A few of my favorite things...in Paris

I just put a list together for a friend going to Paris later this month.

He has been there many times, knows the city well and has friends to visit and events to attend...I made this list of some of my favorite in between places...in any case making this list has made me desperate for a trip to Paris...

Here is the list–

...First of all you may already do this but last trip to Paris was the first time I used my iphone to map from destination to destination, since Paris is all about walking ...it was especially helpful in the old neighborhoods when streets tend to go in circles and having a sense of direction basically does not help at all!

Neighborhood Canal St-Martin

This is where that Tete dans L'Olives store is...about a 10-15 minute walk from most other stuff in the neighborhood, they do have a tiny 8 seat restaurant but meal or no meal I think it is worth a visit just because it is truly one of a kind place.

Le Verre Vole (food and drink), eat, drink or food to take away.

Maybe my favorite bakery in Paris...but that would be hard to say, Du Pain et Des Idees

Specific streets to wander, some independent retail mixed with stores like APC– Rue Marseille, Quai de Valmy, Quai de Jemmapes...

Neighborhood North Marais

Leave some time to wander, there are people making things mixed in with an overwhelming amount of restaurants, cafe, retail...after awhile you might say...not another $2000 robot in an old refrigerator being used as a display case, next to a hand printed tee-shirt, next to a set of pencils I cannot live without, next to the coolest jacket I have ever seen...you get the idea– jewelry, vintage, young designers, food...

wander the streets of – Rue du Vieille du Temple, Rue Charlot, Rue de Poitou, Rue Debelleyme and all the little streets near by

a new favorite clothes line discovered on last trip is Venus et Judes 22 rue Debelleyme (wearing their jeans this second)

Merci, 111 Bd Beaumarchais ( a little walk from above streets...could be a combination or a separate destination), Not only is it a solidly good store in a very thought out way...100% of profit goes to charity!!

Two of my favorite farmers markets

Bastille Market open Sunday and Thursday, Lebanese guy makes these sandwiches on dough that he rolls out on this thing that looks like a gigantic pasta maker and then cooks on metal drums, soap maker, salt guy, where I always buy Salt Gris to take home (all three of these spots are closer to the Bastille end of the market)

Marché des Enfants Rouges, not open Mondays and closes mid-day, Small semi covered market I adore, good to get lunch, picnic tables available for eating

A Museum...again there are so many but this is one you might miss...

Musee Carnavalet, Most random Paris history museum.  Kind of like someones basement that happens to be filled with random old stuff from Paris...I expect at some point it will be redone but it is beautifully not put together right now.  Located in a fantastic building with memorable garden.

Object Oriented Cookery, Collapse Journal

John had his first article published in a philosophical journal, Collapse...exciting!  His piece deals with practices he has been contemplating for years, molecular gastronomy and slow food– and his studies at European Graduate School and  Object Oriented Ontology of Levi Bryants, Larval Subjects.

- In Object Oriented Cookery, Chef John Cochran proposes a culinary practice that opens itself to non-human participants. Chefs, like philosophers, have "ontological commitments" determined by their praxis, and which distort the objects they work with. Cochran critiques the radical claims of contemporary food movements that claim to break out of normative models of cookery - Molecular Gastronomy and Slow Food - and asks what a "flat cookery" could be.

An excerpt from the article–

Therefore, cookery becomes an elegant configuration of entities in a feed-forward-feed-back clumsily-woven web of objects interacting on equal footing. If we do not know what a specific food can do, and this food is interacting with all sorts of other objects at a specific instant, then even in a radically closed environment, cookery becomes a lot like surfing. It consists of a series of tiny adjustments, prompted by anticipations and responses from an openness to utterances from all human and non-human actants entangled. Of course, in order to prevent short circuits, a chef must allow herself to be translated by other objects. In feeling her way through, aesthetics forms a new epistemology where the abundance of local manifestations forms a meal. Keeping in mind that the entanglement that constitutes this meal does not begin or end with this specific event of eating – objects stretch out through other objects. Anticipating objects’ behaviours and responding to both expected and unexpected acts, even the most experienced chef benefits by adopting the disposition of an amateur home cook. A disposition which is simply a commitment to objects being out of phase.

For the rest of the article you can purchase the journal through Urbanomics, or let us know and we will pass it along.

Slovenian Salt

On a recent trip to San Francisco we discovered Piran Salt from Slovenia at one of our favorite spots Boulettes Larder.

A little research uncovered that the salt has been around for a long time and is still harvested using techniques that are more than 700 years old.   The salt is actually scraped by hand from the salt basins in Secovlje Salina Nature Park on the Adriatic coast.

– our new favorite finishing salt...last night we used it to season roasted green tomatoes.

Watsonville California, Beach and Endless Strawberry Fields Side by Side

I talk a lot about knowing where your food comes from...I have visited many farms near and far, watched animals being slaughtered, I know many of the people that grow the food I eat and I grow as much as I can in my urban yard...but, when I arrived at a friends beach house it made me realize that there is lots that I am eating that I know nothing about!

I had never seen large scale strawberry production...  The house we were so fortunate to visit looked out over the ocean in one direction where sea otters played  just yards from the shore.  However, I was just as intrigued by the view out the kitchen window which was of strawberry fields as far as the eye could see.  Sitting at the kitchen table you could watch the fields being watered, tended to by man and machine and observe the systematic picking of strawberries.

The agriculture in the entire region is intense.  We were one stop north of Gilroy the garlic capital, and very close to Castroville, the artichoke capital, small and large farms carpeted the area.  Although seduced by the fertility of the area I also know that year round food production on this magnitude requires pesticides.  In any case I will never look at a strawberry exactly the same way again.   Next time you are in the supermarket check it out– much of the year the strawberries being sold are very likely from Watsonville, California.

I am happy to of witnessed this large scale agriculture production up close.

Sunday Farmers Market just outside of Santa Cruz California

A generous friend lent us his beach house in Watsonville California, just south of Santa Cruz at the end of July.  From there we took a day trip to go visit the Redwoods and on our way took a little detour to the Live Oak/Eastside Farmers Market.  For east coasters it is always astounding to see at a producers only market– avocados, almonds, oranges and artichokes (I know someone is growing artichokes outside of DC but these were different!) alongside the summer bounty of fruit and vegetables we grow in our back yard in DC.  We bought lots of ingredients to cook for dinner.

The bonus at the market was the prepared food.  There were outstanding tacos and tamales made with all local ingredients from Garcia Family Mexican Kitchen and vegan Crepes from Delicious Crepes.  We headed off to see the awe inspiring trees happy and full!

Summer Wanderings...Whitmore Farm

Not much blogging lately, we have been having too much fun wandering in DC, near DC and to further points...There have been lots of work projects but in between we have been zealous about exploring and sharing time and meals with friends. In no particular order I will share what we have been up too...

We met Will and Kent from Whitmore Farm a couple of years ago when they were selling at the Rose Park Farmers Market in Georgetown, they are not there anymore but are in D.C. on Saturdays at the Glover Park-Burleith Farm Market.  After a brief conversation we found out that they used to be regular customers at our old restaurant Rupperts when they lived in the city.  Since then they have relocated to Emmitsburg, Maryland where they raise heritage breeds of sheep, goats, hogs, chickens, rabbits and the best eggs we have ever tasted.  A visit to the farm has been on our list, we finally made it!

I must admit that I had high expectations from tasting their food and brief conversations.  The farm is beyond belief– the animals, farm buildings, their home, the barn, the property, the green houses where they are experimenting with the growth of more than a dozen varieties of figs, the machinery storage building that they are constructing without nails, the collection of Anduze Pots, the mobile chicken coops, the spectacularly colored eggs...

We spent a memorable afternoon around the kitchen table discussing the good and bad in certified organic farming, the unique chicken feed and breeds they use to produce the amazing eggs, how they choose what specific breeds of animals to raise, getting a local butcher certified, lobbying in Maryland in regards to regulation of poultry slaughter on small farms, the fact that many of their interns are vegan...

The visit was inspiring. I adore these guys, we are lucky to be able to cook with what they produce.

Late May, DAR Constitution Hall Wedding

How could this not be one of my favorite weddings? Gorgeous Bride who was a pleasure to work with–

New venue for me in DC, the library at DAR Constitution Hall (I still cannot believe they let you serve food and wine in there!)–

Ceremony on DAR veranda overlooking the mall on a clear day–

Large white flowers in masse in the middle of peony season with the only color flower being the brides sunflower bouquet–

Coordinated by Alexandra Kovach–

Documented by Kate Headley!– to see more images from this wedding click here

Late May Wedding...

A close old friend of mines close friend from high school (did you follow that?) got married and I ended up doing the flowers.  I had met the bride when she was in high school and have heard about her through our mutual friend over the years.  It was  a pleasure to reconnect, see her so happy and have a small role in the celebration.  The wedding was in the brides back yard with a reception following at Woodend Sanctuary which I hear turned into a fabulous dance party. I was happy to have a two opportunities to work with photographer, Michelle Frankfurter recently.  Here are a few flower-centric photos, thanks Michelle– to see more images from this wedding click here.

Home Restaurant June 25, 2011

Photo Martin-Lane Cochran I was excited to cook last night, local ingredients are abundant– chard, string beans, tomatoes, sprouts and herbs all came from our own garden...  We hosted a great group of all first time Home Restaurant guests.  Looking forward to the next!

Passing

Scrambled Egg with Sorrel

Cold Spicy Melon Soup with Grain Yogurt and Thyme

Beef Bresaola with Fennel and Herbs

Sea Scallop on Corncake with Malabar Spinach Sprouts

Roasted Baby Beet and Greens with Balsamic and Basil

Lemon Balm Vodka Martini

(Domaine Brazilier) Coteaux du Vendemois Rose 2010

Seated

Soft Shell Crab with Corn, Tomato, Sweet Potato and Red Onion

Oatmeal Sorghum Syrup Bread

(Casa de Mouraz) Vinho Verde Biotite-Mica 2010

Butter Lettuce Salad with Stuffed Squash Blossom, Baby Zucchini, Carrot and Roasted Squash Blossom Vinagrette

48 Hour Farm Bread

(Domaine des Roy) Touraine ROUGE “Les Linottes” 2009

Whitmore Farm Lamb Loin and Sausage with Fava Beans, Peas, String Beans, Chard, Roasted Potato and Fig

Roasted Garlic Spelt Foccacia

(Domaine du Gour de Chaule) Gigondas “Tradition” 2005

Dorset Cheese and Walnut Cracker

Pistachio Torte with Frozen Lavender, Peaches and Black Raspberries

(Caves Jean Bourdy) Cremant du Jura Brut NV

Bites: Chocolate Beet Cake, Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Drops and Sweet Cherries

Take Home: Rosemary Walnut Bread and Coconut Macaroons

Small, Tabard Inn, Sunday, Daytime...Wedding

Beautiful low key wedding at the Tabard Inn on a Sunday in mid-June.  When I met with the grooms before the wedding they were focused on taking care of their guests and having a good chance to visit with them– they wanted to use bright fun local flowers to help set the mood.  What a pleasure to be a part of this celebration and get a chance to combine the first dahlias of the season with the last peonies of the season!  Party favors for each of the 40 guests was a bunch of flowers wrapped in parchment and tied with twine. Thank you to Michelle Frankfurter for the photos.

Backyard Wedding May 2011

The wedding was at the brides parents home who are avid gardeners.  We chose flowers that were growing in the garden at the time...peonies, garden roses, mock orange, hydrangea...all from local sources...including roses, peonies and hydrangea from my backyard.  The garden was created by the brides grandmother and many of the vases we used were passed along from her as well.  Thank you to Jennifer Domenick, Love Life Images for capturing the overall feeling and the details in these photos.

Hudson New York, Getaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a couple of days free last week and took a train to Manhattan and then transfered to another train to Hudson NY.  We spent a glorious couple of days hiking, eating, shopping and relaxing.

Stayed at Mount Merino Manor, a five minute taxi ride outside of town–  situated on a 100 acre property, great breakfast, beautiful views of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River, quiet...

Hiked at Olana which is a 250 acre estate within walking distance from Mount Merino Manor.  It was the home of the Hudson River School Painter, Frederic Edwin Church. Church meticulously designed the landscape of his property concentrating on views that one can see from the various paths on the property.

Ate at two fantastic restaurants which were very vegan friendly and focused on local ingredients, Swoon and Daba.  Both restaurants served thoughtfully prepared delicious food and had lovely small wine lists and excellent service.

Drank coffee at Strongtree a small batch roaster located across the street from the train station with memorable coffee and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff.

Shopping is extensive...the only problem with taking the train was there are endless large pieces of old stuff– furniture, planters, garden gates...that we had to leave behind.  There are also very reasonable and well curated vintage clothing shops– a little easier to squeeze a bit of that into our small backpacks. We also found all sorts of small shops where people were making jewelry, painting, churning ice cream...

A few of the favorites we discovered:

Red Chair on Warren- collection of old things from France and Belgium including buttons, plates, fabric, seed packets...

Shana Lee- jeweler who makes the simplest perfect dot stud earrings that happen to be extremely reasonably priced.

Mark's Antiques and Larry's Back Room- great unique unfinished pieces, I hated to leave a very large round cast iron tub that would have made the most fantastic planter.

Look Apparel and Accessories– where I was introduced to and purchased a Didier Ludot little black dress...now I cannot wait to return to Paris to visit his shop!