le monde vegetal

Nature is full of amazing surprises.Some are even good to eat. Now is the season of brussel sprouts, which is one vegetable that I never used to enjoy. I have to admit that growing up, the dish was seldom served, but if it was, it was overcooked ( as they used to do) and served with melted butter ( as they used to do ).The bitternes didn't seem to get tamed by that pad of richness, and so, I always refused the cute micro cabbage.Until rtecently, when I discovered a new technique to sweeten the babies.
You cut them in half, rub them with olive oil and salt, and in the oven they go ( 450o) for 25 minutes until they are slightly caramelized and tender.A handful of persillade (chopped garlic and parsley) brings the hated vegetables to revered status.
I had to buy the prehistoric stalk and had fun holding it up like a weapon of visigoth proportions , or the spine of some martian body.As a seasonal contrast,roses from my garden continue to delight.....

grateful

Traffic was the old stop and go.For what seemed forever. I decided to put a Jacques Dutronc CD and was brought under a spell of nostalgia and happiness.Because as I looked to my right, about to cross the bay Bridge to San Francisco one early morning , as the dark was melting into day, the water seemed phosphorescent and glowing,the mist was like a soft silk drapping a shoulder,and the sun, just about to turn a shade of abricot, was going to shine.

puff mommy

This week, I haven't been able to wear my blacks.I have been covered in flour.working with puff pastry. WE are all feeling a little bit bigger in the waist, after sampling airy deep fried puff pastry doughnuts,or potato samosas with cilantro chutney or even those mini"palmiers' with gruyere and smoked ham, or even those "langues de boeuf" of caramelized crispy wafers of puff. I think that I might have to puff a bit as I go up the stairs to the 3rd floor to the big loft where we work.

the season

Driving home in the Santa Cruz mountains, we came upon this vision in the darkness of night.