Emerging Strawberries!!!!!
I have often wondered about the term, Composed Salad. It seems a little strange and awkward to me – like it doesn’t belong in the food genre, but is better applied to somewhere else…… and maybe is a good metaphor for life.
If you google “composed salad” you will find the following definition: a French-inspired term referring to a salad in which an assortment of ingredients are arranged aestethetically on a plate and drizzled with vinaigrette rather than tossed with it. One famous composed salad is Salad Nicoise.
Seems to me that personalities, days and maybe even lives are either like a composed salad OR a tossed salad. One either works very hard to keep each segment or ingredient separate and distinct, orderly and definable – OR their lives resemble a tossed salad where every day a variety of ingredients are jumbled up into a bowl, tossed around, the outcome is, in essence more unpredictable – events are allowed to unfold as inspiration hits them and, well, whatever the day brings, it brings. I think this is interesting – do people tend to be marginally more one than the other, definitely more one than the other or is life a mixture of composed days and tossed days?
What happens when one allows oneself to see what unfolds – is it a harbinger of too often and too much wasted time or is it a sign of someone much more in touch with their inner self? Is it better to structure and plan everything out? Does this seem to evoke feelings of rigidity and inflexibility. Does it set oneself up for more frustration and disappointment when things don’t turn out as planned? Is one’s preference a definitive statement about one’s personality, outlook on life, approach to and degree of creativity? I’m guessing that some days, by virtue of necessity, are composed salad days and some are tossed salad days. I would have to say I prefer the latter. Yikes, I digress…..
Well anyway, in the food world, as in design of a plate, I got to wondering about the desirability factor of composed plates vs unconstructed plates. This can actually apply to meals, menus, the style or theme of a restaurant, art, garden design, floral arrangement, etc. I am definitely going to be more aware of as I look around at the world – to see what I observe about people and their approach to their art.
Saturday is often an awkward day around our house – one fraught with conflicts of interest. This is especially true when one or both of the kids are here. This week was no exception. I guess you’d say it turned out to be one of those “tossed salad” days. The first decision involved traveling to Northwest Connecticut to the Bunny Williams event – Trade Secrets. After much consternation and debate, we decided that 6 hours of driving to attend the “sale” day was not going to be a priority. This was tough.
Being one of the few recent beautiful days – I’d say perfect – blue skies, mid to upper 70s, zero humidity, we decided to enjoy some time outside on the patio, with me doing a little work in the garden, water, deadhead a little, weed, take some pictures…. Finally, basil plants – getting ready for tomatoes, and yes, definitely my favorite, peaches!!!! Gosh, I can’t wait for fresh peaches!!!!!! My summer favorite – Caprese Salad with perfectly ripe peaches!!!!! More about this tomorrow……..
Also, re-planted window boxes with verbena, white lantana, mint and swiss chard.
Two batches of scones were launched using, this time, Anna Pump’s Buttermilk Scone recipe. I don’t know why but I have an obsession with scone recipes and I am always trying different ones. So anyone who has an absolute favorite scone recipe – please send it to me to try.
George and Ryan pretty much devoured the first batch of Raspberry-Orange – to which I added 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, the zest of one orange, 1/2 pint of raspberries and 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg, and by mistake 2 extra tablespoons of butter. In spite of my error, these appeared to be “acceptable” as there weren’t any left. Ryan’s agenda involved getting a haircut and asking me to go to Ikea and to pick out a mattress for his apartment in Washington. This, happily, was ultimately put off for another day, preferably a rainy day.
It was almost impossible not to go to New York yesterday. It was one of those days when walking in the city is the absolute most pleasant. So, we secured a reservation at Le Gigot on Cornelia Street and headed in. It was a lovely afternoon, we wandered around for a few hours, visiting shops and just observing – the people of course, and all the options for dining – we were in the West Village. Dinner at Le Gigot was excellent – I’d highly recommend this place – a lovely glass of Cotes du Rhone – Domaine la Remejeanne 2010 – definitely one of the nicer glasses of red wines I’ve tried recently. I always enjoy finding a wine that appeals to me that has a reasonable price in the retail trade. I had the mixed greens with a fig balsamic dressing with roquefort, the roast lamb with white beans – both delicious. George had the Coq au Vin – a special last night – excellent as well. This is the kind of tiny little restaurant we like to visit. We will definitely return. Couldn’t pass up a visit to L’Arte del Gelato – 75 7th Ave S for a little treat for dessert. I had a small scoop of sour cherry and strawberry – yumm-eee. Note to self – please find a way to resolve conflict between loving good food and controlling weight. How does this work again???????
Anyway, all in all, it was a good day.
Today appears to be the last of the short string of sunny days here in NJ. So, I will most likely head outside – like now – 7:22 am.
Sorry, can’t resist this shot of the rose and the clematis. And, I am a big fan of this apricot, well, maybe it’s really coral, rose – I have to dig around and see if there is a tag there. I can’t remember which one it is. Roses are especially great right now – will enjoy them every day till I leave for CC. And, these iris, well, I think they are stunning!
