For our inaugural edition of The Pearl & Pepper, we chose to showcase bright, beautiful orange! The month of January and the color orange have much more in common than one may think. January is a time of reflection and renewal. It is a new year, with new goals and resolutions at hand. Typically, we all have similar resolutions: to eat healthier, exercise more, detox from holiday indulgences, organize, declutter, let go, and on and on. What says detox and cleanliness better than citrus?
In fact, another reason we chose orange this month is because California's orange orchards are absolutely bursting with gorgeous ripened fruit just waiting to be juiced and enjoyed. And the glorious scent of rows and rows of orange blossoms is something not to be missed in life! Little Clementines are also ripening, as are grapefruit, tangelos, blood oranges, kumquats, lemons, mandarin, satsumas, and tangerines. California's orange poppies sense the days getting longer and are just waiting to explode into fields of bright orange wonder later this spring. And show-stopping orange lilies are growing furiously in their green cocoons, preparing for their time to shine. As both of us were raised in California, and we met at the University of California, Santa Barbara, choosing orange as our first featured color was an easy choice. As was the selection of our logo: the orange poppy, which is California's state flower. In January we will be reviewing a beauty product featuring Vitamin C, and providing you with recipes and fitness ideas to help you achieve your detox and healthy-living goals. We will offer a new twist on orange cocktails (once you realize that giving up alcohol took this whole "resolutions" thing a bit too far), as well as gift ideas, mini-luxuries, and so much more! Ever been to Orange County? Well we have (and Pepper lived there!) so we will give you all of the locals-only hints and ideas! Look around this month. See all of the vibrant orange that life has to offer! From the warm glow of your fireplace (it is still winter, after all), to the monarch butterflies that have migrated south to Southern California and Mexico, the towering glow of the Golden Gate bridge, organic carrots and sweet potatoes calling to you from the produce section, the bouncing of basketballs as the season is underway (go Lakers!), and to the fiery-orange sunsets that only the sun on the horizon in January can offer. Tag us (@thepearlandpepper or #thepandp) in your photos of discoveries of bold, powerful orange and we hope you will enjoy our January splash!