Spritz Cocktail

This time of year has me pining for travel and adventure--especially now that school is almost at an end.  It is as if the long weeks of grading papers have finally caught up with me and I can no longer sit still.  I want to move, to be moved, to saturate myself in the bounty of life: art, food, music, laughing, loving. 

And yet vacation is still a month away.  So how do I cope?  Easy!  I bring the fun to me!  One of the ways I do this is by recreating the wonderful foods and drinks I experienced during my own travels, especially to my travels in Italy, where people really know how to enjoy themselves.

One of my favorite evening cocktails is the Italian spritz, made with Aperol (a bitter orange liquor) and sparkling wine.  I was introduced to this drink by my younger sister, an artist who lives in Florence, when I went to visit her and her writer husband last summer.  There is nothing more refreshing than this bubbly orange drink after a day of museum viewing, city wandering, and food tasting.  Of course, when traveling, you should eat (and drink) like the locals, so I was more than happy to try a local favorite cocktail for apertivo, or the Italian version of cocktail hour. 

That said, back state side the drink could be a little too sweet for me, since I wasn't drinking right by the River Arno.  Still, I love the idea of the spritz, so I decided to see if I could whip up a version that I could enjoy at home while dreaming of my Tuscan adventures.  Typically the spritz is made with 2 parts Aperol, 3 parts sparkling wine, and one part sparkling water.  I reduced the amount of Aperol and had my fellow spritz drinkers try it.  Viola!  We were left with a perfect drink.  Feel free to try it the traditional way too, if you like sweeter drinks.

Ingredients:

.75 oz (about 1/2 shot) Aperol

5 oz (about 3-4 shots) of a dry sparking white wine

1.5 oz (1 shot) sparkling water

Ice (optional)

Pour aperol into the bottom of a glass.  Add sparkling wine and sparkling water.  Add ice if desired--sometimes I put it in, sometimes I don't.  Serves one (so double the recipe and invite another adventure seeking friend to join you!).  Pairs well with a sunny, Tuscan attitude and a lovely patio garden. 

Looks like the perfect way to celebrate the end of the week!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Goofing Around

You don't have any set plans.  All you know is that you woke up feeling ready for something.  A trip to Santa Fe maybe.  Or a cruise down Central.   Or even a double feature downtown.  The day is calling to you, inviting experiences unfettered by schedules or set plans, only the sweet, buoyant energy of mischief.

Your only promise to the day: to lose track of time.  So you do it, and you do it with abandon.

Here is the chocolate shop, where you hem and haw over your options, knowing full well that you will finally settle on your favorite caramel and almond dark chocolate lobos.  Then your fancy takes you to the rock and mineral shop--any day is a good day for looking at stones and crystals and finding a new piece of bling to wear.  It is the smokey quartz crystal that seduces your first, then the hematite and the lapis laluzi and the howlite and the list goes on and on.  You run your fingers over each and everyone one of those stones, feeling the healing vibrations, the strong earth energy that grounds and invigorates...

...which leads you to think of gardening.  Or was it the sun and the fresh air that got you thinking this way?  No matter.  You allow yourself to be swept up in another adventure, on the hunt for supplies for your potted garden--interrupted only by a pit stop at your favorite used bookstore because, well, you could.

Soon your attention is drawn to the idea of refreshments.  Lunch, perhaps, or some tea.  It doesn't really matter where you go or what you do, only that you don't think too hard about any of it.  It is the pleasure principle guiding you from one indulgence to the next.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Getting Lost in the Desert

Driving down to the Westside was not your ideal Friday plan--not even on your top ten list of things to do in Albuquerque.  Sure, you love the bosque and cruising down Montgomery over the river and down to the petroglyphs.  But that ritual is a far cry from actually having to go somewhere down there and be somewhere by such and such a time.

Nevertheless, you found yourself doing just that: navigating the Westside in an attempt to get to an office meeting.  You were very proud of yourself.  You left a whole hour early, just to make sure you got there on time, just to leave that little wiggle room for the unexpected twists and turns of the part of Albuquerque that is so foreign to you it might as well be its own city.

It is lovely at first. You drive past the bosque, over the river and turn on Unser, cruising past the petroglyphs into the wide open expanse of the desert.  But the open space does nothing to cure your tunnel vision: you must get to the meeting.  As you keep driving, a slow sense of unease bubbles up inside of you.  You can't seem to find the turn off to Universe, can't find Rainbow either.  It is as if the desert has buried its street signs under the bright morning light. 

And so you keep driving down Unser, past one Walgreens after another, one housing development after another, until all the Westside blends together in a stream of buildings built over-night.  You feel like you stumbled onto the set of a modern Wild West show where everything looks like hastily slapped up storefronts with nothing behind them.  Eventually, you lose even that.  Any inkling of civilization is left behind and you find yourself on a one-lane road driving deeper into the desert, the mountains ahead of you the only witness to your useless sense of direction.  You have never seen this part of the city before and it is as if you stumbled across a lone stretch of land invisible to all in the city except for those willing to get a little lost once in a while.

It is only when you reach the end of the road--literally a dead end in the middle of nowhere--that you pause and examine your directions again.  The meeting has already started.  Yet despite your need to get back on the road and find your way to civilization, you take a moment to pause, to breathe, to enjoy the desert quiet.  It is a gift, you realize--getting lost.  A gift from Coyote, that desert trickster that sneaks up on us just when we most need to unplug from our narrow vision and get a bigger world view.

There, alone in the middle of the desert, you realize your life is more than just being a perfect worker bee and getting from one place to the other.  It is sand and stone, air and light, mountain and breath.  You take this revelation with you as you pull back on the road and find your destination. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Maybes

Maybes: at the crossroad of no and yes. Mislabeled as indecision.

But really the maybe--when used right--is a coy invitation to synchronicity to do what it will.  Maybe you will go out for drinks with friends at the end of the day, or maybe you will do yoga, or maybe you will go home, disappear into a hot bubble bath with nothing but a jazz record, a book, and a finger of whiskey to keep you company.  You just don't know which way your maybe will pull you.

It is the thrill of possibility, an unplanned adventure ready to unfold if only you don't quite commit to any other plans just yet. It is the last minute decision to turn left instead of continuing to drive straight ahead in the hopes of catching the bookstore before it closes.  This maybe invites the day to lead you where it will.

Maybe.  It is the sweet pleasure of being gently pulled in one direction, then another over unimportant decisions: perhaps you will get these antique tea cups or maybe these small ceramic plates.  It is the potential of a moment, the split second where you can imagine where your life might go.

It is the safety net, this maybe--safer than a clean no, more relieving than a grudging yes.  It hides a multitude of sins and births others.  Maybe stretches the gap between what might have happened and what could happen. 

Maybe.  It is our verbal trickster, stirring up life around us and making us hungry for something new.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Visiting the Herb Store

You feel like you've stepped into an old apothecary shop.  Jars and jars of herbs, dried flowers, gnarly broken down roots, and strange powders line the shelves. 

You run your hands across the line of pots, marveling at the wealth of healing magics birthed from the earth.  Each herb is a little miracle, made from dirt and sunlight and water--tiny seeds brought to life by sheer willpower and raised through the ground for no other reason than a will to see the light, breathe in the fresh air that tickles their leaves and feeds their roots. These glorious specimens contain the life force of all they sucked in through their roots, all they absorbed through their leaves. 

You have a list of herbs you need.  More raspberry leaf for women's health, along with some hops and skullcap for a sleepy time tea recipe you are concocting.  You allow yourself to be seduced by the jar of nettle leaves, the prickly thing known best for its sting, but is, at heart, a gentle tonic for the system.  You also get taken in by rose hips, more robust than the fragile petals of their flower, an unsung nutritional powerhouse.

You watch the herbalists measure out and weigh your selection, while you contemplate how you will use these new herbs in blends and simple steeps.  You can't wait to get home and unwrap your little bundles of herbs and pour them into your own jars, your own collection of earth's healing magic.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On a Deli Lunch in the Sunshine

It feels like spring.  You woke up ready for an adventure, to push aside the pile of essays you have to grade and to just be, at least for the morning.

The first part of the day is spent running important human being errands: the bead and stone store for new crystals to add to your collection; the herb store to stock up on ingredients for a new blend; the chocolate shop...because, well, chocolate is always a good thing.

The morning slowly turns to noon just as your mind turns from errands to lunch. The day calls for an old school meal at a deli counter. You want a tuna sandwich on rye tucked safely inside a basket lined with wax paper next to some decorative lettuce and a pickle spear.

You find there is no more room at the counter, but it is just a well. The sun has lured you outside to a small patio table. The cool air stirs around you and the light kisses your forehead. A man cruises by, the hood of his car down, blasting oldies from his radio. A woman rushes by carrying a bouquet of flowers. A family talks loudly at a nearby table, clearly enjoying each other. A biker zooms down the sidewalk.

And you: you sit at your table in the sun and enjoy your tuna on rye. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Long Weekends

There is no school today.  Still, the fact that you get to sleep in on a Monday gives you the sense that you are playing hooky--giving up on rules and restrictions and deciding to play the day away while others toil their way through nine to five (although you love your nine to five too). 

The day is an open book.  Where to go...what to do? 

The sunlight beckons you out of doors, while the kitchen calls you to conjure up meals--here some breakfast quinoa, there a salad safely tucked inside a mason jar, perhaps even some roasted veggies for dinner.  You toy with the idea of crafting, coating paper in glitter and ink, wrapping unused jars in ribbon--a holder for your loose buttons and ephemera.  

You briefly entertain the idea of getting ahead on your work, from revising old prompts to organizing cabinets--but quickly dismiss the idea.  It would only spoil the day.  And you know the thought is only brought on by some vague sense that you should be doing something useful, productive, keeping up that facade of busyness. 

No, today is not a day for extra work, but for indulging in those weekend-like pleasures Monday doesn't usually afford--a leisurely breakfast, a morning in the kitchen, an afternoon at the park and visiting family.  There will be plenty of other Mondays to refine those lesson plans, to enjoy your cruise to work, but for today you savor the long stretch of time rolled out before you that will be filled on a whim, moment to moment, each impromptu plan a distillation of pure enjoyment. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Long Walks

You wake up with an expansive feeling in your chest, a longing to roam to the farthest reaches of your territory.  You want the sun on your skin and fresh air to tickle your nose.  There is simply nothing to do but wander wherever your feet will take you--perhaps here to the neighborhood bookstore, or there to the park, full of families playing games and couples walking their dogs.  All you know is that you must walk until the bright energy in your chest reaches your toes and your whole body sings with the fullness of life. 

The birds support this plan, luring out of your home with their playful chatter and accompanying you as you drift through the city, one step at a time. The naked tree branches remind you that it's still winter, although it feels more like the first kiss of spring in the air. 

You pause at each turn to consider your next direction; your decisions move you toward an unplanned adventure, the promise of an unexpected delight.  Even as you move forward, a part of you is waiting expectantly, longing for a joyful surprise hidden behind each fork in the road, a mystery to be discovered, a hidden gem of something or another to be revealed.  Because today your city is more than just a map of routes that get you from A to B, but a nest of haunts and jewels to be savored, lingered over, like a cup of tea on a cold day. 

Eventually, when your legs tire and your appetite for an adventure is sated, you wander home, happy with roaming, but happier still to return to your sanctuary, the promise of a hot bath awaiting you.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!