Chaos Vs. Order and Iced Coffee

I have been away, a way-way too long. I have been working on several projects at a time and contemplating on Chaos vs. Order dilemma and my vision have narrowed and focused on a certain point in space and time.

And this point became many, too many to keep in order. Sort of like a Monet painting: many chaotic brushstrokes, dots of different color freely dancing in an unorganized pattern.

Atoms, erratically bouncing inside the molecule of everyday life. And I am trying to focus on all of them at the same time, realizing this is a futile pastime.

I need to see the big picture. Like everything else in the material world we live, chaos has its limits. All you have to do is draw a line around, give it a shape, an outline. This outline will be the order that encompasses chaos. To see these shapes, I need to take a few steps back and focus on the big picture.

Now, from a distance, I can see the whole impressionistic painting that is being composed, brushstroke after brushstroke on the canvas of my life. I see the shapes, I see the order. An Order made out of Chaos. And it is as beautiful as it is impressive.

Chaos is part Order. Order is part Chaos.

Creativity is one of the manifestations of Chaos drawn into forms of Order. To be creative is to let your chaotic thoughts and ideas be incarnated in the organized shapes and forms. I have to remember to simply give my thoughts and ideas an outlet or outline to dwell outside my mind.

I'll continue on the path of creativity, no matter how chaotic it might become at times, giving it different shapes and forms.

There are several ways to stay creative and each individual has his own little tricks to stay connected to this force. I will not get into details, for my ways of staying creative are various and change often. One of them, however, quite carnal, I want to mention today: a good ole cup of coffee!

Although heat has relieved in our neck of the woods for the last couple of days, during summer I can't say no to an icy variation of a broadly welcomed beverage. But I find popular joints don't quench my thirst for a quality iced coffee. All they do is dry out my pockets. Thus, I make my own variation.

My father likes to 'upgrade' his cup of coffee with a splash of hard liquor. This inspired me to add vanilla extract to my glass. And my husband's family likes to drink cardamom spiced coffee and I also have grown a taste for it. I added another spice—cinnamon—and a teaspoon of heavy cream and in the end I had a fresh, simple home made and cheap but fancy beverage to get my creative juices circulating.

The purist in me wanted to roast and grind my own beans. This time I've took a shortcut and used already ground coffee. And it's OK!

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Upgraded Iced Coffee

for each 6 oz water:

1 heaping T spoon ground coffee

1 t spoon ground cinnamon

1 t spoon sugar {optional}

3 cardamom pods, crushed

1 t spoon vanilla extract

crushed/cubed ice

Milk, cream to taste {optional}

Brew the ground coffee in a coffee machine with crushed cardamon, cinnamon and sugar right inside the coffee machine.

While coffee is brewing, fill a 16 oz tall glass half way with ice, crushed or cubed.

Pour vanilla extract and milk/cream over ice.

Now when the coffee is done, pour it over the ice.

Give it a swirl and drink up.

Chaos has become Order once again: the coffee grinds, once disorderly and disembodied, orchestrated into one smooth beverage!

The Ageless Sage

When coming across the word Sage many people, including me, have an image of an old wise man with a long white beard. True, this is one of the definitions of this word, however I will focus on its homophone, an herb that we well know as a perfect flavor for a Thanksgiving dinner also known as Salvia Officinalis.

I would like to encourage you to plant this evergreen perennial in your garden or in a planter on your deck. You won't regret it, for it will give you its aromatic velvety green leaves almost all year long. Why would you need them all year long, if sage is mostly used during fall/winter holidays? Because with taste like this and an extensive list of benefits, I'm sure you'll be tempted to use this ageless herb not only to compliment your Thanksgiving bird.

Names Salvia and Sage derived from latin "to save" because of the herb's healing properties.

Did you know that sage is considered a Female Herb? Drinking an infusion made with fresh or dried sage leaves can regulate the menstrual cycle, may reduce irritability during PMS and relax spasms or cramps. It also helps with excessive perspiration and hot flashes during menopause. I can affirm you the first one works whereas the second one I'm yet to test on myself. These sage qualities are due to its anti-depressant and estrogenic effects. Sage can also suppress excessive lactation for nursing moms.

I personally think that the aroma of sage is very feminine, too!

Besides that, as many medicinal herbs, sage has a good effect on the digestive system as it has anti-inflamatory and antibiotic properties. It is also beneficial for the liver function.

So go ahead, turn your garden or a planter into a medicine cabinet by planting this ageless sage for years to come.

I couldn't help to brew a cup of a wonderfully aromatic infusion to brighten up my mood that is damped with all this grey rain that we're having lately.

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Ageless Sage Infusion

Makes one 8 oz cup

4-5 sprigs of fresh sage leaves (including the stems)

1 cup (8 oz) boiling water

1 t spoon of honey (or any other sweetener of your choice)

• In the bottom of a tea pot or a cup, crush the leaves and stems with pestle or a spoon.
• Pour boiling water over the crushed leaves, cover and steep for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Strain, sweeten and indulge!

Earl Pearl Grey

Last Tuesday Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution team hosted a twitter contest for a best smoothie. The timeline was filled with unique healthy and delicious ideas for this frothy concoction each creatively named. I decided to participate and first mix I had in mind was ingredients of my all time favorite drink—Earl Grey tea with pear and bergamot. I called it Pearl Grey Smoothie.

Although I don't have any idea where to find this exotic pear shaped citrus, I still wanted to combine the flavors of this tea, so I combined pear with cardamom, that reminds me of the bergamot some how plus it is used in drinks such as coffee and tea.

Now that I write this I realized, I could have added lime in lieu of bergamot… I'll do it next time!

Anyway, the smoothie came out great! Refreshing and rich as it is mildly sweet from the bosc pear. You know, it would be a perfect morning drink to kill the bad breath. Yogurt have active cultures that kill bad breath bacteria plus cardamom is known to be tough on them as well.

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Pearl Grey Smoothie

Makes 1 16 oz glass

1 cup organic whole yogurt

1 organic bosc pear, peeled, cored and cubed

4-5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground

Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth, enjoy!

So wake up and smell the cardamom!

Crank up the Cranberries

The feasting season is over and these little guys had worked hard to make it colorful and delicious. But why abandon them now? I saw a bag of frozen cranberries in a supermarket the other day and it looked so lonely and forgotten, thrown into a wrong pile with frozen veggies. I picked it up and decided to give the berries a chance!

How can I not? They are packed with vitamin C that we all desperately need during the frigid winter! And it filled with a compound called proanthocyanidin--a potent antioxidant with an anti-inflammatory effect.

Here is a list of some benefits of this ruby red berry:

• Improve the body's circulatory system
• A daily glass of cranberry juice will treat cystitis (bladder inflammation)
• Provide relief for asthma patients
• Condensed tannins in cranberries are considered an important contributor to a healthy heart
• Can disrupt the development of kidney stone formation due to its affects on the acidity of the urine.

I made a refreshing drink using a bag (16 oz) of frozen cranberries, a 1/2 pound of green apples, 1/2 cup of sugar--to subdue the sourness a bit, a stick of cinnamon and a flower of dry anise seed. Put it all in a pot and covered with 8 cups of water, bring to boil, turn the heat off and let stand for 10-15 minutes before indulging in a cup of this bright, refreshing and healthy tea. Pour the rest in a pitcher with lid and store in the fridge. If you want, you can leave the berries and apples in, but remove the spices.

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Закончился сезон застолий, и эти маленькие ребята хорошо потрудились, чтобы сделать его ярким и вкусным. Почему же отказываться от них сейчас? В магазине я как то увидела упаковку замороженной клюквы, и он выглядел таким одиноким и забытым, заброшеным в кучу с замороженными овощами. Я решила дать шанс этим алым ягодкам!

И как я не могла? Они полны витамина С, в котором все мы отчаянно нуждаемся во время холодной зимы! В состав клюквы входят элементы, называющийся проантоцианидин--мощный противоокислитель с противовоспалительным эффектом.

Вот список некоторых преимуществ этогй ягодки рубинового цвета:

Улучшение кровообращения

Ежедневно употребляя один стакан клюквенного сока, можно лечить цистит (восполение мочевого пузыря)

Облегчает симптомы астмы

Конденсированные таннины в клюкве считаются важным фактором для здоровья сердца

Может помешать развитию образования камней в почках, так как влияет на кислотность мочи

Я приготовила освежающий напиток из одной упаковки замороженной клюквы (454 гр), 230 гр зелёных яблок, очищенных от серцевины и косточек и нарезанных на дольки, 125 гр сахара--что бы смягчить кислый вкус--и специй: палочки корицы и цветочка сухих семян аниса. Положите всё в кастрюлю и залейте двумя литрами воды. Доведите до кипения, выключите огонь и дайте постоять на плите 10-15 минут перед тем, как насладиться чашечкой этого яркого, освежающего и полезного отвара. Перелейте остальное в сосуд с крышкой и храните в холодильнике. Если желаете, можете оставить ягоды и яблоки, но специ выньте.

Kompot from your pot

With all the recent talk about high fructose corn syrup, I decided to put my two cents in it... So it goes: it's bad for you and your young offsprings in so many ways. Just ban it, and everything that has it from your life.

This little conniving ingredient is in almost every soft drink kids love to quench their thirst with. And as any mother knows it is not easy to cut these juices, punches and colas out of kid's diet--who wants to pack school lunch with plain water???

There is an array of HFCS free products out there but why not make your own? Don't be discouraged by extra work you'd need to do. Once you get a hang of it, you will be able to do it with your eyes closed. Although, I don't recommend closing eyes in the process.

So, there's a drink called Kompot? It's a drink of my childhood. Before there was Fanta or Cola, we used to drink this sweet concoction made by our moms and grandmothers. Why not drink it now or make it for your kids? No time you say? The version I'm about to introduce to you doesn't require much of it.

Here it goes--

Take 2 10-12 oz packs of frozen fruit/berries of your choice (mixed berries, peaches, blueberries and my favorite sweet cherries work best), empty them into stock pot filled with 8 cups of water, add 1 cup of sugar and bring it all to a boil with lid on. Once the water is boiling and trying to escape through the lid, turn the heat off and voila! You got yourself a delicious fruit/berry drink.

No HFCS but lots of flavor and love!

Once it cools down poor it into jugs/bottles/pitchers w/lids and store in the fridge.