No, I didn’t not post yesterday as any kind of VDay protest. I got sick this week. Careful as I’ve been, some germs found their way in and knocked me for a loop. Strangely, the slew of snow my state has finally received helped me out a bit. (A few weeks ago, we were ten to fifteen inches below average total snowfall. It is currently snowing for the *I think, I’ve lost track* the fifth time in a week and a half.)
Last week, it snowed every day I needed to travel more than a few miles from my home (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday). One of those travel days was less a ‘need’ than a ‘want.’ A friend of a friend owns Alice’s Rabbit Whole out in Amherst, WI. (And, yes, her name is Alice.) I’ve heard so much about her over the years and even sampled some of her stuff when my friend, Ashley, brought it by. So when Alice posted about hosting a tincture class, I thought – that could be fun. And it was. Despite the snow and small-town back roads.
It didn’t hurt that the first thing we learned about involved ginger and several ways to prepare it. I LOVE GINGER. And even with the all caps, it feels like an understatement. I love ginger tea (especially with lemon or turmeric). I love it in my salad dressing (sesame ginger for the win). I also love it in my chocolate. (The Willy Street Co-Op in Madison, WI, has dark chocolate covered ginger… *drool*)
Cut to this week, and more snow on a day I needed to travel, so my plans were altered, and I came home from work early. Turned out to be a good thing, because I woke up the next morning ill. (I think “my sinuses feel like an angry beehive and my throat is on fire” is how I described it to my friend.) So while the snow trapped me out west on the day of learning about other ways to love ginger (and hey, I like sage – who knew?), it allowed me to be home in my own bed to recuperate. (Didn’t help that I had two rounds of papers coming in that needed to be graded between sneezing and blowing my nose.)
So my silence was not a protest against the ‘day of love’ – I didn’t get anything written in time because I ran out steam just doing the dishes after I made my first ginger syrup. I rested, and I graded, then rested some more. Today I’m finally feeling up to more, which is probably good because it’s been snowing again since last night, and that means cleaning off my driveway for the third time this week alone. But at least it’s pretty.
Ami Maxine 