It is Absolutely Not rocket science to know that sometimes the best way for me to navigate through a passing maelstrom of mind, mood, spirit is by making something that will potentially be used or enjoyed by others. The doing of the thing is the first good and the sharing of the thing follows. Not for any accolades or affirmations…but for the simple reminder to hop off the monorail I’d been riding in my head. Look around, use your gifts, do some good.

Last night I began to think about this evening’s dinner. It’s going to be a variation on theme of BLT as a salad. I had a general sense of what I was going to do but it needed a little lift…and honestly, so did I.

Cue up Samin Nosrat’s recipe for Bright Pickled Onions.

It didn’t matter that it was 10 at night…the kitchen was quiet, I was alone, and I knew the short term commitment to creation would have long-term benefit in flavour to be shared and ease of sleep.

Sometimes it works like that and when it does, oh…I am so grateful.

Bright Pickled Onions (Thank you, Samin Nosrat)

Ground my spirit
with vinegar and onions,
some salt and a pinch 
of wake-me-up tempered
by sweetness and waiting
until tomorrow.
The making is the work
of both doing and imagining
the when-how-with whom of sharing.
The sharing is the grace
of more than me,
bigger and beyond.

Kimberly M. King