Like a gazillion other people in the northern hemisphere, I'm in "spring cleaning" mode. One teetering step from it, more accurately. While many are purging their closets and junk drawers and pantries, I am reading articles and blog posts, hoping they can push me over the edge of my painful limbo of procrastination and into their world of sparkling fulfillment. Ten Weird Tricks to Give Away All of Your Dead Grandmother's China and Not Feel Even a Little Sad About It! Decluttering Is *Actually* As Fun As Disneyland! Make Your Japandi Dreams Come True By Creating a Capsule Wardrobe! Just Throw Things Into the Trash, Coward. Please, O People who Professionally Organize, I want my living room to feel cozy, my kitchen to be organized, my bathroom to be clean, my laundry to blah blah yard blah basement blahhhhh, etc! I want to enter any room in my house and feel relaxed and/or rejuvenated! And, oh, how my hands yearn to pick things up and put them down again--possibly back...
Apparently no one is discussing the fact that Kingpin--in the new Daredevil: Born Again tv series--absolutely listens to Ezra Klein. This man craves Abundance. He loves New York. He hates red tape. His favorite mayor is La Guardia*. A lot of the early episodes are spent on the writers of the show using Kingpin to point out the bonkers nonsense of city planning bureaucracy. Episode 4 (it's literally titled "Sic Semper Systema") features an extended scene of Kingpin standing in the rubble of an industrialized area excitedly describing--with the help of a model mock-up--a revitalized area: beautiful, bustling, a demonstration of dedication to the growth of the city he loves more than anything (aside from his wife)! There is then a discussion between him and his political-insider assistant where she has to explain to him how, um, actually you can't just start making nice things. You have to do X first. "Let's do that!" he says. Ooof, well, actually, you can...
Everything is awful. We can all agree on this. If you don't think everything is awful, you are probably a well-loved pet or a healthy plant, and I am happy for you. Below is the recipe for my famous Cozy Magic Simmer Pot. It will lift your spirits for perhaps a brief (but certainly a lovely) moment. It can be made with fresh or dried citrus and apples, but I recommend that the rosemary--or whatever your desired evergreenery--be fresh (that said, if dried is all you got, dried will do fine!). ALSO: the simmer pots give as gifts are all organic, BUT! a person (including myself) can't always spring for the fancy stuff. So... -If the produce isn't organic, make sure you scrub the heck out of the fruit before boiling (because the rinds and peels are the most important element here ). You should wash the fruit either way, but you really don't want pesticides floating around your house. -You can use leftover rinds and cores from the apples and oranges you were already enjoyin...