Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Faliero Sarti



from la garçonne

chilled catelope mint soup








Chilled cantelope mint soup, a piece of cold herbed salmon and a glass of Irurtia Gewürztraminer.

It's summer.

I mean,
it
is
summer.

Yesterday we got to +26 and today to +28. Blankets were spread out about the parc, dotting the grass close to the misty din of the fountain. Alice swam. I dipped my hot feet in the water and watched her paddle her little seal self. On the way home we stopped at the market where cantelopes were stacked into mountains with "3 pour 5$" signs on top. I bought just one thinking I'd never get through 3. But that one was so fragrant-sweet and perfectly textured, and the batch turned out just 2 bowls which I lapped up one after another, all the while thinking about going back in the morning for 3 more melons.

Chilled Cantelope Mint Soup
1 ripe cantelope
1/2 - 3/4 cup almond milk
1 heaping Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 lime, juiced
Fleur de sel to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)
crème fraîche and more mint for garnish

Peel and seed the melon and cut it into 2-inch pieces. Place about 1/2 of these in the blender with the almond milk. Purée, adding the rest of the chunks as the volume decreases, then the mint, lime juice and salt to taste.
You can serve this immediately or chill overnight so the flavours have time to emerge and mingle. Top with a sprig of mint and a dollop of crème fraîche.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Sunday, May 29, 2011

broil . steam . broil






My favorite backup supper:
Broiled sole, steamed kale + radishes and an endive salad with chèvre.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

roasted rhubarb




Adapted from Nigel Slater and Rose Bakery. As Nigel says: "warm, rudely pink rhubarb and some snow-white frozen yogurt has a smart, bright flavour and is breathtakingly pretty..."

Roasted Rhubarb
10 stalks young, pink rhubarb
2 oranges
1/4 - 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
pinch of fleur de sel

Set the oven to 400 degrees F / 180 C
Cut the rhubarb into 3-inch lengths and lay in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Zest and juice the oranges and add to the fruit, combining well. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit, to taste. You'll need a fair amount as it will lift the flavour of the fruit and provide syrup.
Bake for 25 minutes. The rhubarb is done when the stalks are tender enough to crush between your fingers. You may want to add sliced strawberries at this point. The warmth and sweetness will help their juices emerge.
Leave to cool a little before serving with frozen yogurt, gelato or crème Anglaise.
Serves 8-10

Crème Anglaise
1 cup single cream
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise to scatter the seeds
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup superfine organic sugar

Tip the cream and vanilla bean into a heavy saucepan and bring gently to the boil, then immediately remove from the heat. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar. Tip some of the warm cream into the bowl to warm the eggs, then pour the mixture back into the cream in the saucepan and stir gently with a wooden spoon over very low heat, until the cream coats the back of the spoon. This will take 2-5 minutes depending on how hot the cream was to begin with.
Strain into a jug or bowl and chill.
Serves 4

Thursday, May 26, 2011

little napper




in the sunbeam - on the table - in the afternoons.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011





cement, pavement, petals. Confetti city.

Monday, May 23, 2011

souper







outside. An evening of vegetables after a day of pastry.
Roquette and butter lettuce salad, steamed bellaverde broccoli with parmesan, and seared tomatoes, red pepper and zucchini.

Saturday, May 21, 2011








Apologies for the delay in posting.
My Dearests Chera and Elliot are visiting for the week. We've been walking, talking, picnicking, supping on the balcony, and marveling over this little man while the lilac and cherry trees bloom around us.

The distraction's been great but today my routine has to take partial shape again so here I am.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

stumpwork



Metallic stumpwork silk pillow. French.
I was presented with a gorgeous metallic stumpwork tuquoise silk panel last week for assessment toward restoration. Eeeee! A dreamy object to work with, be with. The client decided to decline its restoration as s/he brought two silk panels for assessment and opted only to have work done on the other. I admit I cringed when I saw this one go back into storage for the next time it emerges it may likely be shattered and powdering.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

3



Loves sur un nuage.
A, A, E.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Friday, May 13, 2011

Jubilee

magnolia





Impossibly big, lush magnolias enough to make your eyes roll back in your head before the first tree has even peeped a leaf. Every spring I say this and every spring it's truer than the last- I can't believe such beautiful things happen every year for us to see.

Here in Montréal the magnolias have popped - mid-May - and will be gone in a wink. Such beautiful beauties.

Thursday, May 12, 2011





I'm flipping out over the way these lights look against a twilit sky. These were taken during our evening walk at Parc Jarry -the playfield parc.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sunday







This is how we go about it.

- - -
Really into the blue hour.
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