Photography Archives - Page 13 of 24

Days of Wine and Roses – Aix en Provence

August 26, 2010 By Paola 2 Comments

Do you want the bad news or the good news?

On the downside the Minx’s interminable summer vacation continues, so you’re just going to have to make do with holiday snaps and maybe the off it of flybynight blogging for the time being.

The good news is that she goes back to school NEXT WEDNESDAY (be still my beating heart!). Not only will it be business as usual, but I’m hoping to unveil a bit of blog re-launch then as well. I’ve no idea how y’all can cope with the excitement.

In the meantime though, here are some pictures from the next stage of our French adventure (which seems so long ago now).

After five very pleasant days in Menton we drove north and east to spend a few days in a gite near the beautiful town of Aix en Provence.

As you can see, we indulged in a lot of shopping, sitting in cafes, drinking wine, eating patisserie and general loafing about a la francaise.

We stayed in some very sweet and well-equipped gites, in beautiful old stone buildings set in a vineyard close to St Maximin and Aix. The Minx managed to swim her very first length in the huge pool, which accounts for the enormous cheese-eating grin below.

Not surprisingly the Minx has decided that she likes France very much. This was all part of my cunning plan to ensure that she continues to enjoy going to a French immersion school. I have not yet revealed to her that not every corner of France is quite like this.

Recipe of the Week – Cherry Clafoutis

August 20, 2010 By Paola 7 Comments

Apologies for the light posting of late – the Minx is only doing morning camp this week, so I don’t have so much free time. The good news is that the interminable summer holidays are coming to an end in less than two weeks, may the Lord and all the angels be praised. Call me a bad mother but I am counting the seconds. America, is ELEVEN weeks of summer vacation REALLY necessary?

But I digress.

For a brief moment at the end of the cherry season in the UK, the market in Portobello Road was full of deep, dark, rich, ridiculously expensive cherries, the colour of the very best red wine, marked ‘USA”. I used to look forward to those cherries all year.

Little did I know then that the chances were that those cherries came from Washington state and that I would one day be living in a place where the farmers’ markets would be heaving with them. Apparently it’s something to do with the climate and the volcanic soil, but they truly are the best cherries I’ve ever tasted.

Last week was pretty much the end of this year’s Washington cherry season, so I seized the opportunity to make a clafoutis. I first ate (an awful lot of) clafoutis in the South of France when I was teaching there as part of my university degree and every year since then I’ve made it religiously when cherry season comes around.

The recipe I’ve found which seems to me to be the most authentic comes from my ancient battered copy of Paula Wolfert’s the Cooking of South West France which has apparently been recently reissued.

I’ve doubled the quantities she gives to make enough to fit my 34 cm x 20 cm ( 13ins x 8ins). You don’t need to get too precious about the quantities – you just need enough batter to almost cover the cherries.

Ingredients

– Enough cherries to completely cover the bottom of your dish. Many people in France don’t stone their cherries which makes it much easier to prepare but a bit of a pain to eat. I stone my cherries if I’m feeling posh. You could also use apricots or pears – any fruit that doesn’t get too soft in cooking.

– Enough butter to grease your dish

– 5 tbsps plain/all-purpose flour

– 1/2 tsp salt

– 4 tbps granulated sugar

– 5 large eggs

16 fl oz /500 ml/ 2 cups single cream or half and half or creamy milk or a mixture of milk and heavy/double cream, depending on how decadent/slim you’re feeling

– 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

– 2 tbsps dark rum, kirsch, Armagnac (optional, I prefer it without)

– enough granulated sugar to dredge thickly when cooked

Method

– Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180degrees C/Gas Mark 4

– Remove stems and pit fruit if necessary, if using apricots or larger fruits instead of cherries, slice them in half.

– Slather your dish with butter and add the fruit in a single layer

– In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.

– Warm the milk or cream until barely simmering

– Whisk the eggs into the cream

– Whisk in the dry ingredients mixture until well-blended.

– Add the vanilla and rum etc. if using.

– Strain the batter over the fruit (very often I can’t be bothered to strain it).

– Bake for 40 minutes or until firm and golden

Before After

During – oh clafoutis you gorgeous golden hunk of love

– When it’s cooked, take it out of the oven and dredge thickly with granulated sugar while still warm. Serve either lukewarm or cold.

The best accompaniment to this is the sort of extra-thick spoonable double cream that you can buy in the UK and which is unheard of in the US (which I have verifired via a heated Facebook and Twitter discussion). If you can’t get thick spoonable cream, then creme fraiche would do at a pinch or just pourable heavy cream. Or else, it’s really so delicious that you don’t need any cream at all.

All About Me – Me and My Girl

August 9, 2010 By Paola 9 Comments

You won’t see many photos of me out there, mostly because the Husband, who obviously has MANY fine attributes, is the worst photographer known to man.

This weekend we fled the terrible Seattle summer and went to Lake Chelan, high in the mountains of northern Washington, which has a sunny microclimate and beautiful, swimmable waters.

And hell must have frozen over or something, because the Husband actually took some photos which made me look like a human being and not a water buffalo. They’re not amazing or anything – hair had just been in swimming pool and I’m wearing no make up – but I share them with you in memory of this miracle.

In case you think I’m exaggerating, here is one the Husband’s first, and more typical attempts.

Things I Am Loving – Wobbly Bowls

August 5, 2010 By Paola 1 Comment

One of the things I learned at Lara Ferroni’s food styling photography workshops is that food props should be small, so as to make the food look ample and luscious, and preferably have texture and colour help too, to add visual interest. (Check out also this fascinating series of guest posts on food props at Lucullian Delights.)

{Images above from Atelier BB}

So I was delighted to come across these delightful little wobbly plates and bowls in dozens of bright intoxicating colours from Atelier BB on Etsy. Each bowl and plate is made of thick glazed ceramic and imprinted with different lacy designs for extra texture.

I bought a few little plates for my new ‘food styling prop cupboard’ (how VERY Martha Stewart of me) and will probably be buying quite a few more.

And yes, they DO make food look good. Here’s a very quick snap of some potato and beetroot gratin which we had for dinner last night and which was DIVINE. I’ll make it for you guys with pictures next time we get beets in the organic box.

Things I Am Loving – Crochet Covered Stones

August 4, 2010 By Paola 1 Comment

Stones and beaches and kids and summer go together, like well, stones and beaches and kids and summer.

Everytime we hit the beach supposedly ‘beeyootiful’ stones get delivered with regularity to my beach towel. The heaviness of my bag is due not just to the sunscreen and goggles and bags full of cherries I carry everywhere but also to the stones I keep finding in the pockets.

A collection of large stones from French beaches even found their way into the Minx’s little roller suitcase to take back to Seattle, though, since we are cruel parents, these were surreptitiously removed from her bag and left in the hotel room and have remained studiously unmentioned ever since.

So, you can imagine how delighted I was to find a beautiful project requiring smooth round stones – heck, the next time we go to the beach I’m even going to send the Minx off on a stone hunting expedition.

Artist and photographer Margaret Oomen crochets little covers for her stones which make them look like sea urchins reimagined by a Victorian grandma and sells the stones themselves (though they disappear quickly and still-life photographs of them on Etsy.

Now you can make them too as she has put a tutorial up on the Purl Bee to make a basic version of her stones, though I would imagine that any number of doily patterns (Ravelry link) could be adapted for the purpose, once you’ve go the hang of the basic concept.

Will definitely have to try this at some point. I’m just wishing that there was more knitting/crocheting time in the day.

Menton Mon Amour

August 3, 2010 By Paola 6 Comments

After a few days at the Hotel du Clos, we drove a couple of hours along the Grande Corniche, with fabulous views of Eze and Monaco and out to sea towards Corsica. Our destination – Menton, the lemon capital of France, situated at the very Eastern end of the French Riviera and within jogging distance (even for me) of Italy.

If ever a place was my spiritual home then this is it – an almost perfect blend of Provence and Liguria in Italy – with a bustling and beautiful old town; a warm, shallow sea perfect for swimming; great food; a superb market; tangly old streets and magnificent people watching.

We all just LOVED it. (Except for the jellyfish, though on the plus side the Minx can now say ‘jellyfish’ in three languages.)

We stayed at the Hotel Napoleon on the waterfront – wonderfully located with great views of the old town from its balconies. The hotel itself is very pleasant, comfortable, well-equipped and modern, though no great shakes from a design perspective (hence I forgot to take any pics of the interiors) and had excellent breakfasts. Next door was sweet little chapel marking the pilgrim route from Rome to Santiago.

The best bit though was the luxurious private beach club, fully equipped with comfy loungers, a great restaurant and bar and handsome beach boys.

The Minx particularly appreciated the SELF. SERVICE. GELATERIA (help yourself to icecream, toppings, sauces and flavourings and then pay by weight at the end) next to the beach.

I, on the other hand, hugely appreciated the mesmerising view behind me, while we were at the bar watching England crash out of the football…

Come Into My Garden – July

July 29, 2010 By Paola 3 Comments

I haven’t done a ‘Come Into My Garden’ post for so long but since I spent all weekend macheteing my way through the jungle that had grown up while we were away I thought I might as well get a blog post out of it.

The oak-leaf hydrangeas, nandinas, lilies and lavender have all gone a little crazy as you can see, but there’s still plenty of pretty to be had. I think I’ve got some lemonade in the fridge.

Rose ‘Christopher Marlow’ Some lily or other

Rose ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ in the shade

Echinacea Big Sky ‘Sundown’ and some straggly thing I bought at the garden centre last year.

Geum ‘Fire Lake’

Echinacea Big Sky ‘Summer Sky’ and ‘Sundown’

Mixed echinaceas The most ginormous lily in the world (around 7 feet)

A glorious tangle

The world’s most ginormous lily with nandinas and oak-leaf hydrangeas

Oak-leaf hydrangea with and without lavender

It’s REALLY tricky to photograph the garden in summer I’ve decided. Either the sun is casting dark shadows over everything, making it look even messier than it is. Or else the it’s grey and overcast and looks like November. Seattle doesn’t do soft diffused sunlight at all.

Things I Am Loving – Janne Peters Photography

July 23, 2010 By Paola 1 Comment

Anyone who combines food, photography and yarn has to be all right in my book.

Do check out the rest of her portfolio, it’s stunning.

Recipe of the Week – Swiss Chard Quiche

July 20, 2010 By Paola 2 Comments

I’ve recently signed up to get a weekly box of fruit and vegetables delivered – in part so we can get out of the rut of buying the same old, same old veggies week in and week out.

This week we were delivered a splendid bunch of Swiss chard, which I must confess I’ve never really eaten, let alone cooked. After leafing through my copy of From Asparagus to Zucchini (a great cookbook I bought at a local farm that lists vegetables alphabetically and then gives you recipes to use them , so a perfect match for a veggie box) I decided to adapt a recipe to make a very simple Swiss chard quiche.

Ingredients

1 uncooked pie crust/tart shell (I used wholewheat and you could of course make your own)

1/2 a large onion, finely chopped (mine was red)

3 cloves garlic, crushed (I like garlic, less would be fine)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large and splendid bunch of Swiss chard, washed and chopped (I removed the thick central ribs)

3 large eggs

A heap of grated hard cheese (I used about 4 oz of grated Gruyere, which ended up being about a cup full. But the amount of cheese really depends on how cheesy/fattening you want it to be.)

A very generous slug of single cream/half and half

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/200 degrees C

Gently saute’ the onion and garlic in the olive olive until all is soft and going golden round the edges. Then add the chopped chard and continued cooking until it is soft and thoroughly wilted (you could stop at this stage and you’d have a lovely side vegetable).

In a bowl whisk up the eggs, add the grated cheese and and enough cream so that the mixture will fill your pie crust. Season to taste with the salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

Bake in the oven for about 30 mins, until puffy, firm and golden.

Et voila’ one slightly strange vegetable successfully negotiated! (I know, I know, you’re going to tell me you eat Swiss chard ALL the time).

Fancy Hotel of the Week – Hotel du Clos

July 19, 2010 By Paola 10 Comments

On this particular trip we didn’t set out to stay in fancy boutique-y hotels – our criteria were mostly cost, space for us and the Minx and proximity to beautiful locations, but we really lucked out with the first hotel we stayed in, booked at the very last minute through Splendia, a website specialising in characterful hotels.

The Hotel du Clos is in the little postcard-perfect village of Le Rouret, about 15 minutes from Grasse and 25 minutes from Nice and the bustle of the Riviera, and so a perfect place to relax after our long transatlantic flight to Nice (via Amsterdam).

The hotel – and this is the reason I loved it so – combines the very best in traditional French charm and style with the odd touch of whimsy here and there, which made everything seem lighthearted, modern and fun and added oodles of character. Though frankly the buildings were so beautiful that additional character seemed almost unnecessary.

The rooms are each individually decorated, the staff were absolutely delightful and extremely welcoming to the Minx, and the same people who own the hotel also own a fabulous Michelin-starred restaurant, five minutes away in the village. So, I really can’t recommend this one highly enough.

The bedroom featured the most beautiful fireplace and was decorated in those overlapping shades of dove grey that the French do so well.

I loved the wall sticker of ‘books’ stacked up on the bedside table

the Roman faces fabric on the cushions and curtains

and the Perspex angel light fitting above our bed (with another angel peeking out in the bathroom).

The traditional Provencal garden – fragrant with roses, jasmine and lavender - was a big hit with a certain someone, who particularly loved the fabulously UNtraditional sculpture lurking among the olive trees.

We ate epic breakfasts every morning on the beautiful terrace

– the fromage blanc with rose syrup was a particularly big hit.

In the mornings when I woke early through jetlag, I would knit on our balcony shaded by an ancient olive tree and listen to the sound of church bells and the kids singing in the school next door.

After breakfast we would head to the small but delightful stone pool, made particularly elegant by the use of very dark green tiles, which made it fit much more naturally into the garden landscape.

And we all appreciated little touches such as the antique jelly moulds used as keyrings (and were sad not to get one of the three bears)

and the papier mache cow in the reception area.

More photos from the Hotel du Clos, Le Rouret and Grasse, on my Flickr here.

I’m back. Sort of normal service will be resumed, though it’s school vacation and a busy time for ‘mirrormirror’ so other things also need to take priority. I’ve been missing you though.