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Saying goodbye to Summer is not such a bad thing
Especially as here in the Southern Hemisphere we have had the most amazing summer - it' has been so beautiful that everywhere you go all over New Zealand you hear people saying "it's like the summers I remember as a kid - it just goes on and on and on...
So it's time to pack the summer toys away as we head towards Winter.
It doesn't have to be bad... think of all the great things you can do like winter sports, making hot soups, baking bread, long slow cooked food, snuggly clothes, warm fires, books to curl up with and brisk walks on warm winter days with the dogs at the beach........
There are plenty of reasons to embrace the Winter season
One of the best that we can all relate to is food, whether it is spicy, slow-cooked, exotic or good old traditional fare, Winter is the perfect time to get back in the kitchen and have some fun!
Here are some helpful hints enhanced by therapeutic plant oils to get you excited
It could be time to nourish the dinner-party revival. After all, it's the company you invite that really makes the moment and the food doesn't have to be a chore.
So long as you refrain from checking out back issues of ‘Good Housekeeping’, a successful dinner party doesn’t have to be a huge production (though if you’re old enough to have an affectionate nostalgia for vol-au-vents and profiteroles, you might disagree).
These days, organised dinner parties have largely been given up in favor of a simple restaurant booking. We might better fill the loss of social summer days with a return to the more personal approach in our homes.
The convenience and ready ambience of a restaurant is one thing. But the warmth, comfort and security of your own home offers the possibility for something much more meaningful and rewarding, not to mention more relaxed.
Is there anything so replenishing and sustaining as good times in good company?
To reinvent the dinner party as an essential winter-time sustenance, all you really have to do is:
Invest in relaxation
Give yourself lots of time to turn it into an easy slow-cook project
- set a date with time to do things in the course of your regular routine
- write a list
- contact your friends
- compile some ambient music
- borrow the crock-pot…
Don’t over-think the dynamics
- trust a little and don’t try and make a seating-plan or even a strategic guest list
- just take pleasure in the organic process of creating and let the evening grow its own wings
As host, your energy will set the tone so take on only what you can enjoy
- You could pre-prepare the dough and have everyone make their own pizza
- or share the work with friends to complete your menu ‘pot-luck’ style.
Allow the space for creative flow
- Choose a non-work day, when you have time for food preparation
- take time to enjoy adding ambient details
- and take a nice bath and dress without hurry.
An illuminating report from the prestigious Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, UK, explains how fragrance can ‘improve our mood and sense of well-being' due to the ‘primal’ and ‘deep-seated' emotional responses involved in our sense of smell.
Which gives us the final clincher to ensure a memorable, heartwarming experience:
Enhance the mood to create a welcoming, comfortable space for your guests
As well as such things like cosy low-lighting, candles and gentle music, you can use therapeutic essential oils to make your dinning space especially open and inviting to put your guests at ease.
Try our Ambient Harmony blend for friendly, reassuring tones or investigate individual oils such as Vanilla, Cinnamon and Sandalwood in our Essential Oils data to get insight for your own combination.
You can add a few drops of the chosen blend to your pre-dinner bath too.
As always, make sure you only buy 100% pure essential oils, preferably certified organic, from an authentic natural health care store. The more natural and pure the scent, the deeper and more therapeutic the effect.
Bon Appetit!