As Christmas fast approaches I thought it might be nice to offer up my favourite Christmas Cocktail recipe, the Festive Negroni! (from BBCgoodfood.com) THE FESTIVE NEGRONI! Ingredients: 3 cinnamon sticks 4 whole cloves 2 star anise 2 cardamom pods, crushed 1tsp black peppercorns 200ml Hendrick's Gin Ice 100-200ml Vermouth 100-200ml Campari Orange slices and fresh bay leaves to serve Method: Step 1 Put the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and peppercorns in a dry frying pan, and toast for 5 mins, or until the spices are just fragrant. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Step 2 Tip all the toasted spices into a medium jar and pour over the gin. Seal and chill for 48 hrs...
The "High Priestess of Soul" Images photographer unknown. Born 21 February, 1933 Eunice Kathleen Waymon changed her name to Nina Simone in 1954. If she were a fragrance, a candle she would be Trees. In the words of Warren Ellis, "she is the divine incarnate". It might as well be Spring The things I used to like, I don’t like any moreI want a lot of other things I’ve never had beforeIt’s just like my mamma says, I sit around and mournPretending that I am so wonderful and knowing I’m adored I’m as restless as a willow in a windstormI’m as jumpy as a puppet on a stringI’d say that I had spring feverBut I know it isn’t spring I’m...
The French developed the glass cloche, or bell jar, formed from a solid piece of dome-shaped glass. The purpose was to protect early garden plantings, seedlings, from the cold and frost. Later, in France during the 19th Century a cloche was used to cover the brides head piece worn on her wedding day and carried high symbolic content. It was the bride’s mother who designed and gave the globe to her daughter. Small glass mirrors were placed around the headdress to represent sincerity. Other symbols present include ivy leaves, (the bonds of attachment) , doves (peace and harmony) and oak leaves (strength and prosperity). Throughout the 20th century, the symbolic function of the wedding cloche wained and entered into...
THE SCENT OF LIGHT "Like a great starving beast my body is quivering, fixed on the scent of light." "A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful parched holy mouth." ... both written by the1 4th-century poet Hafiz, Persia Light itself is odourless but the olfactory nerve endings in your nose react differently to light versus dark. Even to light, neurological reactions vary by wavelength. Exposure to some colours triggers changes in olfactory awareness, so that thing smells different. You can test this yourself by smelling things in bright sunlight vs total darkness, and also by shining different colour lights into your nose (white, green, red, blue...) for one minute...
