flowering rush mixed sets

I've put together a mixed set of the flowering rush cards that have one of each of these colors: ochre, spring green, thistle, raspberry. They're available here.

I've been giving some thought lately to why it is I've made the technological leap to blogging. I couldn't stress enough that I never would have thought I'd be here – typing to an unknown audience. But here's the thing, here's why I think it makes so much sense these days, maybe even why it's necessary. I used to have a shop about six years ago. A real brick and mortar shop called Sakura in NE Portland where I sold Japanese pottery and textiles and tea ware. When you have a shop, there is the day to day interaction with your customers that is lacking in these internet based shops. So I think that blogging takes the place of that. I think it provides the chit-chat, the this-is-who-I-am of those little interactions. It gives background and depth to what otherwise be a cut and dry business transaction. At least that's what I hope.

When I had my shop, I would often make oolong tea for my customers while they looked around. I might offer them a sample of fine tea to take home. I used to spend an inordinate amount of time making these mailings to send out to my customers – collages cut from scraps of washi paper. Well, I can't do that anymore because my mailing list has become an e-mailing list instead. So what I can do is blog. It's what I have to offer for the behind the scenes goodies.

I can tell you things like the great dinner I made the other night. It's chicken with roasted fennel, cherry tomatoes and oil-cured black olives. It's really tasty and perfect as the weather cools down. I'll have to warn you, though, that my recipes can tend to be on the vague side...

Cut two chicken breasts up into chunks. Season liberally with salt and fresh ground pepper and toss with a little white flour. Sauté in good olive oil until nicely browned. Deglaze with a little white wine, then add some chicken broth to cover. Add a rind of Parmesan cheese if you've got one lying around. Meanwhile cut up two to three bulbs of fennel into wedges, toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and a little water . Pop it in a pre-heated oven (maybe 385 degrees). Roast until soft and caramelized and then slip it all in with the chicken. Add a jar of oil-cured olives (the really wrinkly intense kind with pits). Let this simmer for, oh, a half hour or so. About five minutes before you're going to serve this, throw in a cup or two of cherry tomatoes and some chopped Italian parsley. Eat it with egg noodles or soft polenta. I've been known to give it a glug of really good olive oil just before digging in, too.

Enjoy!