Congested Chest Tonic Test: Cheers to the Hot Todd...

I’ve been ruminating a lot lately on how the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas could have shrunk dramatically without visibly changing on the calendar. Normally, come December 1st  I’m itching to get out the ornaments, and festive feelings keep the energy levels up in spite of too many commitments. This year, though, the holiday season has felt exhausting and hectic, and I’ve felt borderline...

Homemade Almond Milk (Chocolate Pudding)

This week I had one of those random flashbacks that seem to come up and smother you for no reason, then *poof*, vanish. It was more of a feeling than a recollection, actually. For an instant, I got a surge of the overwhelming dizziness that surprised me the when I moved back to the States after just a year in Taiwan. Ironically, it was the deluge of words, the signage that I could read and understand, that was the cause....

A Little Ethiopian Inspiration: Simply Easy Chai (...

If you are here for a recipe, this is definitely one of those posts for quickly scrolling to the end, because what is to follow really is much ado about nothing. Literally, as in rambling explanation of the extended space of nothing separating this entry from the last one. I’ve been slacking off blog time, big-time, lately, but the woeful neglect hasn’t been from lack of thought. In fact, I’ve been burning...

Ginger Tea

In our increasingly complicated world, we all know that generally the simplest, little things  carry the greatest impact, day-to-day. A hug is a haven from hurt, the darkest mood lightens with the wag of a tail, and no problem is completely impervious to a good night’s sleep. So why is arriving at the simple solutions  so often time-consuming, if not difficult? If you spent any time following the adventures of our...

Hot Chocolate: Best of Childhood in a Cup

My parents were inspired by the magical tale of Peter Pan, or so my Mom says, when they named me Wendy. They thought the name, ushered into greater popularity by author J.M. Barrie in 1904, held a sweetness and uniqueness of its own special enough to stand alone, and so they didn’t bother to come up with a middle name. They didn’t anticipate the intense “left out” feeling I’d develop when forced...

Cool Cubes: simple no strain ice adds real, natura...

This post includes recipes for orange-basil sorbet and my friend Michelle’s delicious Summer H2O, as well as numerous suggestions for flavored ice cubes. We’ve all heard the facts: approximately 70.8% of the earth is comprised of water; our bodies are made up of 65% water. In other words, water is as natural to life as is imaginable. So essential, the life-water relationship transcends way beyond the realm of puns...