Many herbs and plants have healing properties. Lavender is most commonly known for its soothing smell, which can help with insomnia and anxiety. However it has a lot of other uses as well. When a few drops are applied to the skin it can help heal sores, burns and other wounds because it contains linalool, a naturally occuring chemical. Lavender tea helps sooth an upset stomach and reduce body temperature. Harney and Sons offers some teas with lavender in them including French Super Blue Lavender. If you have lavender in your yard or can get some fresh (and organic) flowers, you can make your own tea by just letting the dried blossoms steep in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes. Lavender is one of many plants used to treat upset stomachs (the other ones most commonly used are ginger and peppermint). Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge, has been trying to reduce the nausea caused by her pregnancy by eating lavender biscuits. Newspaper reports are saying she’s eating the ones sold by her father-in-law Prince Charles’s Duchy Originals. Lavender can be eaten just for fun, too. Because it is floral and sweet smelling, it’s often used in desserts. You can candy the flowers to make a fancy cupcake decoration or ice cream garnish. Grinding the flowers with sugar makes lavender sugar, which has a unique flavor and scent. You can also put lavender leaves or blossoms in a jar of sugar or a jar of honey and let them sit for a few weeks until they transfer their perfume to the sweetener (then strain out the flowers or leaves before serving).The herb’s taste complements both honey and lemon. You can put lavender in chicken the same way you would with rosemary or thyme. It should be used sparingly, though, because it does have a strong flavor and can be overpowering. If you’d like to eat like royalty, go online to www.duchyoriginals.com for information on ordering the duchess’ own lavender biscuits.Or you can try making these lighter, less buttery lavender biscotti. They are all-American, submitted to the website www.lavendercooking.com by home cook Anne Nofziger of Cincinnati, Ohio. Anne’s almond lavender biscotti Adapted from www.lavendercooking.com 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon almond extract, two eggs, 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 2 1/2 teaspoons of finely ground dried lavender buds and chopped lavender leaves, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1/2 cup chopped almonds.Preheat the oven to 350, and put the rack in the center.In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter until they are smooth and creamy. Mix in the extracts and then the eggs (one at a time) and blend until combined. In a medium bowl, gently but thoroughly toss the flour, baking powder, salt and lavender. Blend it into the sugar/butter mixture at low speed; don’t overbeat or your cookies will be tough. Add the almonds.Separate the dough into two logs on a greased cookie sheet. Biscotti require two bakings. For the first one, put the two loaves in the 350 oven and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they’re lightly browned; then cool them for about 15 minutes.Reduce the oven to 300 degrees. Place cooled loaves on a cutting board and cut them diagonally into 1/2-inch slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices about an inch apart on the cookie sheet, cut side up. Return to the oven for 8 minutes. Turn each slice over, return to the oven and bake for another 7 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.Store your biscotti in an airtight container for up to a month.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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