Quote (on a Monday- I blame the holidays)

Photo via irenelatham.blogspot.com

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there within me lived an invincible summer.” Albert Camus

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Friday DO: Enjoy the sunrise

This time of year is a good time to check out the sunrise since it rises later in the day. What better way to greet the morning than to find sip a cup of something hot and find a place to view the sun waking up with all it’s colors? I find that I have been more sensitive each to the days getting shorter with every year and that I feel inside me my ancestors’ yearning for the return of the sun, the shift in the days’ length that promised a return to heat and light.

Wonder Women Wednesday: Lesley M.M. Blume

via johnvonpamer.com

Wednesdays are devoted to inspiring women. This one is an incredible writer who lives a bright artistic life. As the author of the book Let’s Bring Back, she waxes poetic about many of the forgotten things that now define the yesteryears. She is a journalist and cultural commentator as well, based in New York City. What strikes me is her class, charm and wit.

Check out this video that she put out to publicize her book:

Tuesday Tunes: Little Cup by Thao and Mirah

There is so much to do in these couple of weeks leading up to big holiday celebrations. Rushing and bouncing around trying to find local gifts and get all the regular errands done as well. Music is my friend, the one that pacifies me and make the waiting game at least doable. This song has an infectious beat, making it the perfect soundtrack for getting stuff done.

Recipe: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

So, it was colder this weekend in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and my husband and daughter were both nursing terrible coughs. After loading them up with my homemade elderberry syrup (more on that in a future post) I remembered reading in Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions about the healing properties of stocks. It turns out that stocks have been used traditionally for years to nourish families in part because of the gelatin that is cooked out of the joints and bones, which help the body assimilate nutrients. So I started with her recipe and adapted it. Before long, the most amazing aroma filled the house and my family had an incredibly delicious large pot of soup waiting to be eaten.

Homemade Chicken Soup
You will need:
-A whole chicken or 3-4 lbs. of bone-in chicken parts
-5 stalks of celery, chopped coarsely
-3 large carrots, chopped coarsely
-2 onions, chopped coarsely
-2 Tb. dried thyme or herbes de provence
-2 Tb. vinegar or white wine

Soak the chicken, herb, and vegetables in 4 qts. of water with the vinegar between 30 minutes and an hour.
Bring to a boil and simmer 6-24 hours. (I simmered for 4.5 hours.)
Remove carcass from broth and carefully pick out all the bones when cool enough to handle. You can return much of the meat to the pot, or save some of it for other recipes. If you return all of it to the pot you will have a very dense kind of stew with less of a liquid ratio.
At this point you can add some kind of pasta, my favorite being thin flat noodles such as linguine broken up into pieces. But ABC’s would be excellent, too. Once the pasta is done you can adjust the flavor with some sea salt and/or pepper.
Another possibility would be to make dumplings instead of pasta. You can do this by cutting 1″ strips from rolled out pie crust dough, plop them into the simmering soup, and watch for them to puff up and float.
Enjoy cozying up with a steaming bowl!

Sunday Quote

“There’s only one thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration.” -Diana Vreeland

The Sublime Sound of Christmas

I have a love/hate relationships with Christmas music. There are some songs that relentless pop up year after year, but then there are others that make me relax into the season effortlessly, willing to embrace the celebration of the return of the light with a mug of something hot spicy and steamy, curled up under blankets and enjoying the quiet dark. This song totally embodies that cozy feeling.

Unfurling

So this morning I poured cream into my tea and watched how it unfurled in these infinite spiraling patterns, and I remembered watching smoke unfurl in the same way from a smoldering stick of Nag Champa incense. The patterns made by this unfurling are intricate, beautiful, and fleeting. So many moments in our everyday lives are like this. Here I hope to capture and share some of these moments. Welcome to my place for sharing the things that inspire me and move me with their beauty.