Last spring one of my best recipes was born- Spring Herb Moussaka. It an unraveling from everywhere all at once, coincidentally right around the time the movie of the same name came out. This year, as part of my Spring 2024 Herbal Salts: Unbridled Spirit & Verve Collection, I offer a refined herbal tulip salt born that experience. Both recipes stand as a testament to my nomadic journey, where I feel free from the confines of any one place, allowing me to connect with all, everywhere, simultaneously. It's within this boundless exploration that I discover my most genuine self, where I feel most peace and from where most of my recipe ideas unravel.
Parsley
April 1, 2024
Spring is my favorite season. It always feels full of potential—the kind of potential that must make its way into the world. This sentiment feels reminiscent of my essence. All of that which is inside me must eventually come to be. Sometimes it sprouts and sometimes it blossoms. (It’s also been known to burst out even though I try to coax it to unfold and emerge more slowly.) Spring is the season for new things to be born. I was born in spring and my spirit gets giddy at the thought of reemergence and newness in my life and in my cooking.
March 29, 2021
A few years back I took the most amazing ‘Mindful Self-Compassion’ course at Spirit Rock Mediation Center. It was around the time I had just been left by a long-term partner. I found myself in a very confused state-of-being that caused an enormous amount of emotional overwhelm. Now, years later, I still am confused about that, but I have also come to find acknowledge that these particular moments states-of being are crucial for learning and growth, in particular if you allow yourself to move through them slowly, carefully and compassionately.
April 11, 2020
Dried cherry tomatoes are the most delicious dried fruit – in my opinion. I make them in the oven with some simple seasonings. The result is a salty and heby treat that you can snack on as you would any other dried fruit, but (bonus!) they keep in the fridge for several weeks and allow you to impart a robust, smoky tomato flavor to soups, salads, pastas, and eggs, among many other dishes. Early on in my produce career I worked in the organic tomato industry. I imported and distributed organic tomatoes from Holland and Israel, and I worked with some of the world’s leading tomato researchers and farmers. All of them specialized in producing flavor-packed tomatoes.
April 7, 2020
For now, my thoughts land on a precise moment where change took hold. A time when I was left by the side of the road outside Tel Aviv by an at the time business partner and also long time “friend” and ate my first sabich. That sabich reflected back my own strength and the moment when I came eye to eye with my hunger to be seen for my own accomplishments and power. It’s a moment when I learned that to be a woman in business meant that I had to make bold moves. It’s also the moment I would come to prove that I could be honest, tender, and show emotion in business and still be successful and powerful.
January 1, 2020
Recently, as I continue to tinker with my herbal salt fetish, I have noticed how good people and places inspire me just as much as the season’s new herb, fruit, vegetable, or spice. In my herbal salts, I try to evoke a particular aspect of the season that is special to me. Ingredients from my own garden and local farms mingle with other organic goods that are seasonal for most of us.
December 26, 2019
I haven’t always had a garden. In fact, a good portion of my adult life (the part where I lived in Brooklyn for 13 years) didn’t include one at all. Those times I did have a garden, many creative and good ideas sprung forth from it. Making seasonal fresh herb salt-and-peppers was one of those ideas, and they are by far one of my most versatile and useful herbal endeavors
April 9, 2019
Back in Brooklyn someone writing a magazine article once asked me - along with about 10 other food folks - “what is the one ingredient you can’t live without?” Most gave answers like Sriracha, salt, fish sauce, mustard, and good quality extra virgin olive oil. I said parsley. It is the one thing that I never run out of in my kitchen, and, in my mind, parsley is both versatile and one of the best fresh flavor enhancers I know.
April 9, 2019
Parsley | My Herbal Roots