A Meditation of Sorts

Clover and Blossoms

Yesterday on my morning walk with Butters the air was infused with the heady scent of clover blossoms. Clover always causes me to linger, but this morning even more and the  scent had me plucking blossoms and inhaling deeply.

I reflected on clover and my love for it and on a past weekend that I spent planting and mulching at my sister in laws house.  The day was not hurried, I was not hurried, there was no agenda and I often found myself stooped over searching in the clover as we talked and worked. Of course there were bees to be seen, a tiny frog discovered in the mulch, and all the signs around us that spring was reveling in her own beauty. I found myself thinking of other such times as well, at my parents and along walks with Butters and with Alan where clover had figured prominently in the memory of the time.

The clover causes a shift in my mindset.  For me searching in the clover is the pause of gratitude and the delight to be found when we look to explore and revel in the magic the universe so readily offers. It a purposeful pause, a choice to slow down and to notice the details, a meditation of sorts in its own way. Whether or not I ever actually find four leaf clovers does not matter, I am always left with a sense of peace and contentment.

Cardamom & Pistachio Cookie Recipe

Cardamom & Pistachio Cookies

I fell in love with cardamom about two years ago as a delicious addition to homemade almond milk and that love (or slight obsession) has grown to include it in chia pudding, smoothies, the occasional sprinkle in my morning cup of coffee and now baking.  It was one of those situations where cardamom kept appearing in my life, first in an article I stumbled upon that said cardamom was actually easy to grow at home, then as an addition to homemade almond milk, and finally it appeared in beautiful green pods piled on top of each other in a large glass jar sitting on a top shelf in a local herb shop.  When I saw that glass jar it jolted my memory and I was hooked from that first deep inhalation of the strange but heady scent.

The cookie recipe was not my creation, but one that I sought out when I recently needed to make cookies for an upcoming Herb Guild Farmers Market sale I was asked to contribute to. I wanted something a little different and thought of making cookies with lemon balm but somehow I found myself searching for cardamom cookies and found these Cardamom & Pistachio Cookies.  Now I really want to try making Cardamom Chocolate Chip cookies as I think the cardamom would make a nice compliment to the chocolate, but that will be for another week.  These cookies reminded me of short bread, were simple to make and delicious!

My pistachios were roasted and salted so I cut the recommended amount of salt in half and I thought the cookies were just fine.  I refrigerated the dough roll over night and the first few cuts results in a crumbled cookie.  After allowing the dough to set for about 10 minutes on the counter the knife slid through clean and the dough still held its shape.  If you don't think your cookies are getting brown enough, just check the bottoms.  The dough is already a bit golden with the combination of the pistachios and butter so it is hard to tell how brown they are without checking the bottoms.  

What are your favorite herbs and spices?