Weekend

This weekend I realized two very important things: the first being the importance of looking in one's rubber boots before putting them on; the second is that I really ought to buy a proper ice cream maker.

This was the second time (in 7 years, mind you) that I put on rubber boots that were basking in the warm sun by the back door and got stung by ... something. The first time it was definitely a bee. Yesterday whatever it was stung me 3 times and likely died but left no trace behind. There were wasps around this past week when the temperature soared to 29 degrees (celsius), so who knows what other stinging creatures are still lurking around waiting to prey on innocent shins and knees.

The unseasonably hot weather has necessitated several trips for gelato. Sadly, these trips were neither cheap nor up to my standards, which makes me think that it's time to start making my own with a proper ice cream maker (last year I made strawberry coconut milk ice cream using a blender, not at all the same). This base recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams caught my eye when the temperature soared, so now I'm pretty convinced that an ice cream maker will be the next addition to my kitchen. I can't wait for infusions of vanilla bean and balsamic and herb and coffee ....

Pinspiration Board: Eames Bucket Chair

Certain things become apparent (about one's tastes, idiosyncrasies, not-so-secret obsessions) after spending a fair amount of time on pinterest. I have to be honest and admit that for the first few months after I signed up last spring I didn't really take to it, but it's grown on me, and now I've come to use it as an inspiration board for future rooms/houses/wardrobe changes/food prep. Where before I would have filled a notebook or drawer full of magazine tearaways, now everything is neatly organized under tidy paper-free headings for all the world to see what pinterests me. 

At the moment, apparently Eames bucket chairs and rockers. I think I was more attracted to the styling in these images, but their reoccurrence also doesn't seem accidental. I love how seamlessly the chairs go from ultra modern to rustic farm table. What I would do for a set with the wooden legs... 

  

  

all images via pinterest

sources:

1  Lantliv magazine

2  via Because I'm Addicted

3  Hanna (of Hanna's Room)'s home via A Diary of Lovely

4  Living Inside via Poppytalk

5  via SF Girl by Bay

6  via Design Conundrum

Spring Baking: Lemon Almond Tart

 

Everything about this recipe says SPRING!  Maybe it's the extra hour of daylight (although technically I slept in so it works out to be the same...), or all the juicing I've been doing lately, but I'm in the mood for lighter, fresher recipes. I'm tempted by pretty much anything that involves pastry, and since it's citrus season (not here, obviously, but imported from warmer climates) I think it's a worthy place to start my spring baking.

Image and recipe from Sweet Paul Magazine's spring issue

Dough:
1 cup almond meal
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 sticks salted butter, cold and in pieces
1 egg
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Filling:
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 stick salted butter, cold and in pieces
candied lemon, optional

1. Place almond meal, flour, and sugar in a bowl and mix. 2. Add the butter and work it into the flour with your fingers. The result should be grainy. 3. Add egg and lemon zest and quickly work the dough together. If it seems dry, just add a few tablespoons of ice water. 4. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 5. After an hour, preheat the oven to 375 F. 6. Take out the dough and roll it out to a thin crust. 7. Place in a greased pie tin. 8. Use a fork to prick the bottom. 9. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden. 10. Cool on a wire rack. 11. Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy. 12. Place over a hot water bath and add zest, lemon juice, and butter. 13. Beat mixture until it becomes thick and creamy. 14. Pour into the pie crust and cool until servinv.
Decorate with candied lemons.

Little Paris Kitchen

La Petite Cuisine a Paris (Little Paris Kitchen) was, until recently, the smallest restaurant in Paris. I say recently because British chef Rachel Khoo started to cook out of her Paris apartment for patrons in order to test recipes for her cookbook that is coming out in the UK this month, and as such, at least for the time being, it now no longer operates. Instead, her little Paris kitchen can now be transported, so to speak, wherever her cookbook is available. Based on reviews of her dinners that I've come across online, and the recipes she's demonstrated in videos, this will be one to seek out.

Also, I'm sort of secretly hoping that there will be something in her book about how to achieve the kind of quintessential-adorable-and-totally-pulled-together French girl thing she has going on.