Last spring one of my best recipes was born- Spring Herb Moussaka. It an unraveling from everywhere all at once, coincidentally right around the time the movie of the same name came out. This year, as part of my Spring 2024 Herbal Salts: Unbridled Spirit & Verve Collection, I offer a refined herbal tulip salt born that experience. Both recipes stand as a testament to my nomadic journey, where I feel free from the confines of any one place, allowing me to connect with all, everywhere, simultaneously. It's within this boundless exploration that I discover my most genuine self, where I feel most peace and from where most of my recipe ideas unravel.
Spring
April 1, 2024
In my long herbal life thus far the question I have been asked most about herbs exposes a deep fresh herb hesitation: “How do I use them all up?” My answer has always sounded as smart-assy as I am, despite the sincerity. “You just do. You just use them up.” Transcend the conservatism. Learn at least a little about the flavor and potencies of the herbs you like, play and take risks. That’s how we grow as cooks and eaters. I have always had my work cut out for me in trying to encourage fresh herb usage in American kitchens. My herbal salts, which are all packed full of fresh herbs, are just one way to increase excitement about herbs.
August 30, 2022
I have to go back pretty far to recall how my herbal salts first materialized. While surely some form of fresh herbal salt has existed in my culinary repertoire for a long time, I know the first shelf-stable, oven-dried version started in Brooklyn while running Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center: one of the few Brooklyn-based businesses I started in my early 30’s. My herbal salts transformed and matured as I traveled the globe. I became a better, more skillful cook and ingredient finder as I traveled to each new place, my herbal salts reflected this growth and found more creative fuel for my artistry, more passion and more personal happiness in creating. The herb salts just kind of metamorphized, despite the irony to of me being a salt-hesitant cook, into what they are today, as I fed my mind, passion and artistry and I hardly even noticed it was happening. It’s been an incredible journey refining this herbal salt thing inside me, cultivating joy while doing it, all from the unlikely position of southern Missouri. But it is indeed here, in my Blue Eye, MO, kitchen that these herbal salts have culminated.
August 30, 2022
I love celebrating my birthday. Many friends and loved ones would claim that I enjoy celebrating it a little too much. But I ask? “Who among us doesn’t celebrate their birthdays for the entire month?” Maybe they don’t realize that the month-long celebration for me is actually more intricate and involves consciously and subconsciously setting intentions for growth and change in the year that lies ahead. So, my birthdays involve a great deal of self-reflection and self-awareness. That’s what I celebrate- that I have grown and that it’s my choice to decide where I go and grow next.
April 9, 2021
From the moment many of us were sent into our homes to shelter-in-place, the baking rumpus had begun. So much so that most baking supplies became scarce, sending a wave of panic over those looking for something fun and calming to occupy the foreseeable future. Well-known for my laidback attitude about having the right supplies in the kitchen and life, I knew early on something good would come of it. I certainly wasn’t about to panic about baking. People all over the globe can attest to the relaxation brought on by baking. It seems quite obvious that, during this pandemic, baking has become a nurturing way to self-soothe – as the masses can bake breads, cakes, biscuits and cookies with reckless abandon.
May 27, 2020
I make it known often that I do not have a sweet tooth and people usually assume that means I do not like dessert. That’s absolute crap. I love dessert, I just enjoy it more savory than sweet. This is a dessert for those, like me, who lean on the savory side of sweet. It also combines my two passions for recipe development- herbs and mangoes. What exactly do I mean when I say I prefer a savory dessert? It means I don’t like a lot of sugar in it. I like more earthy elements to shine through and prefer naturally sweet items to take center stage. I like a little salty nature to my dessert and a perfumy aspect really gets me excited. Flavorful and potent fresh herbs in desserts lead to more character and depth – sugar add nothing but sweet and that’s just one dimensional. I also enjoy a tad of acid, balanced by some fat; butter, cheese or cream.
May 20, 2020
I am deeply obsessed with all things spring. Perhaps my enthusiasm for fresh herbs was born in spring, when we get to witness herbs shoot up from the cold ground of winter with expeditious vigor and vibrancy. Mint, parsley, chives and chive blossoms are the first to appear in our gardens ready for us to toss their tender leaves into salads, soups, pesto, and sauces. Today I want to place a special focus on mint (specifically spearmint) and chive blossoms and, in particular, how beautifully they relate to asparagus – another of spring’s powerful popups. (I’ve more recently spent some time ruminating on the joys of parsley, so you can check out those posts for more.)
April 23, 2020
A few years back I took the most amazing ‘Mindful Self-Compassion’ course at Spirit Rock Mediation Center. It was around the time I had just been left by a long-term partner. I found myself in a very confused state-of-being that caused an enormous amount of emotional overwhelm. Now, years later, I still am confused about that, but I have also come to find acknowledge that these particular moments states-of being are crucial for learning and growth, in particular if you allow yourself to move through them slowly, carefully and compassionately.
April 11, 2020
One of the interesting elements of this current pandemic is how quickly the order we’ve grown so accustomed to gets thrown out the door. Another interesting part is just how much this process of needing to be more ‘lax’ trickles down into so much of what we do. While social order has become redefined, so do our self-bureaucratic policies. Maybe we don’t feel the need to exercise, or we drink more or eat more pasta. Maybe the kids watch too much TV or play too many video games. Perhaps the adults find themselves suddenly interested in a bizarre new show about the strange world of large cat people and the Tiger King. Whatever rules or systems we allow to fall by the wayside, we all have them. We make these quick and easy changes because we recognize that, when push comes to shove, so many of these rules just aren’t that important.
March 27, 2020
I broke my foot a few months back. I had to practice what they call “non-weight bearing” – in other words, you are not allowed to use your foot or put any weight on it at all. I learned really quickly that I used my foot and leg a lot more than I previously thought. I had a recipe-based article (on DIY Vermouth) for Edible Marin due and a photoshoot for said article a few weeks later… that was the last recipe project I did, until now.
March 25, 2020
Spring | My Herbal Roots