Tonight’s menu:
Pain Perdu aux Deux Tomates & Parmesan (Two Tomatoes and Parmesan French Toast)
Crumble de Courgettes, Figues & Mozarella (Zucchini Crumble with Figs and Mozzarella)
Île Flottante aux Praline Roses (Floating Island with Candied Almonds)
Most of the preparation went well. The tomatoes and zucchini were from our garden. While prepping the crumble, I shared some of the buffalo mozarella (fresh from its liquid and almost too soft to handle) with the kids. CatGirl said, “I’m never eating regular mozarella ever again!”
The meringue island fell apart when I tried to transfer it to its custard lake and it ended up looking more like a broken Mount Saint Helens than a symmetrical Fuji. It still managed to keep a bit of its wow-factor. Next time, I butter the transfer plate, and maybe whip the meringue just a bit stiffer before baking it.
This is a little window into the evenings and weekends in the Remy family for the past month. We’ve produced homemade pestos, soups, gratins and tarts filled with fresh produce from Jana’s garden and the Farmer’s Market. It’s been fun to experiment and to share these delights with friends.
I watched Ratatouille yesterday (oops, now it’s day before yesterday), and I think that my recent experience heightened my sensitivity to Remy Rat’s delight in the play of ingredients in the kitchen.
The problem is that I only have so much time and energy for creativity. It’s after midnight now, and I finally have a few minutes for blogging. I don’t want to turn this into a food blog, but I do want to share with you all some of what’s taken me away from you recently.
Balance. How does a passionate, impulsive person find balance in life?
7 responses so far ↓
1 Elise // Jul 2, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Just when I’m trying to resist the urge for a midnight snack, you must go and post a picture of that scrumptious looking strawberry tart……
Perhaps balance is over-rated? Or maybe to be truly balanced, one must sometimes be un-balanced, in order to create balance between balance and non-balance?
*Sigh* Just re-read that and realized I need to get some sleep. Can’t wait for a chance to try some Remy recipes (that’s Remy-family-of-four recipes, not Remy-the-rat recipes, of course!).
2 John // Jul 3, 2007 at 5:54 am
Elise, we miss you guys! Maybe we can plan on something in the next couple of weeks, if you’re done with the globe trotting.
I can’t take all of the credit for the tart: CatGirl and I both worked on the crust (we usually make two at a time, and the companion to the strawberry tart was a lavender chocolate caramel one), and she arranged all of the strawberries.
Oh, and there’s a Buddhist saying that supports your musings on balance: “All things in moderation, including moderation.”
3 Miko // Jul 3, 2007 at 6:45 am
mmmm, nummy. I’m with Buddha/Elise: balance is overrated. In order to be balanced, you have to let go of your need to be balanced. It’s like the cereal-and-milk problem (maybe you don’t have this problem): too much milk, so you add more cereal, too much cereal so you add more milk. You never end up with the perfect amount of each. Just let go.
4 catBonny // Jul 3, 2007 at 7:33 am
John:
Thanks for much for sharing your cooking endeavor with friends. It has been really great. I think maybe I am going to have to try the lavendar apricot tart myself, although I have to say that I cannot make dough to save my life. And CatGirl is soooo RIGHT about fresh mozzarella!
5 Miko // Jul 3, 2007 at 10:16 am
catBonny: the secret (to dough) to use butter & nothing else (well, and flour, but no other hard oil). The Joy disagrees with me, but I’ve always had best results with just butter. The second secret is to keep everything cold. Which means, since I live in LA, everything goes back into the freezer for 5 minutes after every step…
6 Elaine Frei // Jul 3, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Oh, those strawberries look wonderful.
I’ve been making a deliberate effort to eat more fruits and veggies and less meat lately. Kind of hard, considering the number of food allergies and other sensitivities I have. But it’s just too hot to eat much meat.
A couple of evenings ago my entire dinner consisted of a nice piece of french bread and tomatoes. Mmm, mmm…good.
7 Miko // Jul 5, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I did not take tantalizing photos (or unappetizing photos, either), but for the Fourth of July, I made two Apfelstrudeln and served them up with creme fraiche. I think next time I’ll just go with whipped cream, but they were pretty good
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