Hibiscus moment

Beautiful refreshment:


Step 1: Hibiscus Syrup
1c water
1/2c sugar
1/2c dried hibiscus flowers
-combine, simmer 10 minutes, strain into a jar. Keep in fridge for a few weeks. To enjoy, add about 2t syrup per cup of water or to taste. It is not as sweet as you think, and completely refreshing.

Where to find hibiscus flowers? I usually get mine in bulk at a tiny mexican market (almost like a mini-mart, but with mostly imported ingredients). They are ridiculously cheap. I've also seen them at a store that sold fancy loose teas. Those were more expensive. My favorite spice store Penzeys doesn't carry them, but a quick search found them here.

Step 2: Make It Beautiful
Use the heavy crystal pitcher that was a wedding present from your great-great-grandfather to your great-grandmother, sent to you lovingly in the mail by your own mother who understands the importance of items that have a story.

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This week I have: finished a baby sweater for friends who are finalizing their adoption, taught a friend how to knit so she can make a baby sweater for the boy who is currently kicking her from the inside, exhausted myself at hot yoga, exhausted myself working out at home, gone in the hot tub with charlie after jujitsu, ordered dirt and mulch for the yard, made hibiscus tea, made slow-developing sourdough bread, done a million loads of laundry, thought briefly about packing for Cabo and buying sunscreen, teamed up with Charlie to sho0t countless infected zombies in Resident Evil 5, visited a friend and gone plant-shopping, been to a foot doctor for yet another opinion on my wonky foot, worn green, done physical therapy exercises, watched rain and hail and sunshine in the same day, played Chopin in the rain, and performed a wedding ceremony for good friends who held their cats as they took their vows.

My life, it is full and varied.