Lately, Spring

I was in Paris again last weekend, to visit P. On Saturday, we went for a little road trip to Normandie with a couple of friends to eat mussels on the beach in Trouville, and on Sunday, like always, we had a brunch which took forever to prepare and even longer to eat. Everywhere we went there were colours.

Lately, Colour

Lately, Light

Maslennitsa

As an interesting side effect of overdosing on Chekhov in Russian class, this entire week my mind has largely been on butter-fried blinis with roe and smetana, and with strawberry jam and mountains of ice cream. Maslennitsa, Mardi Gras, Fastlag or whatever you call it is absolutely the time for snowball fights, swindling toboggan rides down melting slopes and eating too much of crème chantilly and sugar and patisseries, whether or not accompanied by extravagant costumes and colourful confetti.

Lately, Square

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Charlotte Gainsbourg. Not that it probably has anything to do with that I keep wanting to change things (moving the bed! redecorating!), but still. Also, you'll notice that I've made a few changes here too (don't want to clean! redecorating!). I'm not going to go all artsy, nor am I going to limit myself to square posting from now on, but for now I thought I might try out a new format.

I sort of like how it turned out. Different.

Snapshots from Paris

Up in the air

There is sun even in Scandinavia, if you know where to look.

I think this was somewhere above the Åland islands. But as i sort of dozed off before the plane even left Stockholm I'm not entirely certain. I was too delighted to wake up to the sunshine to even care.

Dreaming

Today, I spent the afternoon chez Ladurée, pretending. That I was Marie Antoinette. And so so I discovered that I now prefer the macarons au café. If they are chocolate they should definitely be amer.

Right now I should be getting ready for the dinner I have been looking forward to what feels like forever, but first I will just sit here listening to the jazz-filled street for a little while. And that must bode well for the future.

Boum! Standard time and garlic soup

...and there, we're back in standard time. Just like that. Boum!

Argh. Just like that we're back to November, back to pitch-black rainy mornings and grey afternoons before the snow makes life brighter again in the North. Depressing?

A bit, yes.

For a while.

But then I remember that November is also for lighting up a fire in the fireplace, and for reading cookbooks before the e-mail in the morning to find inspiration for yet another warming meal with friends in the evening. This is the time for gathering in the kitchen to chop, and to gossip, and to drink red wine while mixing together all those strong and exotic flavours that are too overwhelming for lighter evenings. Time for having soup with freshly baked bread, and to stock the fridge with game and to eat strong cheese in the candle light.

So what if hiding away in colour-filled silence on a sunny bridge is over for now? I'm hiding in my kitchen instead, making garlic soup and roquefort quiche with marsala-stewn mushrooms, herb-filled meatballs and tiramisù rich and delicious enough to chase off any storm or depression. I'm hiding away in my plush new sofa, stealing a glass of marsala from the ridiculously pompous crystal decanter someone brought home from God-knows where. And from here, the darkness outside seems pretty poetic.

This is a soup I've been meaning to try ever since Pitkä posted the recipe in August this year, when summer all of a sudden decided to have had enough of Finland... And on Friday I finally got around to making it. It was as over-the-top tasty and creamy as you could ever imagine, and it is absolutely perfect for a rainy evening with friends and candles.



Garlic soup

3 entire garlics
2 onions
2 table spoons olive oil
1/2 decilitre all-purpose flour
9 decilitres vegetable broth
2 decilitres single cream
freshly ground black pepper and chopped flat-leaf parsley to serve

Peel the garlic cloves and the onions, and chop the onions finely. Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan and fry the whole garlic cloves and the chopped onions lightly before mixing in the flour. Add the broth and let the soup simmer over low heat for about 30 or 40 minutes. Finally, purée the softened garlic cloves and mix in the cream. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and chopped flat-leaf parsly and serve steaming hot with a slice of fresh bread.