09/17/2026
OH, and wild harvested Autumn Olive berries 😏
Proud to debut 3 brand new beverages through my Botanical Bar at The Greenbelt Conservancy Blue Jean Ball tonight, a benefit event for the Staten Island Greenbelt.
So I’ve been wanting to make a recipe with Autumn Olive berries for years. They’re the perfect candidate. A wild growing, insanely abundant invasive berry, that’s delicious and good for you. I mean, if you know what I do, it doesn’t really get more ideal in my book than that in terms of seasonal recipes.
Creation is a push and pull between structure and playtime. Creation cannot exist without either. If you’re not structured, your creativity just bounces off the walls with no where to go.
But if you have no playtime, you’re not allowing your mind and heart to guide your process without rules. The mind has to wander in order to land at something great.
I am well aware that play time is the antithesis of efficiency. There’s a lot of exploration that leads to nothing tangible. If you’re purely looking through a lens of productivity, there’s very little justification for it. But it’s a literal essential part of the creative process.
I know artists, musicians, chefs, and creatives of any kind might relate to this one. You have to jam for hours, days, weeks, to land on ONE 3-minute song. You paint 20 pieces to have one you’re proud enough to show in a gallery. Etc.
I’ve been connecting with playtime more lately.
In seasons of my life, I felt like I was living in survival mode and I didn’t really make or have time to play. But I’m really grateful to be connecting with this part of my creative process again. It’s exactly what I need right now and it seems to be working out just fine.
I’m so happy to have finally made a recipe that I’m serving to others. Autumn Olive Berry punch that I’m debuting through my Botanical Bar.
