About Me

Well, hello! Welcome to my blog. I'm Acacia, and I’m the creator of Le miel (prounounced leu me-elle dah-kah-seyah, in case you were wondering). I like to call it “le miel” for short, and you can, too. I first created this site in 2009 for a school project while going to college in Santa Barbara, CA. At the time I was taking a course on food writing and we had to do an independent project of our choosing. The truth is, I’d been wanting to start a food blog ever since studying abroad in Paris during the first half of my senior year, but had just been waiting for an opportune time to start writing. As it turned out, I liked working on it so much I didn’t want to stop.

Ironically, it was during a time that I wasn’t actually doing a lot cooking, in Paris, that I got inspired to write about my experiences in the kitchen. I did, however, do a lot of eating over there, and walking, and scribbling of notes in journels, and most of all, thinking, which is what I probably do best: contemplating just what was so deliriously romantic about walking the streets of Paris with a sac of fruit and bread and a jar of honey, about how lucky I was to be plopped down in this impossibly beautiful city with so much time on my hands. I would think about how you could spend a lifetime discovering new bakeries and shops. Certainly, I had no troubling whiling away the hours window-shopping and people watching, sipping cups of dark espresso or chocolat chaud until dusk, at once ready to do it all again the next day. 

But, alas, I didn’t have a lifetime, I only had a mere five months or so to learn the language, to study furiously at night and zigzag the city during the day via le métro, getting lost and finding my way back again. Just as well - in the end, I was ready to come home to the surf and sand of UCSB and start writing in earnest, with my end goal of graduation. Plus, I was exhausted. 

Now here I am, back in Northern California, in Boulder, CO, writing about food wherever life takes me, with whoever is with me in the kitchen, at the market or around the table. So far, I’ve written posts from three different locations and four different kitchens, and I’m only just beginning. I write even if I don’t know anyone out there is reading, babbling on about banana bread into the nebulous world of cyberspace, because I know with certainty that this is what I was meant to do, in some form or another. Still, if you’ve made it this far, I can’t tell you how nice to have you along for the ride. Please stay. Have some cookies, I won’t mind a bit.

What’s in a name?

So here's the story: I was named after the flowering Acacia tree, which blooms in California around my birthday in March. My parents were searching for a unique-sounding name, and there they found it, just in time. I was born in Santa Barbara, and they have a lot of them down there, but they also grow in Mendocino, where I grew up. The trees that grow here have little yellow blossoms and are quite fragrant, the feathery green branches contrasting with the pollen-saturated flowers.  

Anyway, it wasn’t until I went to Paris that I found out that there is honey made from Acacia blossoms. It’s a very mild, light-colored variety that is prized for its floral, delicate flavor, found more commonly in Europe. They even carry it at some Parisian supermarket chains. I recall one particularly memorable weekend morning when I was at the Richard-Lenoir open-air market by the Bastille, and I spotted a honey vendor selling some miel d’acacia, and, just for fun, mentioned my first name to the proprietor, a friendly and chatty older man who was more than delighted with this bit of information. We had a short conversation in my wobbly French about why I was studying in France and what his favorite kinds of honey were, and then I bought a jar to take with me back to the apartment. All in all, it was a successful outing, and this was all before breakfast. 

All this is to say I’ve always loved honey, for so many reasons. Beyond its aesthetic and gastronomic virtues, of which there are plenty, I love that it’s made by bees(!) – so it’s as natural and pure as it comes. I knew I had to have the word honey somewhere in the blog title, and so that's how I came up with 'Le Miel.' I realize having a French name makes pronunciation difficult, but I couldn’t help but be enamored by the French word for honey, miel. Perhaps someday I will change it, but for now, I’m happy with the name. 

So, what else are you about?

I like to make things with my hands, not just food. In high school I got into painting and drawing, and more recently I learned to sew so I could make my own vintage-style dresses. I also love books, which is why I studied literature in college. Pilates, yoga and hiking/beach activities make me feel healthy and hopefully balance out the occasional overindulgence. Crafts can be fun, too, like card making, and I enjoy photography. Oh, and gardens make me happy, as well as garden parties where lemonade is involved. Still, cooking and writing is really where my heart is, and that’s where it’s been all along, it just took awhile to figure it out. Let’s just say if Martha Stewart’s people called me up one day and offered me a job, I wouldn’t refuse (isn’t she great?).

Really, this is my my raison d'être...

I think, when it really comes down to it, we are all striving for moments when we feel most alive, even in the midst of suffering, emotional or physical. Perhaps even more when we begin with limitations or doubts. Julia Child found such moments arise all of a sudden in abundance while in France for the first time, and her passion grew with such moments, but she wasn’t immediately a master in the kitchen (just go read My Life in France, it’s amazing). She had to work hard to become the Julia we know all about today. She kept at it, until she had something tangible to present to the world. What I want to say is, no matter what happens, I want to keep this blog going, to keep writing and reminiscing and looking forward, while keeping a sense of humor about what happens here. I don't want to ever take myself too seriously. That's all, really.

Please send your questions or feedback to:

lemieldacacia (at) gmail (dot) com

Gosh, I think that’s it for now, folks, thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,
Happy cooking!

Acacia