Staying warm in winter is a topic that we explored last week on the health page and, since I am always cold, it’s likely to be a topic that reappears regularly — possibly even every week, until it gets warm again (and by that I mean 90 degrees or more). Last week’s article concerned warm clothing. This week, I am going to explore the Traditional Chinese Medicine concept of “warming foods.”For anyone who is a representative of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) national organization, let me say right off that this is in no way a definitive explanation of this topic.In TCM, certain foods are believed to warm the organs of the body by raising their qi (which is essentially your circulation, but in a more complex and spiritual way that involves more than just blood).Some of the fruits on the warming foods list are fairly obscure and can be excluded safely from this article (Hawthorn fruit, anyone?). But many others are pretty easy to find. In the category of fruits, you can eat stone fruits such as peaches, apricots and cherries. You can eat the super fruit of the 21st century, the raspberry. If you’d like to eat something with a more Asian feel, since we’re talking about TCM, you can eat fresh lychees or dried mandarin peels.I personally love to put out a plate of dried fruits and walnuts as a dessert or snack, and as it turns out these are also warming foods, or at least walnuts and dates are on the list. Pine nuts, an essential ingredient in pesto sauce, are there, too.Members of the onion family are very warming, which is not that much of a surprise. You can eat leeks, chives, onions, scallions, fennel and garlic to give your qi a kickstart. (Qi, by the way, is pronounced “chee.”)The only grain, really, on the list is Asian sticky rice. But coffee, wine and vinegar are on the list, which I found a little surprising. Butter is warming, as are eel and venison (hmm). More traditionally, you can eat chicken, ham or lamb and most of the shellfish (lobster, shrimp, mussels).I’m not sure what you should do with this information, other than to incorporate it as you seek to eat a healthy balanced diet. And as a closing thought, this explanation from one website of the differences between yin energy and yang energy:Yin energy is darker, slower moving and colder. Yang energy is faster, hotter, more energetic. Yin foods are generally grown in earth and darkness and they tend to be soft, wet and cool. Yang foods are grown in air and sunshine and are hard, dry and spicy.
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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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