an obsession with sea salt.

I have always loved baking and cooking and discovering new recipes. When I'm cooking, I always try to find the best seasonings to make my food spicy hot or give anything a more distinct taste. Then I tried a chocolate brownie with sea salt and it was a GAME. CHANGER.

I became obsessed with sea salt.

Every recipe, whether it was dessert or dinner, was given a pinch of sea salt. It brings out the flavor without completely turning it in to something else. The coarser the salt the better. Its ended up in soups, puddings, vegetables, ice cream. My sweet friend Ashley B is often with me when I'm making my messes and would point out my consistent use of the stuff. So I started pointing it out too. 

Always with sea salt, I would say.

She told me it would be a great blog name and I thought she was wrong. And I had already decided that I would never have a blog.

Then I applied and was accepted to go to Chicago, IL this summer with Here's Life Inner City. I wanted to have a place where I could share what God was doing and all that, and I knew that a blog was the best place for it all. This was the only name that kept coming back to me.

I was extremely hesitant to use it because it sounds like a little cooking blog and I'm not really qualified to make one of those (which doesn't mean I won't try...), but then I remembered Jesus's words in Matthew:

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:13-14

 Salt draws out the subtle good flavors in food and preserves what would otherwise spoil (The Voice Bible). The Message translates it as Jesus saying we are here to bring out the God-flavors of the earth.

What would it look like to bring out the flavors of God? To let the Lord use you to show:

His beauty

His goodness

His love for justice

His wisdom

His truthfulness

What would my daily life be like? How would this help me actively communicate with God? How would I treat all of His kids? How would this help me cultivate thankfulness?

So I decided that yes, the name is appropriate. I don't want a life that is bland and lacks meaning. I want each day to be filled with little adventures. I want to create because I'm able. I want to be bold and honest. I want to be selfless and loving. I want a life of beauty, prayer, drive, generosity, faith, joy, purpose, and flavor. 

Here is my humble attempt!

Clearwater, FL 

Emily and Me

SB2K13

P.S. This doesn't mean I won't take the flavor part literally sometimes. I love feeding other people and myself tasty things, and I don't think Instagram cares...  and at least here I will be less aware of social media's approval ;)