in my garden, which has been an utter symphony of scent for several weeks now due to the crazy warm breezes that have been blowing for months now. Indeed spring came early and I’ve enjoyed it and this year I’ve even planted artichokes to go along with my fairly ebullient state of mind.  This year I decided to try and keep everything manageable  (right!) and I’ve planted my vegetables in containers. This keeps everything nice , weed free and very controllable.   Pretty too…because the containers can double in an instant as fabulous centerpieces for an impromptu evening on the patio with a few friends ! It’s fun to garden this way…I can control the soil and the light and even the finicky eggplants seem happy! I’ve got shallots, lettuces and swiss chard, several types of tomatoes and so many herbs that when the southern breezes are blowing I can lay in the hammock with a Campari and soda and pretend that I’m  relaxing somewhere in Italy with the olive scented breezes blowing through my hair and a luscious dinner of oozing burrata cheese  nestled on a bed of fresh tomatoes and basil and perhaps a luscious Bistecca that’s been marinating for hours in olive oil, rosemary , garlic and lemon waiting for me on the veranda.  My husband’s usually there in my fantasies cooking it for me, a real plus because the man has really learned how to use his grill and wield his tools! His recipe for roasted mussels in white wine can bring me to my knees. He uses just a touch of olive oil, a bit of garlic and rosemary and a tablespoon of white wine and then roasts them slowly and tenderly in a cast iron pan over the open flames. Served over a bed of juicy braised fennel, with lots of crusty grilled bread I can promise that you have never tasted anything better.  If you want the recipe write me and I'll send it to you. I can't promise you though that they'll turn out as well…Himself has a wee bit of magic about him!  One needs a perfume for such an occasion and today I’m wearing one of my favorites, Eau d’ Italie’s utterly gorgeous Jardin du Poete. To say that I adore this  would be an understatement. Jardin du Poete is really a perfect perfume for me. It’s a Medieval herbalists materia medica and a wiccan grimoire all wrapped up in a bottle, juicy, peppery , green and full of all of the things that I love in a fragrance like bitter grapefruits and oranges, angelica ,basil and pink peppercorns.  A bit of vetiver and a touch of musk is the final bit of magic that brings Pan himself dancing into the garden to play devilishly with all of your senses  that mixed with my husbands mussels and a perfectly chilled Viognier are destined to create an absolutely delightful and delicious evening….. Learn more about the luscious Eau d' Italie from eauditalie.com. Photo of the burrata salad courtesy of  winestainedcloth.wordpress.com

Foodie Sunday: Happy Easter , Happy Spring and a Bountiful Bevy of Beautifully Sugar Spun Bonnets!

By Beth Every now and then you've got to have a real treat (after all what's the sense of dieting if you can't!)…Last weekend in San Diego was such an event and found my husband, sister and darling brother in law enjoying a wonderful dinner in San Diego's abundantly blossoming Little Italy. After much deliberation we landed in a wonderful new Italian restaurant named Devanti Enoteca, where we were assaulted by the decadent aroma of truffles as soon as we walked through the door. The meal that followed was fabulous, perfect plates of luscious antipasti, fresh asparagus and egg, a chicken liver terrine to die for, roasted beets and fresh caponata, a truffled leek and mushroom pizza that was delightful and a truffled pasta that was every bit as exceptional as the one that we'd enjoyed at Nello only months before (san's the 250.00 dollars ostentatious price tag!) All was farm fresh, all was organic and trust me , it was all delicious ! After enjoying some pretty wonderful wine and food and the always good company of my hilarious foodie family we were just about to drive home when my brother in law Peter decided that it might be time for a wee bit of dessert and for that impulse there was absolutely no other choice but to walk to the absolutely astonishing Extraordinary Desserts, the restaurant owned by the talented Karen Krasne who I'm convinced is the incarnation of my long departed grandmother on my mothers side, a woman who I am told could drive men to pledge undying devotion after just one bite of her Oeufs a la Neige , a treat more commonly known as Floating Island Pudding. If you're sadly not familiar with Floating Island Pudding , it's a very old fashioned dessert, a soft and silky vanilla custard topped with clouds of perfect meringue. I'd only been to Extraordinary Desserts once before but remembered all too fondly a delicious Pavlova that I'd encountered there covered with fresh berries and just a bit of perfect chocolate layered between the meringue and drizzled with caramel laced with fresh passion fruit and guava sauce. Jim had never been , but my husband has blood plasma made of spun sugar so I knew he'd be game. We walked the 12 long blocks to get there and were greeted by a crowd of laughing people who'd obviously had the same idea. We walked in and I though that Jim was going to pass out. I knew that I was. Extraordianry Desserts is always a beautiful restaurant, but this evening it was dressed for spring , Easter in particular. Trust me when I say that you've probably never seen desserts this gorgeous. Karen Krasne's recipes are indulgent, gorgeous and delicious; perusal through the cookbook of hers that I bought that evening shows mostly no less than 5 fairly complex parts that go into creating each of her amazing confections. But I think that you talented bakers out there might love the challenge so I've included here the link to the restaurant where you can buy the book. http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/ We circled the display cases for a few minutes and settled on several pieces that we purchased , took home and ate with absolute abandon. Truthfully, if you ever wanted to see the literal definition of joy, you'd have to look no further than my brother- in- laws face when he is eating something like this.Watching him eat a bite of each of these was hilarious and incredibly satisfying! A textbook vegetarian and serial meditator , Peters life is usually filled with my sisters absolutely delicious yet completely healthy cooking , however when the woman makes desserts watch out, because hers are absolutely as good as these, so much so that I bought her the cookbook in the hopes that she would make me the Yule Log next year at Christmas time. Truthfully, she's the only person I know of with the patience to do so! No words that I write could ever do these justice so without further adieu please let me present to you this years showcase of incredible Easter desserts. No more elegant parade of confectionary bonnets will be found anywhere! IF you decide to buy the cookbook and get inspired please let me know. I can easily be on the next plane for a tasting! Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it and for those of you that don't, Happy Spring! It's sprung here with abandon on the North Coast , so much so that I'm going out today to lay out my gardens. My asparagus bed is providing me me all of the fresh asparagus that I could ever want to eat, so todays meal is simple, hard boiled eggs and pickled beets, fresh asparagus, some steamed baby potatoes dressed with parmesan and truffle oil and a sweet pea soup laced with mint. Dessert? Of course but it will be my favorite….spiced jelly beans , marshmallow peeps and one dark chocolate Cadbury egg! So share with me some of your favorite Easter or springtime foods and please wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, have a blessed day! The winner of the draw for the March 11th Foodie Sunday is Kareng! Please send Marina your snail mail addy and I will send you your delicious prize!

Foodie Sunday: Oh what a night!ŠMy favorite Hangover Remedy and a Spicy Prize draw!

By Beth Oh my….it WAS one of THOSE nights! By yesterday Jim and I were definitely ready for a serious night of partying. One of the delightful parts of our new diet regimen is a once a week splurge, so after my evening of volunteering down at Severance Hall we decided that venturing downtown to meet our friends Steve and Freida for drinks was the perfect remedy for what had truly been a very long week! We found ourselves in the middle of a very hip, trendy sushi bar where my pal was holding court , charming anyone within 30 feet, with her admiring husband Steve just watching her with a huge grin on his face. That's my friend Freida though…she's fairly irresistible and makes friends wherever she goes, many of them being serious "A" listers that she's never heard of until someone lets her know who they actually are. We met the two of them when our kids were dating, and we hit it off immediately much to the dismay of our children. We've traveled together , shared many a meal , share the same wedding anniversary, lived through the breakup of our children , demanded custody rights of each other and have vowed to never be separated. The four of us just have a ball together. Freida is the ultimate girl-power friend. I've written about her before but one of the many reasons that I love her is that she refuses to have fun alone. She's fiercely competitive in all of the right ways, but not with her women friends, with us she has a heart as huge as Everest. Going shopping with her is wonderful because even though she's a stunning and petite 5'3, bombshell blonde who works out obsessively and has the body to prove it, she wants you to have as much fun trying on clothes as she does. She dresses me and I teach her about perfume and porcelain…it's a fabulous trade. She does have a wicked side though and If she's having a blast she wants you to be having it too, which is how I found myself last night around midnight with at least one too many drinks in my hand cornered by perhaps the most obnoxiously fascinating faux power couple that I've ever met and being regaled with tales of their status and lifestyle, finding out way more than I ever wanted to know about anyone. Freida had met them while she was waiting for us and was obviously fascinated by their newly minted pretentiousness, so she drew me into the conversation where I learned among other things that her husband was "The Viagra Doctor" who keeps her up every night until 3:00 in the morning and then takes the kiddo's to school for her. More Belvedere and Ice please….It was absolutely hilarious but required more than a bit of liquid courage to tolerate. When they finally left the four of us kicked back , had more sushi, more Belvedere and more than a few good laughs unashamedly at their expense. It was then I found out that Freida had been sharing with her tales of my entertaining and personal shopping prowess and customer list, also giving her my retainer fee and at the same time letting her know that I probably wouldn't have time for a few months to take her on as a client. It was then that I realized why I had been feeling like cougar bait for the last hour or so. Did I mention that I adore my friend Freida? She's utterly fabulous! About an hour later we headed off to the Velvet Tango Room , snagged a table and a few gorgeous martinis, a cigarette or two (yes, I had one!) and Freida announced that she was ravenous and we headed towards the nearest Denny's…yes you heard me right, Denny's! Two plates of onion rings , a few egg, cheese and ham sandwiches and a breakfast burrito, french fries and many diet pepsi's later we kissed, laughed and parted company. It was fabulous..the kind of evening that you can only have with true comrades. Now though, some hair of the dog is absolutely necessary so it's time for a Bloody Mary. I make mine with clam juice, tomato juice, some Penzeys crab seasoning a bit of brown sugar, fresh horseradish, a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of celery salt, garlic, minced onion and a really good dill pickle spear and oh yes..some Bakon vodka. Pour all the ingredients over ice, stir with the pickle and add two strips of smoky , thick bacon, a skewer of smoked mussels and lay back under the covers with some cucumber slices over your eyes and the covers pulled high. So what's your favorite hangover remedy? Leave it for me in the comments and I'll send you my favorite bloody mary spice mix and a few scented surprises! Happy Foodie Sunday my friends…Enjoy the sunshine and the Bloody Mary's. You don't need a hangover, but it helps:) Photo of sushi bar from http://beegan-ad.com Photo of Bakon Vodka from Bakon Vodka

Foodie Sunday: I feel pretty!

By Beth This week was one of the best weeks of my life as I continued on my cleanse, revitalized many friendships old and new, learned to use ALL of the scary machines in the gym and excitedly enrolled back into college where I'll come out a few years from now with the title of Medical Herbalist! So what does a perfumista like me do to celebrate? Well no one knows how to do that better than my dear friend Barbara Fairbanks. Upon my arrival at her lovely home yesterday she announced that we were going to Sak's this morning for a "Day of beauty"! Ok I thought, how much fun is that! We walked in and were immediately offered mimosa's, coffee and sent to a lavish breakfast buffet of fruit and beautiful muffins. Then the real fun began as we went from station to station! First we went to Bobbi Brown to learn how to moisturizer our eyes and reduce puffiness and then we went to the MAC counter where I learned to line the inner lid of my eye which is really a fabulous look if you've never tried it! Next we were off to the Kiehls and La Prairie counters for demonstrations of more skin care and lots of samples and then over to Bond 9 and Estée Lauder where I made a delightful new friend named Robert Crouch who is the seriously knowledgeable Bond 9 manager at the Columbus SAKs Fifth Avenue. After all of the fun at Bond 9 We ended our journey at Laura Mercier and Creed. That's where the real fun began. My friend Barbara is no slouch in the fashion department and her signature perfume , Hermes 24 Faubourg is one of my favorites. That being said I was determined to get her to try something new and I marched her reluctantly to the Creed counter where the lovely SA spread a plethora of fragrance blotters out for us to enjoy. At first I could sense my pals reluctance to topple the magic of her beloved Hermes' but very quickly she was intrigued. We smelled everything but in the end she was captivated by Creeds Royal Water, a really delightful and refreshing blend of citrus ,basil and peppermint ! Then it was off to Penhaligon's , a line that she'd never known of and there she fell in love with their Sartorialist and ended up buying two adorable little sample packs so that she can get to know this wonderful English line of fragrance in the privacy of her own home! We had a marvelous time laughing , sniffing and trying the latest skin care products and just generally sharing each others good company. She wasn't alone though, and you my dear readers know that I couldn't possibly walk out without several purchases of my own. Sadly, I left the 650.00 indigo blue Jimmy Choo's on the shelf where they were winking at me, but I left with a bottle of Diorissimo Parfum and Eton Johns utterly enchanting candle from Nest, a lovely gossamer thing completely drenched with Tuberose and spicy Stargazer lilies. I was on my way out when I reached my hand to my face and a beautiful spicy scent filled my nostrils. The scent of Penhaligon's surreally beautiful Spice and Lilies fragrance is simply lovely and I'd neglected to take it seriously when I first spritzed it on my skin. However in an matter of moments it had changed into a sweet honeyed scent full of spice, citrus and fleshy white florals. If you haven't tried this one yet please give it a sniff. It's going to be a perfect summer " lounging in the hammock" fragrance! We ended the morning with lots more laughter and more than enough samples to keep us busy for weeks! Tonight it's out for lobster, chocolate martinis and to celebrate yet another of our oldest friendships, accomplishments old and new and a happy weeks end. So tell me, what's your favorite way to celebrate your life's little milestones? Happy Foodie Sunday my dear friends and I'll see you very soon! Is it me or is it starting to feel a little bit like the wheel of the year is moving towards spring?

Foodie Sunday: Foodie Alchemy!

By Beth Happy Foodie Sunday! The first and best news is that since we were last together is that I’ve lost 7 pounds! Yes you heard me! 7 glorious pounds! I’m learning so much about the way that I eat and I will admit that it hasn’t been without its ups and downs. I woke up in the middle of the night just now realizing that I’d been hiding from the world for the last 9 years under all of this belly fat. I haven’t accomplished yet many of the things that I want to in this lifetime and I’m 52. Peeling away this layer of armor is exposing all of the tender places and I’m scared, but I’m definitely ready. I’m definitely trying to figure out who and what I’m going to be when I grow up! Any thoughts? I'm willing to listen to all suggestions! Like I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I’m not using any particular cleanse. For years I’ve tried everything, but not with any lasting results. I’ve decided to create my own lifestyle, using a combination of the French techniques that I love, Asian foodie wisdom and a bit of alchemy. Alcohol is definitely on my mostly avoid list because I’ve discovered that it actually holds my weight in place. We’re using one night to splurge, which is a tremendous amount of fun! One night doesn’t destroy the diet but I must admit that I’m always happy the next morning to go back to the plan because now that my body is used to eating smaller portions of really good food I always feel a bit bloated. Thank goodness for my amazing husband. I just don’t know that I’d keep this up without his support. He’s convinced me though that I’ll like the end result even more than he will which keeps me going even when I’m this terrified. Did I mention that I even worked out by myself last week? That’s huge for me! Jim had the flu and I went anyhow. I can’t believe how hard that was to do, but my reward was a soak in the whirlpool and some time in the steam room and that was heaven. Herbs and spices play a huge role in this diet and this particular way of cooking serves them well. I use herbs and spices not just for flavor, but for their healing properties and actually one little known part of my life is that I trained for over 10 years with one of the most amazing herbalists I’ve ever known, the classic “good witch with the cottage in the woods” , a wise woman named LaWanna Rine. La Wanna taught me that food IS medicine, long before it became chic to think that way! Everything brewing in her kitchen had a purpose and she wildcrafted most of it, just as do I to this day except when the snow is flying. In the heart of winter, that’s what Penzeys herbs and spices are for and if you’ve never tried them, they’re absolutely wonderful. Their spice and herb blends can make a decent cook out of anyone, even those who thinks that they can’t cook. A trip to the Penzeys store is a fantastic experience and I take people there to teach them about herbs and flavor. Everything is incredibly fresh and just like the glass cloches that are currently so popular in fine fragrance or candle stores, when you lift the lid on a Penzeys jar you’ll get the pure , fresh perfume ofperfectly stored herbs. I do use supplements but my tastes prefer my herbs as close to the origins as possible so when I can get them that way that’s all I’ll use. Real food is live food and that’s what I believe that you need to create real wellness. Right now I get up every morning and pretend that I’m at a lovely spa. I make my cup of Earl Grey tea and flavor it with a delicious and creamy raw honey. Sometimes I have juice and sometimes I have fresh oatmeal that I prepare with almond milk, cinnamon and fresh berries. My husband was the every day bowl of cereal type and now I’m experimenting with all kinds of foods for breakfast, like smoked salmon with fresh dill instead of bacon or vegan breakfast burritos with fresh citrus salsas and guacamole. It not only has to taste good, but it needs to look and smell wonderful or we all know that I’m not going to eat it and instead start binging once again on bacon and brie! I’ve discovered that the key to success here is to cook our food myself. Going out is always lovely, but there are several things that I’ve discovered. For starters it’s true, unless you have someone to share it with the portions in this countryARE way too big. Secondly and even more important to the success of this program is the fact that even good restaurants accentuate flavor with all sorts of added naughtiness like too much butter, cream and a bit of sugar here and there. That’s fine for splurge night but not for everyday fare. I’m enjoying the challenge of preparing good food, with great ingredients and fabulous natural flavors. For me cooking is alchemical, much in the same way that many of the natural perfumers that we love create their fragrances. A bit of sage, a pinch of fresh rosemary and a few lavender buds stewed with a bit of white potato and leek turn a simple chicken breast into a fragrant and soothing dish that settles my stomach easily. That same chicken breast, piece of tofu or fish when it’s quickly stir fried in my Le Creuset Wok with a bit of bok choy, sweet potato, onion, minced garlic, chopped peanuts , cayenne, cinnamon, ginger and allspice turns into a very warming dish that doesn’t need anything extra in the way of carbs and is completely satisfying on a really cold evening without any of the bloating side effects. For anyone allergic to peanuts I’ve discovered spicy tamari pumpkin seeds; these are so satisfying for anyone with a groundnut allergy. Fresh butternut squash baked with fresh sage, ginger, a bit of Earth Balance “butter” and a bit of maple syrup relaxes me completely and makes me feel like I’m eating dessert! You can take that same squash recipe and puree it with some coconut milk and pour the whole thing into an ice cream maker. Serve it with crystallized ginger sprinkled on top and if you can find it, some fresh mochi. If you can’t find fresh mocha, whole foods has a terrific prepared mochi (a pounded rice paste) that comes in a pack and is ready to use. Just slice into bite size pieces and bake according to the directions. Dust it with a bit of Chinese 5 spice powder and a bit of “Butter “ and some honey. This is one of my sweet secrets, absolutely delicious, fragrant and so good for you! For me, the final piece of the puzzle is presentation. Make it beautiful , make sitting down at the table a feast for the senses! Make sure you sit down to eat, put everything on a pretty plate, use a cloth napkin (so much better for the environment) and treat yourself well because you’re worth it! Buy a crystal goblet or two and use them for everything, even water! Turn on somemusic. Chew and breathe ; as my mother used to say "relax and make every day into a day for candles and wine"! Dress up a bit and dab on some fabulous perfume, today I'm wearing Tom Fords utterly luscious Tobacco Vanille which is the equivalent of dessert in a flacon. This is about having a real relationship with your food and allowing it to nurture and love you back. If you’re joining me on this journey, please leave a comment and let me know how you’re doing! It’s great to have such good friends to share this with and I’m thankful for you all! Eat Well, Be Well, Live and Love well! Beth Penzey's can be found at penzeys.com

Foodie Sunday: Gastronomy and Gluttony! Happy New Year my fellow foodies! I think it's time for a cleanse!

BY BETH Oh my god, what a tremendous holiday. Like many of you I have not stopped cooking since November, beginning with Thanksgiving, moving towards our annual Winter Solstice party, followed by the first ever Christmas Eve dinner at my home,followed by our traditional Christmas breakfast , Christmas dinner, never ending plates of Christmas cookies and that was only the beginning. Three days later it was off to New York for a fabulous Black Tie wedding at The New York Palace (Duck breast, steak tartare and lobster ceviche, the most amazing wedding cake and constantly flowing champagne!), Scotch and cigars at Club Macanudo , High Tea at Bergdorfs, Charcroute Garnie at Les Halles and then New Years Eve with my niece in Bridgewater where after yet another even more fabulous High Tea we cooked up a feast of king crab, steak, au gratin potatoes , creamed spinach washed down by copious amounts of yummy Veuve Cliquot . Thankfully by the time we got to Lexington Mass to see my darling friend John and his equally wonderful wife, they’d decided to cook a traditional Japanese meal for New Years, where I was thrilled to eat sukiyaki , sushi , seared tuna and even learned how to make homemade mochi, something that I’ve longed to do for years which we ate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and crystallized ginger. Delicious and simple…thank goodness because by then my liver was beginning to ache every time I thought about eating. Can you say Gluttony? I can’t even begin to think about picking up a whisk…. So I’ve decided that it is time once again for a cleanse, a complete food overhaul. So my primary challenge for the next month is to return to culinary saneness. Jim’s on board and I’m thrilled to say that my 24 year son Alex, is on board. He’s agreed to give up smoking (YES!) and alcohol for a few weeks and Jim is giving up alcohol and cigars. I am giving up alcohol , too much sugar , cream and my overall lack of willpower! I know how to do this having been vegetarian/vegan on and off for years but when you love food as much as I do the holidays make it tough. Of course the goal here is to burn off a few pounds, but mostly to reset the clock. Like I said, I know what to do, I just lack the will. It’s time though , I’m 52 and suddenly noticing aches and pains where there were none. I want to keep sailing through menopause like I have. My son said something very pointed to me the other day. He looked at me when we were out riding and said quite directly, “You know , if you don’t lose that 20 pounds you’re going to shorten your horseback riding life by at least 15 years, almost one year per pound mom.” Now my son is no paragon of virtue but in this case he was right. That would be a disaster for me, riding , cooking and writing being my chosen meditations. Upon arrival at my home I broke out my Vitamix and new Mauviel steamer and banished the kitchen aid mixer to the basement! If you’ve never heard of a Vitamix trust me when I say that this is the one appliance that would be with me if I were ever stranded on an island. When I am cleansing I use it everyday. It is WAY more than a blender although it does make the best frozen cocktails ever! There’s nothing like it for juicing and because it is so powerful it helps me create incredibly fast soups that are simple, completely fresh and delicious! I've discovered that when I stick to it that consuming a diet rich in whole foods simply makes me feel better and for me is the key to keeping me healthy and happily moving into my middle age. It's easy to prepare wonderful foods when you've got a weapon like this in your arsenal! I make fresh juice that's full of fiber and flavor in under a minute. I can cook fresh soups from scratch andhave them hot enough to serve in just a few moments. Salsa is a snap and so is guacamole, although I do prefer making mine the old fashioned way in a stone bowl. I can make fresh puddings and ice creams that are full of fruit and low in fat in really only 30 seconds. When I make "Cream of anything" soup, before I strain it I give a turn in the Vitamix and then press it through a chinoise. The machine purees so well that it eliminates the need for extra cream (for now I’ll be using mostly unsweetened coconut milk) and gives any soup a silken texture. If I want fresh butter I can make my own using the Vitamix in about 2 minutes. I even make fabulous plant food with it using fish and veggie scraps, coffee beans, eggshells and water! You hear it all the time now, with even Doctors are finally acknowledging that the key to real and lasting health is to consume more fruits, vegetables and whole grains every day while encouraging us to eat way less meat, fish and dairy. Finally, the return to food sanity is becoming mainstream. This time instead of going totally vegan which is very hard for us to do in the winter, we’re going to stick to a wonderful Mediterranean diet full of rich sunny flavors. I’ve brought home infused olive oils from New York and I’m ready to use the beautiful new copper steamer that my husband bought me to lighten up the calories without sacrificing flavor. Tons of fresh herbs, way less sugar and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Almost nothing processed. One splurge night a week! Lots of fresh fish, shellfish and very little red meat and lots of slow food. Only real cheese, not processed and absolutely no fast food of any sort. I will allow myself a glass of red wine or champagne if I want it. Practically no sugar, except for maple, agave honey and lots of yoga to keep everything moving smoothly! I’m excited…lots of new recipes to create, lots of wonderful food to eat after several days of creative juicing! So wish me luck and how about you? What are your tips and tricks for staying healthy, vibrant and fully alive? I need all of the help I can get! Anyone want to do this with me? Be well, eat well and love well, Beth

Ring out ye Solstice Bells

BY BETH The winter Solstice is once again upon us, that longest night of the year. If I travel far backinto time I can see why our ancestors celebrated for the simplest reasons… the harvest has been brought in and put to attic and cellar, the meat has been preserved and is waiting to be turned into warming stews and braises and the animals are tucked away safely in the barn. The wood for the fire has been gathered andstacked. Let the bells ring out for this is the feast that heralds the transformation…soon the darkest nights will slowly begin to fade into light and the warmth will return once again. I think that sometimes we forget how fortunate we are and how much in the realm of humanexistence has changed for the better since those times where we lived with the constant threat of plague and famine. In those days, one bad harvest could threaten the existence of an entire village and men in the households could be dragged off to battle at anytime to fight, leaving their families to face unspeakable hardship and poverty. I have been lucky, as an American I have lived my entire life in a country where abundance was easily provided for me, where, my next meal was as easy to find as the nearest marketplace. And yet as I write this, I am painfully aware that this year, many among us don’t have the simplest resources, many are hungry, many don’t have shelter. Many of those affected are children. When I think back on Solstice’s past, I think of the parties, one of which I am throwing once again with my sister tonight. We have planned the most glorious meal, there will be a beautiful fire in the kitchen, where we’ll make wishes on a bit of last years Yule log and plenty of music to dance to and Christmas Ale and spicy mulled wine to drink. There will be lots of laughter and plenty of sweet things to eat yet as I make my preparations for the evening, I cannot help but be reminded of the latest statistics on hunger in this country and they are grim. 1 in 3 families go to sleep hungry in a nation where there is so much. 1 in three children go to school to get their breakfast and some don’t have anything to eat from the time that they leave school on Friday until early Monday morning. How have we let this happen? We waste so much food and so much knowledge. Look around…we have an abundance of everything but for so many there is so little. I realized about a week ago that the amount of food that I throw out on a weekly basis would feed several children. My animals eat better than some people. I’d just seen a Dr. Oz show on hunger in America where he was talking to a women who was crying while scrounging through her garbage because someone had thrown out 3 stalks of celery and she needed every bit of food she had to feed her 4 children. I immediately sent a note out to my neighbors who are among the most generous people that I know and today I amtaking our donation of close to 400.00 to an emergency food bank around thecorner. Starvation is closer to you than you think. I found out within the last week that a dear friend of mine and her husband spent the last year in a perpetual state of hunger , but she was too proud to ask me for help. I was so incredibly upset. Most people are too proud because that’s the society that we’ve created, one where to ask for help from a friend seems to be seen as something shameful. So this Solstice as I enjoy the laughter and comfort of my friends and the warmth of my sisters hearth I have made several promises to myself and several wishes……. I promise that I will not make myself feel guilty for what I have, but I will share even more of it and waste less of it. I will find a way teach people to garden well, to grow their own food, to preserve it as I’ve begun to do and how to use the healing herbs growing all around us instead of relying on medicines that poison oursouls and our bodies. I will figure out a way to teach people how to cook and find a soup kitchen to serve in like my mother so long ago. To provide food is provide love and we get so busy that we’ve forgotten all about that. I love sharing a fabulous feast for my friends, but as I look around this year and see what others do not have I cannot help but think so much about the traditional origins of Solstice. We have forgotten what it means to live within our world, to live with each other and to be self- reliant. We've forgotten how to be grateful for the light. The poorest among us only have access to what we easily give them and if you don’t believe me just drive into the most poverty stricken sections of your city to see what I mean. Convenient stores owned by large, faceless corporations that are filled with foods that are of the scarcest nutritional value, that cost more and provide less. No real lettuce, just bags of chips, frozen pizzas and white bread; dead food with no soul. Here in America we have all of the resources that we need to create a peaceful, abundant and prosperous world for all, but we’ve got to climb out of our cocoon and look around, spread our wings a bit and take in the view from above. Look about honestly and then roll up our sleeves and see what must be done to make our existence work for every one, not just a chosen few who somehow believe that the rest are not deserving. I’m not a terribly religious sort of girl, but there is a message for us all in the Book of Matthew, where Jesus says “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” If you are hungry, let someone close to you know. If you are cold, let someone close to you know…. if I can do something please let me know. Whatever your heart desires is what I wish for you, whether it be love or a new job or gallons of your favorite perfume. I wish for all of you to know just how much richness you bring to my life. I truly appreciate and am thankful for you all and if you see my secret Santa please let him know that I’d love a full bottle of Caron’s Tabac Blond perfume and a new bottle of Nuit de Noel! ( Yes, we’re still on Perfume Smellin Things!) In this season of light, on this Wintry Solstice night please remember to be generous and brave. Brightest Blessings until we meet again in the New Year…. Beth Schreibman Gehring Picture courtesy of godecookery.com

Foodie Sunday: My Christmas wIsh list and and a wonderfully scented prize draw!

BY BETH It’s funny. I looked around just the other day and I was harvesting fresh tomatoes from my garden and lounging around with a healthyvodka and tonic in the hammock. Yesterday the snow was flying and I realized that it was December! Time really does fly when you’re having fun or as my husband the happy punster likes to say, “Time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana”. Sorry, but it is Foodie Sunday! This is the time of year when I begin to make lists of all sorts. Cooking lists, gift lists, donation lists, card lists, it’s pretty endless. But I’ve also learned over the years to make my own wish list. So here they are in no particular order, some of the Foodie and fun fantasies that I’m longing to find under the tree this year! So, what would the holidays be without a fabulous glass of champagne? Through the early 80’s and until the late 90’s my bubbles of choice were Laurent Perrier’s ultra orgasmic Ultra Brut and then this offering just disappeared. I was inconsolable, I used to refer to this particular bottling as drinking an elixir distilled from icy cold angels breath. Not too sweet, not too dry, not too yeasty, just perfect because it has absolutely no sugar dosage. The Ultra Brut is perfect to drink for almost any occasion, it marries well with classic French dishes like Dover Sole or Russian delights like roasted sturgeon and root vegetables. It wants to be paired with chilled fresh oysters and it loves my cut crystal flutes,which allow the bubbles to dance up and down the graceful stems like the sugarplum fairies in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite! Just the other day on a whim I sent to the Laurent Perrier site and lo and behold, someone sound the trumpets because my beloved Ultra Brut has returned! You don’t want to miss this…it’s wonderful. Trust me, buy a bottle and tell me what you think. As for me, well I’m asking Santa for a case of it. Luxurious? Yes! Indulgent? Absolutely! But I like to think I’m worth it and so is my white truffle scented popcorn! Anytime that I’m thinking about champagne, I’m thinking about fine crystal to serve it in. I have beautiful Baccarat stems, but I’d love a couple of St. Louis Crystals beautiful “Bubbles” flutes to serve my Ultra Brut in. For any not familiar with St. Louis , they are the oldest Cristallerie in Europe, founded in France in 1586. These stems are contemporary yet timeless, each rendered injewel tones of cobalt, green , purple, red and a seductive smoky gray and the stems are beautifully crafted and layered bubbles that form a perfect anchor for the graceful bowl. Totally elegant and gorgeous! 2011 was the year that I learned to cook with essential oils and I fell in love with the breathtaking way in which just a drop or too or a wonderful essence could enhance the flavor of my foods and elevate them to a level of brightness that I’d never experienced before. Essential oil of dill took my potato soup to a whole new richness and essential oil of ginger and roasted carrots? Sublime! How to use them in dessert? The possibilities are endless and I now see that my favorite Jeni’s ice cream recipes have been immortalized in a cookbook. The best part? The essences that they use are made by Mandy Aftel and there’s a delightful set available that I’m hoping to find in my stocking this year, 6 beautiful little bottles (Clove, Coriander, Lavender, Peppermint, ylang ylang and wild sweetorange) just ready to make my ice creams and crème brulee’ giggle with flavor. All of Mandy’s delightful chefs’ essences and absolutes can be found on her website so you can handpick them for YOUR favorite chefs! I have espresso flavored dreams…I really do. I love the aroma and comfort of a steaming mug of cinnamon coffee first thing in the early hours of the morning when the rest of the house is asleep and it’s just me and my laptop spending some quality time together. Recently I spent a week in Boulder with my family and we stayed at my brother and sister in laws gorgeous new home that they’ve built along the Boulder foothills. This house was beautiful with windows all around and and every morning I’d wake up during sunrise when Carlos the rooster would begin to crow. It was the most relaxing week. I’d walk into the kitchen to find Jim already sitting at the table with his computer and he get up and make me a fabulous cup of hazelnut coffee using their Jura espresso machine. I was hooked! The thought of making a wonderful cup of espresso at home sounds wonderful to me! When I figured out what both of us spent everyday on our assorted latte’s and cappuccinos I was flabbergasted. Even the most expensive machine would be paid for in less than a year’s time. I’ve settled on the Jura Impressa C5 machine with Dual frothers available form Sur La Table. The only downside is that I may never leave the house again! One of the things that I adore are excellent Olive oils and vinegar’s. When I was last in New York I discovered that one of my favorite restaurants, the Fig and Olive sold one of the finest white truffle infused oils that I’ve ever tasted. But they also sell oils infused with blood orange, meyer lemon and basil that are equallywonderful and a truffled mustard that is to die for and a delicious tomato and basil spread that will leave the warm taste of summer lingering for hours on your lips. In fact, everything that they use on their delicious crostini’s are available for purchase so I think that a gift certificate could be in order. Oh Joy! Because I spent my entire career in the tabletop and entertaining business old habits die hard. To me presentation is everything and I don’t have a champagne bucket! Well, I did but in a moment of artistic frenzy I turned it into a container for a spider plant and ruined it. So now that I’m going to have my beloved Ultra Brut again I’m going to need a new one and I’ve found the perfect candidate, a Mauviel hammered copper beauty from Williams Sonoma that can chill two bottles side by side and look absolutely rustic and glorious while doing so. If you’ve never used a champagne bucket I encourage you to do so. You can find them everywhere at very reasonable prices and they make your presentation so very glamorous. A bottle of bubbly chilling gracefully in a silver or crystal bucket with two pretty glasses and a few lovely hors d oeuvre’s is always in my home a prelude to a kiss……. I love Macarons, those delightfully French fantasies of perfect almond meringue with fillings that range from decadent to otherworldly. My favorites come from Laduree in Paris and now I’ve discovered that they are making beautiful candles that are scented just like their pastries. They are beautiful, poured into containers of spun sugar colors emblazoned with white cameos and flavors like violet, chocolate orange and candied fruit. There are at least 20 to choose from and they’re all wonderful and there are sets of two and three just in case you’re like me and can’t make up your mind! I’m truly addicted to these so hopefully Santa will take pity on me this year…. While I’m thinking about sweets I’d love a box of the deliciously soft, unbelievably sexy, seriously sugary Marron’s Glaces from La Maison du Chocolat. If you’ve never tasted a Marron, well you’re in for a treat. They are incredible, chestnuts from Turin that have been gently simmered in sugar water in a candying process over a period of about 5 days, so that the liquids in the chestnuts are gradually replaced by the sugar. These traditional French Favorites are the most perfect treat that I know and I like to buy a box and eat them one or two at a timefrom Christmas eve until New Years Day. I do not share these (even with Jim!) so you’ll have to buy your own box but I promise you that they are worth it. There are many more things on my wish list, like a vintage copy of The Cleveland Orchestra performing The Nutcracker Suite , The “Essentielle de Chanel “ makeup palette, a huge bag of Laurie Stern of Velvet and Sweet Peas seriously potent catnip for my fabulous felines and a huge bottle of Roxana Villas utterly phenomenal perfume “To Bee” which turns into a sumptuous and sensually honeyed feast on my skin. Mostly though what I’m wishing for is that you my dear readers have the holiday season of your dreams. Why don’t you let me know what’s on your wish list this year and I promise that if I see your secret Santa I’ll let him know! Send me your favorite Christmas recipe for a chance to have a HUGE holiday grab bag of perfume samples chosen by yours truly. (The winnerfrom my Thanksgiving draw was Janet who mentioned chestnuts, my absolutelyfavorite ingredient to use during this time of year. Janet please send yoursnail mail address to Marina and I’ll send out your gift right away!)

The Clarimonde Project

By Beth For the last month I have been swept up in Venetian visions and pre-raphaelite fantasies, dreaming night after night of a beautiful woman whose angelic face hides a sad and terrifying secret. She is the vampiress Clarimonde, the haunting protagonist of the short story written by Theodore Gaultier. Clarimonde is the beautiful golden haired , green eyed 18th century undead courtesan who tragically falls in love with a young priest named Romuald who is on the very threshold of taking his vows, a promise that locks him forever into the biblical struggle between good and evil, right , wrong … and his own personal Heaven and Hell. The story begins when Clarimonde comes to Romuald on the eve of his ordination, promising to make him happier than he would ever be in Paradise if only he would leave the priesthood for her. Although Romuald takes his vows he becomes romantically obsessed with the beautiful woman and when her page hands him a calling card that is engraved with the words “Clarimonde , Palace Concini” , he immediately regrets his decision to commit to the priesthood. Shortly afterwards , Romuald becomes the priest of a countryside parish where he continues his studies, yet pines over his lost opportunity to create a worldly life with the beautiful Clarimonde. It isn’t long though before a young steward comes to him in the middle of the night, begging for his assistance in saving the life of the mistress who employs him. Romuald arrives at the palace too late and discovers in his dismay that it is the dead Clarimonde upon whose lovely face he gazes and in his sorrow falls to his knees, kissing her passionately upon the lips, bringing her back to life while falling madly in love with her beautiful spirit and glittering decadent world. From that moment on his life becomes complicated; Romuald and Clarimonde travel to Venice where he lives as a priest by day and a Seignior by night, enjoying the love of his beautiful Clarimonde , as well as pleasures of the flesh which he had never known could exist. The day arrives though when he discovers that she has been giving him a sleeping draught all along , sothat she could drink one drop of his blood each night. Eventually Romuald becomes so tortured by his double life that he tells his mentor, an older priest name Serapion his story. The older priest takes him to the cemetery and opens her tomb , where Romuald discovers her resting peacefully , glowing with life from the gift of his blood. The priest, driven to destroy what he cannot understand , pours holywater upon the sleeping Clarimonde who instantly disintigrates into ashes and dust. She comes to Romuald one last time in a vision, asking why he has destroyed the bond between them, sadly reminding him that she had asked for almost nothing in exchange for the love and beauty that she’d brought to his very existence. I must admit right now that I hated the end of the story. I wished that Clarimonde had been able to choose a man that could value her for her true self without guilt , a man who could take what she offered him passionately and return it back to her without fear…..a man who could have honestly CHOSEN her. I have lived with one who was so scared of my femaleness that he sought to destroy my very essence through his violence, he could not CHOOSE me so he sought to destroy me. I think that every woman experiences a love like that once and perhaps that is why we all have related so strongly to her story. We are familiar with our blood, we know it’s taste and smell. We have bitten our lips many times in sorrow as we bandage our children, quiet our tongues or bury our dead. We know what it means to choose life, to choose to open ourselves up to love even though it may destroy us. We need men who are fearless in the face of our passions and our frailties. It saddens me that Romauld and Clarimonde lived in a time when she couldn’t be honest with him about who she was and because it was a time when women were by their very natures suspect, it would have impossible for her to have been honest with him, she who held such a deep and forbidden secret. I have always thought that within the bonds of secular religion live the very intolerances that destroy any real possibility for love to grow. I would have liked him more if he hadn’t chosen to have been such a spineless martyr , betraying her in the end to preserve his façade, his piousness. In the end he willingly took everything from her yet clearly didn’t trust what she offered him, choosing to destroy her instead of just allowing her to be , to choose another who could truly love her. I was saddened that she felt that she couldn't be honest with him and wondered what their possibilities would have been if she'd been able to ask for his passion outright. Women know that their lives are inextricably intertwined with natural cycles of life and death. We stare headfirst into the chasm of the unknown to turn our bodies inside out, riding the painful waves of childbirth , thinking that for sure we are dying until the very moment when life emerges at the bitter end of then spiral. We are not afraid of that which we do not quite understand nor do not seek to destroy the essence of the experience. We would gladly spill our blood for our passions and are left emotionally battered and violently scarred when we find out that the object of our affections was simply not willing to do the same but sometimes as it was with Clarimonde we feel that we are not worthy of asking for our hearts deepest wishes. I had never read the story of Clarimonde until my friend and fellow blogger Lucy Raubertas proposed to several of us that we might discover and create a perfumed project around it. She started a secret page for us and very quickly we began to breath life into her vision. The Clarimonde Project is a scented collaboration that began with about 11 of us but it quickly blossomed into so much more. From the start I knew that this was going to be an extraordinary project and for weeks I have lived immersed in a world of 18th century art , music and literature , waiting for the moment when I could claim Clarimonde as my own. I read hungrily as extraordinary perfumers like Mandy Aftel, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz , Monica Miller, Maria McElroy and Alexis Karl and Ayala Moriel began to describe the scents that they were blending for this project and it wasn’t long before I felt the compelling need to create something of my own. I became obsessed with the idea of scenting a pair of gloves. I looked for days for just the right pair andeventually I found them…a pair of vintage French kid gloves, embroidered and in perfect condition. It took a month for them to arrive, but they are beautiful, worth every penny and the eternally long wait. Armed with a wonderful article by Jeanne Rose about scenting leather I began to work. Leather and I are not strangers as I’ve spent many a moment caressing and cleaning my saddles and bridles. But the softness of the kid demanded a different respect, so I made a simple solid perfume of beeswax and jojoba which I scented with chocolate, rose, a bit of oud that I had, some sandalwood and cinnamon. I rubbed the creamy mixture all over my hands until they were very warm and took a sniff. Delicious yes, but something was missing. I went over to the beautiful parcels that had arrived and took out the precious vials. Slowly the scent began to take shape as I rubbed drops of each delicious perfume into my hands. 5 wonderful perfumes, each of them so very different and yet they blended so well together. I took another deep breath and was stunned by the sheer beauty of them all, It was as if I could smell the essence of each yet blended together it was the most potent mixture of scent that I’ve ever smelled, beautiful, sexual and feral. It was as if we’d all been dreaming the same dream, yet each of us had brought back a different piece of her soul. It was the scent of Clarimonde and it permeated my senses, filling me with an odd mixture of joy and passion tinged with a touch of regret. It was amazing to realize that we had ventured into unknown depths to bring her most intimate secrets into the light. I plunged my hands into the gloves and after what seemed like an eternity I removed my hands to find that they were not greasy at all, the fine kid had absorbed all of the oil and sweet perfume. I folded several pieces of tissue that I’d scented with the mixture and placed them into the palms of the gloves, wrapped more tissue around them and buried them for several days in a pile of warm autumn leaves. When next I saw them they were infused with not only the scent of all of that lovely perfume but the golden warmth of the leaves that they’d been resting in. They were lovely to begin with, delicate and soft with age but they even more beautiful now. They glow with the luscious scent but there is something else, an aura of love and loss, to me they smell of redemption and rebirth. The bitter ending of this story finds Romuald torn with regret, warning his readers never to look at a woman because most assuredly they will meet the same fate as he. It can’t help but be obvious that his real regret is that he lacked the courage to choose love over fear, to embrace passion instead of destruction, hope over resignation. All over one tiny drop of blood. The image that you see above is my tribute to her, an altar outside in my little herb garden that I have dedicated to Clarimonde and these scented gloves are my offering. Instead of being reviled she is worshipped, an 18th century Goddess of incomparable darkness and unfathomable light who was betrayed by the one that she loved , reduced to tricking him for the scraps of his passion that he could never openly offer her , the sadness being that she generously and openly offered him somuch. She has become my muse and in my ending, Romauld lovingly collected the ashes from her tomb and took them to a secret place where he built a shrine to the beautiful woman that he loved and kept her safe from harm. I can imagine no other. To Mandy, Monica, Dawn, Maria and Ayala I am grateful, the scents, balms and precious gifts that you have each created are beautiful beyond description, elegant and provocative. I have been thrilled to be a part of this project. Warning. These beautiful perfumes are not for the faint of heart, nor are they for one who is not ready to be blown wide open to passion. Each of these beautiful scents manages to grasp the past, the present and the knowledge that no matter how much we wish it, that we cannot, must not liveforever, that life by it’s very nature is fleeting and impermanent. Everyone of these perfumes begs the wearer to live in the moment, each perfumer has interpreted the story of Clarimonde in her own way. Sleep one night on Ayala Moriels exquisitely scented dream pillow and you’ll know what I mean. The beautiful lip stains in shades of purple and blood red created by Monica Miller are sumptuous and sexy leaving my lips feeling as if they’d just been delightfully bitten. I am in awe of these perfumers and their abundant creativity. I have been blessed by their generosity and love receiving the packages that they have obviously crafted with such care more than they will ever know. Artists all of them, they are in it for the dream of creating something that is lasting and beautiful, perfumes that transcend time and space and provide the lucky wearer with a whole range of individual emotion. In this day and age of mass marketed mystique, that means everything to someone like me. Try every one of these wonderful fragrances and discover for yourself. They are all truly individual, inspired and wonderful. Oud Luban by Mandy Aftel Oud Luban is a wonderful perfume, rich and smoky and with an overtone of Frankincense fairly oozes a lovely tension, a delightful struggle between duty and passion. In this perfume passion clearly wins because the incense that she has layered between all of magnificent resins fairly scream of exotic opium dens and sensual thoughts. There is something balsam like as well, a tinge of sweetness , a hint of citrus , sweat and leather. The smoky choya lends a complex fairly religious austere emotion to the scent. Oud Luban is a perfect solid perfume, elegant and raw, yet sensual and buttery. Oud Luban is dirty and I mean that in the very best way because it grounds and relaxes me. It’s a scent to wear when you’re completely naked because it loves sweat and skin much like a perfect caramel tastes even better with a bit of sea salt and chocolate. It layers beautifully with florals and gives them an unworldly depth. I think that Oud Luban is fascinating because It’s a little bit conflicted, yet very complete which makes it all the more delicious and provocative to a girl like me. The yearning…the torment…..the inappropriateness of it all…..bring it on…..I love it! I’m one of those peculiar (maybe not so!) ladies who finds her passions completely aroused when she’s in the least appropriate of places so anything that smells remotely monastic is a delightful temptation for me, an audacious invitation to misbehave. Thanks to Mandy for giving me the perfect excuse…… Clarimonde’s Dream Pillow and Perfume : Ayala Moriel When I opened the parcel that I received from Ayala I was transfixed even before I saw its contents. I didn’t need to see what was inside, I could tell simply by the scent wafting from the envelope that I’d received an extraordinary gift and that I was going to enjoy it very much. Inside was beautifully handmade dream pillow, of creamy silk with a single precious garnet sewn into its folds that I am sure symbolizes the one drop of blood that she needed to survive . A dream pillow is a beautifully simple thing, a precious little parcel that’s been filled with herbs designed to enhance the experience of sleep or in Romaulds case something that he would have filled with herbs from the monastery gardens to banish his impure thoughts of Clarimonde. Ayala’s interpretation of the scent is very pretty and has an absolutely ethereal quality that is disarming, because the fragrance is very sexy. The beautiful pillow itself is filled with relaxing herbs and flowers such as valerian and lavender that by their very nature should easily promote an easy restful sleep, but Ayala has also perfumed it with her beautiful “Clarimonde” , which is sumptuous , exotic and twisted with a heavenly wisp of violet that windsthough her gorgeously spicy oriental/floral blend and gives this perfume its very otherworldly and deeply spiritual quality. My husband described it as remarkably beautiful and I agree. My dreams have been exquisite and happily filled with very impure thoughts. Sangre Eau de Parfum and Clarimonde Lip Stains: Monica Miller The package that I received from Monica Miller was absolutely intriguing . From her label which is a fabulous celtic knot of intertwined bodies to the contents inside, an exquisite little vial of her lovely Sangre Eau de Parfum and two remarkable lip stains, one called “Purple Shadow” and the other aptly named “Scarlet Kiss” , the experience from start to finish was delightful. For some reason, I felt as if I had to be dressed to wear these, so I put on a lovely shirt of purple velvet and some gorgeous black velvet trousers. That wasn’t enough so I swept up my hair and fastened it with a golden comb of my grandmothers that I keep for such an occasion. That seemed to be better so then I did my eyes in a soft kohl pencil and swept a hint of blush across my cheeks. Then I stroked the Sangre across my throat and onto my wrists and finally applied the lips stains, mixing them until the effect was dark and winey. I looked in the mirror and felt incredibly elegant , practically of anotherworld. Monica’s lip stains not only feel delightful but they taste wonderful because they are filled with essential oils, resins and herbs. The base she used is shea butter and my lips loved it and responded accordingly by looking bee stung and beautiful. Sangre, her scented tribute to Clarimonde is gorgeous. I loved the deep dark fruit essences that she used along with a fresh sweet chamomile and the way that she’s blended them with the rich floral heart and base of musks, honey and sticky resins creates a bacchanalian feast of a perfume that manages to be both Bohemian and classic at the same time. Immortal Mine: Maria McElroy and Alexis Karl Immortal Mine is a lust, passion filled and wildly untamed perfume that delighted me from the second that I opened the vial. First of all, it was beautifully presented, covered with bloody red sealing wax that was oozy and dripping all over the cap anddown the sides like a fabulous candle or a vial of blood. It made a delightful crack and what emerged was one of the most fascinating perfumes that I’ve ever smelled filled with incense, lust and magic. It was instantly arresting. Immortal Mine came with the most remarkable list of ingredients; Soil from an unmarked grave, wyverns blood, amber, longing ,smoke, wax, myrhh ,words from a dead mans mouth, desire and much more…..I loved it and I haven’t stopped wearing it since the moment I put it on. I must admit that I’ve never smelled a perfume that instantly suited me as much as this one does. Permit me to reach into another vampires world for a moment but there’s something of Immortal Mine that if you know the story of Lestat and you remember back to his days on the stage in Paris at The Theatre of the Vampires you’ll understand. The only words to describe the beauty of Immortal Mine are indulgent and hedonistic and of all of these perfumes it is the one that is the most wicked. There’s nothing kind or sweet about this one…it takes you, spins you around dizzily and doesn’t let go until you’re completely dizzy with desire. To me it occurs like a dreamy, hypnotic spell, a few drops of this in a glass of port and I would probably give up everything…… Paradise Lost: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz A Twilight blue Oriental Perfume”. What an amazing description and it absolutely speaks to the evocative and complicated emotions that Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has captured in her elegant and refined perfume “Paradise Lost”. There is a moment in the story where Clarimonde lays dying , waiting for Romauld to come to her castle. The room is misty and silken, there is a page with an ivory cane keeping his vigil by her side. In her bedchamber, there are quilts of gold and silver and a vase of faded flowers. Clarimonde herself is pale and wan, slipping quietly in between the dreamlike veils of life and death. Into this scene wanders the innocent and love stricken priest. DSH’s Paradise lost is gossamer and beautiful, the scent of that bedchamber, of that lost innocence. He kisses her and is lost within time and space from that moment on. Paradise Lost is full of amber, sable, chamomile, candlewax and so many other luscious accords that give this lovely perfume the aura of an oriental opiate. The effect of Paradise Lost on the skin is akin to a robe of soft velvet and rich brocade , forming a cloak that pulls you seductively through the bedroom door and forever into her unforgettable and unfathomable world. Click Here To download and listen to Clarimonde narrated by Joy Chan There are many other remarkable writers who have been involved in The Clarimonde Project. Please visit them all! They are Indie perfumes Scentless Sensibilities, the Perfume Pharmer, Scent Hive, Jade Dressler, LostPastRemembered and The Clarimonde songs of Alexis Karl.