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Belated Celebratory Action

April 29, 2023

Belated Celebratory Action

APRIL 29th, 2023

Birthday’s, both of my own and of those I care about, have always been a source of extreme joy for me since I was little. There is such significance in the celebration of a not just a birth, but the days lived thereafter. A simple day that traces back to our first breaths on this planet, a landmark for the day the essence inside us collided into the energy of all other living things and the responsibility that comes with as a human. The anniversary of all of this has always reminded me of how remarkable it is that I am here and how exciting that simple fact is. I feel confidence, gratitude and joy  during this time of year and it has always seemed to be the perfect day (month in this case) to present and launch my greatest annual achievements and ideas. Essentially thrusting them into the world so that they too can interfuse into an existence that is way beyond just me.

My birthday reminds me of my individualism as well as my connection to others here with me. I can’t help but want to share parts of me with the world on my birthday!

April 10th was my birthday, I know, I know, that is a few weeks back now! But I moved another notch on the wall, a rather big notch as I hit the special mile marker of 50 years old. In its lead up I had been dreading it. I had never cared about my age or getting older, but this one was different, I seriously did not want to be fifty, but now I am, and it actually doesn’t feel any different than 49. Proving- AGAIN- we often worry about things for nothing.

Not only was this a big birthday but the timing of it was horrible in terms of  being able to devote time to my usual annual birthday events/announcements; like when I opened Ger-Nis International and Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center on my birthday and other years when launched several small ventures like supper clubs, social clubs, and like  when I launched this blog  4 years ago on my birthday.

This year I have been insanely busy with my work for Crespo Organic Mangoes, way more so than usual and for a myriad of reasons. I’m juggling more than I ever have and as you know my new Missouri life has been filled with challenges and set backs on the culinary center gardens consuming even more of my energy and time. But serious progress and positivity has and is happening  in every aspect of my life and my work; but instead of sitting here and writing about it, announcing it to the world on the actual date, I decided to jump over to Miami and celebrate turning 50, which I did, with dear friends by my side, hot humid air swirling around my body, warm salty ocean water penetrating my soul and I even got to soak in the magic of some special mango orchards. It was a lovely trip and despite it being the first time I missed announcing something big on the day; big things happened and it is never too late to share what we are proud of with others, especially for an Aries women. So happy belated birthday to me, I celebrate myself by showing off some of the recent and new action for Herbal-Roots, the project that ignites my soul most.

As you likely know if you are reading this, I have been building Herbal-Roots in my “spare” time. I built the blog My Herbal-Roots, first, just for me. I wanted to have a place to write about my herbal passions without the need to impress or conform. I wanted a piece of my latest herbal venture to have a place where I can freely be me. Without thinking about it as a business. So I created some separation. On one side Herbal-Roots (which me and my sweet little team of freelancers have been quietly building in the background). Herbal-Roots is/will be a business that will offer herb lovers a place to learn about and enjoy all things herbs, which includes recipes, tips, tricks, tools and more. It will also be the place where my herbal salts are sold as well as useful and beautiful herbal kitchen tools and necessities. The emphasis will be on seasonality and eventually, if all goes as planned you will be able to buy seasonal subscriptions of organic fresh herbs (yes even the wild and wacky ones) directly to your door.

My Herbal-Roots on the other hand is my blog, its attached loosely to the business but 100% me. My Herbal-roots has given me incredible space to refine my writing and recipes and discover more about what’s inside of me through the simple act of blog posting. I am able to learn and grow through my blog as a cook, a writer and a photographer. Do people read these posts? Who knows, and honestly who cares, they are really for me and for anyone that wants a deepr glimpse into me.  Most of my new recipes land on the blog before anywhere else, embedded inside each blog post and we know how much people hate that in recipes.

Yes, we have heard it time and time again- people don’t want lots of text, they want recipes. And they don’t want them embedded in blogs. Food bloggers get a lot of hate for the writing part and so instead of shaming them (and me), I decided to give everyone what they want and do both. Technically I have been doing this very thing having a blog (with recipes) and a just recipe site since 2011 when I opened the Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center. That site is long gone, but I have my recipes still up, mainly just for my own archive and easy searching. Don’t just if you go to the site, its fairly basic and serves a purpose for me. It’s been hacked a number of times and I rarely spend money upgrading anything unless I have to.

Ok, so the big birthday announcement is that we have finally finished the seasonal recipe templates for Herbal-Roots and I can now start to put my recipes up on the site. The emphasis is on seasonal. I want to teach people how to naturally gravitate towards eating seasonal through the use of herbs.

The building of the recipe section of the site took a lot of time and thoughtfulness. I took into consideration all of the gripes we all have about recipe sites  – too much blog story, too many pop up ads, too many cookie cutter plug in and too many photos (making it hard to find the recipe from a phone).

I wanted clean and simple recipe posts and I wanted to develop and ad free space in terms of the way conventional advertising is done on recipe sites these days. I wanted my advertising space to be more about what helped make these recipes; farmers, products, fruits, vegetables, brands, people, places, kitchen tools etc. There are a lot of ways to make money in this world, we do not need to make money on every single aspect of what we do.  Recipes today should be simple to find, quick to use formats as much as they need to be well written and actually work, something conventional web advertising frankly has ruined for all of us.

I opted not to use recipe plug ins as I have had nothing but difficulties in other sites I have built and managed. My secret weapon programmer and I realized  a while back, we didn’t need to use recipe plug ins- they are all too cookie cutter for me anyhow and I think they make sites look less beautiful than they otherwise would be. Technically I cant even figure out what they really do or why people think they are useful. Hiring good programmers is a way better option in my opinion.

I think the end result of what my team has created in terms of the recipes for Herbal-Roots hits all the right buttons: Easy to find ( we are in the process of programming a rather complicated search mechanism), easy to read on a phone, easy to print or share, just the right amount of prose and they are pretty to look at!

There is no paid advertising on the recipes and there never will be, but we give shoutouts to the things that make the recipes better as I mentioned earlier. My recipes have always been and always will be free. I have plenty to make money off of but if my goal is to get more people to use fresh herbs in their cooking than I need to help them do that.

This is a work in progress that takes a lot of my own personal time and money not to mention whilst working the more than full time mango gig. There are more things coming soon; the search mechanism for searching recipes, the e-commerce part of the site, where I will be selling the herbal salts is in final programming stages now as well and soon maybe we will even a home page. Eventually I promise you will be able to look up information about how to use Zuta Levana, make my sausage pasta recipe, order a box of seasonal herbs to your home and buy a mortar and pestle. And if you know me, you know I do what I say I am going to do.

Things take the time they take, the journey they say is where the fun is at! I want you all, on my birthday (month) to see the progress- the art!

Welcome to the seasons.

Spring.     |     Summer.     |     Fall.     |     Winter.     |     All Seasons.

Blog Posts

Belated Celebratory Action

April 29, 2023
April 29, 2023
ABOUT ME
About Me

Noted herb expert, culinary educator and recipe developer. Small business consultant traveling the globe in search of food and cultural knowledge, while working with small, local, organic, sustainable, and fairtrade farmers.

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LATEST POSTS
  • “Different” Chicken Congee
    December 31, 2022

    It’s New Year’s Eve Day, I’m in Miami, Florida where I have traveled with my pets for a little 45-day snowbirding experience (and possibly the subconscious desire to travel to the source and unravel some deep seeded and complicated emotions I have been carrying for far too long). It’s currently 80 degrees and I’m in my swimsuit outside by the pool near the beach with my pets. I have a sweet little menu prepared for a dinner tonight and was just lollygagging a bit when I got a text asking me for the recipe for that cold weather chicken congee I made during the recent artic chill. You remember, the congee recipe that I had labeled one of my best dishes. The one I was supposed to have posted the recipe for already, the one I keep getting asked for. Here you go. I’ll warn you, my congee recipe is a little different. But what do I know, I had never made congee before. But different is who I am and what I do and staying authentic to who I am is a constant goal, New Year or not.

  • Nissa’s Christmas Mole (& Tamales)
    December 20, 2022

    I make really good moles, and I don’t think it’s because of my connection to Latin America. Despite the fact that I learned a lot of my flavors in my travels there starting even before I traveled there at 10 years old. I think it’s because, as a cook, I embody what a mole really is: a melting pot of ideas and concepts that continuously evolves. It has no real recipe, no real beginning, and no real ending. I cook, like a mole is. My first mole was a Cherry & Duck Mole for a special Taco Party event at my old cooking school in Brooklyn. From there I went on to create such masterpieces as my Passion Fruit Pork Mole, which came to be while I lived in Ecuador where passion fruit practically dropped from the sky. That recipe is also where I came to use carrots as a source of natural sweetness and a thickening agent (moles generally use a myriad of ingredients as thickeners). I even make mole cocktails and once made a recipe for a Cherry Mole Manhattan. The mole-making process delivers immense pleasure for me and reminds me of the importance of openness in cooking. It reminds me that even in what most consider traditional and culturally specific there is diversity.

  • The Herbal Dry Brine
    November 13, 2022

    As you are probably aware, brining helps create a more succulent meat. I am a big fan of the dry brine when it comes to cooking a turkey or even a chicken. The dry brine is easier and less messy than wet, and it delivers moist meat and a crispy and flavorful skin, which I happen to be a fan of. Adding herbs and spices to a dry brine (salt) adds flavor, texture, and a joie de vivre by creating an aromatic and flavorful experience customized to your palate. The salt on the skin draws moisture from the turkey and then comingles with the herbs, spices and salt and gets re-absorbed back into the turkey, creating flavorful, succulent and juicy meat. The salt and air dries out the skin which allows it to become extra crispy when roasted, and the herbs and spices add extra flavor as they cook and get embedded into the chicken skin by means of chicken fat. If you are lucky enough to get a jar of my Chipotle Cranberry Mezcal Herbal Brine in time for Thanksgiving, you will need to know how to use it. And if you didn’t get one (which is likely because I made limited quantities this fall), you can still make one using the same formula.

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Crows garlic - a specifies of wild garlic. I bought some and planted with all the bulbs I bought, again not knowing it was edible. Im fairly happy and am making my first garden salt when these things go into full bloom, I suspect soon. They don’t necessarily bloom like you’d imagine I guess they look like little tight buds, which fascinates me. They spread like crazy too I guess and I’m totally not mad at that. 

The flowers come on these super tall wiry and strong center stalks. They are super wierd and super cool. Im in love. 

Leaves, stalks flowers all edible. More as more happens. 🌸💐🌿
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Lavender & Brown Sugar Ice Coffee
Makes 2 Coffees

This is a refreshing and easy to make ice coffee using your leftover coffee. The additional hint of lavender adds a touch of luxury and extravagance, yielding a pleasant afternoon pick me up.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon light brown sugar
a few lavender blossoms or 1 teaspoon lavender flowers (dried)
1 – ½  cups leftover coffee
½ cup half and half (better texture than milk!)
¼  teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of ice

Directions

Muddle the brown sugar and lavender flowers together in a cocktail shaker for about 20-30 seconds. Add the coffee, half and half and vanilla. Fill with ice until the shaker is ¾ full and shake vigorously. Strain (double straining preferable) into a glass over ice. Garnish with a fresh lavender twig.

If you don’t have lavender growing in your garden, no problem, you can buy dried culinary lavender flowers. I love Curio Spice Company @curiospice  for all things spice related, and they have amazing lavender flowers from Oregon. Which I use in the winter when my garden is dormant.
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I’m so happy to have Jasmine in my life again I can’t wait till my plants grow bigger and produce lots more blooms. I love using them in cocktails.
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I’m a big pineapple, sage fan not only does it attract pollinators and hummingbirds with it’s vibrant fuchsia flowers, but it tastes heavenly, beautiful, herbaceous pineapple essence -one of my favorite everyday uses is in a ham and cheese omelette. It’s so delicious in a ham and cheese omelette.
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Garden leaves salad …. #happyNiss 

My garden to be clear 🤣💃‼️
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My pink dianthus, that I planted last year, are finally blooming this year. Their bright, magenta and hot pink flowers, mingled perfectly with a new. Recipe I’ve been working on (Actually and old {everybody’s favorite} winter recipe Cranberry Pear Coffee Cake ) I’ve been making a spring version using strawberries and Rhubarb - what you’re looking as is the crumble part (it goes inside and on top of the cake because of course) I make the crumble part of the recipe  super easy to make and I think more delicious because the flavors are melted into the butter - spreading around the flavor@more before it’s cooked. I put the dianthus in after the crumble is fully mixed - they taste like close and nutmeg so they will be perfect (and beautiful) in this Rhubarb, Strawberry and Blueberry Pink Dianthus Cardamon Rose Coffee Cake. - I don’t care that my titles are too long / the information in a title is key. 

Recipe soon- im working on a #mango version as well for summer. That one with verbena.
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This is #joy 

Herbs!
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Did you know the probes petals are edible? They taste like of mild strawberry and peach with a tinge of cloves essence. They are delicious in salads, syrups (cocktails and kick tails) and baked goods and im going to grow tuen for sure. This one I stole from my neighbors yard.
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Lavender Butter Almond Toffee Ice Cream (made with dried lavender flowers)
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I needed some hot stuff this evening so I made a spicy shrimp, squid ink pasta puntanesca kind of thing. 

This is what happens when you have a well stocked pantry and are out of fresh food. The only fresh was some old garlic and the herbs from my garden (mint, oregano and parsley) chili peppers and shrimp were frozen. 

15 minute meal!
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I make a good chicken schnitzel anyone who’s tried it knows that -the secret obviously is the triple threat of #herbalforeplay - herbs in the flour mixture (along with spices), herbs in the egg mixture (along with mustard), herbs in the breadcrumb mixture (along with lots of cracked pepper).

But this impromptu black, chickpea, broccoli salad that I made last night is amazing 

It’s got roasted, broccoli, black, chickpeas, some carrots, a lemon, a garlic vinaigrette and dates, feta lemon zest and sumac - the main herb i used is anise hyssop and the licorice essence mixed with the chickpeas, dates and broccoli- holy wow!
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For me. Celebrating #cincodemayo is about #celebrating the spirit of the #Mexican 🇲🇽 people- here’s a quick history lesson on the holiday and my famous #crespoorganickitchen #margarita #recipe #featuring one of my better ideas—- #mangopit #margaritamix 

And of course a beautiful Nissa #HerbSalt - Diablo Chili Colantro Margarita Salt #salud

For the longer and more in depth hostory lesson head to my #Mangoblog #UnderTheMangoTree and read my post History & Histeria of Cinco De Mayo. 

Link in story
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Instagram post 17996034169808686
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Grab some @crespoorganic dried #ataulfo #mangoes
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Sorry mango people for the delay in my communication but olof and ivin found one of thosenozark barracudas (black snake) and I had to go get scared. 

The good snake was released in the woods and unharmed.
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I’ve had this idea percolating for a while and if you know me, you know that my head is always percolating ideas and then boom randomly I execute it tonight I felt like eating a cookie and even though I’m so busy I took a moment to try a new recipe idea using dried mangoes and pistachios in shortbread cookies holy shit was it fantastic I made a few plain short breads because I didn’t want to miss out on a good cookie experience and I wasn’t sure if the other anyhow I’m gonna continue working on the recipe for mango flavor is amazing in it the way they bake into the butter incredible. You’re gonna love it.

@tedlasso_official  will love these. Maybe I can meet up with @jason_sudeikis in Kansas City and trade shortbread for KC recommendations?
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LATEST POSTS
  • December 31, 2022
    “Different” Chicken Congee
  • December 20, 2022
    Nissa’s Christmas Mole (& Tamales)
  • November 13, 2022
    The Herbal Dry Brine
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Belated Celebratory Action | My Herbal Roots