Color inspiration—lilacs

The lovely lilacs are coming into bloom. Could spring ever be complete without sniffing the heavenly aroma of a lilac blossom?

I snapped this photo at a Market in Paris on my last trip there. This old woman was shouting her heart out for people to buy her lilac and lily-of-the-valley bouquets. If we weren't leaving in a few days I surely would have bought some from her.

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.

May Day!

The month of May is named after the Greek goddess Maia. The zodiac sign of Gemini starts in May. This print shows the twins Castor and Pollux. Enjoy this very beautiful month.

Au Revoir Paris

Time to say farewell to Paris, but it’s nice knowing that there will always be two cozy chairs waiting for us at the Tuilleries or Luxembourg Gardens.

Have I mentioned the chocolate shops?

Don't bother trying to find any chocolate in Paris—we bought it all! This amazing store was founded by the royal pharmacist to Louis XVI. He invented candy coating for medicine to give Marie Antoinette and her pals, and from that a chocolate shop was born.

inside DeBauve and Gallais

At Meert, another old time Store in Saint-Germain des Prés. Here I am making my selections... "Two of those and two of those and ..."

We interrupted the chocolate store tour for lunch. 

Which included profiteroles, covered in chocolate of courses!

Below, the colorful squares are from Pierre Marcolini, another fancy shop right next to our apartment. I bought one of these for us and it was an awesome dessert for our picnic dinner at Luxembourg  Garden. Always a sweet ending!

Paris Sketchbook: The Notre-Dame Cathedral

The Notre-Dame Cathedral, with a splash of pink cherry blossoms — at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.

Paris Sketchbook: Macaron madness

All the pretty colors and flavors., but Psst... here's a secret. I don't actually like mararons. Well, let's put it this way, it wouldn't be my first choice in a French patisserie. I'd much rather have something buttery or chocolaty!

Paris Sketchbook: Aaaahh, choux!

One can find all manner of confections made with a basic choux recipe. Here is a delicious one—chocolate eclairs!

Paris Sketchbook: Qu’ils mangent du gâteau!

Let them eat cake!

Paris Sketchbook: L'opera gateau

Ode to Parisian opera cake!

Paris Sketchbook: Cherry blossoms galore

I simply can't resist painting the beautiful cherry blossoms again! April is Paris is glorious!

This pretty specimen was at the Jardin des Plants (which, yes, means garden of plants. It’s a pretty cool botanical place set up by I think Louis XIV; there’s a zoo and arboretum and geological museum too.)

Paris Sketchbook: A fine cartouche

The hammered copper cartouche on the Pont Alexandre III bridge in Paris is spectacular. They don't make bridges like this anymore.

Paris Sketchbook: Painting + picnicking

Painting + picnicking in the Luxembourg Gardens—that was a good day. I sketched this stag sculpture in the Luxembourg Gardens today. The tulips were standing at attention, the birds were singing French chanteuse melodies and all of Paris was ‘a moveable feast’ of picnickers—including Dan and me. Our own private stag party!

To market, to market...!

Yesterday morning our Paris apartment fridge had only the bare necessities (a bottle of champagne and some chocolate bon-bons), so off we went to the Edgar Quinet outdoor market (in Montparnasse) to stock up. There, we bought a cornucopia of fresh culinary delights, including these small, but oh-so-sweet Cavaillon melons.

The strawberries here are always so ripe, red and sweet. There are different varieties too, including the elongated ‘gariguette’ strawberries, which are the small sweet ones seen all over the markets, and available only from March to mid June.

At a market today—two types of strawberries.

All the pretty clothes

Fashion wise, it seems that nothing is de rigueur in Paris these day, and anything goes, but this hip look with the French striped sailor shirt never goes out of style.

Parisian women can rock any style—

Red trousers

and flirty skirts

Pretty chocolates!

Bonjour from Paris! The temps will be in the mid 80s today—mon dieu! Hope all the pretty chocolates won’t melt in the heat.

Paris Sketchbook: 2018

Well here we go again. There's just something about this city that keeps pulling us back. Come along with me, won't you?

Happy Easter to all!

I watched the Miss Potter film this week. Twice. It's the story of the lovely, creative, and somewhat eccentric Beatrix Potter, who created of all the darling Peter Rabbit and friends books. I have to say after viewing the film, that Beatrix was one hell of a woman. I deeply adore her passion and commitment and have most definitely invited her to my dinner party in heaven... whenever I get there. (The list is getting longer every year, I am going to need a large table!)

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Room Interiors #2

I love a sunny, yellow living room. This is the 2nd in a series watercolor sketches of room interiors. My own living room walls just happens to be yellow, but not nearly this formal, or as spacious. The yellow on yellow colors in the living room remind me of one of my favorite paintings, The Yellow Scale, painted by Chezk painter František Kupka. Aren't the colors in his painting divine?

Hello Spring!

There's more snow in the forecast, but the calendar
insists that it is spring!

Daydreaming of spring

Three wicked New England Nor'easters in less than two week's time has me day dreaming of the glorious spring ahead. Here is how the wisteria that covers our pergola looked yesterday in a snowy blizzard—its branches, a nasty Medusa like tangle—and below is how the wisteria looks in May.

Frank + Marie's buffalo chicken soup

Here is a quick and tasty soup. Actually, it's a flavor explosion of a soup, with big, sassy flavors. It's spicy, creamy and delicious. Here is how you make it.

Ingredients
1 tsp. oil

2 tsp butter

1 package of Al Fresco brand buffalo chicken sausages (browned and sliced into rounds)

1 medium onion, large dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce (it's gotta be Frank's brand)

1/4 blue cheese dressing (such as Marie's brand)

2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds

1 stick of celery, cut into half moons

1 can of canellini beans (drained)

salt and pepper to taste

To top, when serving

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 

1/4 cup baby spinach leaves

Directions

In a saucepan, brown the sausages in a dash of the veg. oil and remove. Pull out the sausages and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the saucepan and simmer until clear. Pull out onion garlic mixture and set aside. Add the butter into the saucepan and melt, then add in 2 tsp flour. Stir for about a minute to cook the flour, then add in the the chicken stock. Bring to a low boil and whisk continuously for several minutes until the sauce is smooth and thickened a bit. Add in 1/4 cup of Franks's hot sauce and 1/4 of blue cheese dressing. Whisk again. Add the cooked onions, garlic, chopped carrots, celery, canellini beans and sliced sausages. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Simmer for about ten minutes.

To serve

Ladle into bowls. Top with baby spinach and crumbled blue cheese.

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Mon dieu—Paris under snow!

Medici garden in the Jardin du Luxembourg 
(our secret magical place)

As if Paris wasn't beautiful enough—imagine Paris under a freshly fallen blanket of snow? Apparently snow is pretty rare in Paris, but this year it's gotten several magical dustings of the white stuff. One of these years Dan and I will travel to Paris in the wintertime, but for now these photos will have to hold us over.

The tree-lined Cours la Reine


Sacré Coeur, looking particularly enchanting


la tour eiffel

Baby bok choy

My new favorite dinner is a stir fry of baby bok choy with mini Asian turkey meatballs. I like my bok choy nice and garlicy, and this recipe also has a dash of teriaki sauce. It’s so quick, easy, and healthy. My secret is that I keep a stash of my Asian meatballs in the freezer.

Serving for 2

1 pound baby bok choy
1 tablespoons coconut oil
1-2 cloves minced garlic

mini hot red pepper 

Sesame seeds

Sesame oil

Instructions

Trim the bottoms off of each bundle of bok choy, and rinse off the sandy dirt. Shake off the excess water after the final rinse and transfer to a colander to drain. It is important to drain the vegetables well since these veggies will release quite a bit of water during the cooking process. Chop the thick white parts into 1 inch pieces, and the leafy green parts into 1 inch pieces.

Heat your pan or wok, and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add all of the garlic and immediately add the bok choy. Move quickly to stir and sauté the greens in the oil and garlic. Stir quickly so you don’t burn the garlic!
Use a folding motion to turn the vegetables or use tongs if that is easier. Once the vegetables begin to wilt, about 30 seconds, add salt, pepper, and sugar. How long you cook them from here is all personal preference. Judy likes to cook them a bit longer for a softer texture while I like them a little bit more crisp. Plate and serve immediately.

Happy 2018!

The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus. He had two faces so he could see both the future and the past. He was also the god of doors, and so my New Year’s wish for you all is that many doors open for you this year—let the joy in!  

Soliloquy for a winter’s day

Soliloquy for a winter’s day  30" x 36"

In the quiet stillness of winter—somewhere in between all of those holiday parties and getting back to work—I managed to find some time to myself to paint. This painting has been swirling around in my head for many months now and all I needed was a sunny afternoon to get it down onto canvas. It was painted for a specific client and space—for moi and for a particular corner of my living room. I like the contrast between the classic old world and the avant garde, and so I wanted a modern piece of art to hang behind these statue statues. My hope is that this painting expresses the joy and gratitude that I am feeling as this glorious year is coming to an end.