Seeking relief in a knob of ginger This year’s flu has been a literal epidemic, locally and nationally. It seems like everyone in the Northwest Corner is sick. You yourself may even be reading this edition of the newspaper while lying in bed with a bowl of chicken soup. While chicken soup is all well and good, this week we have yet another natural remedy that might help you get through the flu season. Before I go on I have to say that I am biased in favor of ginger. I eat something with ginger at least once a week, sometimes several times a day. There are so many delicious options to choose from — ginger ale, ginger snaps, ginger chew candies, ginger tea, ginger scones, gingerbread. And lots of dishes have some ginger in them even if they’re not ginger themed; in my household, when we make fried rice it always has lots of fresh grated ginger in it, and it’s also an essential ingredient in sesame noodles. If you like the taste of ginger it’s a win-win situation because it’s also extremely good for you. With all sorts of viruses spreading like wildfire, a serving of ginger a day could keep the flu away. Ginger is packed with antioxidants and helps boost the immune system. If you’ve already caught something it’s not too late to be saved by ginger. It expands the lungs and aids breathing. It encourages circulation, which can help prevent chills and fever. Perhaps one of the things ginger is most famous for is relief of nausea and stomach problems. Pregnant women take fresh ginger to ease morning sickness, and it’s often used to combat the nausea caused by chemotherapy. Many people use it as a cure for motion- and seasickness. Ginger shows up in many different forms at the grocery store. You can get it in powdered form, or candied in cubes or strips or you can buy it fresh. Each has slightly different uses. This recipe for ginger and miso eggplant uses fresh ginger. Before you use it, peel off the brown outer layer with a sharp paring knife. Then grate the ginger on a microplane or other grater. You’ll end up with some fibrous threads of ginger that can be thrown out; save the creamy shredded bits of ginger instead.Japanese eggplants are long and slender and often are lighter in color than their Mediterranean cousins. If you can’t find them at your local grocery, you can also use the smaller Italian eggplants. Ginger-miso eggplant Adapted from Bon Appetit Three Japanese eggplants, cut on a diagonal into 1-inch-thick slices, 2 teaspoons canola oil, 1/3 cup white miso (regular miso is fine if you can’t find the white version), 3 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon rice vinegar, freshly ground black pepper, 3 teaspoons sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brush both sides of your eggplant slices with canola oil and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet (you can also toss the slices with the oil in a zipper-top plastic bag, being sure all the pieces are coated). Roast the slices, turning them once, until they are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven but leave the eggplants on top of it. Change the oven setting to broil.Whisk the miso, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar with a tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Stir in the sesame seeds and scallions (set aside a teaspoon of the scallions and sesame seeds for a garnish). Smear the top of the eggplant slices with the miso mixture. Broil until golden and even charred in places, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds and scallions.
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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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