Toast and Honey

 The first thing I saw when I entered the grocery store yesterday morning was a potted hydrangea so perfectly pink and fresh looking that it looked like Spring itself.

I brought two home with me, one for the foyer and one for the dining room.

 One unfortunate thing about this flu that we've all had is that it is a real appetite-killer.  This is not helpful when it comes to recovering, it just adds to a weak feeling in the body.

As I walked around the grocery store picking up this and that I just felt ill at the thought of eating lunch or dinner, or anything really.
Then I thought, no, toast and honey will be just the thing.

Years ago we spent a night travelling north of Toronto to attend a dinner at Eigensinn Farm, the home of the famous chef Michael Stadtlander.

It was truly an extraordinary evening, made perhaps more so by the care and generosity of his wife Nobuyo, who held six month old Lil' Rascal at various stages during the evening so we could enjoy the seven course dinner!

The next week we were home in Guelph at a cocktail party when our friend John asked me about the night at the farm.  So of course I went into (at times rapturous) detail about the extraordinary food, and the atmosphere, and the presentation, until suddenly John's eyes glazed over completely as he blurted out:
"Yes, but sometimes don't you just want toast and honey?"

Quite right!
This toast and honey combination, above, gets all of the credit for bringing my appetite, and therefore my health, back in line.
I think I'll have it again this morning.
Have a healthy, energetic day today.  Maybe you'll have toast and honey?
xoxDani

Healing Soup... and Cake

 Last evening's shenanigans really began at about 4:00 when Middle Rascal arrived home for the holidays and we popped the sparkling wine.  We had a great time wrangling up the Christmas tree (well, that was mostly the girls once Lil Rascal arrived home from school, while I observed and gave "helpful hints").  We had a fairly early dinner of latkes and then I trotted over to my Serious Book Club where we discussed the ethics of triage while yet more wine was consumed.  Needless to say today will be a day for a healing soup and in order to detoxify my liver I'm going to add a generous grating of turmeric.
The turmeric root can be seen above resting on the carrots, and it's no surprise that it's part of the ginger root family, it has that sort of look.  It has amazing health benefits: detoxifying, anti-inflammatory and the compound within turmeric, curcumin, is a powerful antioxidant.
Sounds good to me!

For this soup I peel and chop several carrots, the turmeric and a shallot before I chuck the lot into my food processor.  There it is chopped finely before being sautéed in olive oil with a bit of salt and pepper.

 I add filtered water (or vegetable broth if I have it, I usually don't, I generally let my soups make their own broth) and simmer for a few minutes before adding in a can of rinsed white beans.  Simmer a good twenty minutes or so and voila, a healing soup that goes well with a big piece of good bread.

Today can't be completely saintly, that wouldn't be much fun, and with the last presents acquired and wrapped yesterday I can now turn to the real business: baking a Christmas cake.  I'm going to try Nigella's recipe for Date and Marmalade Christmas Cake.

I hope you're having a lovely day and that you didn't wake up with a "third-glass-of-wine-headache". ;)
xoxDani

Cures

Yesterday my day was taken down by a migraine attack.  I woke up with big plans but I was feeling that familiar pain in the neck accompanied by nausea that sometimes leads to migraine.  As usual I tried to fight against it but these things just need to play out.  The nausea increased, the pain went into my head and the lights and smells of the world around me intensified to the point of making me want to crawl under my bed.
It was actually a mild attack, I've had some migraines that lasted days.  By about 6 or so last evening the nausea was subsiding and I was able to cook dinner (and eat a big comforting bowl of risotto, there's nothing like carbs to ease the nausea of migraine). During the day I did some stretching, minimal housework, went for a short walk and tried to cure myself with various vitamins and lots of ginger tea.
I'm obsessed with kitchen cures, I even have a Pinterest board devoted to them.  Oddly, ginger seems to be the most effective thing I've ever found to ease my migraine.  A perfect drink is fresh lemon juice, freshly grated ginger and honey, all in a ginger tea that's been steeped for a good ten minutes or so.
Fortunately I have a light work week, my main focus is preparing for our Christmas block party on Saturday (which is so easy, it's just drinks and snacks).  Today I'll go to yoga with my friends and take Scout for the longer walk she missed yesterday.  I'm behind on laundry and cleaning but I'll get caught up on that today.
Do you suffer from migraines?  Give me your best kitchen cures, I'd be so interested to know what they are!
Hope your day goes well and not sideways,
xoxDani