Cherry Blossom Care Package
Hello — My name is Jaden and I’m a membership coordinator here at the UWAA, as well as a 2022 grad from the UW. For Member Appreciation Month this year, I wanted to personally curate a list of content so that our members worldwide could keep the cherry blossom vibe alive.
Check out all the resources below for a drink, a snack, some crafts, and facts about cherry blossoms!
Cherry Blossom Cocktail
(Source: SideChef)
Whether you prefer it as a cocktail or a mocktail, this is the perfect fruity drink for the spring. I make it with my friends as the evenings get longer this time of year.
Ingredients
3 cherries
2 fl oz. nigori sake
1 fl oz. vodka
1 orange, freshly squeezed (.5 fl. oz. per serving)
1 lemon, freshly squeezed (.25 fl. oz. per serving)
.3 fl. oz. grenadine syrup
1 dash almond extract
1 sprig fresh mint
Ice to taste
Instructions
Step 1
Pit the cherries and muddle with the grenadine syrup in a shaker tin. Add nigori sake, vodka, juice from orange, juice from lemon, almond extract, and ice.
Step 2
Shake vigorously until frosty. Fill a glass with ice and strain the shaker contents into glass.
Step 3
Garnish with cherries and mint. Serve and enjoy!
Mocktail version: Substitute 6 fl. oz. tonic or sparkling water in lieu of sake and vodka for a fizzy taste of spring.
Cherry Blossom Cookies
(Source: My Incredible Recipes)
Next, a snack! These cherry blossom cookies are a delicious and easy snack to make for your household. My grandma has made them non-stop since I shared the recipe with her.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. maraschino cherry juice liquid from the jar of cherries
¼ tsp almond vanilla or cherry extract
2- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped maraschino cherries, drained
¼ cup granulated white sugar for rolling
24 Hershey’s kisses (or similar)
Instructions
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, salt and confectioner sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cherry juice and extract of choice and continue mixing until smooth. Add 2 cups of flour and mix on low until fully incorporated. Once the two cups are added, slowly add more flour, a couple of tablespoons at a time until the dough resembles a playdough consistency and can be handled without sticking to hands. Carefully stir in the chopped cherries, just until combined. Use a Tablespoon round cookie dough scoop to form small cookie dough balls and roll the balls in granulated sugar until coated.
Chill the dough balls for at least 20 minutes before baking. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cookies evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until baked through. Remove from the oven and place a Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie. Allow to cool before serving.
Poems
Now that you’ve got a beverage and a treat, take a minute to appreciate the wonders of nature… in poetry! As a writer myself, I love when words bring new life to something. Read these poems to feel the essence of cherry blossoms from different perspectives.
The Cherry Tree
David Wagoner (1926-2021, former UW professor and editor of Poetry Northwest magazine)
(Source: Poetry Foundation)
Out of the nursery and into the garden
where it rooted and survived its first hard winter,
then a few years of freedom while it blossomed,
put out its first tentative branches, withstood
the insects and the poisons for insects,
developed strange ideas about its height
and suffered the pruning of its quirks and clutters,
its self-indulgent thrusts
and the infighting of stems at cross purposes
year after year. Each April it forgot
why it couldn’t do what it had to do,
and always after blossoms, fruit, and leaf-fall,
was shown once more what simply couldn’t happen.
Its oldest branches now, the survivors carved
by knife blades, rain, and wind, are sending shoots
straight up, blood red, into the light again.
Poem copyright ©2008 by David Wagoner.
Excerpt from “Beneath the Boughs”
Bashô, Chinseki and Kyokusui
The tradition of celebrating the blooming of cherry trees in Japan is centuries old. In this poem cycle, or haikai, three of the most famous poets of Edo Japan trade off creating verses. (Source: Asia for Educators, Columbia University)
- beneath the boughs
the soup with fish and vegetables
flecked with cherry petals
— Bashô- beneath the boughs
the soup with fish and vegetables
flecked with cherry petals
the sun goes gently to the west
extending the day’s fine weather
— Chinseki- the sun goes gently to the west
extending the day’s fine weather
the single traveler
walks on scratching where lice bit him
as spring comes to a close
— Kyokusui- the single traveler
walks on scratching where the biting lice
as spring comes to a close
not yet grown used to wearing
his sword in a protective case
— Bashô
- the single traveler
- the sun goes gently to the west
- beneath the boughs
Earl Miner and Hiroko Odagiri, trans., The Monkey’s Straw Raincoat And Other Poetry of the Bashô School (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981)
Resources
I gathered some articles for those who would like to learn more about cherry blossoms, their origins, anatomy, and where they are most planted all over the U.S
From the UW: How do cherry trees work?
From the National Park Service: History of the Cherry Trees.
From National Geographic: Best places to see cherry blossoms in the U.S.
Arts & Crafts
Upcycling is one of my favorite ways to do crafts! Learn here how to make your own cherry blossom fairy lights out of recycled water bottles. (Via youtube)
Campus Webcam
If you can’t be there in person, check out the UW Quad live cam to see how the Cherry Blossoms are doing and watch the crowds gather throughout the spring! (Via youtube)
