Potager Prizes redux

Here is an old draft I forgot to post in August.

My garden bounty of zucchini and tomatoes has brought me much closer to these 2 vegetables. We've eaten much of the zucchini, picked very small, raw with hummus or sauteed in omelets.

Now we've graduated to large, diagonally sliced discs which I've dredged in salted and peppered flour and fried in canola or roasted with olive oil and coarse sea salt, maybe some onions in there too, or thinly sliced potato. All you need is a piece of good bread, maybe some cheese, a glass of wine and what a delicious meal. I've consumed the tomatoes raw in salsa tossed with roasted peppers and garlic and onion. Or roasted in oil and salt and slipped from their skins, what a joy. Of course chopped and mixed with creamy mozzarella, evoo and Italian spices. It's hard to even graduate to a pizza or a pasta recipe when you can create such heaven so easily, but of course we have.
Roasting is unbelievable in the way it concentrates flavors and sugars in the vegetables. I've roasted lots of these freshly picked jewels and, resting in the freezer, they wait their turn.

REVIEW LINK JULIE AND JULIA

Trying to post a link to the NYTimes for the movie. I think it's a well written piece which nails the film and says more than I ever could about a movie.
http://tinyurl.com/nhkrj3
hope it works. If not, it'll probably cut and paste....


I'd love to hear what everyone else thought of the movie.

HOME TOUR - Part One: The Upper Hall

I've started a cleaning tour of my home. One room at a time, can't move on until everything is clean, edited, fixed or otherwise done in that particular room. As I go along I want to document all of the 'found', inherited, gifted and thrifted items that make up our decor. This first post in a series features the upper hall. The hall is deorated with a log cabin pattern quilt made for me by my Grandmother. The pieces that she used came primarily from clothes she had sewn for me and other family members. The drums are my Grandfather's and were cleaned up and hung by my husband, who also happens to be a drummer. We also have a bass drum end table, you'll see it later in the series. The chandelier, I believe, is a trash day treasure rescued before the garbage truck could snatch it up.

Potager Prizes

My petite jardin has been producing prolifically. First, the golden raspberries and now this selection of tomatoes, most of these fell from the vines and are ripening. Have been eating zucchini, green beans and cukes, picked daily. Some green peppers, picked relatively small, we just couldn't wait. The other day: homemade pizza dough topped with those peppers and chopped cherry tomatoes - freshest pizza ever.
bon appetit!

Julie and Julia

I was invited to a screening last night of the new movie Julie and Julia. It was perfect. Meryl Streep invited us to see Julia as a delightfully funny, curious and earthy woman - just a terrific translation of what I felt when I read Julia's memoir My Life In France. This vision of Julia Child is almost transforming: her lust for life and her kindness, her interest in all things, her passion for food, her beautiful marriage.....and this 'getting to know Julia' is just one of the great aspects of this film.

The images of Paris are charming - bien sur - and of course the food looks scrumptious.

I read both My Life in France and Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, so I considered myself an 'expert' on the film even as we found our seats. My dear friend L. was unfamiliar with the whole project(s) - just a passing knowledge of Julia Child. We both adored the movie and ran out for martinis and artichokes apres (you'll know why after you see this highly recommended film).
Not just a story about food/cooking - but about life and living it with joie de vivre to the fullest.
xo,
La