ROSEMARY POMEGRANATE MARTINI.

This is Ulupalakua, the place where the breadfruit ripens in Hawaiian, so called for the cowboys who lugged the fruit from Hana, in the east, to this southern outpost on the slopes of Haleakala Crater. By the time they arrived in Ulu, as we call it for short, they could scoop the fibrous flesh out of its bulbous green encasement. Ulupalakua was, and still is, a fertile land.

And I’m finally home. Home for Thanksgiving. Home to be with family. Home to take refuge in the ocean. Home to be grateful for this place that nourishes so deeply. Home to pick pomegranates and rosemary.

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.” Though it’s not the line people typically remember when they think of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s plaintive call is always in my heart. I learned, much like Ophelia, to use plants in this way—as allies—from a very young age.

This utterly simple cocktail recalls the things I love most on the land where I grew up: The pomegranate tree I used to nap under when I was exhausted from studying for the SATs and staying up late rehearsing for a show; the rosemary bush I watched my mom take some of her last steps near, her hair glowing amber from the sun setting into the ocean just ahead.

Together, with a touch of honey and a shot of vodka, they create a perfectly sweet, herbaceous, and tart cocktail.

Though I blended and strained my own pomegranate juice from fresh seeds, it’s much faster and easier to buy 100% pomegranate juice from the store. You could easily substitute pomegranate for a cranberry/raspberry combo, if you’d like.

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.”

My remembrance today is in gratitude for this sweet community, for your readership, for the beauties and tendernesses we share.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(And if you’re on the hunt for Thanksgiving recipes, look no further than the Kale & Caramel vegetarian Thanksgiving feast.)