Mistress of Spices

I stumbled across this fantastic movie at Blockbuster not too long ago and being enamoured with all aspects of herbs and spices, the name, of course, caught my attention right away. Mistress of Spices...the title conjured up associations that flashed through my mind as quickly as bullets from a machine gun: erotic, exotic, heat, spicy, sweet, mysterious, flagrant, earthy, musky, sharp. I rented the movie and watched it as soon as I got home and was not disappointed. Wiki does a great job of explaining the plot of the movie:

Tilo is an immigrant from India, and a shopkeeper, who is also the Mistress of Spices. The spices she gives to her customers help them to satisfy their needs and desires, such as "sandalwood to dispel painful memories; black cumin seed to protect against evil eye."

As a young girl, Tilo was initiated as one of several young Mistresses of Spices by a First Mother who warns the girls about rules they must follow, or face consequences. They are instructed never to leave their respective stores all around the world, touch the skin of the people they meet or use the spices to their own ends.

Tilo ends up in San Francisco in a store called "Spice Bazaar". Tilo's customers include Haroun, a cab-driver from Kashmir (Nitin Ganatra, a grandfather dealing with an American-born granddaughter Geeta, Kwesi, a man trying to impress his girlfriend and Jagjit, a teenager trying to fit in at school.

Her life takes a turn one day, when a man on a motorcycle (Dylan McDermott), crashes outside her store. Tilo tends to his injuries, while trying to ignore their mutual attraction. Her life changes when he touches her and they begin to fall in love. This man, Doug, is an American and an architect.

But the spices are jealous, and things soon start to go sour in her relationships with her other customers. Haroun gets in an accident, Geeta's family situation does not improve, Jagjit falls in with the wrong crowd at school, and Kwesi's girlfriend breaks up with him. Doug comes to meet her that night and tells her that his mother died.

Tilo recognizes that the source of these misfortunes is her breaking of the rules. The First Mother comes to her in a vision and chastises her. She vows that she will return to India, and posts a notice about a closing sale. She goes all out to help her customers one last time and tells the spices that she will spend just one night with Doug, and then she will give herself totally to them. She closes the store and goes off with Doug for the night. After a sweet night of love-making, she leaves him a note that she must leave and cannot return, but she will always love him. Then she goes back to the store and sets the spices on fire, with her at the center of the flames.
Doug comes searching for her, and finds the store ashambles, and Tilo is still there, alive and barely conscious. There is no sign of a fire, but there was an earthquake. We see a vision of the First Mother sitting at the beach, telling her that since she demonstrated her willingness to give up everything for the spices, now she can have everything and they will never desert her again. Doug agrees to help her rebuild the store, and she reunites with him.

I mean, come on...who doesn't love a good love story? But this one, there's something about it that just inspires me to stay true to my dream, to have my own herbal shop - to be my own Mistress of Spice.

Up-See Daisy

Remember those wonderful mornings in childhood when you were burrowed under your covers, almost awake but not really and you would be smiling while you were stretching your toes and feet and thinking about going to the bathroom before deciding you didn't really need to go because your bed felt so warm and snuggly so you flopped over on your other side to go all the way back to sleep? That was a true state of bliss. You and your bed were one. Your blanket was your fur lined robe and your dreams were your castle. Then your mother went and ruined the whole thing in that sweet, mom-chirpy voice used by mothers the world over, and only in the morning, mind you, by exhorting you to get up RIGHT NOW!!! THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I'VE HAD TO COME IN HERE AND WAKE YOU UP!!! That's the way I felt this morning when my alarm clock went off. A long time ago ~ OK ~ a really long time ago... I had a flight of fancy and wrote a short poem about dreaming:

Oh, Morpheus. Cradle me sweet; rock me in your embrace
Give wing to things like thoughts and dreams of the sea in stars encased
And sirens and mermaids and people of the deep
In this world I can safely keep
My hopes afloat in a bouyant sea
And anything at all I can be

Beep Beep - GET UP. Beep Beep - RIGHT NOW. Yes, Mom...I get up and turn off the clock.

Hmmm, it's a pretty day, isn't it?

Big Girl Panties - No Time for Fear

As most of you know, I've 'been made redundant' as they say in England - I'm losing my job on December 31st. Upon receiving the news from my boss, my immediate thoughts were OMG, what am I going to do? I'll lose my apartment with no job; who wants to hire an Executive Assistant who's over 50? My daughter's in her Senior year at a private college...how will I be able to pay for her tuition? I need new tires and I have no savings. Needless to say, it's been an emotional time that's really made me stop and think about where I want to go from here and what's really and truly important to me. I'm trying to stay positive about this, telling myself this is my opportunity to finally move to the beach (if I can find a job there) and that I can start seriously pushing to realize my dream. I've always wanted to be my own boss but fear always kept me in a safety zone of the 9-5 job with the security of a regular paycheck. I've piddled around with various sales things but that's just not for me. Now, I no longer have time for fear. I need an income and I need it coming in before 12/31. So my tiny kitchen is going to get used for so much more than cooking! I have so many herbal remedies to put together that I don't know how I'm going to do it all. I have salves and tinctures and teas and poultice kits to make. Herbal cleaning products to bottle and wreaths and sachets to assemble. Mini herb dish gardens to grow. I have to think about packing materials and order organic carrier oils and I need a coffee grinder for some spices and a marble mortar and pestle for other herbs and spices. I found a website to sell my herbal goodies so that's not a problem. Hmmmm, I obviously need a little help to get started as there's so much to do...Hey, I could have a prep party with my gal pals and other friends and of course, my li'l sis. Looks like I have the beginnings of a plan to start Thistle Cottage. I'm excited and scared in a good way but already I'm hearing that nasty little voice that says, "Who are you kidding - you can't do this." Well, I'm here to tell you...I've purposely switched my thinking from fearing failure and therefore not even trying to accomplish anything to anticipating success and plowing through details one at a time. Plain and simple....I'm puttin' on my big girl panties and getting down to it so shut up, Mr. Negative! I refuse to let anyone, even myself, stand in the way of my beautiful future. This is it for me. I no longer have the desire for or luxury of choosing fear - I am fighting for the rest of my life to be a success and I'm coming out swinging.

My thought for today (and thank you to my niece for this one):

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
Louisa May Alcott

Tummy Tea or Ugh...Cabbage Salad

Wicked Witch of the West voice....Helllllpp Mmmeee - I'm ferrrrrmenting. Ugh....I'm not feeling too well today which is why I'm so late with my blog. I made a cabbage salad Sunday evening that contains (besides the chopped cabbage, of course) dried oriental noodles, green onions, toasted sesame seeds, sliced almonds, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. I'm on a tight budget now and because this salad makes a big amount, really does taste wonderful and is adapted from the South Beach Diet, I was planning on eating it every day this week for lunch to help me with my weight loss plan. Ugh...bad idea. Cabbage ~ need I say more? Lots of cabbage. I was craving the taste and crispy crunch of it. I had it Monday for lunch and it tasted so good I decided to have it again for dinner last night. Yep, you guessed it...and again for breakfast this morning. My stomach is really upset today with gurgles and blurps and other unidentifiable but embarrassing noises. I need some Tummy Tea. Tummy Tea contains chamomile, caraway seed and mint leaves and is very easy to make. Simply crush about 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds to release the volatile oils, bruise a few mint leaves for the same reason and combine that with a half handful of chamomile in boiling water. Quickly cover the pot so the volatile oils don't escape and remove from the stove. After your tea steeps in the pot for 5-10 minutes, you can add honey or sugar to sweeten according to your tastes but when my stomach is upset, sweet is the last thing I want. Make sure you strain out the herbs before drinking your tea.

The volatile oils in caraway seed and mint are two of many herbs referred to as carminatives, which play an important role in our bodies. Encyclopedia.com describes how the carminative herbs work much more clearly than I can so here is their explanation: "Carminative herbs help to stimulate peristalsis, which is the wave-like action that pushes food through the digestive tract. These herbs can also help to relax the smooth muscle of the digestive tract, helping to reduce spasms. The antibacterial properties of the volatile oils aid in reducing gas pains that result from bacteria in the intestines acting on pieces of food that have not been digested fully."

Well, there you have it...what to take when you’ve overloaded on cabbage! I love cabbage but today....Ugh.

I’ll leave you with a thought today:

Your mind is a garden,
your thoughts are the seeds,
the harvest can be either flowers or weeds.
- Author Unknown

Deep Breath

A wedding on Saturday, Sunday-day at my sister’s home for a great family visit and then a two hour drive back to my apartment last night. What a sweet treat it was to walk into my tiny kitchen redolent with the scent of the flowers and herbs I had used early Saturday morning to make the bride’s Herbal Hopes wedding sachet. I stood in the middle of the floor between the counter and the microwave-over-range, closed my eyes and let my shoulders drop, and just drew in the softest, deepest breath I’ve taken in a very long time. I smelled the roses and carnations, and caraway and cumin co-mingled with fresh basil and fresh mint. The lavender and rosemary complemented each other in a way that really surprised me – the dreamy sweetness of the lavender was the perfect foil for the crisp, almost astringent, quality of the rosemary. I had thrown in some other herbs and nuts and spices as well ~ all representing a different aspect of marriage. Working with herbs is my passion; I can’t wait to make these wedding sachets and other products for my shop!

That’s it for today’s blog ~ talk to you tomorrow!

Here Comes the Bride!!!!

My sister makes wonderful wedding cakes; she made one for my mother & stepfather's wedding almost 20 years ago in addition to countless others throughout the intervening years. Today, I'm off to New Bern in just a few minutes to help her assemble a wedding cake for her daughter's (my niece's) best friend and four-year Barton College roommate. I've put together a Wedding Sachet I've named Herbal Hopes for the bride and groom ~ it's filled with various flower petals, herbs, spices, and nut and attached is a little card that explains the wedding folklore behind each item. I'll try to post a picture of the Herbal Hopes Wedding Sachet sometime after this weekend has passed.

Gotta run, I've got to get packed and get gone!

Happy Summer Saturday to You!

Stress Cocktail ~ Stirred, Not Shaken

Good Morning Class. CLASS? CLAAAASS!!!!! Thank you.

Most of us remember Dana Carvey portraying Church Lady on Saturday Night Live as this pathetic woman who had lost control of her life and was totally stressed out. Now maybe your stress level doesn’t make you act quite like this but sometimes I feel like screaming my head off when that o-n-e little, and I do mean little, thing sends me over the edge. As I was watching my coffee drip into the pot this morning in my shiny tiny kitchen, I was thinking about what I had to do at work today and started to feel a little bit stressed. I realized I was just a little edgy, even before coffee! So what happens when we’re stressed? Some of us produce Cortisol in large amounts within our body when stress levels are high which can lead to adrenal imbalance within the body systems. I make a Stress Cocktail that helps counteract these affects by bringing the body back into balance through reduction of stress hormones, and by decreasing overall stress levels. I make up a tea of Valerian Root (works well as a natural sedative and is used to counterbalance the effects of stress), Holy Basil (has been credited with the ability to balance sugar levels in the blood and decrease overall stress levels), Ginseng (attributed to balancing hormonal levels and decreasing cortisol overproduction/ combats many stress-related ailments), and sometimes, if I’m really shaky about an upcoming event, I’ll add in Saint-John's-Wort (used as an antidepressant and is thought to decrease anxiety due to its sedative properties). I’ll drink it twice a day for three days. Here’s something to remember about herbs – these are not powerful pharmaceuticals that you can take one time and you’re all better…herbal remedies must be taken over a period of time to be effective. Oh – and always consult your physician before starting any herbal regimen.

That’s it for today’s blog ~ talk to you tomorrow!

Fog - the 'Grey Flannel' of Weather

I’ve finally emerged from the two year fog I was in after my divorce with the express determination to Live Out Loud. Part of my new found clarity is that I must not keep my dreams and desires to myself; I’ve learned that what I think and feel is of value and expressing my hopes and dreams is good so that’s what I’m attempting to do here. I was standing in my tiny kitchen sipping coffee this morning and admiring the view of my apartment door (my kitchen doesn’t face a window) when I realized that the fog from heart-sickness is so insidious I didn’t even know I was in it until I came out of it. No, not a mental illness thing...I just lost my way for a few years. When it’s foggy (weather-wise) outside it feels like grey flannel on your skin, soft and warm and cuddly and people tend to get just a little more quiet-but the good kind-until the sun comes back out. But emotional fog is like grey wool – it heavily blankets the edges of your mind, scratching at your heart and leaving you with the ability to function but not really live. Maybe I should have taken Clary tea: first cousin to Clary Sage, it’s rejuvenating, balancing, inspiring and revitalizing to the spirit.

So – the fog has lifted, the sun is out, and I am a happy camper eagerly embracing my life and living it out loud. I’m excited about the promises and challenges of tomorrow’s unknowns. I laugh a lot now, I’m sharing things with my gal pals, making new friends, and am ready to enter the dating scene. Now that’s a scary thing – single at 52? It seems to me that the men my age are looking for a woman half their age. Oh, did you hear me just now? That sound was a cross between a snort and a sneer...not a very ladylike thing to do but then again, if I’m thinking it or feeling it I refuse to hide it. It’s part of living my life out loud. I’ve dated sporadically since the divorce but now I’m open to an actual relationship.

That’s about it for today. Let’s talk tomorrow!

I truly love herbs. Spices too, of course. Their scent, taste, uses...everything about herbs and spices really appeals to me. It’s this deep-seated passion that drives me to open Thistle Cottage – my own ‘all-things-herbal’ business. I’ve drawn up floor plans of what my store will look like, including the greenhouses in the back, and although my drawing skills make a 3 year old look talented, I see my shop clearly in my mind’s eye. I’ve made lists of the inventory I need on-hand and shelving/storage methods. In my mind, I can hear the chimes over the door tinkle as my customers come in. I’m so excited about my shop, my heaven. Now, I have to find funding for it. Anyone know any Angel Investors? I guess that would be a discussion for another day because I want to talk about what I do with herbs & spices. Besides the obvious culinary use of most herbs and spices, mixing and matching them with everyday items in your home can provide some wonderful medicinal remedies and home life products with an added ecological benefit. For example, I’ve just started making herbal candles (basil, mint, lavender & rosemary) and I’ve finished the six weeks ‘sitting time’ on a fantastic bug repellant that works as well on animals as people to keep the flying critters away. Tomorrow I’m hoping to complete the label design for the pump spray bottles; I’m sending about a dozen bottles to my daughter’s college for use in their horse barns. Additionally, I’ll soon be taking both the bug repellant and the candles to the Flea Market at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh on August 8th as a market test. Look for me there if you’re in the area - I’ll let you know in the next few days which slot I’ll be in. If not, contact me at: thistlecottage@live.com.

A friend came over last week for dinner and I made a quick and easy low-fat dessert you might enjoy:

Prepare one box of No-Pudge Brownie Mix as directed. When you are ready to serve dessert, place a brownie on a plate, top it with a square of raspberry filled sugar free dark chocolate and place in the microwave for 30 seconds. Generously top with Sugar Free Cool Whip (in the squirt-can), and top with a chiffonade* of fresh mint leaves. A smattering of fresh raspberries on the side would be perfect when they are in season.

*Chiffonade is just a cooking technique. You simply stack a few mint leaves (how many is up to how many brownies you are serving but I usually only do 1-2 per person) on top of each other and them roll them up. Then you slice them very thinly. They come out as green ribbons that not only add a flavor to your brownies but make it look pretty as well. Oh – I’ve used Orange Mint and Chocolate Mint on brownies as well with great results.

So, that’s about it for my first day of blogging. Let’s talk tomorrow!