Happy New Year 2016
Ring out wild bells to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~1833
Happy New Year to all Lavender and Lovage readers!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are ready for the year ahead; I celebrated with close family and friends, and as usual I ate too much, and also drank too much too! Although I am not a lover of New Year’s Eve, it makes me maudlin, I love the first day (and week) of the New Year – that feeling of hope, a brand new page of a diary to be filled in, and the annual ritual of hanging the new calendars, as well as that “New Year’s walk on the beach”, it always feels as if life has given us a second chance to get things right, or start something new, it’s like a blank canvas in which we are all Old Masters who can paint whatever masterpieces we like. And, so as I do every year, I would like to start of the New Year of 2016, with A Year of Recipes: Lavender & Lovage Recipe Book – a patchwork quilt of recipe images that will take you back to 2015, and give you a chance to see how my seasonal cooking was enjoyed and where I travelled too. I would like to THANK all of you for your continued support and encouragement, for ALL the fabulous and uplifting comments you leave on my posts, they inspire me to continue creating recipes and writing! Before I sign off; the latest news from me (that I have been keeping to myself for a few months) is that in 2015 I was signed up by a Literary Agent and I am in the process of writing a cookbook, so DO keep popping back for updates on that exciting project! Also, please continue to let me know what you think of what I do here, and once again, a very Happy New Year, Karen
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce ~
A Year of Recipes:
(Click on the Month to take you to all the recipes and travel posts in that month)
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
The Gate of the Year
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
Minnie Louise Haskins, 1908
wow! What a year! This is very exciting news! I cannot wait for it! Happy New Year xxx
Thanks Dom, yes, what a year! Happy New Year to you!
Fantastic new! I look forward to the book! Best in the new year!!
Thanks Jewel – I have lots of work to do now! 🙂 FT/Karen
Wishing you a very happy new year Karen and so excited about your new book:-)
You too Camilla and thanks so much for your kind comments! Karen
I am so glad you are writing a cookbook! Plunking my iPad into my kitchen cookbook holder is not the same as having a page to read from, especially if it has your lovely pictures. It sounds like a wonderful year ahead for you.
THANKS so much indeed Stephanie and a very Happy New Year to you too! Karen
How exciting! Congratulations!! Eb x
THANKS so much Eb and a very Happy New Year to you! Karen
A mouhwatering post! Congratulations on your exciting news, I’ve no doubt your book will be amazing 🙂
Thanks so much Nicola! Happy New Year to you! Karen
Congratulations on the cookbook! Will look forward to it. I love blogs, but man, there is something about thumbing through a favorite cookbook marred with food stains, isn’t there? It’s like an old friend. That probably sounds hyperbolic, but I mean it. I probably should get out more…
Hahaha! No need to get out more, I understand exactly what you mean! Karen
Karen, I am so excited! Can’t wait to see the book. Lovely quotes to. Here is to 2016! x
Thanks so much Niamh – I’ve got lots of hard work ahead of me now! Karen
Remember that book about the elves and the shoemaker? Well, I think you have some talented culinary elves in your home! I don’t know how you manage all this goodness while also travelling around the world!? Is Malcolm secretly cooking behind the scenes? Everything looks so wonderful and delicious! Sharing!
Hahahaha! THANKS so much for these kind words Christina and no, Malcolm is not a secret cook! LOL! 🙂 Karen