TAKE ME HERE, PLEASE ! I AM LONGING FOR THE SUNSHINE !
I love this Cos t-shirt and my Grandma’s necklace. Nothing more to say - just liked the way this image picked up the translucent rectangles on the T. Ciao ciao x
Two more beautiful details from today’s visit to the National Portrait Gallery: Some studies of Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchelsea, (1689-1769) whose head floats three-fold on this grey screen and the pretty doublet and collar of the less pretty James Stanley, Lord Strange.
A detail from a portrait of Charles James Fox, the prominent British statesman, glutton and Whig extraordinaire. He once famously said, “if you silence remonstrance and stifle complaint, you then leave no other alternative but force and violence. ” Here he wears the yellow buff and dark blue that indicated his support of American independence: an elegant way of announcing a political attitude.
Can I transport myself to this beautiful balcony in Pézenas right now? Writing this chapter under that tumbling flood of leaf and sun, with a glass of iced tea in my hand, would be so very much easier.
les rousses jouent.
Weird drawing… No explanation possible.
As promised - the second recipe: GNOCCHI (little squidgy balls of loveliness) with lightly stir fried courgettes, cherry tomatoes, crisp pancetta, chilli, basil and capers.
This is exceptionally comforting food for one of these dismal evenings we’ve been having of late. This may be the wettest drought we’ve ever known, but that’s all the more reason to stay in and rustle up a quick and yummy meal.
Step 1: finely slice 1 courgette and set aside.
2: Cut two rashers of pancetta (bacon will do fine) fairly finely - in, say, centimetre strips - and get them frying up in a pan.
3. When the pancetta is done, remove it from the pan and add the courgettes to the pancetta-y pan. I add a little olive oil at this stage. As that courgettes get going, turn on the kettle and boil up quite a bit of water.
4. When the courgettes start to look glazed and have softened only slightly add the tomatoes (a handful will do). After another minute or so, add a glug or two of white wine.
5. While the wine is bubbling with the courgettes, pour your boiling water into a deep saucepan with a little olive oil. When it is bubbling, add your gnocchi (be careful not to burn yourself as they are liable to cause quite a splash - the heavy little buggers!). They’ll take about three minutes, but It’s super-easy to tell when gnocchi are ready, as they start to bounce up to the surface. Keep an eye on them: they go gluey if they have too long.
6. After about a minute and a half the wine should have reduced down - at this stage, add the capers, chilli (up to you how much but I use a teaspoon of the lazy chillies you can get in jars), crispy pancetta and the basil and take off the heat.
7. Drain your gnocchi, bounce them around a bit in the colander, and tumble them into the courgettes.
Serve up with lots of black pepper. Nice, steaming and yummy. Enjoy!xx
(this recipe is designed for two hungry people)
I’m not pretending to be a great cook but I do spend an awful lot of time thinking about food. Of late, I’ve spent a lot of time working, which means I’ve also spent a lot of time imagining delicious things to eat. Recently I have knocked up two pasta feasts that have left me very smug and full-tummied. They are also extremely easy to concoct so I thought I’d share them over the next couple of days.
The first: Seafood Linguine. I was feeling tired so I wanted something simple, which would pack a bit of punch and chase the dreary weather away without leaving me sofa-ridden and vegetative for the rest of the night. And it was perfect! So here you go:
Seafood linguine (for two)
Ingredients:
240 grams of linguine; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 10 santini tomatoes, halved; two cloves of garlic (finely chopped); a handful of parsley (roughly chopped); 6 torn basil leaves; chopped chilli (according to taste) a small glug of white wine*; half a lemon; however many prawns/ calamari you have (ideally raw)!
Get a big saucepan of water to a roiling boil and add your linguine, then turn it down to a moderate heat. That’ll need about 11 minutes but keep checking it.
Meanwhile, add your olive oil in a low pan - ideally non-stick - and raise it to a low, gentle heat. Soften the garlic just for about 20 seconds: do not let it catch or burn. As soon as it starts to flicker in the pan, add the tomatoes and stir.
After about 2 minutes (or until the skins of the tomatoes pucker) add the wine. When the alcohol has burnt off, add the seafood and the chilli. I did this with raw calamari, prawns and tiny scallops which took about 5 minutes. If working with cooked seafood you want to give it far less time - just enough for them to warm through.
At this last stage, drain your pasta and stir it in with the sauce, folding in the basil and the parsley. Squeeze the lemon juice over as you turn it, so that the delicious flavours coat the pasta and the herbs soften. Done: a lovely, fresh and very tasty meal.
* Good thing about using wine in recipes? An excuse to buy a bottle! So don’t use the cheapest plonk.
Ducks flying overhead. Sniff of freedom and unexpected sunshine.
Last night, I bought some tulips from the Co-op right beneath our flat. The colours were so lovely - plump coral ones like over-ripe papaya and some like pink sherbert. When I dutifully put them in some water, they opened like thirsty mouths and their petals fell right back. This is not what tulips should do. Nonetheless, they look beautiful. Bold and open: not the firm, furled shape that tulips are meant to hold.
Looking at them just now, I was reminded of Emil Nolde, whose watercolours are inimitable in their ability to let colour spill with such sculptural beauty.
Saw Edward Scissorhands for the first time since I was tiny. Still found it surprisingly upsetting but I don’t think I’d realised how funny it is. This scene must have been a joy to film.
