TRAVEL NOTES

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson said, "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

And for the last few weeks, moving is what I've done.

I took planes, trains, taxis, funiculars, buses and boats.

I spent time exploring Italy's Amalfi Coast.
Wandered around Naples for a few days.
Visited family in London.
Spent an unexpected night in Paris thanks to a missed connection.
And topped off the trip with 24 hours in Brussels.
I returned home with over 1600 photos, a hand-painted fish platter, a bottle of hand-pressed olive oil, sinful choclates and memories to share.

La Quiche

In August, I wrote about a quiche I had for lunch when I was in Giverny, France this summer.

Ever since we returned home, I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen. The memorable Giverny quiche had a five-inch high silky mousse-like filling studded with tiny chunks of flavorful just-picked string beans, red pepper, zucchini and potatoes. The butter-rich crust was equally noteworthy.

When Fred was home, I planned to make him what I thought was a pretty close copy. Living in Los Angeles, he’d become quite a quiche connoisseur. Now, he wanted to watch me make one, so he could learn the tricks of great crust and scrumptious filling.

On the day he was going to fly back to LA, I got up early and made the crust.

First I patted the dough into a disk and refrigerated it. A bit later, I rolled it out, put it into a tart pan and put the pan back in the fridge.

When Fred woke up, we put the crust in the oven to brown.


When I got out the ingredients to make the Giverny filling. He asked if I could make his favorite mushroom and spinach filling instead. Needless to say, I obliged. Fred garnished the top with very thin sliced zucchini and tomatoes before it went into the oven.

Once the quiche was baking, I let Fred make a crust so he would see how easy it was. I planned to use the extra crust to make a Giverny quiche later in the week.

About a half hour before he needed to leave for the airport, the quiche was ready. Fred was impressed. When he asked for a Tupperware container to take the quiche --minus the wedge that we ate – home with him, I knew the recipe was a keeper.

Alas, I forgot to take a photo.

Three days later, I was once again persuaded to try a different filling, onion this time. It wasn’t nearly as tasty, but I did remember to snap a photo.

Here’s how to make a killer quiche:

FOR CRUST
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg
Ice- cold water

In a food processor, combine flour salt and butter. Process until mixture has a crumb-like texture. Add egg and process for a few seconds.

Add a spoon of ice water and pulse processor a few times. Add another spoon of water and pulse, as many times as necessary until dough just holds together. Do not over-process.

Turn dough into a plastic bag and pat into a disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

When ready to make quiche, remove dough from refrigerator. Let sit for 10 minutes, then roll out on a lightly-floured surface, until circle will fit your tart or quiche pan. Place in pan and tidy-up edges. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. This is very important, if the crust isn’t ice cold it will shrink when you put it in the oven! Prick bottom of pie crust with a fork in 4 places, then bake in 350 oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool slightly, then add filling.

FOR GIVERNY FILLING
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese
Salt and pepper
Dash of onion and garlic powder
A pinch of dried thyme
1 1/2 to 2 cups of cooked veggies (string beans, red pepper, zucchini and potatoes)

With a whisk beat eggs until little bubbles form. Add
all other ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Although quiche will firm up slightly as it cools, do not take it out of the oven if center is wet.

FOR A SPINACH-MUSHROOM FILLING
Substitute 6 oz brown or white mushrooms and
8 oz of spinach for the cooked veggies.

Cut mushrooms into small chunks and sauté in a little olive oil. Add salt, pepper and a pinch of dried thyme.

Place spinach in a sauté pan and sprinkle with water. Cover and cook over a very low flame until soft. Use a scissor to cut spinach up in to smaller pieces.

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

I will be out of town for several days, so please enjoy
Le Petite cabinet du Curiosities while I am away.

Melanie is a fanatic flea market shopper who sells much of what she finds. Alas, she lives in France! Her September 21 post about French design classics is stunning.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

In my post of August 20th, I left you all in Monet’s gardens at Giverny. Now, hop back into our car and we’ll go on to Honfleur…

On the day we left Paris to drive to Normandy, we picked up a rental car at the Louvre. Instead of the subcompact “automatique” car we reserved, we were given the only automatique available, a big roomy Mercedes with an amazing GPS system. This was the second time this has happened to us in France. Sometimes, it pays to not be able to drive a stick.

About an hour after leaving Giverny, we arrived in Honfleur. Our B & B, La Coeur Sainte Catherine (www.giaglis.com) was originally a convent for Augustine nuns.

Located on an ancient street, the guest quarters were in a number of small buildings clustered around a flower and fruit-filled courtyard. It was a lovely place to sit and knit.

Since I know someone will ask… our travel companions Karen and Chris found the B&B through Rick Steves’ PBS travel show.

Our delightful hosts, Madame and Monsieur Giaglis, served breakfast each morning which featured locally baked bread, homemade cake, jam and Normandy butter.

They also served local hard cider, wine and cheese in the evenings for a couple of Euros extra. We met a family from Chicago who were also staying at the B&B. They owned a yarn shop (www.knitche.com) in Chicago! How's that for coincidences? They had two musically talented children. One evening, their son gave an impromptu violin recital. Bravo!

My British cousin Suzanne (far left) and her significant other Richard (far right) met us in Honfleur. Together, the six of us explored the town.

The harbor is picture perfect.

Saint Catherine’s church is an architectural novelty – constructed by boat builders in the 15th century, its roof resembles a series of upside down ship hulls.
The Erik Satie museum is odd and interesting. It's like walking into a surrealistic Salvador Dali painting where nothing is what it appears to be. You walk around with a tape machine and headphones and as you go to different parts of each room the music and dialog changes. There's an all white room with a player piano that I could have sat in for days. Ev liked the Art Deco living room-like theater where we watched a filmed performance piece by Satie and his friends.

The carousel is a cotton candy-colored confection.

The portside restaurants are famous for an astonishing array of seafood.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of the towering constructions known as “Seafood Assortment Plates.” These plates can be ordered in various sizes – all tall – and often come topped with whimsically positioned crabs or shrimp. Use your imagination!

On our second day in Normandy, the three men took off at dawn for a tour of the D-Day Beaches and the American Cemetery.

Karen, Suzanne and I got a later start. We hiked up a steep hill that overlooks the town, admired the hollyhocks in frontyard gardens, and visited the Chapelle de Notre Dame-de-Grâce, a tiny church unusually adorned with model wooden boats.

Before heading back down, we stumbled on a charming Farm Hotel and restaurant called La Ferme Du Cour. Despite the threat of rain we had lunch in the garden. In my opinion, this was the best meal of the trip—and the guys missed it!

The rain held off until it was time to walk back down the steep hill.

The next day, we drove back to Paris and checked back into Hotel Claude Bernard.

For our last evening in France, Ev and I did something typically Old World French and attended a chamber music concert at Eglise Saint Julien Le Pauvre. Dating from the 13th century, St Julien is one of the oldest sanctuaries in Paris.

After the concert, we did something typically New World French and had dinner at a Tibetan restaurant. At about 10pm, we met up with Karen and Chris and went cafe hopping.

We also stopped in at Shakespeare & Company. More than a book store, this Paris institution was THE place to see and be seen during the 20s-40s when Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce hung out there.

Speaking of landmarks... we ended the evening at Cafe Panis on Quai Montebello directly across from Notre Dame. As Edith Piaf warbled so beautifully, Je reviens!

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

Here's a blog with a British accent. Have you ever felt chuffed? Put lashings of butter on your toast? Or woke up to a peek of sunshine? Clare of www.vintage-home.blogspot.com has!

TWO TRIPS TO GIVERNY

Ever since I studied art history in high school, I’ve been in love with the painters known as The Impressionists.

Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley were a few of the artists who came together in the 1860s in Paris (of course!) and founded this dreamy style of painters.

Two women, Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, were also important Impressionists.

Museums in the 60s and 70s weren’t very crowded. I could gaze at Monet’s Waterlilies at the Museum of Modern Art or his rosy House of Parliament at the Brooklyn Museum for hours. Back then, I rarely ran into more than a few dozen other museum goers. (Now, the crowds are eight deep in the newly refurbished MOMA gallery where Monet’s water lilies hang.)

While Monet's magnificent haystacks, Morisot’s portraits of pensive young women and Degas' graceful ballerinas are now regarded as beloved masterpieces, when they were first exhibited in the 19th century they were ridiculed and despised.

Painting outdoors instead of in a studio, portraying the ephemeral effect of light on a subject and leaving brushstrokes visible on a finished canvas were considered revolutionary! While some artists only dabbled in the style before moving on, others, like Monet, were hard-core proponents of Impressionism.

After sowing his wild oats in Paris and other European cities, Monet settled down in a house on two acres of land in the French town of Giverny.

For the next forty or so years, he spent his days gardening, sipping aperitifs with other French artists and painting.

His canvases were a visual diary of his life in the pink stucco cottage, colorful gardens, Japanese water lily pond and the surrounding Normandy countryside.

The first time I visited Giverny in 1983, I was in my twenties. We arrived early on a misty morning and the place was awe-inspiring.

I took a few slides of the gardens, which were in the process of being restored, then headed for the water-lily pond.

I slipped my watercolor set out of my purse, used my telescoping cup to scoop a little of water out of the pond and .... painted a picture of the Japanese bridge. It was an unforgettable moment.

Although I still love to paint, it's a good thing I chose writing, not art, as my career!

On our recent trip… we arrived on a sunny day. The gardens were gorgeous but they felt less intimate with hundreds of other tourists wandering around.

Instead of a watercolor set and a film camera, I had my super duper digital Nikon in my straw tote. I must have looked like a serious photographer because numerous families asked me (in a variety of languages) to take a family photo for them on their camera.

During the years Monet lived at Giverny, the village was also home to more than 100 American artists lured by the great scenery and the chance to meet one of the leading Impressionists. It is said that he considered their presence a nuisance.

Works by these artists, however, are exhibited down the road from Monet’s property at Musee d’Art Americain Giverny. Not to be outdone by Monet's gorgeous gardens, the Musee is surrounded by a dozen single color plantings along a wide pathway. Very impressive.

*** BLOG DU JOUR***

Today, in honor of the fabulous quiche that I ate on the terrace at the Musee’s Terra Café, the Blog Du Jour is dedicated to French food. It’s Mon Petite Biscuit Cuit.

The memorable quiche had a five-inch high silky mousse-like filling studded with tiny chunks of flavorful just-picked string beans, red pepper, zucchini and potatoes. The butter-rich crust was equally noteworthy!

The problem with most web sites and blogs about French cooking is that they are in French. Mon Dieu! It’s a rare recipe that looks luscious enough to make me get out my dictionary or convert weights and measures. Mon Petite Biscuit Cuit however, is in both English and French. Bon Appetite!

FLOWER POWER

After weeks of drought, it finally rained last night, which made my hydrangeas happy.

Hydrangeas are a subject near and dear to my heart. ‘Pia’ is one of my favorites. I have two bushes on either side of the stepping stones leading to my patio (see above).

It’s sold as a dwarf but it’s only slightly shorter than other varieties. The bush is more compact, however, and the flowers are a magical mix of dreamy colors (photo below).

Recently, I discovered a hydrangea on the Little French Garden House blog (see blog du jour) that I’ve got to have. I queried ‘Little French’ about the second photo in her posting and learned that it’s called ‘Royal Ruby’.

“Here in our hot California climate ‘Royal Ruby’ never is red, just a dark dark pink. I bought it at Trader Joe's! It is about 5 years old, and after it blooms reddish, it turns burgundy, then green,” says Lidy of 'Little French'.

To view some great flower porn, check out www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com. There’s a link to a portfolio of ‘Endless Summer’ photos, too. From the photos on the site, you can see the one drawback of these free flowering bushes. The flowers tend to be a solid color – without the mottling that I love -- although they do change color as the flowers mature. Personally, I prefer 'Pia'.


*** THE FRENCH CONNECTION ***
While in France, I photographed dozens of hydrangeas.

Parisiennes are mad for these bouquet-like bushes.

Although the most commonly grown type in America (Hydrangea macrophylla) are commonly called French Hydrangea, the French grow dozens of beautiful varieties – ‘Lace Cap’ (photobelow) ‘Anabelle’ and oak leaf types.

Including this gorgeous pink one I photographed at the Rodin museum.

The Rodin Museum has at least 200 hydrangea bushes of all types. Not all were in peak shape during my visit but enough were for me to snap off at least 50 photos!

The hedge of white mop caps was breathtaking ( photo below)

Our B & B in Honfleur, also had several gorgeous hydrangeas --all white (photo in blog box). Originally a convent for Augustine nuns, the B & B consisted of a number of small buildings from the 17th century (around a flower-filled coutyard).


***** BLOG DU JOUR *****
Lidy grew up in Europe and loves gardens, antiques, cottages, rhinestones and everything that sparkles. Visit once and you'll be hooked. http://littlefrenchgardenhouse.blogspot.com

KEY WEST

So much has been happening in The Book sphere that I‘ve let my trip notes lapse.

To the folks who have written saying they feel like they’ve missed the end of the movie, my apologies. Henceforth, I will include a section with a few trip photos and tales at the end of each posting.


I finally finished the chapter on Jane and Tom’s historic Key West home. As you can see by her bathroom, it’s decorated in a lighthearted tropical way.

After shopping for and looking at a lot of shell mirrors, Jane decided to make her own using shells and coral that she had found (some from Sanibel), along with contributions from friends. It’s outstanding.

Jane and Tom have traveled extensively and their home showcases some of their favorite collections.

Artworks range from paintings of parrots from India (painted using brushes made from one squirrel hair) and Haitian nudes to ones painted by her talented sister.

One of Jane’s prized possessions, by Santa Fe painter Kevin Sloan, hangs in the living room. Created in what the artist calls “magic realist” style, the landscape draws upon diverse imagery including palm trees, hibiscus flowers, mangoes and Roman ruins. Check out his portfolio at www.kevinsloan.com.

The hand-carved window cornices that are an ode to cottage’s waterside setting are also fabulous.


Each room’s cornice sports a different theme, such as shells, dolphins, crabs or tropical fruit. All are painted shiny white to contrast with the soft pastel wall colors.

Did I mention the pool that looks like a meandering stream? It runs along the side of the house and is perfect for swimming laps or a cool dip on a hot day. Trust me, you’ll love this cottage!

*** THE FRENCH CONNECTION ***

Over the next few days, we visited The Louvre, the Musee D’Orsay, Les Invalides, Napolean’s tomb and the Rodin museum.



While Monet is best known for painting waterlilies, haystacks and Rouen Cathedral, he also tried his impressionist style out on more mundane subjects?

Did you know that Monet painted turkeys?

We also explored the Mouffetard neighborhood. The main street is closed to traffic. Each morning local shopkeepers display their wares outdoors. It’s a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. When the goods are packed up, the restaurants and cafes, of which there are hundreds, open.

On our last night before heading to Normandy, we took a cruise on the Seine at sunset. Great photo op!


***** BLOG DU JOUR *****
Last spring, when photo scout and writer Kathryn Bechen (www.kathrynbechenink.com) wanted me to take a peek at Kim’s home, she sent me a link to Terry’s Enchanted Cottage (www.terrysenchantedcottage.com). The house that Kathryn wanted me to look at was in the Cottage Of The Month section.

Now, the Cottage Of The Month feature is one of my favorite Must Sees and The Cottage Blessings section is inspirational.