Oatmeal Cookies and Bay Leaf Tea

Today my siblings and I took a long walk to get the mail and observe nature. We saw lizards, ant hills, yellow-faced birds, rescued a moth and collected lots of acorn caps ( : When we got home, we made a little display of our findings and brewed some Bay Laurel leaf tea. I have a book called "Kashaya Pomo Plants" that has natural remedies in it from Northern California plants. I will add this book to my book list for your convenience.

Bay Laurel Tea
Made from the leaves of the California Bay Laurel or "Peppernut" tree, this tea can be used to wash sores or taken internally to treat colds and sore throats.
Brew 3-4 leaves per cup of water to make a dark tea.
We found that when we brewed it briefly the resulting liquid was strong enough to make us sneeze! So, we drank it rather weak, but we're hoping it will help clear up some of the colds around the house.
(NOTE: It's important when making teas or using the zest or peel from fruits that you make sure they are organic and have never been sprayed with pesticides, or you could become ill.)


After the tea, Amani and I made up our own recipe for oatmeal cookies!

Mixing! This is the only one that wasn't 100% blurred, he's a very dedicated mixer!

Waiting for the cookies to be done: Licking apples always helps.

They're done!

Olivia approves

Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs maple syrup

1 egg

1 cup instant oats

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 salt

1/2 Tbs baking soda

1/2 cup chopped, dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Cream butter and sugars together. Add syrup, egg and oatmeal. Add dry ingredients. Chop cherries and stir into dough. It should hold together.

Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball and slightly compress onto oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. The edges should be golden and crisp, but the middle may still be a bit wet. That is actually perfect! Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheet and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. The edges will be slightly crispy while the center of the cookie will stay soft and chewy! (:

This was an experiment that worked for us today, but it has only been tested once. I'll try it again another day and make sure it still works well!
Bon Appetit!

Elderflower Italian Soda

There was a pro-choice rally at school today, which was pretty exciting! I held up a sign between classes. It was SO hot out. When I left school, I remembered that I had heard on the radio that Traverso's was going out of business. My grandma used to take me there when I was little. I remember that it was kind of dark, with lots of salamis hanging from the ceiling, big barrels of pickles and a meat counter. The family owned business has been in the county for 90 years! So, I decided to run by and see if they were still there so I could buy some elderflower syrup that I spied there a few months ago.
I fell in love with elderflower soda in England, where I tasted it at....a Starbucks actually. There, they served it in small bottles that in no way quenched your thirst for the addictive beverage. I tried it in cans as well, but the bottled beverage tasted better.
I told my mom when she visited that she had to have some because "It tastes like magic", which I think may have left her slightly concerned!
Anyway, I bought the syrup and some San Pellegrino at Traverso's which was happily still open. They had all kinds of cool imported things. I fell in love with a gorgeous ceramic jar of Italian wild cherries in syrup but was discouraged by the pricepoint. After buying my beverage fixings, I told the owner to keep the change and that my grandmother used to bring me there at which he handed me a tiny box of almond nougat candy along with his appreciation.
I couldn't stop grinning at this. There's something about being given a treat that is incomparable to any other feeling. It's not the same as when someone is handing out free candy and you think "ooh, this is my lucky day". When someone really wants to give me a delicious gift, it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
I got a little crazy with my camera, hope you enjoy the pictures. I sure had fun taking pictures of all the bubbles!

To make this drink, I poured a measure of syrup into the sparkling water, but it sank to the bottom, so if you try this yourself, be sure to stir it up before drinking!

I found a great recipe for elderflower syrup here.