Intimate Sacred Sensuous

Ah, what was your first sensation, first thought upon reading those three words. And in her kitchen? YES! Chili and Chocolate. Dark sweet, oh so sensuous with hot tingling chilies to gather the energy deep in the belly, deep into the heart of the Soul.
I have been asked the question, “Might I share a Recipe” Not just any recipe, mind you ~ a truffle recipe. They are sacred, sensuous, oh and indeed intimate. I have never been one to hold out on the sharing of something like food, if I personally don’t get to create food for your plate, then let someone I know do it. Passing my love, my feelings of the Sacred for food and community; (2 makes community you and me, it only takes one savoring the taste, feel, the wonder of food to make it intimate.) Food by it’s very nature is Sacred, Life giving.

Chocolate has a history ( more to the point her-story) as being a food of and from the Gods and Goddess. Chocolate’s story began about 4,000 years ago, symbolizing life and fertility. For the Mayan’s, (or for any of us) what could be more important? At different times in it’s life it has been used as a health elixir, the cocoa beans as currency, then of course in religious rituals, least we forget that scientists have even proven it aphrodisiacal qualities, along with it ability to lower blood pressure when eaten in moderation. Chocolate has lived a long and diverse existence, lived in many cultures, from it’s beginnings in Mesoamerica.

Add chilies, upping the ante, bringing on the fire so to speak. Passion is kindled, as any one who has seen the movies Like Water for Chocolate and/or Chocolat, will surely remember. Chilies also have their own health benefits, helping to prevent congestion, fighting inflammation, soothing intestinal diseases, burning fat, protecting the heart by reducing cholesterol. It has also been shown to help fight some cancers.
So back to the original request , “Would looove your chocolate truffle recipe!” I love to share food, to ask for a recipe is akin to… (well, I’ll let your imagination run), for me there is an intimacy in the sharing of something that I hold to be life giving. To share how to make that item when I can not be there, it is the same, one invokes the person that the original recipe comes from every time they make said creation. Memories, the body re-members, the senses of taste, smell, perhaps even stories told.
Enjoy, I will think of you, as you think of me. To the fullness of our senses, we will met Intimately, Sacred, and Sensually ~ To your Health, Life and Love ~


Rho's Chili Chocolate Pate/Truffles

16 oz good dark chocolate ( if you’re a milk chocolate person use milk – just use good quality – this is not a place to skimp)
1 1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream ( no light, no fat stuff here either)
1 Tablespoon sweet butter
1 7 ounce can chipotle peppers or
1/16-1/4 cup crushed red chilie peppers, the amount will depend on you, smaller is better
*note the mixture gets hotter as it sets up



Heat ½ cup of the heavy cream throw in a crushed red chilies (know your chilies- how hot are they?), let sit for ½ hour and strain.

Now melt chocolate in a double boiler, do not over heat, when melted leave in double boiler or bowl over hot water add the butter then:

Add strained cream to rest of ingredients in a double boiler, mix well, mixture will get glassy or shiny looking and feel thicker . If using the chipotle peppers, mince - put in with the cream together. Taste – if there is not a little bit of a bite and you want it hotter now is the time to add a bit more chilies in powered form, go lightly till you know what works best for you.

Making Pate –pour into a mold and let sit until cool and formed. Tip – put Saran Wrap in mold – it makes it easier to get it out of the mold later.

Making Truffles – leave in the top part of the double boiler or bowl set in fridge let set up about an hour. Form mixture into balls (using a melon baler helps make them the same size plus it’s easier. Roll balls in hands ( I put on gloves, the heat from your hands melts the chocolate and leaves your hands sticky otherwise) to make smooth, then in bowl with coca, crushed nuts or Confectioner’s sugar to coat. Put in mini cups or not. May also be dipped in more melted chocolate.
I have also been know to put this mixture on Spoons, let almost set up like for the truffles, use a knife to make a clean cut across the spoon, serve them on a plate with fresh whipped cream. For large mingling groups I put the spoons all on one plate, handles facing out, whipped cream with chocolate shavings in the middle.


photo of chocolate heart from Chocolate History Time Line @chocolatemonthclub

Over Coffee

Recently, I sat at the end of a gathering of women, that had come together via a circle created by my friend, mentor, couch and life student Lael. She had us do an exercise of telling us each other, what we Appreciated and Learned from each other during the 6 months the group had been together sharing our experiences around a theme.

We were not given an opportunity to go oh, it’s nothing or any other silly disclaimer we might have in fact used to not take in what was said. Afterwards someone asked if we would be willing to send what we had said to each other ~ Fabulous Idea. Yet, I want to take it one step further.

How many of us love to receive postal mail? How many of us when we receive a letter truly take the time to sit with the letter? I got to thinking over coffee, and touching base with a friend this AM via IM. What if and how sweet would it be if each day over a cup of coffee, I would sit and write out a letter to a friend letting them know how important they are in my life.

Letting them know what it is I appreciate about them. What gifts they have given me in the way of growth. No not in an email- but in a real hand written note. How much this act enriches my day, when I send out the random letter here and there – yes, I do sometimes send and receive notes from my sweet child; (who by the by is an adult – that I facebook, email, Skype and generally speak to at least once a week) still my heart lights at this gift of a letter. I find I save it for the end of my day when I can sit in my kitchen and savor the moment. In my life and perhaps most of us – Life, Love, happens in the kitchen. There are the smells of cooking, (love), sometimes dirty dishes, (life); it is the place that I believe most of us go to Re-member some important detail of our childhood.

See how it goes for you. I am grateful this morning to another friend, who felt with love and care to make my computer wire-less even in my smallest of NY style apartments in Portland, ME. He makes me smile with the love and growth we have shared. Yes, are you listening – you are forgiven for the breakfast debacle. So over coffee, I am sharing this with you. Reach out and touch a friend, share a cup of coffee even if they live across town, write them a little note – let them in on how you feel.

All love.

ps who might have a fabulous picture of a cup of coffee I might use?

In the stew...

So, before you read to far; hoping for a recipe for some fantastic stew, sorry, there isn’t one. This is more about our becoming us. Or more exactly the me that I have become.

This past year I have been blessed to be re-membered into the lives of two wonderful women that knew me at an earlier time in my life. Living as a single Mom in a little community in Colorado, Manitou Springs. Now what has gotten me to thinking about stew is both of these women said upon seeing me “Wow, you’ve not changed a bit!” This of course was meant as a compliment

Yet, it got me to thinking about all the wonder and changes that I have been through since I have seen both of these women. The spice of friends. The flavors as events that have helped shape me to this point. Things I have been witness too and the great amount of learning that has come my way.

Though to the eye it may appear that I’ve not changed, when for me I believe I have grown into my handsome good looks. In many ways we are all a bit of a stew pot; a magical alchemical process. From our first beginnings, the story that lives within us of ancestral beings. That we come from stardust, and carry within our chest the sound of Mother Earth as a heart beat. The mystery of how we swim in a pot of all the molecules of everything that has ever been and is ever becoming.

Awe is the word that comes to mind when I sit with some of the stories, that are shared with me. They too are a part of all that I am. I often wonder at my own ‘story’; would I be me if certain things were not a part of the great list of ingredients that have been tossed in? Would I live so intensely? ( This by the by is what I have been told about myself.) Would I choose to find the beauty, the laughter, see the sorrow? I will never know ~ what I do know is that I feel blessed, grateful and filled with Grace. I have been loved, been given opportunities a plenty to give love. It is my plan to continue to do so till my last exhalation of the Divine, that is my breathe.

I have been thrilled at times with the manifestations that marinating in my own stewing process have brought about. There have been sad nesses, hurts and fears, all apart of the mixing and marinating, the process of becoming, of blooming into who I am as are you. (Re-member earlier I said we are all in the pot together?)

So to those of you, who have traveled beside me as friend ~ I Thank you for all the magic we have and are sharing. To those that I only know as whispers on the wind ~ you I thank also ~ on the wind I feel your Being. I am greatly blessed. I am Grateful to be in the world with YOU and your stew- ness. Yum!

May we all continue to marinate to the fullness of our flavors, talents, full of love and compassion for each other and our selves.

Okay – I fibbed here is one of my favorite stews…soups; hmmm I wonder at the actual difference, but as they say ~ that is another story.


Stone soup (chick pea/vegetable) Gypsy Soup serves 8-12
Approx ¼ cup olive oil
2 medium onions chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
3 stalks celery chopped
2-3 each, carrot, sweet potato chopped
1 winter squash butternut or acorn
1 sweet pepper – red if possible
3 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 ½ cup dry (soak overnight)

3 cups stock, (made from any veggies or herbs left from day before) or H2O

Sauté 1st 3 items, in olive oil, adding in carrot, in large soup pot. If using dry chickpeas, cook before hand till they are tender enough to place on your tongue, press to the roof of your mouth and mash.. Mix all ingredients together….Let cook and meld flavors together

Season with:
Couple dashes of cayenne
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaf
2 T tamari
1 T paprika

The original recipe and inspiration for this, comes from the first Moosewood Cookbook

picture of me at about 4 maybe 5...I thank Tirzah Griffin at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tirzymcwirzy/ for scanning this picture for me.

Murder of Crow!

How many crow are in a murder? Enough to fill a pie? Four and 20? I don’t rightly know ~ what I do know is that on this particular Sunday I indeed have a murder of Crow in my kitchen. Now for most this might be upsetting ~ for me it brings a gladness!

You might be wondering about this – though the photo that is posted makes it a bit clear that they are not alive ~ well that’s not the word I might use. I am glad to have them in my tiny little kitchen, I am also grateful that they are here today. Today marks six years to the day that many of us gathered to share and acknowledge the passing of a friend.

It is because of this friend, Rick Rudolph that the rendition of a moon calendar were first printed. I had desired to be able to let him know that I was thinking of him during his illness. Sadly, my friend, artist and fellow human never saw a single calendar. He passed before the year came anew. I find ~ I still miss him.

I am reminded that we never truly don’t have folks in our lives, once we have created space at our table for them, they are forever with us. They leave a mark as playful or hurtful as we allow. This murder of Crow that hangs on the line…well, they will become the next New Moons marking. Falling on Valentine’s Day, and the Tibetan New year, prayer paper behind them on the calendar, it is a reminder to me and hopefully to those that receive the calendar to remember to tell those they love of their love. In the blink of an eye, all things can and do change.

There is also a gladness for me around this printing as I am aware of how much I missed the magic and mystery of silk screening; for the last three seasons of summer, fall and most of winter I have not printed. On this anniversary and the second printing of the Moon Calendar for the year, thank you Rick. Thank you Tirzah, Ann. Debbie and Mo, friends who have stood gently by asking and reminding me of this magic.

My kitchen magic depends on being able to create for myself and to have the warmth of friendship at my table. Art for me is a bit like cooking you can know what goes into creating something ~ yet one; or at least I depend on the kitchen magic; I never truly know how they will be in the end. I am grateful for all my friends, those I still have near and those that are near to me, as whispers on the wind. I want you all to know that you are loved. If I have forgotten to tell you today…I am telling you NOW. I love you!

May you find ways to feed your soul, as well as your body.





photo taken in my kitchen 31 January 2010