“I am scorched/ to realize once again/ how many small, available things/ are in the world/ that aren’t/ pieces of gold/ or power–/ that nobody owns.” Mary Oliver
One of those small, scorching truths is a mother’s love—a cache so valuable and so permanent that time and place have no bearing to govern. I spent this morning soaking in gratitude for my mother and for those who have been motherly to me. Of course, in the garden.
And then I made the first recipe I can recall Mom teaching me—French toast. Simple, delicious bread soaked in eggs and milk, with a little vanilla and spice. I used Little Northern Bakehouse gluten-free bread because I have been addicted to it ever since trying the Cinnamon and Raisin variety, but I have now taken a tour through all their flavors, thanks to some complimentary product samples, and a close second is the Seeds and Grains bread.
I am not someone who personally needs gluten-free options, but I have lots of patients and friends who do need to limit gluten, and as a bread baker, I am always on the lookout for recipes and brands that do gluten-free well (not easy!).
French Toast, in the style of Mom
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Pancake Blend spice
1 TB butter
6 slices Little Northern Bakehouse Seeds and Grain or Cinnamon Raisin bread
Whisk eggs with milk, add vanilla and spice. Heat a skillet and put the butter on to brown. When hot, dip both sides of the bread in the egg mixture and add to the grill. Top with your favorite syrup or jam and enjoy!
Another breakfast favorite you can make with this bread is my “clean out the crisper” Tartines.
1 bunch rainbow chard, chopped
1 onion
2 TB olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp creole “crack” (my favorite spice from Kitchen Witch store in New Orleans)
4 poached eggs
3 red chile peppers, diced (I use dedos de moca, brazilian peppers from the yard)
3-4 slices Little Northern Bakehouse bread, toasted
Saute the onion in the olive oil in a skillet until caramelizing, then add the garlic for 2 minutes, then the chard, cook down until wilted and charred. Finally, add the creole spice, heat until fragrant and heap onto the toast. Top with chile peppers to taste, and poached eggs. Sometimes I sprinkle chia seeds too for extra omega-3 action. Enjoy!
One of the most valuable lessons my Mom imparted, “You don’t have to be everything to everyone. Don’t apologize for taking time for yourself.” Rest. Mary Oliver put it, “watching until the watching turns into feeling/ so that I feel I am myself.”
Check out these sheets from Sleepletics.
As a resident physician, sleep is my preferred currency, and I bank hours in my savings account every chance I get. Got a chance to test the Celliant sheets from Sleepletics, the fabric of which is FDA-determined as a medical wellness item. It is a “responsive textile” with some sort of infrared reflective technology. Fancy that. I can say, they are comfy and, as expected, I feel energized when I wake up.
And my funny bedfellows, the bulldog and the hound, are huge fans.
One of my relaxation rituals in the last year has been to diffuse relaxing essential oils into my bedroom air an hour before I sleep, and when I wake up. Vetiver, lavender, grapefruit, spearmint, cedarwood… all favorites. If you are looking for blend recipes, the book Aromatherapy with Essential Oil Diffusers by Karin Parramore is a great place to start.
Check out Sleepletics for the sheets. Also, I have been using Doterra products and diffusers.
Finally, for relaxation, there is tea. I have been getting into making tea from the flowers in my own garden, and Growing Your Own Tea Garden by Jodi Helmer is fabulous. My disbelief is ridiculous; of course tea is from dried (or fresh!) flowers, but because I had been a person who always got tea from a cardboard box in a grocery store, I was blind to “where tea comes from.” Blush. Just flowers and leaves!
My first tea was hibiscus, which is great for blood pressure and cholesterol, among other things. I also use hibiscus tea to dye my hair red (added to henna).
I have two hibiscus plants in the yard, and all that’s needed is ½ cup of dried flowers or 1 cup of fresh blossoms added to 10 cups of boiling water! Let steep for 5 minutes, strain, and drink! Tasted delicious.
Next I’ll be brewing up my jasmine.
I feel like a hummingbird with my face sunk into a trumpet vine. Or a leaf, “Full of delight and shaking.” Happy Mother’s Day to all, but mostly to mine. Get a cup of tea and a piece of toast, and read this poem somewhere peaceful for a moment of relaxation–reward.
Summer Story
By Mary Oliver
When the hummingbird
sinks its face
into the trumpet vine
and the funnels
of the blossoms,
and the tongue
leaps out
and throbs,
I am scorched
to realize once again
how many small, available things
are in the world
that aren’t
pieces of gold
or power–
that nobody owns
or could buy even
for a hillside of money–
that just
float about the world,
or drift over the fields,
or into the gardens,
and into the tents of the vines
and how here I am
spending my time,
as the saying goes,
watching until the watching turns into feeling
so that I feel I am myself
a small bird
with a terrible hunger
with a thin beak probing and dipping
and a heart that races so fast
it is only a heartbeat ahead of breaking
and I am the hunger and the assuagement
and also I am the leaves and the blossoms,
and, like them, I am full of delight and shaking
