celebration

Showing posts with label celebration. Show all posts. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.

Thursday, August 1, 2013 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

St. Louis Dinner in the Garden with City in a Jar - inspired by One Part Plant "For Reals Meals"


Regular readers and Blissoma fans know that we are creating a community garden in North St. Louis City.  It's big and we're hoping to make a big impact for our community and their involvement with healthy, organic foods and herbs.

 Part of my goal this year was to start bringing more people into the garden either through volunteer time or events.  I delivered fliers around the neighborhood and hosted the first group work day in the garden in late spring.  Neighbors I'd never met before came and learned about what's happening on our plot. 

 More events were on tap, and after seeing the For Reals Meals series by Jessica Murnane on One Part Plant I decided that St. Louis definitely needed to host a copycat event.  They say imitation is sincere flattery and Jessica proved her colors when she offered 100% enthusiasm to the idea of her concept spreading to other cities.  Done! 



The season was perfect to have it outdoors in the lush June garden and feature as many locally procured and garden grown ingredients as possible.  Jessica Leitch of City in a Jar became my cohort since I am notoriously unable to focus on anything but food when planning a dinner.  If it was left up to me folks would have been eating with fingers, though the food would have been delicious.  Thank goodness I had help then with the table settings, bartending, flowers, and hosting.



 We invited some neato people in the St. Louis scene, splitting the invite list between us equally.  I reached out to local filmmaker Ken Calcaterra, city government employee and fellow foodie Vincent Haynes, and Cbabi and Reine Bayoc of the famed vegan eatery SweetArt.  Jessica invited her photographer Christopher Willingham who shot all the photos in this post, her videographer, and several other friends.


At 6 pm on the first day of summer the guests began to descend on the garden.  I had planted, weeded, tended, and put in great efforts to make sure the garden was in spiffy shape for the evening.  The garden gods smiled on me and didn't let the weeds, bugs or heat get too far ahead of me.

Jess bartended while I was holed up in the kitchen completing the meal.  Afterwards Vincent told me he'd never consider having a dinner without a co-host again, as it solves the notoriously difficult problem of how to entertain guests while cooking food.  A buddy makes it possible!






We set things up picnic style on low tables with blankets.  It was casual but a memorable dining experience.

Recipes for Dishes from Dinner in the Garden

 - Lavender themed cocktails made with lavender simple syrup and 360 Vodka (Jess declared her favorite to be the Lavender/Lemon variation on a Lavender Collins) 
- Strawberry and Pickled Beet Salad with Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
- Creamy White Bean and Sugar Snap Pea Medley
- Sweet Potato Oven Fries with Crumb Coating and Homemade Heirloom Ketchup
- Panfried Polenta with Garden Herbs and Raw Mustard Greens Pesto

and a gluten-free baklava with coconut ice-milk for dessert


 




All recipes were original concoctions and featured ingredients harvested from the garden to show off the work we've been doing to grow fantastic food.  I'll gradually be posting all the recipes over the coming weeks so everyone can enjoy these healthy and super tasty creations.  With the exception of the white bean salad and baklava all recipes were vegan, and all of them were gluten-free.

Everyone enjoyed their evening.  I was glad I completed dinner by only 30 minutes after the estimated serving time (phew!) and that everything turned out well.  I'm working on some tweaks to the desserts as both weren't as fine as I'd like for sharing with the whole world, but they tasted good that night.

By next year I hope to have a full size farm table made from donated, reclaimed wood to serve on for many future events.  Thanks to both the Jessicas for their contributions!  I highly suggest following One Part Plant on culinary adventures through Chicagoland as you're sure to find something delightful.  We were honored to replicate her concept and instigate a little happy mixing of people and plants in North St. Louis.  We've got a lot growing up here.





Wednesday, October 3, 2012 in , , , , , , , ,

Autumn Aromatherapy // What (and What Not) To Do


A change of seasons brings a fresh feel in the air, a softer color to the light as it's filtered through colored leaves, and a shift in our moods and cravings. The advent of fall also brings a return to work routines and many gatherings, both professional and just for fun. It always seems to go so fast, and you want to treasure each moment of carefree comfort. You can relish sitting on the porch in the evening with just a light jacket, gabbing with friends and stargazing into the cool autumn sky. The only chill you really get is just enough to make an excuse to snuggle closer to your date, who if you're lucky smells a little woodsy.

 If you surround yourself with aromas apropos to fall it will help you to create rich, striking memories of this special time. Your sense of smell ties directly into the part of your brain where memories are stored, so it makes a perfect way to enhance your experience of seasonality...  

Writing and pictures by yours truly with tips on great online suppliers, which natural essential oils to use, and ways to use them for get-togethers, home, and the office.  Mmmmm...Smells like fall to me.



Thursday, December 27, 2007 in , , , , , , , , ,

Sweet Memories - holiday aromatherapy


What are sweet holiday memories made of?
Well, of course sugar, spice, and everything nice - No, wait, that's little girls! But there is a good deal of sugar and spice during this festive time of year, and actually those few extra pounds we all usually feel afterward say that there might be a bit too much of all that. But there are so many delights besides just the gastric ones, and to overlook them would really be to miss the better part of holiday memories.

When I was a child one of the very special parts of the holiday season was at the beginning of December when my mom would bring our holiday books out of storage. We had a full box of Christmas story books that were saved solely for this time of year. My mom, a reading specialist, was always wild about books and read to us regularly. At Christmas this shared time added to the magic of the season.

Several weeks ago my mom brought a book to my daughter Tru that I recognized immediately. It's called The Sweet Smells of Christmas, and is a story about a little bear that anticipates Christmas through the smells around him: an orange, a pine tree, gingerbread, candy canes... All are depicted in good ol' scratch 'n sniff format so the reader can enjoy the smells of Christmas along with the little bear. More than any other time of year, the holidays are indeed a season defined by smells. The profusion of pumpkin pie and evergreen scented candles at stores everywhere is enough to say that these aromas evoke a lot of sentiment.

 This is totally appropriate, since our sense of smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. A brief whiff of a scent from your past can instantly connect you to that time gone by and even make you feel as if you are right there again. Smells are actually tiny airborne molecules - small enough to vaporise in the air and then dissolve into your mucous membrane. From there they travel a path to your brain cortex and also to your limbic system. Your limbic system is a primitive (sometimes called reptilian) part of your brain that controls emotion, memory, and behavior. The cortex is responsible for your conscious thoughts. So smell impacts both of these areas.

 Smell is one of our most important senses from a survival standpoint. Smell helps us sense danger in the form of fire or poison and conversely helps us sense security and safety. Mothers and children can recognize the smells of each other, and the smells of our favorite foods will cause us to start salivating in anticipation of a good meal. So in that way it is no wonder that smells of pine trees, spices, fruits, and baking are so forefront when we think about the winter holidays. These experiences are so burned in our collective memories that once the days draw short and the air begins to cool we instinctively begin to crave these quintessential smells of hospitality and celebration.

 As a business owner I see sudden telltale spikes in sales of Silver Fir and Wild Orange candles in the fall that tell me that people are hitting the holiday mood. I also built our newest perfumes around themes of spices, citrus, and chocolate - all heady, stimulating scents that warm up the body and have a physiological effect as well as that crucial tie to pleasant memories. I really enjoy that what I am making is going to become an integral part of someone's precious memories.

 So, as we enjoy the afterglow of Christmas and the promise of the new year I am hoping that your holidays will be memorable, cozy, and full of delights for your senses. Make it fragrant and you'll remember it always!

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