“…it is the nature of the poet to become tender and imaginative in the loneliness of confinement.” - Washington Irving Confinement I know that we are luckier than most. We are confined to a large hotel with a terrace and courtyard, a laundry room, and the hotel stock of supplies, if need be. March 16, we sent our ...
The Perfect Summer Jellyroll
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. - Sam Keen Sunday, August 2011. Summer has finally swept over us like a warm blanket. Waking earlier than usual, our sleep disturbed by a tumult of angst, a jumble of confusion, we felt the sun squeeze through the slats of the shutters and reach towards the bed, chasing ...
Nutella, Jam, or Frangipane Brioche Flower Bread
“Why do you keep eating bread and jam,” asked Father, “when you have a lovely egg?” “I like bread and jam,” said France, “because it does not slide off your spoon in a funny way.” - Russell Hoban, Bread and Jam for Frances Sometimes I feel a bit like Frances, eating bread and jam as much and as often as I do. ...
Pear Jam Tart with buttered caramelized pears
When bounteous autumn rears her head, he joys to pull the ripened pear. - John Dryden Pear season arrives and intensifies as hotel low season sets in, as the rhythm slows, and as autumn materializes in a haze of morning brume and a carpet of sodden, fallen leaves. We arrive at the producer's barn-like warehouse after ...
Pan dei Morti or Bread of the Dead Cookies
For much of the Western world, the cool, golden days of autumn mean Halloween, grinning jack o’ lanterns and pumpkin pie, tiny ghosts, goblins, and fairy princesses digging into paper bags heavy with candy and caramel popcorn balls or bobbing for apples amid the crunch of fallen leaves in shades of copper, amber, sage. For ...
Orange Appeal the cookbook
“Lives there one with taste so dead, who never to ‘hisself’ hath said, I can’t bear to suck an orange?” and answered, “Guess not!” - Chicago Daily Democratic Press February 18, 1854 (quote from Waverly Roots’ Eating in America) Moroccan-Spiced Orange Slices in Orange Blossom Water Citrus season, that lovely, graceful Florida season sandwiched somewhere between the last of the ...
The Best Nectarine and Cherry Crumble
Pastry, Petitions, and Politics Part III I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. - Thomas Jefferson Summer arrives in Chinon on the first wave of tourists; bicycles clog the courtyard; buses disgorge bedraggled groups weary from travel yet pleased to be in such a charming ...
Vanilla Custard Berry Tart for Mother’s Day
My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent. - Ruth Bader Ginsburg It was just 3 or 4 days shy of my ninth birthday. I had dreamed of owning a big bike, begged to change my little kid’s small bicycle for an adult-sized beauty, just ...
French Financier Tea Cakes
The greatest dishes are very simple. - Auguste Escoffier Suddenly the anemic rose bush just outside the French windows that lead out to the wrought-iron terrace hanging on the side of the hotel is thick with jade-colored leaves and dotted crazily with buds, the first already bursting in blood red splendor. The wisteria is luxurious with ...
Favorite Lemon Tart with Mascarpone Whipped Cream
All human plans subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe. - Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two Spring had sprung, or so we thought. Gentle sunshine, mild afternoons, the temperature inching upwards and memories of laundry flapping in the fresh air come flooding ...
