A coffee farmer shared with me that the most injury prone job picking coffee involves climbing. When one hand is holding the tree and the other a machete--what are you left with to swat the bugs?
Last March I traveled to a coffee plantation in Nicaragua to help run a volunteer medical and dental clinic for the workers, their families, and the villagers. The team set up shop in an open-air church and saw 1,200 patients in a week. Babies with distended bellies from parasites, respiratory infections, decayed teeth, dehydration. Patients lined up. Machete wounds were common. One involved a bee.
I was overwhelmed by the emotion of it--watching some brave person getting teeth pulled, barely betraying their pain. I would walk out to the rainforest and indulge in a good cry. I expected the week to be hard--what surprised me was the joy. Despite the intense emotions, I also laughed harder that week than I could remember doing for a long time. (Sometimes because the very earnest nurses were so bad at Spanish. Also there was a broken toilet seat incident.) It's no secret. Volunteering feeds the soul.
Every holiday party deserves a little cocktail. Don’t you agree? Using seasonal ingredients to create both savory and sweets is a given. Drinks should share in what the season has to offer and that is exactly why this cocktail will be what we will be toasting with this season.
The mint growing in my garden is prolific. I'm really bad about getting out there and thinning it so it pretty much takes over. I don't mind though, I love sprinkling it over summer fruit and mixing it into iced tea and water in the summertime. As far as I'm concerned I could never really have enough mint, I find it's uses endless.
Marylou’s was a New York restaurant that closed in 2001, but in its day
was a real gem. Located in a brownstone in the West Village, the
restaurant’s great food and atmosphere attracted a list of celebrities
that included Jack Nicholson. Co-owner Tommy Baratta, Marylou’s
brother, not only became good friends with Nicholson, but became his
personal chef as well – and wrote a cookbook with Marylou titled
Cooking for Jack.
You never forget your first love...and mine was Merlot. Up to that
sip of Chilean juice all my encounters with red wine brought mouthfuls
of tannic unhappiness. I had no idea red wine could taste so smooth and
juicy and, yes, fruity. I remember seeking it out and buying versions
from Mill Creek, Lambert Bridge and Chateau Souverain on my first trip
to Sonoma. And then, overexposure hit, causing many wineries to plant
Merlot where they shouldn't – just to make a quick buck – and the lack
of quality made many wine lovers, like me, desert the variety and move
on to other grapes. It doesn't take many mediocre versions to turn
people off, especially when you're paying good money for the pleasure.