Edible Blue Ridge Winter 2022

LIVING LOCAL

The Joy of Extra

WORDS & PHOTOS CHRISTINA NIFONG

I

growers, the bakers and butchers and beer brewers, the artists and craftsmen — who help us transform our everyday into something remarkable.

I am whipping, smoothing, trimming, frosting, then decorating a cake that will be devoured in a matter of minutes, powered by the desire to make my dessert a drool-worthy work of art.

Christmas dinner, after all, is still just dinner. But the candlelight, the crisp linens, the porcelain platter, the polished dessert spoon, the poinsettias on the sideboard, the decanted wine — the attention to detail creates the magic. e magic etches the moment into our memories. is is how traditions are born. So I am holding tight to this impulse for extra. I will revel in the sparkle of a crystal glass, in the shine of a brass decoration, in the curl of a purposefully-chosen petal. Because where we focus our energies matters. For these weeks, layered with customs, I am choosing to focus on beauty.

I am driving from farmers market to pop-up festival to tiny storefront in search of a particular wreath, a bottle of oil, a batch of chestnuts, a collection of wines, a box of pastries. I am on my hands and knees, head in cabinet, digging for that tablecloth and those silver candlesticks. When I find them, I will iron the cloth and polish the sticks, then fuss over the table they are dressing for far too long. It is November. And that means, despite the chill and the early-setting sun and the other obligations that tug on my time, I will make space for the tiniest of details. at extra step

that, during most of the year, I might think of and then dismiss? It speaks louder to me now. I will stay awake later and push other work aside to get this meal, this gift, this moment exactly right.

A few steps can make this impulse for extra more doable:

Carve out space for creating: if you plan to make homemade gifts (such as granola, jams, chutneys, salsas, pickles), set aside a weekend and give yourself permission to enjoy the process. Embrace the experts: buy your spirits from a distiller, your candles from an apiary, your dishes from a local potter. e quality will be head-and-shoulders above what you get online or in a big box store. It just takes a commitment to support your community’s artisans. Pick your battles: of course every moment of every day during the holidays can’t be extra. Decide ahead of time what matters to you and where you will choose to spend your energies, and revel in those acts. ink of it this way: elevating the details necessitates that we give certain activities (making a meal, decorating a home, crafting a gift) more time than we do in other seasons. Which makes us slow the rush and settle the bustle.

It’s the holidays. Everything must be perfect.

ere is a mania to this, yes. My perfectionist inner beast certainly rears its ugly head this season, causing my loved ones to roll their eyes at my demands, my tantrums.

But there is virtue here, too.

In our culture today, much of the craft, the presentation, the making and doing for others has been devalued. It’s too much work to bake bread. ere’s no space for stirring up soup from scratch. We’d rather shop online than create. e six beautiful, madcap weeks between anksgiving Day and New Year’s Day turn our rest-of-the-year malaise on its head. In this set-aside season, it is good again to make a table setting look stunning. It is worthy to search high and low for just the right ingredient, just the right gift, just the right beverage to accompany our long-planned and time-consumingly executed meal.

By going deep, we can’t reach as wide.

e holidays give us permission to elevate even the smallest details.

In this way, focusing on the finishing touches is a gift we give to others and ourselves all at once.

One beneficiary of this shift are the creators — the farmers and flower

12 | EDIBLE BLUE RIDGE WINTER 2022