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Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
- Mary Oliver, excerpt from "Peonies" found in New & Selected Poems
while cleaning out purses in my closet. march, 2013.
lists from Ikea (3)
pen (blue, purple, pink)
lip balm (5)
petrified peanut m&ms (3)
a bill for the anesthesia from my c-section
grocery lists, things to not forget lists, things i want to tell you lists
gum wrappers
my favorite sunglasses lost for 2.5 years (update: lost again)
a pair of clean underwear
(when your five-week old is sent to the pediatric ICU and you don't go home for five days, you start carrying a pair everywhere, even years later)
one tiny baby sock (pink and green stripes)
about $4.80 in change
three handkerchiefs
superhero trading card
burp cloth
headband
ponytail holders (10 or more)
tiny hair clippies (8)
three $1 bills
five teeny legs from a dead spider
business cards from artists I wish I knew
receipts from retreats in 2010, 2011, and 2012
tissues and more tissues
a fortune
a forgotten wallet with
Social Security card
half-filled punchcards
Starbucks gift card
a ring made out of vintage buttons
small cup of almonds + cranberries
two pairs of wrist warmers
*****
I found this post in my drafts. I didn't post it at the time because I thought it needed a photo. Because somewhere along the way all posts had to have photos. But it paints its own photo I think. No photo needed.
Doña is back with another Pinned it. Did it. post. At my retreats, Sasha makes some pretty awesome recipes with quinoa and every single retreat I think, "I'm going to use that stuff more often." But my husband is determined to stick to the story that he isn't a fan. But I love it and am convinced my whole family would too if only I knew what to do with it. Doña reminded me that I'm not alone in this and shares an adventure with quinoa that is inspiring me to get the box out of the cupboard and do something about putting it onto the table. Love how she also gives us insight into how she tweaks recipes to use what she has on hand.
*****
This post isn’t about a recipe. Not really about a recipe.
This post is about how to use a recipe as a starting point. It is using Pinterest not as a place where you fall down the hole of craving a beautifully-presented meal or new art supplies or a whole new house, but about how to use Pinterest as the tool that it is - to inspire you and help you use what you already have, well.
What I had was quinoa, and it was lunchtime.
Quinoa is one of those grains that I know I should eat more of, but I just don’t know what to do with it. I had cooked some up to serve with dinner the night before, but then I forgot to serve it. So I had almost three cups of plain leftover quinoa that I knew I should eat but plain quinoa just isn’t that exciting.
I have a shelf full of cookbooks, but they don’t have a search feature. So I turned to Pinterest. I needed a recipe that used quinoa, I could make with what I had in the house right this minute, and that would be fast.
I found Greek quinoa salad - yummy, but I didn’t have most of the ingredients.
I found a grilled chicken, avocado and lime salad that looked like an awesome summer dinner, but would take too long for my lunch. I pinned that one for later.
Then I found it: Blueberry Breakfast Quinoa. I didn’t mind eating “cereal” for lunch, and I was pretty sure I had all of the ingredients. Also, the recipe said it took five minutes to make. And it had a really pretty picture. I’m a sucker for the pretty picture, I admit it.
It is super simple - blend warm milk with cinnamon and vanilla bean, pour it over quinoa, then garnish with blueberries, sliced almonds, and honey.
Once I got in the kitchen I realized I didn’t quite have everything. And also the recipe made enough for four and I was eating lunch alone. I’d have to improvise.
A few years ago I did some traveling with a woman I used to work with who is also an accomplished cook. Whenever we’d eat a meal together in a restaurant, she’d take notes. Not a slavish list of exactly what we were eating, but the flavor combinations. A way of plating a dish that she’d never seen before. What spices she guessed were in there. When she got home she’d use her notes to recreate her memory of the meal, which was not ever what we’d eaten. It was a soup with the spices we’d had in a dessert, or a cocktail with the scent and colors of a starter plate I’d barely even noticed.
After that trip I realized that a recipe didn’t have to be followed, exactly, to make a great meal. I don’t mean bread - if you are making bread, follow the recipe! But with most everything else you can lead with what you have on hand, what you like, what you want to experiment with. Recipes can be sketches, I realized.
So I started sketching with my quinoa. I roughly divided the recipe into four, so two cups of quinoa became 1/2 cup. Which didn’t look like enough, so I doubled that. One cup of blueberries became 1/4 cup. I didn’t have fresh berries, so I warmed up some frozen ones in the microwave. I didn’t have a vanilla bean, so I substituted some vanilla bean paste that I bought by accident a few weeks ago. No sliced almonds, so I rough-chopped some raw almonds that I picked out of a bag of trail mix. I added some shredded coconut because it sounded good. I didn’t measure the honey or the cinnamon.
I took my bowl of quinoa-with-stuff out to my back yard and sat in the shade of an apricot tree near my chicken coop to eat it, and it was delicious.
Was it exactly like the picture? No, not at all. But it was good. And next time I have some leftover quinoa I’ll be able to make that dish by instinct, not with a recipe.
Need some more recipe inspiration? Browse though my What’s For Dinner board for lots more delicious ideas.
Doña Bumgarner is a writer, artist, mama and a craft project-collector from way back. She loves Pinterest and uses it to help solve a household dilemma at least once a week (see her “pinned and done” board here). She lives in Santa Cruz with her partner, their little one and his almost grown one, and a collection of cats and chickens. She writes about the practice of moms feeding their souls in the midst of raising a family on her blog, Nurtured Mama.
Note from Liz: Over here in my corner, I'm trying to "use Pinterest for good." I really see it as a community of people trying to see the beauty and possibility in their lives. I'm continuing to add a few new features here on my blog inspired by or directly about Pinterest as a way to invite others to look for this beauty within a social media community. Connect with me on Pinterest here. Read other "Pinned it. Did it." columns here.
view from the pier at my mom's house in northern wisonsin
This is my "want to do list" today:
Rest. Find the kitchen table under all the mail. Watch the last two weeks of The Voice. Let the hangover from nostalgia from the weekend spent at my 20-year high school reunion settle a bit. Laundry. Unpack (maybe). Rest. Put email off for one more day. Create a new altar next to the bed to help me reground after all that travel. Dip my toes into Pixie's Boundaries Boot Camp (there is still time to join in!)
I also want to stand outside under the blue sky for a few minutes and maybe even take a nap out there on a blanket. I want to soak up the silence, and then pick up Ellie ready to dive into bubbles and eating dinner on the backporch. And as my fingers itch to keep typing to make this list even longer, I'm realizing it might be time to make a true "want to do this summer" list and start checking things off. (Perfect a biscuit recipe. Pick strawberries. Get in touch with a few people who didn't make it to reunion. Risk saying "hey, do you want to come over for dinner." And how the list goes on.)
My hope is to post here more often. I have stories swirling around inside me and a few other ideas I want to plant in this space. I want to get out my big girl camera more and capture this beauty of this part of the world this time of year. I want to remind you that you are not alone. I want to invite you on a few adventures. Yes yes yes.
But first, I'm going to unearth something for lunch...
At first glance, there was a little girl picking up grass from Grandma's yard and bringing it onto the deck and throwing it everywhere. And it would have been easy to say, "Stop making that mess."
But if you listened closely, you could hear a little girl singing a song about how fun it is to dance and decorate Grandma's house with beautiful golden sparkles as she ran back and forth and twirled and smiled and giggled.
And if you looked really close, you could learn this really beautiful lesson: You really can create your own magic.
Just like that.
(And sometimes letting them make a mess is the best parenting move you can make.)
A few items that are part of my uniform around here:
The Living Memory wristwrap from StoryPeople. It says: "I carry you with me into the world, into the smell of rain & the words that dance between people & for me, it will always be this way, walking in the light, remembering being alive together." I've been wearing it almost daily since it arrived last week. It helps me trust I'm walking with my grandmother and my uncle and my grandpa and Traveler my golden and the others who've gone before me. Made well. Love it. So grateful to Brian Andreas for writing these stories. Yes.
Posh Pants from Texture. I'm a big fan and have had a couple pairs for years. Very comfortable and can be worn year round here in the Pacific Northwest. I love "swamp" and "cobalt."
I'm back to my El Naturalista clogs. I bought them about four and a half years ago, and they've held up really well. I'm having an on-again-off again adventure with plantar fasciitis and these are really supportive on the days when my heel is throbbing. Really good for standing in the studio. (And every now and then El Naturalista is on Zulily. I have to usually go up a size to a 40 even though I'm an 8.5, which is usually a 39. I bought these Mary Janes and they just arrived. Here's the color I bought. The inserts I'm trying do fit in them and I'll report back after I wear them for a while. I feel like an old lady writing all this but I also refuse to let this heel pain stop me from 1. living and 2. feeling good in my clothes. {And 3. I bet someone reading this might need these inserts too.})
This hat by Pistal. I know I know, who would have thought a trucker hat would become one of my favorite things. But it is! It has a seahorse + hearts on the front. For real. I love it.
The Ruffled Margins Tank from Anthro is awesome. I went with a Large. The seams down the front are flattering and it is really soft and so lovely on. I put one of my Shimera tanks under for a smooth look.
The new Five Deep Breaths Intuition bracelet in my shop. Love it. Fluorite is my new obsession. This one sold out quickly but is available for pre-order and should ship around May 22nd. I'm wearing about four different bracelets/wraps stacked these days. Makes me so happy.
Check out other everyday outfit posts here.
Quick note: Some links are affiliates, which means I receive a small commission when you purchase from that online store.
Kelly Barton and I have gathered up all that we love from the more than 10 retreats we've taught at together and created Fill It Up Buttercup. The retreat version of this adventure will take place September 17-21 at Frog Creek Lodge near the shores of Puget Sound outside Seattle.
This retreat is your invitation to dive into the blank white pages of a journal and fill them with words, watercolors, ink, dreams, lists of good things, photographs, and love letters.
As we gather in the Pacific Northwest woods, we will:
And there will be food + laughter + good music + light + love surrounding all of it.
These are a few of the things we found when we headed to Point Defiance Park on Saturday.
Really good stuff.
And one of the most accessible practices to help you get out of your head and back into your heart.
Try it for a few moments today. I dare you.
(And if you want to gather with a group of kindreds to practice this simple but profound act of getting outside for a few minutes every day, come along and join Hand to Heart this month.)
