Mangez!

       What can be said about a nation famous for pastries which are 50% air? Genius! If you are lucky enough to have a French patisserie close by, as I am, then you can appreciate the advantage of serving some of their delectations in all their glory. If you think about it there are many occasions to avail yourself of this delightful resource such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and anytime in between. Do I exaggerate? Hardly. Not every selection is a desert load of sugar, confectioners and otherwise. Some of the croissants and brioches provide a wonderful foundation as accompaniments to a salad, as serving platforms for fruited preserves or as the foundation of a sandwich. If they also make bread then that opens up whole new avenues for enjoyment but that is really a boulangerie.

       It is hardly a coincidence that so much of the vocabulary of cooking, gastronomy, has French origins. The high priests of western cooking have traditionally been French and the cordon bleu has been their assignment of excellence. No one will deny that they have codified many worthy dishes, much to their eternal glory. Here is the modifier for some dishes described as using truffles: Financière, Maréchale, Périgord, Régence, Reine, Rossini, Royale, Suvarov and Zingara. That shaves it pretty fine indeed and that is just for truffles! The big and little tweaks that we appreciate so much in cooking are pretty much frowned upon by the standard bearers of French tradition.

       The fabulous expansion of the influence of world cuisine in recent years has been a tidal wave of novelty and experiment which has overtaken a lot of traditions. Have the French stood still through all of this? The answer is no. Change is hard. To embrace new cultures and new methods requires a bold unselfish commitment. Without trying to put too fine a point on it, I mention that the origin of the word chauvinism is in France.

They actually have not stood manning the barricades against assault by the forces of ‘mediocre’ modernity. In the cosmopolitan cities there are abundant examples of very fine new approaches to cooking. And yet there are some things that they get right and don’t require tinkering in my estimation. Your patisserie has just the thing to enliven any occasion and enchant your guests. Some arrays of pastry offerings are overwhelmingly beautiful, not to mention delicious. You may select petits fours, tartes, tartelettes, macarons, meringues, mille feuilles (also known as Napoleons), verrines or operas. The list goes well beyond these but they are the basics to expect at any self-respecting patisserie. There may also be the permutations of croissants and brioches with added fruit or chocolate but the basics should suffice to enhance your table, whether for a particular occasion or not.

      Part of your hospitality mission is to engender delight in a beautiful presentation and the use of any of these pastries is sure to make a special visual statement with a yummy payoff. Maybe the first day of summer is a good reason to celebrate! Why wait for Bastille day?

Still,

Celeste

Hurricane season again!

Have an escape plan, Celeste’s tips on emergency preparedness:

Put together a small kit for travel and be sure it includes all the cosmetics you might not be able to find “on the road”. If you use certain serums, like many of us do, it is unlikely you will be able to pop into a corner store to replenish. It is very important for your morale in the face of danger to present a planned appearance. Also it will put your fellow travelers (I hesitate to use the word evacuees, which sounds almost biological) at ease in any unexpected interactions. Don’t forget that an extra set of your best brushes will be needed.

Access to your own special hair products are extremely useful to have. Nothing could be more shocking than to go for a day and possibly more, without firm holding spray. Special tip: in an extremis survival situation I am told that they are flammable and can be used to ward off wild animals.

Set aside a proper wardrobe. No need to pack it, just set it aside in a section of your walk-in. Since you won’t know what time of day the disaster may strike, include practical selections from your daily routine. In this set aside area you may still continue to use them only be sure to replace them cleaned in the set aside when you dip into them. Don’t feel you have to alter your habiliments, except maybe to add a head covering that you might ordinarily use just for gardening or the beach. As the seasons change so should your set aside too!

Practical footwear is a must so include any casual wear you ordinarily use. For my use I have a very nice carry bag with a pair of flats, boardwalks, mules and zip boots. It is a comfort to know that they are there any time I need them. Select your own types but avoid wedges no matter how comfy they might feel. Toss in some footies too!

It goes without saying that essential medicine is a requirement. You might also add in the kit any over the counter relief aids that you usually take. My dear partner has an extensive list of such things and I make him segregate these on one side of his medicine cabinet where I placed a small plastic bag. When the time comes we could just scoop them all in one motion into the bag and be on our merry way. Et Voila!

Small food items, such as energy bars, and water deserve to be in the kit. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to include some Richart chocolate from Paris or even some dark Scharffen Berger as mood enhancers under the circumstances. They come in nice little squares.

Lastly, don’t ignore a set aside of delicates and handkerchiefs. A small flask of strained and decanted Madeira sherry wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

Hugs all the way around,

Celeste

Bird feeders

       There are many important issues in the world today, as you well know, and bird feeding is one of them. We have the privilege of attracting a great variety of avian visitors to our winter window off the breakfast room and we spend many enjoyable hours in appreciation of their presence and activity. I wouldn't say we have a lot of diversity at that time of year since so many of the perching sort are actually perching in coffee and banana plantations elsewhere. At least that is what I like to believe. I have mentioned before the importance of shopping for organic tropical products in order to afford these migrants some protection from harmful pesticides and noxious farming practices so that we may continue to enjoy them in our North American yards and meadows and forests. It is pointless to belabor that but worth a reminder. Anyhoo, there is little serious contention about the importance of winter feeding which has a positive effect on survival rates. It is summer feeding that becomes a twitchy subject. Many of the same enthusiasts for winter supplements back off and stop food for summer or earlier. The argument goes something like this: the nesting and rearing period requires more protein and insect diet for the young and the feeders distract the parents from their provisional duties. Also, the feed is out of season and unnatural to the summer diet, thus causing health problems. The unnatural congregation of feeding birds can spread seasonal diseases and harmful plant infestations such as the wooly adelgid which preys on hemlock trees. The offending carriers in the latter case are chickadees who spread the wooly creatures wherever they land!

       Goodness sakes, if the web of life were only that simple! Here's my two cents: let's not forget that all birds are under constant threat from human activity. We can start with deforestation and loss of habitat everywhere. Then we can move on to the enormously destructive power of windows, aerial masts and tall buildings. It is a wonder that any individuals survive these hazards of migration that otherwise seem so benignly nonthreatening. Walk around the foundation of your own dwelling in late spring if you don't believe me and count the carcasses. The single most effective thing for each of us to do is to affix a window decal. Not all of them are obnoxious silhouettes. Then we can move on to domestic animals like cats, which are fed at home and are hugely predatory on birds. Cat owners who have bird feeders are the definition of environmental irony! It's utter carnage out there. You are delusional if you don't believe itty-bitty pussy is capable of killing ground-feeding songbirds. It's their nature.

      To me, our bird population needs all the help it can get all the time and supplemental feeding is a small way of giving them a better chance. The harm, it seems to me, is not nearly so weighty as the benefit. Of course if you plant for birds, as I try to do, that is a bonus. You can go to the store and buy blueberries any old time so plant a few bushes just for the birds. They will relish them greatly as they do lots of berries from shrubs that fruit late in the summer. And don't forget that there are perennials too that produce seed heads which many finches find enjoyable: heliopsis, echinacea and thistle, for instance. The point is to plan your garden and home with its appointments of comfort for you as well as for those other creatures with which you share the neighborhood. It's all about hospitality!

 Always, Celeste