I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I certainly love grocery shopping. Exploring different stores—local or unique or specialty—really just brings me such joy. Since getting a dog, I haven't gotten to do so much of it, but when I do go now, I try to relegate my meandering to the produce aisles where I'm already buying veggies and fruits.
I will also admit that I've been in a trying season of mental health. When sharing this with a dear friend this weekend, she told me she was a self-described "depression baby" since her life has been so littered with seasons and episodes of low lows and depressive chapters. While I wouldn't call myself that, I think I've let several problem areas linger long enough that they have become repeat offenders to my mental health. Working through these in counseling now has opened the proverbial can of worms on lots of things—for better and worse. So, creativity has halted. It might have something to do with the fact that my therapist has me working through some art therapy exercises. Could also just be the bum deal brain fog. Who knows!
Anyways, the other day I saw these peppers. I LOVE red bell peppers. And I loved the way that these aloha peppers look. Apparently these peppers were recently sort of "discovered" in the Netherlands before cultivation for the supermarket consumption only my local Kroger can provide. The flavor is sweet and light—but I really was drawn to these on esthetics only.
Pair that with some blood oranges? Perfect. And what's the bridge between peppers and citrus? Tomatoes. Ruby and golden rows of cherry tomatoes on the vine, perfectly laddering up their stem. Altogether, I had a vision: a very yellow, very red, and very orange vision. I thought about introducing some green and/or red onions, but stayed minimal with these. Overall, a successful Sunday afternoon spent meal-prepping (the red peppers were sliced thin and then given a cracked-pepper and brown-sugar caramel treatment) and getting to pretend to create again.
Anyways, enjoy this warmth overload set of summer spoils!