Wow!

How do you begin a New Year?   Create goals? Join a burning bowl ritual?  Eat  black-eyed peas or lentil soup for good luck?

For good measure, I do all of them!  And this year, I even started the above vision board.  The first word that appeared was “Wow”.  Okay!  Now let’s see what other words I will add as wishes for the New Year.  

I hope 2022 is a Wow year in the most positive sense for each of you and may our collective journey through the year bring health!, love, and joy. 

♥On My Bookshelf: Food for Thought

I have a new picture book that I love.  It’s called OurTable by Peter H. Reynolds.  It’s the story of a young girl who notices that her family dinner table is diminishing in size because of her family members’ individual interests and distractions that make that table no longer a focal point.  She decides to do something about that. Her action and results are delightful and a sweet variation on bringing joy to the table.

♥ Eating Out

We recently ate at a great little Italian restaurant on Scott Street in San Francisco that a friend recommended called Roma Antica.   Lots of outdoor seating with heaters, blankets, friendly waiters and waitresses, enough Italian being spoken to make me happy, and excellent pasta.  I had my first Cacio e Pepe (cheese and pepper) dish. Simple ingredients: thick-cut pasta, pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, olive oil.  Very tasty. 

♥What’s Cookin’!

As a 2022 project, I’ve decided to create  new dishes using each of the grains and flours I have accumulated in our pantry—farro, orzo, bulgar wheat, black pearl rice, garbanzo bean flour, nut blend flour.  If you have any recipe ideas for any of these, I’m open. John started the adventure by making a Red Curry with Shrimp recipe that was on the back of the Thai Kitchen Brown Rice Noodle package.  It was delish!

♥Tidbits

Pantone Color of the Year is Very Peri…a new color of periwinkle blue with a violet red undertone.  According to the Pantone Color Institute’s executive director, Leatrice Eiseman, “Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.” (Instyle.com, December 13, 2021)  Wow!  We better get on it!

♥And for 2022, I’ll be doing my blog a little differently…once-a-month with occasional pop-ups… with postings occurring the first weekend of each month.  We’ll see what inspiration and fun comes in and out with this new configuration.  I hope you will still be a part of the journey.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL!!