fresh herbs Archives - The Curated House

Kinfolk + The Lost Art of Drying Herbs

I have a confession to make. I love herbs. In fact, I think they are one of my love languages. Lovely friends of mine who know this to be true recently led me to my birthday celebration this year with a sweetly bundled bunch of fresh herbs. Aromatic, intoxicating and rich with possibilities, herbs have the power to bring my senses alive to the bounty of nature.

I was utterly taken by a recent post by photographer Parker Fitzgerald for Kinfolk on Herb Drying and had to share it with you today. Since feasting my eyes and my imagination on these gorgeous photos, I’ve been dreaming about where I might create a herb drying shed of my own. Time to purge the garage, perhaps! In the meantime, I hope Parker’s stunning photography and Amy Merrick‘s beautifully organic styling inspire you as much as they have me!

All photographs by Parker Fitzgerald
Styling by Amy Merrick
Model: Skye Velten

Wishing you a fragrant and inspired Tuesday!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 9th, 2012|1 Comment

Heart of The City Farmers’ Market | San Francisco

After a long day of travel, we awoke early to thick fog and the promise of adventure. With plans to see more of the sites over the next few days, we wanted to see what the local organic farming culture is all about and pick up some fresh fruit for inexpensive, healthy breakfasts for our time here. I absolutely love a local, open-air market. The beautiful sights, smells and the warm community feel are all filled with inspiration and the sense of possibility.

A little research led us to an early morning excursion to The Heart of The City Farmers’ Market at the United Nations Plaza just east of the architecturally impressive City Hall. Started 30 years ago, the spirit of this farmer’s market is amazing. Their purpose is to bring healthy, local produce and nutritional education to one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city while sustaining small, family-operated farms. Over 75% of the food stamps used at farmer’s markets in the city are used here.

The produce is beautiful, the vendors warm and friendly, and the possibilities for the meals I could and would make every week if this market was in my neighbourhood? Endless. Here are just a few shots of the local, organic produce grown in Northern California’s good earth and on display at this Sunday morning market.

Some things were completely new to me, like these Bitter Melons above. The not so bumpy is the Chinese variety and the spiky-bumpy one is the Indian variety. Apparently it offers medicinal qualities {I think she said “good for your liver”?} and can be sauteed up with less bitter vegetables or added to soups. Their colour and texture certainly had me intrigued!

I cannot describe my excitement when we came upon this local honey farm’s offerings. Totally raw {unpasteurized}, their honey is available in a variety of different flavours based on where the bees collect their pollen. I simply had to bring some home and promise to bring you a follow-up post about the 3 flavours we decided to compare.

My guys fell head-over-heels for the cheese from this local, artisinal dairy.

These Dapple Dandy Pluots {a grafted marriage of plums and apricots} were this morning’s breakfast. Their red, juicy flesh is like candy. Incredible! Also like candy to me? The Asian Pears below. Yum. The browner ones tend to be sweeter, so look for more of a caramel-tanned colour when selecting yours.

Tomorrow morning we’ll be having these organic Queen Flavour Pluots for breakfast. I hope they live up to their name!

I wish you could smell the aromatic goodness of all of the herbs piled high on the tables in stall after stall. They had me swooning and wishing desperately I had a kitchen at my disposal while here in San Francisco! So many flavours, so little time.

The view to City Hall from the market in United Nations Plaza.

The splendor and variety of this vendor’s orchids were spectacular.

And the fresh dates…OH the fresh dates. I’m hoping to pop back on Wednesday before we leave the city for a bigger stash to bring home. Glorious sweet goodness. Perfect finish to a nice savoury meal.

The colours, shapes and textures of nature really are art in real life.

I hope this leaves you inspired to explore the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of your own local market! The experience is well worth the effort of searching one out, and the fresh flavours that will no doubt come from your kitchen as a result will be more than pleasing to the palate.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|September 3rd, 2012|1 Comment

Beautiful Process, Beautiful Birthday Surprise

I have a confession to make. I have a very active imagination. I’m pretty much always creating things in my head – new designs, ideas, stories, songs and endless possibilities. This is both a blessing and a curse. Why a curse, you ask? Well, my very active imagination makes it very difficult for my loved ones to surprise me. I’m pretty quick to pick up on a thread of activity and put the pieces together. So it was both a shock and a delight to find myself surprised with an utterly tear-worthy and incredibly thoughtful birthday dinner this week thanks to four beautiful friends.

I was told {ahem} that we would be going to Summerlicious which I was quite looking forward to! I’m sure you’ve picked up by now that I am a foodie. Despite a crazy list of food allergies that can be rather restrictive, I love exploring new flavours and cooking methods at the hands of a great chef. I am also always nervous to do so at the fear of a “missed ingredient” that causes the old throat to swell, but I knew I had placed my trust in a most thoughtful friend’s hands who would probably be even more thorough than I in asking questions before making the reservation.

As it turns out, I was wrong. Not about the thoughtful part. Not about the thoroughness part. Just about the Summerlicious part.

I was picked up and greeted with a lovely bundle of fresh herbs {a love language of mine} and told to “just trust” her on where we were going for dinner. A delightfully winding drive through the country led us to this charming home where three other friends appeared like nymphs from the garden to a serious show of waterworks {I was a mess!}.

The evening was literally stuffed to bursting with incredibly thoughtful details. {I believe details are a love language, and these friends seriously loved on me with the beautiful details of this evening!} So many things were lovingly handmade: the birthday banner; the mason jar candle holders filled with tea lights and lavender; the gorgeous and lovingly prepared food full of my favourite flavours; the beautiful dessert made “allergy-free” and amazingly delicious {it was FIGGIN good}; the sweet and charmingly hand-stitched tags on our mugs of tea at the end of the meal. No detail was left untouched.

As if I had not cried enough at the surprise of it all, I was overwhelmed by toasts from these four lovely ladies. {Cue waterworks round two!} One toast was even delivered INSIDE a piece of toast. Too perfect.

At this point I’m pretty overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness and detailed love of my sweet friends. My tummy is full and my heart is bursting. I couldn’t imagine anything more overwhelming. Once again, I was wrong.

Remember my post about the Christie Antique Show? Perhaps not, but these four friends remembered. I had gone in search of an antique, pressed glass cake plate which I came to discover was actually from a collection called Fostoria American {circa 1915}. I had given myself a cautious budget of $30 only to discover yet again that my taste and my budget did not match.

Unbeknownst to me, my friends had read that post and began conspiring. With secret meetings in hidden coffee shop locations, they plotted a scheme that involved one of my friends’ sweet old grandmother driving to a country antiques store in Illinois to procure this treasure. Through family visits and with great care, this package made its way North and into the eagerly awaiting hands of my four fabulous friends. I had no idea what I would find when I was presented with this box.

And I was beyond words when I discovered what was inside. {Cue waterworks round three}

There’s something about being known that just can’t be replaced. That feeling that you have been heard, and that the smallest details of your thoughts and what inspires you have not gone overlooked. That is the real gift that I was given for my birthday this year. The gift of knowing I have people in my life who pay attention to the delicate details that are stitched together to make me who I am.

It’s not about a cake plate {though it is so lovely and I’m still utterly amazed!}. It’s about listening and knowing and secret plotting in coffee shops. It’s about hand-stitching “steep love” onto tea bags just because I’ll notice. It’s about the collaborative community it took to create such a lovely evening {complete with hand-drawn notes and concepts}. Overwhelming. Thoughtful. Beautiful. Detailed. Love.

It goes without saying that this is a birthday for the record books. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m just going to have to celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday from here on out {wink}. Can’t imagine anything that will top this one. Love you, ladies. Steeply.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|July 27th, 2012|8 Comments