In the words of Bill the Cat: Ack!

Is anyone else happy that Bloom County is back, at least for now?

Anyway, I say, "Ack!" because Lammas has sneaked up on me and found me 100% unprepared and unmotivated. I am so ready for this semester to be done, even though I know my vacation time will consist of three days if I'm lucky. I am pooped. I don't want to cook or read or write or anything.

I promise I will get over this. I will climb out of this rut. I will:

* Try to post more photographs of recipes, even though my house really does look like an episode of "Hoarders".

* Get something organized! Not just in the house, but in the cookbook.

These are, once again, my goals. We shall see what happens.

Checking In

I feel the need to start this post by telling you just how much this semester is kicking my ass: a lot. I am exhausted, busy af, and I keep getting sick. My stomach cannot handle all the stress and anxiety. I need a vacation. Badly. I hope I can get a few days off in August, around the middle of the month. There are a lot of things that need to be done, but I doubt I will get to very many items on the list.

Also, how is it nearly Lammas already? I need to figure out what we're doing and eating to celebrate.

In other news, I have started planning my vegetarian meals and menus for the period of Nov.2 - Dec. 20. I am going to have meat on Thanksgiving, though. I did the vegetarian Thanksgiving thing a few years in a row, and it just isn't as satisfying. I want some turkey, damn it.

A friend of mine is going to help me organize some recipes and hopefully get something accomplished with the cookbook projects I've had brewing (heh.brewing.) in my brain for YEARS.

Another goal I have is to have a kitchen I'm not ashamed to photograph so I can take some pictures of the food I am preparing. I know how important good visuals are to the food blogging community. People love to see what is being made. I just never seem to be prepared to take good pictures. The kitchen is always a mess after I get done cooking, and as I've mentioned before, do you really need a picture of every single step of the recipe? You know what a chopped onion looks like, I'm sure.

Last year, I shared a file of vegetarian recipes and menu suggestions. Someone commented and said they would've paid for such a booklet of recipes. That gives me something to think about, but right now I'm not sure if I will do a freebie or try to actually sell another recipe booklet. I guess it depends on those photos.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and let y'all know I'm still alive and still trying to cook, mostly on the weekends, when I have the time. I plan to do some meal prep this weekend so we can just heat 'n' eat during the week. We shall see. Good intentions and all that.

Many blessings,

Nar

My Latest Passion

Perfume! Rather, making perfume. I’ve been blending essential oils to create fragrance oils and solid perfumes.

I’ve been having an incredible time and have learned a lot. I have a ginormous list of ideas for god and goddess scents, Sabbat scents, elemental blends, etc. I’m eager to get started, but I am still waiting on my latest oil order to arrive.

I trucked on over to Eden Botanicals and bought a *few* oils and got several free samples in the process. I’m really excited to start experimenting. I have learned a lot from AromaWeb, too. That’s where I first really learned about the notes in a fragrance and the ratio for each one. 

The Eden Botanicals site also has information on what oils are what notes – top, middle, or bottom/base.  Some of their oils are thicker or nearly solid at room temperature and have special blending instructions. I’ve ordered from them before, and I’ve been very satisfied. They may not be cheap with many things, but they do have some good prices. It just depends on how rare the oil is.

I’ll include a screenshot of my first order. My second order was for one single oil – osmanthus.

I have several ideas for each and every one, and ways to include the many oils I already have. I might have a bit of a problem developing here...My house is going to look like an episode of Hoarders. One room already does!

Okay, back to finding more inspiration for future experiments. If you're into making your own natural perfume, too, let's talk about it!