sweet miscellany

The creative process is an interesting one. Sometimes I have so many recipe ideas in my head I can barely write them down fast enough. Other times it’s a struggle that involves me staring at a blank sheet of paper for an hour with nothing to show for it but a silly doodle. This is the reason I’ve NEVER made myself keep to a strict blogging schedule. If it seems forced or inauthentic, I won’t do it. It’s impossible for me to know whether or not I will be inspired by something on a specific day at a specific time. The process is organic and fluid, and that is just how I like it.

I actually had the idea for this dish quite a while ago. I even wrote it down a few times. But then I got involved with other things until it persisted one last time. It’s an interesting one, blurring the lines of sweet and savory. Is it a dessert? Is it a veggie side dish? Well my friends, I’m not a fan of labels, so it is what it bloody is. If the combination doesn’t quite sit well with your palate, I urge you to at least make the date caramel, then serve it atop these cocoa cardamom cakes because DUH. Or maybe you make the caramel and just eat it with a spoon? Either way, it’s magic.

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In Ayurveda there’s a notion that like increases like and opposites create balance. What exactly does that mean? It means if you’re high anxiety and always moving from one thing to the next, it’s best to balance that out with something slow and sedentary. Alternately, if you’ve been feeling stagnant and depressed, a bit of movement will probably do you good. It’s always about striving for balance rather than doing more of what is throwing you out of whack.

Often this delineation is not that simple. When you get tied up in the hustle of your day to day, it’s easy to be completely unaware of what you actually need. We all do it. We don’t realize we need something until the body is literally screaming at us in the form of sickness or extreme fatigue or an achy back. And at that point, we’re usually forced to take a break to recover. And that break is typically never at a convenient time.

So how do we become preemptive? How do we work towards balance? One of the best ways is to practice self care. Self care is doing anything for yourself that helps to restore a sense of balance or well-being. It might look like taking time to read a book or indulging in a warm bath. Or it could look like a brightly colored smoothie or a walk outside. Or yoga, or meditation, or taking a nap. The list is endless.

I try to build in moments of self care throughout the entire week, though I know many people that like to have a single day during the week dedicated to it. Try it out and see what works best for you. Since alliterations are always catchy, we’ll consider today Self Care Sunday. I’m sharing my super simple mask routine with you. The benefit is two-fold: not only do I get the detoxification benefits of the mask, but the process of gathering and mixing the ingredients is rather meditative. The inclement weather we had last week gave me the time to photograph the process and share it with you here.

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Roasted Cauliflower with Miso Date Caramel

Finding Time for Self Care + a Homemade Bentonite Clay Mask