SpiceLines

1. Take la pause gourmande three times a week. Never at my desk, and always between 4 and 6 PM when I most need a break. I’ll be reporting to you on this supremely civilized moment each month—where I’m taking la pause and what I’m drinking and eating. As Robert Arbor wrote in Joie de Vivre, la pause, which almost everyone (except Americans) enjoys, is “a perfect solution to the afternoon blahs.” I hope you’ll join me!

2. Keep my office a private sanctuary. A place to write and dream, to invent and unwind. In 2012 this will not be the place to trip over old travel files and stacks of unread books. No more discovering packets of rare Cambodian peppercorns buried under forgotten newspaper clippings. There will be room to breathe and order to the romantic disorder (peacock fans, Ganeshes galore, tango photos atop a Tibetan chest….) in which I clearly thrive.

3. Bring lots more spice into everyday life. Paint a wall red, search for wasabi in mountain streams, travel to Bhutan, world capital of happiness. Paris is sublime, but a walk in the Himalayas would radically shake up my perspective. In the end the spice life is about discovering new ways of being in the world. Start by pushing the envelope.

4. And in that vein, give SpiceLines a fresh look. I see my blog as a portal into a world of bright colors, exotic travel, delicious flavors and adventures of all sorts. Flirty camels, bigger, better photos, easier-to-read type would be a start, but there will be much more to help you get there. Target date? I’m shooting for April…

5. Be a kinder, gentler person. Cheer up my mother, hug our aging pup, praise the people I love for their many great and small acts of kindness. Compliment someone, even (especially!) a stranger, everyday. Love your earrings, thanks for holding the door, so fun to talk with you. Joy will be my reward.

A fountain in the Jardin Bio-Aromatique in Ourika, a town not far from Marrakech. All the herbs grown here are not only organic, but intensely flavorful and quite potent.

My resolutions took shape while drinking a cup of Moroccan detox tea that I first tasted at the magical Jardin Bio-aromatique in Ourika. At a long table strewn with rose petals we sipped this aromatic brew from small earthenware cups while a Berber woman made barley flatbread with nigella seeds in a clay oven heated by fiery olive wood coals. Later we soaked our feet in warm water fragrant with orange oil before receiving a delicate foot massage using argan oil perfumed with lemon verbena.

I’ve long since finished the package of l'infusion depurative that came home with me, but I kept a list of the ingredients–-lemon verbena, pergolarium (scented geranium leaf), marjoram, sage, rosemary, fennel, mint, lemongrass and lemon thyme—and a memory of the sweet-minty-earthy aromas rising from the cup. All nine herbs, organically grown in the garden, have soothing, healing properties and some are especially good for insomnia and the digestion.

No wonder I felt lighter than air.

A few days ago, I made my own batch of detox tea. Although the herbs I used were not as vibrant as those from the Jardin, the flavor of the tea is quite close to the original. Still a couple of ingredients were hard to find: I couldn’t get a source for dried lemon thyme, so I substituted lemon myrtle, a delightful citrusy Australian herb that I discovered at a local coffee house. Nor could I find dried geranium leaves so I left them out—but you could add a little camomile or a few dried lavender flowers. If you’re overwintering scented geraniums inside, just harvest the dried up leaves and add them to the mix.

And that’s the thing. You can add or subtract whatever herbs you like. Just be sure that you choose herbs that are soothing. The key flavors are lemon (as in lemon verbena, lemon myrtle and lemon grass), mint (but not too much) and fennel seeds for sweetness.

Drink this whenever you’ve ingested too much delicious food or drink, or when you’re tired and stressed. Come to think of it, the Moroccan infusion depurative is a perfect beverage for la pause…

In Morocco, earthenware cups and saucers awaiting a pour of the sweetly aromatic infusion depurative. The pottery is made near the town of Ourika.

Moroccan Detox Tea with Nine Herbs

Bulk herbs can be ordered from Penzeys, Frontier or other online purveyors. I found lemon verbena at In Pursuit of Tea; organic lemon myrtle leaves are available thru Amazon. If you can’t find whole lemon grass stalks and leaves, buy them fresh, snip off the slender stalks and dry them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 250 degrees before adding them to the mix.

Makes 1-1/4 cups loose leaf herbal tea

Ingredients:
2 cups dried whole lemon verbena leaves, tightly packed
1/3 cup dried peppermint leaves, crumbled
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons dried sage leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dried lemongrass leaves and stalks, snipped into ½ inch pieces
1 tablespoon dried lemon myrtle leaves (substitute for lemon thyme)
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, lightly bruised in a mortar and pestle
Optional: 1 tablespoon dried camomile or a small pinch dried culinary lavender

Method:
1. Put the lemon verbena leaves in a large bowl and crumble them with your fingers until the pieces are very small. Use scissors to cut them up if necessary. Add the other ingredients and stir vigorously to combine. All the herbs should be evenly blended.
2. To make one cup of tea, place 2 rounded teaspoons of the mixture in a strainer or tea ball and set it in the cup. Bring a tea kettle just to the boil, pour the hot water over the leaves, and steep for 5 minutes or more, to taste. For a pot, use 1-1/2 to 2 rounded teaspoons for each cup.