Coma, ame, vida...

This culinary story started yesterday afternoon, when Alain requested that I make pesto for some shrimp he wanted to grill for friends. We were thrilled to find pine nuts (happy dance!) at Costco for around $16 a pound, roughly half of what Henry's was asking last time I checked. It took a trip to two different stores to find enough basil, and we already had the peccorino romano that I like to use. An hour later, and a kitchen that had a light sheen of extra virgin olive oil over most of it, and we were the proud purveyors of this...

I called Bridgette at the store and told her to stop by and do a little quality control for me, which we accompanied with glasses of chilled white wine and some pieces of fresh bread, lightly toasted. The pesto passed muster, and did quite nicely on the grill last night, slathered on some skewered prawns.

This morning, Nat and I hooked up to do a little shopping, and came home with two bags of variegated zucchini, sweet onions, peppers, and two huge portabello mushrooms. We sliced them all up, drizzled them with olive oil, gave them a grind of sea salt and coarse pepper, and a generous toss of herbes des provence, our favorite. Onto the grill they went in batches, and then onto a platter for a family lunch. Alain had just sent proofs off to an agency in New York he's working with, and was ready to join us for an impromptu feast. A table!

We supplemented our grilled feast with some pasta salad, toasted baguettes and the remains of a very luxurious wedge of Delice de Bourgogne, our most favorite and decadent dairy treat. It was such a delight to share lunch with my Bean, especially over food we cooked together....

If you check in on Honey-Bean, you may see some more pictures of the grilling action and our pups...

Forties Favorites...

Some of my favorite forties trims and notions that have been collecting in a basket in my studio. I don't know what I will do with them, or if we will be parted, but they are so sweet... Creamy yellow organza is trimmed in crisp black, some of it sporting a ruffled edge. The buttons came from another source, but look as though they were made for each other. From another friend, the pale organza piping at the bottom of the picture...

Here's a shot of the rest of the little covered buttons. Aren't they to die for? I love the old rayon dress prints, and the fact that they are double covered makes them doubly wonderful...

Last but not least, some adorable vintage yo-yos, also in old rayon dress prints. I couldn't resist pairing these with some more of that wonderful organza piping from my friend Dawn, this time in a delectable sea foam green...

Enjoy!

Don't Shun the Knife...

Okay, I'll 'fess up to that terrible pun, as pictured below I am working with one of Alain's favorite Shun knives, and I am being careful, as I heard the sharpener running the day before. He keeps his knives in good order, and we popped for the sharpener with settings for both European and Japanese knives. I love this long parer for cutting up ingredients for our morning soup...

Here I am fussing over one of my favorite things to include...little daikon flowers.

Into the pot! There's already carrots and onion in there, everything simmering and waiting for the miso to put in an appearance. This little All-Clad pot is one of my favorites, and always does soup duty in the morning. If we want something hearty, I'll tuck a couple of vegetable dumplings in there and let them cook slowly....

The secret ingredient. Organic kuzu. Absolutely the best root starch for thickening, and used medicinally in the orient as well. We've totally stopped using other thickeners and always reach for this. Just dissolve it in cold water, and add to the simmering pot, and you'll get...

This lovely bowl full of goodness, thick and rich, with the little daikon flowers floating next to your dumpling, and the pale green of some scallions as a garnish. Breakfast, anyone?

Sunday...

This was my little vintage picnic basket, waiting on the couch as we prepared to leave for Nathalie and Erik's and a little Father's Day hanging out together...

Nathalie had prepared a beautiful little spread of cheeses, vegetables, fresh baguette slices, and fruit, and I grilled some vegetables for our part of the spread, some zucchini, slabs of sweet onion, and two kinds of peppers. A little extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and the absolutely necessary herbes de provence...

My glass of iced tea, served up in Nat's new vintage barware, with a super cute paper straw. Check out the vintage Vera tablecloth she scored from my mom!

Here's the blog maven, shooting some pics for her new venture, Honey-Bean, which I have been following avidly. Check it out and see what my girl is up to...

Speaking of photos, check out this old one of Alain that she has hanging in the kitchen! Now you know why I married him...and he can cook!

Petals and Paisleys...

This week found a little bit of time available to pot some of the succulents people have been giving me, and I combined some of the aloe vera that Ada gifted me from her garden with some kalanchoe from Linda and some big plants from the guys next door that have been waiting for my attention...

I got two pots of the aloe vera tucked in with other plants, combining them with some pups from our own garden and some divisions from the pots that Linda brought over...

Here's a couple of the big succulents from Tim and Ernie, shaded by some blue mist while they recover from the pot shock...

Another gift that arrived was a huge sack of ribbon from my friend Mary, who knows how I adore paisley! I've had some of these gorgeous French jacquards in the past, and she knew I would give them a good home. Just look at these fabulous ribbons...very swoonish stuff!


All of these beautiful French ribbons are of exquisite quality and craftsmanship, and many have the coveted trapunto style motifs that make them dimensional as well...


Look at that pale celadon and peach with double rows of ruching! Be still my heart!

And these sweet little jacquards stole my heart. I am weak for ruching and ruffles, and these pair the sweetest little floral garlands with scalloped marquees and a tiny ruffle...

So, I have my work cut out for me this weekend, as all of these must be unrolled, measured and re-bolted for the store. But what a lovely chore it shall be, with some idle hours spent with these lovely vintage ribbons in hand...

Spring cleaning...

This weekend, after working Friday and Saturday, and teaching the next day, Monday really felt like my Sunday, and Alain and I worked outside on the back deck, clearing away the messes from winter storms, and sorting through our own plants (some of which had gone to seed) as well as some that my friend Linda had bestowed on me as she was packing up to move.

I got into the rhythm of dividing, making those hard decisions about who was going to stay on, and who would get along, putting them into their new homes, terra cotta pots rimed with calcium that I have had for years, and a couple of new pots from the local Ace Hardware memorial day sale. After a day of hard work, we celebrated Linda's move with her friend David, Dede, myself and mister J, who plied us with sliders from the grill.

Tuesday was my Monday, and we cleaned the front porch, pulling the huge antique bird bath Linda gave me into place in a corner of the porch. George carried the huge fern out and placed in the bird bath for me...

A trip to Lowes garnered lot of inspiration and several small succulents, with are now rooting in a little soil and some river pebbles. George says they will get enough filtered sun to flourish there throughout the summer, and I love the way they look.