Having been huge fans of her work pretty much since her work first began, we are taking the passing of Nora Ephron pretty hard. From Heartburn to Silkwood to Harry & Sally to This Is My Life to the amazing Julie and Julia to Love, Loss, and What I Wore – we were captivated, charmed, obsessed and inspired by her poignant, witty writing and subsequent directing and playwriting. Our friend and collaborator, the wonderful food stylist, Susan Spungen (of Julie and Julia provenance, pictured above with her French onion soup) was with us on set the day the news of Ms. Ephron’s passing broke. And she shared a story of the two of them first bonding over a coconut layer cake that Susan had done for an early cover of Martha Stewart Living – a sweet and simple story, which brought tears to our eyes. A funny feminist and a real “foodie” before there even was such a word, we feel like Nora Ephron was truly in our tribe. But, of course, that’s how everybody feels. And that is why she and her wonderful work will be so sorely missed.
When walking down Seventh Avenue South near Leroy Street, you suddenly begin to smell that comforting fireplace scent we now know means we are in the vicinity of the lovely Mas farmhouse offshoot, Mas la grillade. And what better excuse to go out for a leisurely and slightly pricey lunch there than a special birthday? J’s provided us just the opportunity to wile away the afternoon hours, meandering through “a seasonal menu of locally grown foods cooked solely over wood fires of oak, apple and other hardwoods.” And so the meal of fire-grilled delicacies began, with us trying and thoroughly enjoying the likes of smoked peanuts with bacon and chili, fire-popped Oak Grove popcorn tossed with fried herbs and parmesan, pit-roasted head of garlic with olive oil and grilled bread, grilled tartine of garlic scape, walnut pesto, shitake and goat cheese, simple and delicious grilled fennel, smoky pea soup with dry-aged Virginia ham, mint & croutons, grilled salmon with a teriyaki glaze, smoked celery root and a puree of escarole and Shelburne Farm cheddar on grilled miche bread with cornichons, sourkraut and local organic greens. We finished up with a local strawberry chiboust (our new fave!) with panna cotta gelato, whole-wheat sable and candied kumquats and a lavender shortbread with roasted little meringues over macerated local strawberries and an all-important underground grill tour – wow!
Another long-awaited charmer from the always-inspiring director, Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom is the sweet love story/adventure of two good, but troubled tweens (played by the adorable and talented Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman) who run away to be together badlands-style on a remote fictional Eastern Seaboard Island in 1965. With wonderful characters played by a stellar cast, including Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and Bob Balaban as an extremely elfin narrator, the quirky and stylized film won us over from the very first frame. Anderson’s always-astonishing, period art direction is in full swing here. And the screenplay by Anderson and Roman Coppola is completely … can we use the word charming again? In this case, the choice is definitively “yes.”
Who knew that practically right under our noses on the corner of Washington and West 11th Street exists a pretty terrific and lovely restaurant we had never even heard of, filled with enough modern art to feast our eyes, as well as a plethora of modern Viennese treats to make for a particularly delicious and leisurely brunch? Tucked under a giant Julian Schnabel painting at Wallsé, we enjoyed a first course of Bloody Marys made with fresh tomato water and “cucumber delight” cocktails made from pear-infused vodka, muddled cucumbers, elderflower syrup, lemon and Sekt. The meal continued with hits like spätzle, braised rabbit, wild mushrooms & tarragon, poached eggs, creamed spinach & Bavarian ham and a particularly amazing assortment of desserts including Salzburger Nockerl – a creamy soufflé of buttery meringue over a warm huckleberry compote – YUM!
Our farmer friend, Jaime Lamond’s White and French Pearl guinea hen eggs were a fabulous treat, poached (perfectly – thank you, Amanda Hesser and your awesome youtube video) on toasted Eli’s Health Bread and served over fresh, flowering pea shoots. As mentioned in our earlier post, the diminutive eggs have a high yolk to white ratio and very hard shells (you really have to give them quite a little whack). But once you break through to the golden richness inside, the rewards are plenty! Always check eggs by submerging in a large bowl of water: if they stay at the bottom and don’t float up, they are fresh and good to be enjoyed. Thanks again, Jaime, for these truly special and super delicious, little brunch stars!
We just adore these food and kitchen inspired works by our good friend and sometimes collaborator – prop & set stylist and artist, extraordinaire, Heather Chontos. These and other delightful works are available on her site and blog, milk farm road. Her talents are a constant source of inspiration to us both.
What a lovely surprise to see these beauties out in full force at the Union Square Market this Saturday with this unseasonably warm, early season we’ve been having. We grabbed all we could carry and have been reveling in them ever since!
We’ve been so excited to order our freshly foraged morels ever since we first read about Earthy Delights – the wonderful wild harvested/foraged food company out of Michigan – back in March. And have been anxiously awaiting both morel season and a coinciding break in our work schedule to plan a shipment of wild fungi/cooking day. And the experience was a blast from the moment we started talking mushrooms with Chef David and Stefanie at Earthy.com. They told us that, because of all the crazy weather we’ve had this year, the blondes had peaked a few weeks early (sad!), but that we were just hitting peak black morel season now and that they were hoping to get a really tip top shipment of freshly foraged mushrooms within the next 24 hours and that we should call him the following afternoon to discuss. This is our type of detail – happiness from the get-go. And just look at these stunners – with wrinkly little honeycomb structures that conjure up ancient civilizations, the French countryside and even elves, if we’re completely honest. We’re planning to make a simple vegetarian dish with fresh asparagus and butter and just enjoy the pure love of this oh-so-special taste. We recommend you do the same – hopefully, Earthy Delights will still have a few left for you!
This documentary about famed Spanish Chef and food provocateur, Ferran Adrià and his legendary El Bulli (now, sadly shuttered) just blew our minds. Creative to the point of “avant garde” as Adrià puts it, this food is not for everyone. And much of it seems less like food than science. But it is definitely art. And watching this documentary about the creation and coming to life of one of the last season’s menus of what many called “the greatest restaurant in the world” is completely engaging. The personalities alone in that kitchen are worth the trip. Our favorite quote from the film: Ferran Adrià to his sommelier – “Our problem is, there are a thousand combinations. At the moment, the taste doesn’t matter to us. That comes later. At the moment, what matters is whether something is magical, and whether it opens up a new path. And later, in the restaurant, the dishes are created. Constructed. Now it’s more research and there is more research with creativity.” Simply riveting.
Not only have we been waiting two months for this package to arrive from Spain (sadly, another mishap with our beloved USPS), but when it finally arrived, it contained the most phenomenally gorgeously wrapped little parcels inside that we had to do a photo shoot before we even opened the packages. Caroline Swift, an amazing artist in Spain who works with porcelain makes every detail so incredibly special – even her embossed wrapping paper, stiff white twine and hand made porcelain hang tags are a delight to behold in person. And the super delicate, ghostly, white-on-white items within – all we can say is “wow.” We are huge fans and so lucky to be able to own and now shoot with some of her work. Many thanks for the inspiration, Caroline – you have definitely made it into our inner sanctum!
margaretandjoy 