Devil Ivy clipping start; Cape Floral NA cocktail; Impossible “chicken” sandwich.
I’m All Lost in…
the 3 things I’m obsessing over THIS week.
#32
1) Late last year, I made some clippings from a Devil Ivy plant—snip the stem on an angle just below a node—and I put them in a small jar of water (make sure the water line is above the nodes).
Six months later, the ivy leaves were flourishing, and tails of curling white roots were crushing up against the glass. Seizing the day, I freed up a planting pot for the burgeoning Devil Ivy start by re-potting a surprisingly successful Trader Joe’s Philodendron into a bigger pot, and then, with a fresh helping of damp soil, I transferred the Devil Ivy start to the pot the Philodendron had outgrown.
This game of musical plants has embedded me in my own private Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" or whatever hippie Stevie Wonder world I’m in as I lovingly put my newly-potted start on the poetry bookcase by the window.
I used a Delroy Wilson, the Cool Operator LP as a trellis for the two leafy stems to bless this Devil Ivy dub project.
Newly potted Devil Ivy start (center).
On a related note, last December, my weekly list of obsessions included “Saving the Dragon Tree Plant” that my friend/ex Diana handed off.
I’m happy to report, it’s back from the dead.
2) I haven’t had any alcohol in more than a week.
Who knows how long this mini-health kick will last, but it’s been an easy pleasure thanks to the Abstinence brand bottle of Cape Floral “premium distilled non-alcoholic spirit” I bought; $50 at the overpriced bodega on my block, but $35 if you order it online from the company.
I keep checking the ingredients for cannabis because after mixing a pour of Cape Floral with soda water and lime every evening, I’ve been turning pleasantly invisible and falling right asleep.
No drugs involved, evidently. The ingredients listed are: Cape Rose geranium, juniper berries, angelica root, and coriander. Maybe it’s the angelica root, which is used in traditional European medicine to help ease anxiety.
The South African-based company claims their NA spirits are “inspired by the diverse botanicals of South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom - the world's smallest yet most diverse floral kingdom.” Other Abstinence Brand choices include: Cape Citrus, Cape Spice, Epilogue X (“dark toasted malt … with spice botanicals and South African Honeybush, perfect for a non-alcoholic old-fashioned”), and lemon or blood orange spritz mixers.
According to one happy online review from “Laurie H. in Baltimore,” Cape Floral tastes lovely with some cranberry simple syrup, lavender bitters and sparkling hibiscus water.
I will test that soon enough, but for now I can already say highly and drowsily recommended with just soda water and lime.
3) Another recommendation from the (new) world (order) of witchcraft food and drink: Impossible brand’s “chicken” patties.
Definitely better for the environment (thanks to the softer carbon footprint than corporate chicken farming) and debatably better for you (more nutrients, such as fiber, than a chicken patty), these golden-browned patties are a tasty vegan/veggie option.
I fry them up in a pan with some virgin olive oil and plate them as the protein centerpiece in a salad sandwich—a pile of greens, fried onions, and sliced tomato, with a heavy dose of nutritional yeast.
I added red cabbage and Trader Joe’s sesame salad dressing to the mix one day this week to mimic a more classic fried chicken slider.