Blog

Welcome! I’m Zehorit and I am passionate about flavorful, seasonal and healthy dishes. Cooking is how I express love to my family and how I welcome friends into my heart and home. Sharing the Mediterranean goodness I was fortunate enough to grow up with through entertaining and cooking classes is how I pay homage to my mother, the kitchen queen. Here - is where I share it all with you! Let’s roll our sleeves up and get cooking!

Kids have a way of noting all of their parents’ peculiarities and a knack for pointing them out, right? My kids are no different and they will probably rank my love of flora & fauna at the top of that list. During a stroll in the park, a visit to a museum, a drive down a country lane or even a stay at a rural rental - they will shake their heads as I would pause to sniff, touch, admire, and of course, take pictures of nature’s bountiful offerings.

I just can’t help my fascination with the natural growing world, though the sad truth is that I am not a great gardener. Though I deeply enjoy the fruits of a well tended garden, I seem to prefer laboring in the kitchen than the garden. Go figure… Perhaps that is why I love my peonies so much… They do not require much labor, if any, to produce beautiful, aromatic, large blooms that fill my garden with color and beauty. I had never seen peonies until moving to the states and could not believe their beauty. Others may love the fussy, delicate roses but me, give me peonies any day!

I am still blown away every early summer when those tight spherical buds start opening and my front entryway fills with sweet fragrance and humming fat bumblebees. Those bushes are so laden with blooms basking in the sun, that I can clip blooms for my table, share some with my beloved mother in law, and still not make a dent in the flowering, colorful view.

So, if you’d like some of your own, I am enclosing some resources, plus a list of the peonies in my garden. Plant some of these generous plants and you will be rewarded summer after summer!