A lover is what I am. 35. Queer. Bookworm. Budding writer. Caring Sister. Devoted friend. Dancer. Feminist at the core. Keen Gardener. Bird Watcher. Star Gazer. Avid Newspaper and Magazine reader. Television addict. Traveller without borders. Art exhibitions enthusiast. Melomaniac. Dinner and Tea parties thrower. Fashion enjoyer. Die-hard Movie-goer. Gourmet. Crosswords doer. Masters of Arts collector. Redempted daughter. Director in-the-making. History lover. Mythology worshiper. Former Toronto resident. Hopeful Aotearoa dweller. Cordon bleu (as in pretty good in the kitchen). Pretty good in the bedroom also ;) Life celebrant.
“(…) Carols hold a box-full of magic for me, each verse full of innocence and wonder. The first few lines of *While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night* or *Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem* carry with them every memory of the happiest days of my childhood. Everything that is good about these early Christmases is held with these first few lines. I start playing carols the day I start planning Christmas, and there’s barely a day of December when *The Holy and The Ivy* isn’t heard in this house.”
–from 17th of December, Panettone, A Love Story, in Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles.
I love carols, and being a heathen does not stop me from singing them with heart, gusto and joy, at the top of my lungs comes December! It is one of my many seasonal pleasures and traditions. I put them on as I bake, write Christmas cards to friends and loved-ones, make the year’s FestiveWreaths –always one with holly and ivy from the garden, to illustrate my favourite carol, too!
There were carols on, naturally, as Mum and I decked the halls and decorated the tree this afternoon!
These delectably cheesy Friands au Fromage are a simple and delicious lunch to tuck into after installing Christmas lights in the front garden! The beautifully strong flavour of Epoisses make them appropriately festive, too! Happy Saturday!
60 grams/2 ounces Epoisses (or another strong cheese like Muenster or Maroilles; unless you prefer something milder…)
1 egg
¾ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
In a medium saucepan over a low flame, heat Béchamel Sauce. Grate in about 2/3 cup Parmesan. Cook, until cheese has completely melted. Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.
Preheat oven to 200°C/395°F.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.
Roll Rough Puff Pastry out onto a lightly floured surface, into a large (30cmx25cm/12″x10″) rectangle. Divide into two equal rectangles, and place them onto prepared baking tray.
Cut Epoisses cheese into slices. Lightly beat the egg.
Spoon about 1/3 cup of the Parmesan Béchamel mixture in the centre of each Puff Pastry rectangle. Grate a little more Parmesan onto the Béchamel, and top each with slices of Epoisses.
Cut the edges of the Puff Pastry rectangles into strips, up to the filling, and fold them over each other, pressing in the middle, where strips meet, to seal.
Generously brush friands with egg wash. Sprinkle each generously with cracked black pepper.
Place in the middle of the hot oven, and bake, at 200°C/395°F, 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
Serve Friandsau Fromage hot or warm, with dressed lettuce or a bowl of soup.
This morning, I installed the Christmas lights and made a Festive Wreath to hang under the porch, listening to Ibrahim Maalouf Plays Holiday standards and carols. His trumpet often brings me close to tears; he did it again when God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen broke out. Lucky I did not fall for I was at the top of a ladder then!
All of last week, my Mum and her colleagues presented and explained their work on soils (the relationship between water and soil, the creation and study of techno soils, the work of insects and worms…) to visitors of la Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. On Sunday, I went with her, and as it was a special weekend with heaps of activities for children, the place was full with them, which was delightful and heart-warming. There is nothing like witnessing the curiosity of little humans, their eagerness and enthusiasm about learning things about sciences, the world, the Earth, the Universe, to restore one’s optimism in our species!
And as I strolled through the museum, gazing at fishes at the feet of trees, both benefiting from the relationship, it took me back to my own childhood. From my birth to until I was about five, and we moved to the South of France, we lived a couple of streets away from le Parc de La Villette, which was my garden, and on rainy days, my parents would feed my learning appetite by taking me to la Cité des Sciences, too!
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
–Seventy-five years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in Paris, a mere few years after the end of World War II, to ensure that it would never occur again, and enshrine that “spirit of brotherhood” as both a beacon of hope, and something we, as fellow humans, should aspire to and work towards.
It may be demoralising, to witness the wars, the genocides, the armed conflicts happening all across the world, as we celebrate this anniversary. It might be difficult to imagine peace, at a time where white supremacists are loud in their hatred, where bigots torment their fellow humans for simply existing, and when these people are winning elections in many different countries.
It is exhausting to be an optimist here, but this universal truth above, which we are far more to believe in, must guide our resolve to speak out for those, all those who can’t, who suffer, who die… We are “all free and equal in rights and dignity”, all of us who live on this planet. And we must remember that hope is much stronger than hatred.
At this time of year, the house really comes alive with the homely smell of biscuits baking, the oven warming the kitchen, and the delightful scent filling all the rooms. And what a delightful scent Lebkuchen have!!! Spices mingling with chocolate; it could not be more festive and exactly the kind of delectably crumbly biscuit one fancies after choosing the treet, among a crowd of stout, stunning firs at the Christmas Tree Farm (another wonderful seasonal smell!!) Happy Saturday!
Ingredients (makes about 20, of different sizes):
200 grams/7 ounces pure runny honey (like a fragrant Mountain Honey we brought home from Auvergne)
120 grams/4 ounces good dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
In a medium saucepan, combine honey and butter, cut into small chunks. Heat over a low flame until butter is melted, and well-mixed. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool. Set aside.
Crush cardamom pods, and empty the pods in a mortar. Grind the seeds thoroughly with the pestle. Spoon ground cardamom into a small cup; set aside.
Place star anise halve in the mortar, and thoroughly crush and grind with the pestle. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine plain flour, spelt flour, ground cardamom and star anise, Mixed Spice, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Grate in the zest of half of the orange. Give a good stir, to mix.
Dig a well in the middle, and pour in cooled honey and butter mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until a rather sticky dough forms. Place in the refrigerator, to cool, 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Set aside.
Once the dough has chilled and firmed up, roll it out, rather thick, onto a lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters of different shapes (or sticking to the traditionally plain round ones), cut out the lebkuchen, and place onto prepared baking tray, spacing them a bit as the shall spread out a little.
Roll out scraps until you have used all the dough.
Place in the middle of the warm oven, and bake, at 180°C/355°F, 15 minutes until a nice golden brown colour.
Remove from the oven, and let the biscuits cool completely on wire racks.
In a medium bowl over simmering water, melt three-quarters of the dark chocolate, until smooth, shiny and silky. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining dark chocolate, roughly chopped, with a spatula until completely melted. Then, return over simmering water, until smooth and slack again, to temper. Remove from the heat.
Dip one side of the lebkuchen into the melted chocolate, gently shaking off excess chocolate, and return to the wire rack, to set.
Enjoy Lebkuchen with a cup of tea, coffee, Cardamom Hot Milk or for something more decadent, an Eggnog!
As I gazed out of my sitting room’s window this morning, and saw a ballet of birds, from magpies to coal tits, blackbirds to green budgies, dancing with the garden trees; I spied the little grey cat, a regular visitor, about to hop on the roof of the shed, and almost immediately, as if magically summoned, the music from Peter and the Wolf started playing in my head. That is, only until I put Sergei Prokofiev’s musical tale on, and listened and watched, absolutely enraptured! I furiously fancied a wander in the meadows afterwards!
It snowed on Sunday! Very slightly, for only about an hour, and intermittently, too; but, it snowed! It wasn’t the beginning, like I had hoped, of several delightfully white days, it was only a sprinkle, but it was the first snow of the season, and it made me happy nonetheless!
