Saturday Blues

 

A Saturday with gloomy weather for sure. Raleigh and I had intended to make a dash out to the botanical garden for the orchid market but the 100% forecast of heavy rain made driving in the city rather unappealing. So instead of Panahar and Gardens, we went with hosting a little get together. This time involving creme brulee since that's what Paul wanted for his birthday and this would be part of his celebrations.

My favorite recipe for creme brulee at the moment is from the book "EGGS" by Michel Roux The original recipe is for pistachio creme brulee but I have adapted it to make vanilla creme brulee. I am partial to this recipe as it does not require cooking the custards in a water bath. Moving a baking pan full of hot boiling water in and out of the oven is one of my least favorite things to do. First step for creme brulee, gathering the ramekins:

Then it is super easy, scald some heavy cream with sugar:

Combine with whisked egg yolks, pinch of salt, sugar and vanilla and you are halfway done. For this batch I used vanilla extract but a split and scraped vanilla bean can also be added to the scalding milk for vanilla bean creme brulee. The vanilla bean does make a difference since the seeds change the texture of the custard.

I like to strain the custard mixture into a pitcher for easy pouring

bake at 250F for about 45 minutes. The custards are done when they quit jiggling

To round off the creme brulee I thought some blue macarons would be nice. I was hoping for a lighter shade of blue but looks like I was a little too generous with the blue gel paste. Will try a little less next time.

The batter turned a nice shade of turquoise after baking. The bright color was actually quite cheerful for such a gloomy day.

folding in almond meal and powdered sugar into tinted meringue

Batter is ready when it is slightly runny

 

 

  

I decided to make a mocha buttercream filling for the blue macarons. A nice "pick me up" flavor.

Very easy: espresso powder, cocoa powder, icing sugar and some butter

 

 

For this occasion, I chose the blue & white Wedgwood cups and saucers as my starting point. Since I only have a few pieces, I mix and match it with my other dessert sets.

L to R: Wedgwood Queensware, Vintage hand-painted Spode "Rosslyn", Mason's brown transferware "Vista"

cheerfulness in the afternoon! Blue rimmed Turkish plates from IKEA

With the table set, I was ready to go when guest arrived. A simple dessert of creme brulee, macarons, cofee and tea made extra special with the right setting!

Fire!!

custards are topped with turbinado sugar

a quick torching and they are perfectly caramelized!

The perfect TEA for this afternoon

Platter by Heath Ceramics, Sugar bowl is vintage Wedgwood from The Antique House on Dixie Street

 

Some Photos of our afternoon taken by Paul:

 

 

sunshine before the rain

Thursday was forecast to be the last sunny day before a cold & rainy weekend.  I had the opportunity to visit with a friend for some cake and a hike in the woods. What a glorious day it was.  It was a day of detours and discoveries before heading home to teach a late afternoon piano lesson followed by Willy Wonka rehearsal.

Our first detour, the Alumni house at University of West Georgia where the Japanese Magnolias were in full bloom.

Japanese Magnolia, and next to it Southern Magnolia, two wonderful specimens

Everywhere, trees were coming into blossom, spring is springing! A pear tree on the way to our hike was buzzing with many bees.

Pussy Willow when the catkins mature, very fuzzy!

Lichen!

I gathered a large grocery bag full of lichen covered fallen twigs hoping to make a wreath with it. I spotted a lichen and moss wreath at the Atlanta Botanical Garden gift shop and was inspired to make one.

After rehearsal, I whipped up a quick recipe of spaghetti. Sauteed lean ground beef with high quality store-bought tomato sauce makes a pretty good sauce, especially if topped with a generous amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

After eating 2 servings of spaghetti, it was time to work some of it off so I ended up making creme brulee late into the night, stay tuned for details on that...

looking forward to the weekend

Friday did turn out to be a cool and gloomy day. It was a day spent teaching piano , practicing and also laundry followed by a wonderful surprise birthday party for Paul at the Lazy Donkey.  A nice end to a long week.

Blue Sky & Pink Blossoms

Flowering Cherries in front of Sunnyside cafe

We took the truck to get new tires on Rome street and ate lunch and walked around for a bit. Another beautiful day, clear blue sky and trees coming into bloom. We also visited the Neva Lomason library and picked up some old magazines for 25cents.

Japanese Magnolia in bud, will surely be glorious in a day or two

 

Rome street has such a variety of architecture including Craftsmen style bungalows, Queen Anne Victorian and everything in between. Going to do a photo essay of all the interesting houses one of these days....

Love this color!

For lunch on the square, we went to our old standby, The Corner Cafe, I totally enjoyed my Deluxe Pot Roast sandwich (pot roast, avocados, sprouts, cheese, sprouts, olives and some other things, all stuffed into homemade focaccia) and spinach and artichoke dip with bagel chips.

Today, I noticed all the "anti bird" spikes adorning the upstairs facade of Corner Cafe. I guess not getting pooped on going and coming to lunch is a good thing.

Interesting ruffled lamps at Gallery Row coffeehouse on the square

After lunch I was ready for a nice nap but the weather was too nice so I decided I would spend some time in the garden. To help me along with that, some strong coffee.

I was happy to get all the ornamental grasses cut back in my short window outdoors. Next up was a design consultation with a client before I had to head out to accompany for Theater students followed by Black Tie Affair concert. I waited around for the no show client......

Patient cat

 The Quince branches I harvested before the big storm on Monday are opening up nicely

Dallas Fern re-potted into blue pot

 

I must say I rather enjoyed my "moment of zen" while waiting around before heading off to UWG campus. In between gigs, I noticed a nice stand of Cherry Blossoms and also some art by local artist Helen Helwig and Machiko Ichihara.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a lovely Spring Day!