Patty pan squash

Patty pan, patty pan, patty pan... I just love saying that. These happy little patty pan squashes are easy to grow and versatile in the kitchen. You can stuff them in various ways, with grains, cheese, beans, veggies, meat—or with any combination that your heart desires. Or you can quarter the squashes then grill or sauté them. Here I have hollowed out and stuffed a squash with corn, diced squash, onions, carrots, lemon thyme, and a little cheddar cheese to bind them. The colors are striking surrounded with purple oak leaf lettuce.

I'm your Venus

Goddess on the mountain top 

Burning like a silver flame 

The summit of beauty and love 

And Venus was her name 

She's got it 

Yeah, baby, she's got it 

I'm your Venus, I'm your fire 

At your desire 

(Sung by Shocking Blue in 1970,
 then by Bananarama in 1986)

Diego Velazquez's Venus at her Mirror (1648), also called his Rockeby Venus, is captivating and mysterious all at once. Though her curvaceous backside is revealed in all its splendor, the reflection of Venus's face is slightly blurred in the mirror hinting that the face represents the goddess within all women. The self-absorbed yet no doubt sensuously erotic Venus is admiring herself in a mirror that an adorable little cupid, clearly captivated, is holding for her. And how could he not be enchanted by the Goddess of Love?

Sad to think that the Spanish Inquisition may have stopped this Baroque masterpiece—the only surviving female nude of Velazquez's—from being part of the art world. Back then artists of licentious or immoral paintings were heavily fined, excommunicated, or, um, worse. So lucky for Velázquez that he had a royal appointment. Velázquez used this mirror trick later in his life in Las Meninas, the maids of honour (1656). Little María Margarita is shown in an ornate dress with her maids around her, but also the hot Spanish royal couple of the time (King Philip IV and his wife Mariana) are seen in the reflection of the mirror in the paintings. Clever man, isn't he?

Velazquez's Venus has inspired many an artist, including me. Have a look at some other Venus paintings that I found on the web. This collection of Venus portraits shows many varied approaches to the subject including simple line drawings, modern portrait photography, posed Barbie dolls, and even bathroom tiles. I tried to give proper credits to all artists or at least say where I found them. One Venus is a conté crayon sketch of mine that I did several years ago. Send me your Venus and I'll post it here too!

Alberto Giacometti's Venus, 1959

Ruxandra Raileanu's Venus

el Espejo's Venus from Wet Canvas.com

ddgrafix's Venus from Flickr

Spanish artist Eleazar's Venus from www.eleazar.es

Vincente Collado, Jr.'s Venus

Jane Knoll's Venus

from Kool-art-cards.com

Photographer André Maier's Venus

(love the birthmark on the buttocks)

J I Fernandez's Venus

Mary Ellen Strom's (Nude no 3) Venus

Diane Carnevale's conté crayon sketch of Venus

Ben Kogan's Venus

Czech artist Ktistyna Milde's Venus

Photographer Clive Stewart's Venus for Yves-Saint-Laurent

Bathroom shower tiles from House Modern Renovation

Using photography and digital manipulation,  Haley Leanne's Venus  

from Mauricio Cortes Garcia's Venus Flickr page

(not sure of the artist or even what medium this is)

Emily Sandstrum's Venus

I'm your Venus, I'm your fire 

At your desire 

Wrapture in the garden!

photo, Nicole Chan

Our garden is featured on the Style Me Pretty (Massachusetts) bridal website! Remember my Day of Harper-Razzi blog post from July 28th?... the tea party photo shoot? Shown above in our allée of London plane trees graphic designer Rebecca Q Yankes models a gown from Wenham bridal couturier extraordinaire Harper Della-Piana (Seams). Is this not gorgeous?!

Below Rebecca is wearing one of Harper's "Wrapture" dresses at the steps of our sunken garden, and in the very bottom photo all of the models are standing behind a charming tea party table set up by event planners Greia Marlow and Jenny Wong.

Wanna see more? Go here to see all the photos taken by photographer Nicole Chan! There's a link to click to see the entire gallery from that day in the garden or you can just click here for that. In case you are wondering, yes, we got to sample the little tea cakes supplied from the 3 Little Figs bakery when the photo shoot was over. Yum! 

photo, Nicole Chan

photo, Nicole Chan

Bear Naked tarts

                                                                                                                                    photo, Diane Carnevale

Pssst... I have a secret. The nectarine tarts I recently made had a layer of granola pressed into the crust. The granola I used was Bear Naked brand granola, and what's great is that it's not hard and crunchy, but sort of a soft and chewy granola. I think it gave the tart a nice complexity, not to mention a cute name.

                                                                                                                                    photo, Diane Carnevale

Delightful swirls

More fun with tomatoes! Here is a small appetizer plate of yellow pear tomatoes, tiny mozzarella pearls, purple basil leaves, and a delightful swirl of basil oil.

Melon carpaccio

     photo, Diane Carnevale

Meadowbrook Farms in Hamilton sells the most amazing melons this time of year. They are not cantaloupes, but rather, orange flesh Honeydew melons, and when chilled they are the sweetest, most refreshing bit of summertime you will ever taste. The owner of Meadowbrook Farms, Ronnie, says that at the produce market in Boston he has to elbow out the guy who buys for the Ritz Carleton Hotel for these particular melons because the Ritz has them on their breakfast menu. Here I sliced the melons super thin, sprinkled them with fennel pollen, then garnished the plate with fennel blossom and frond. Nice combo.

Chunky gazpacho, 3 ways

I had to do something with those tomatoes, right? Although most chefs would disagree with me, this is my take on a good bowl of gazpacho. I really dislike the traditional Spanish blended version, pulverized so fine you could drink it (think V8 juice). I prefer to eat hearty chunks of crunchy vegetables—red, yellow and green tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, green bell peppers (sometimes yellow and orange bell peppers too), celery, minced garlic, red onion, scallions, and cilantro leaves—all bathing in a perky tomato juice. Subtle undertones of smokey Spanish pimentón paprika, sherry vinegar and a good olive oil shine through the bright vegetable flavors. Think of this as a salad that you eat with a spoon.

A jazzed up version of gazpacho...

an appetizer in a martini glass with garlicy shrimp that's been dusted with pimentón 

One last spoonful... 
an amuse bouche in a porcelain spoon, with chili pepper threads

Miss Sunshine

They're heeeeere! Our tomatoes are ripening like mad, and I have to confess that I've been waking up in the middle of the night thinking of tomato creations. Doesn't everyone do that? Miss Sunshine here is buddying up with Mr. Basil, and what a great duo the two make. Think of the possibilities... gazpacho, tomato terrine, tomato tart, tomatoes and goat cheese, tomato sandwiches...mmmm.

Calamari con vinaigrette di limoncello

photo, Dan Ryan

Here is another version of the sautéed calamari with limoncello vinaigrette that we had for my birthday lunch. I dried the squid ink pasta in funky, swirly curlicue shapes and held them upright in a floral frog. They look as though they are dancing above the plate like the arms of a squid. Chive oil and capricious dashes of chopped chives, yellow nasturtium blossoms and fiery chili peppers complete the plate.

All things exquisite

Here's a fun book—the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights. It will enlighten you about the history and origins of such things as the Bartlett pear (Louis XIV was mad for them), champagne (the bubbles were first thought to be a bad thing, quelle horreur!), the topper (quite shocking when it was first introduced, and made of beaver skins, ew!), keeping a cricket as pets (for their cricket "songs," which sounds quite vile to me), and Japanese pillowbooks (a place to stash secret stuff—ok, that I like). Exquisite delights... what's not to love?

I am only up to the Ds in the book, but so far it has informed me of so many interesting tidbits that I didn't even know that I wanted to know. If you love exquisite things (and who doesn't, darling?) then you need this book on your bookshelf. You'll most certainly want to (in this order) eat a Bartlett pear, drink champagne, put on a top hat, then run outside to catch a cricket to put in your pillowbook. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Mussels & pommes frites

Ever read any of M.F.K. Fisher's books? Her culinary writing—The Gastronomical Me, Consider the Oyster, Long Ago in France (just to name a few!) — are classics and will sweep you away to France by the end of the first page. We must have been thinking of her last week when we had spicy mussels in white wine and pommes frites cooked in, um, duck fat. I had ordered the duck fat from Amazon a while ago and was waiting patiently for the perfect summer evening to have our moules-frites, as they say in France and Belgium. We started the meal with a beet Napoleon—slices of earthy sweet beets layered with an herbed goat cheese. 

To make the broth for the mussels, in a pot sauté diced shallots and garlic in some butter, then add bay leaves, chili peppers, dijon mustard, fennel seeds, (photo below) with white wine and half a lemon. When the broth comes to a boil toss in the mussels. It's that easy. Dan claims that the broth is the best part, eaten either with a spoon or with a crusty baguette. The frites need two rounds of cooking—once in a lower temperature then once at a higher temperature—but trust me, it's worth the effort. Pass the time by sipping a nice French Rosé while you're at the stove, mais oui? Sprinkle the frites with chopped parsley and fleur de sel as you pull out each sizzling batch. Getting hungry yet? Go and get yourself an M.F.K. Fisher book and cook this meal. You'll feel like you are in a cafe on the coast of Marseille. Bon Appétit!

Sunrise with sea monsters

Inspired by... Joseph Mallord William Turner's painting Sunrise with Sea Monsters (1845, Oil on canvas, 36" x 48). You can see the monster, right? The warm colors and the mysteriousness of this painting are dreamy and sublime, with a sort of decaying Venetian wall vibe to it. I think I'd like a wall painted like this, minus the monster of course.

The good egg

Crosby's market in downtown Hamilton is now carrying Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs. These blue eggs hail from happy, free range Ameraucana chickens, and their yolk is really deep shade of yellow.   We generally use The Country Hen, eggs, which also come from happy, free range chickens and also have the deep yellow yolks, but as a bonus the yolks are loaded with tons of healthy omega 3s—they have over 300 mg of Omega 3's per egg! Here's a favorite (simple) breakfast of ours—soft boiled eggs piled on toasted high fiber German bread with a sprinkling of fleur de sel.  

photos, Diane Carnevale

Cobbster salad, redux

The lobster cobb salad that I made last week was so yummy that I just had to make another one—this time using a pyramid mold. I mixed crumbles of blue cheese in with the bottom layer along with  chopped yellow tomatoes and corn (chopped off of a freshly steamed cob), the lobster meat is dressed in a lemony mayo, and the bacon layer is tucked under the diced avocado, which is perched proudly on the top (chop avocado, put in a bowl and and squeeze and mix fresh lemon juice on on it first).  Seriously delicious. It's garnished with chive oil and all sorts of edible blossoms from the garden.

NOTES:

— Chive oil is a whizzed up blend of fresh chives and a neutral oil such as grapeseed oil.

— The mayonnaise based dressing for the lobster layer includes 1/2 cup Hellman’s mayo, 1/2 tsp honey, 1 tsp lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon, pinch of smoked pimenton paprika, salt and pepper.

— Instead of this pyramid shape you could use a wide can with the top and bottom removed to make the stacked layers

Here is how the layers stack up:

Avocado

Bacon

Lobster and mayo salad

Mix of corn, tomatoes, and blue cheese

And visions of sugar plums...

... danced in their heads!  I always thought that sugar plums were plums that were sugared, and not actually a kind of plum. Or maybe this sweet plum was named after The Night Before Christmas poem... I don't know. In any case, I found these darling little sugar plums over at Whole Foods Market in Swampscott. We really need a Whole Foods Market closer to Hamilton… anyone listening out there?                                                                                                                 

Corn cob salad

Local corn is in season!  We got a few ears from Canaan Farms in Wenham and made this colorful corn salad, which was great with cajun spiced blackened talapia fish. The salad included steamed and cut corn, red pepper, cilantro, scallions, cumin, a dash of heat (courtesy of Señor Tabasco) and a squeeze of lime. Not a drop of butter in sight. Heck, our local corn season is short enough, so go out and support your local farms!

Cinema Italiano—La Dolce Vita

Aaaah, the sweet life—the sweet, dreamy, debaucherous, self indulgent, sweet city life of Rome. Federico Fellini's 1960 masterpiece La Dolce Vita opens with the iconic scene of a statue of Christ being carried via helicopter over Rome. Emotionally bankrupt tabloid reporter Marcello Rubini (played by the handsome Mastroianni) and his photographer friend Paparazzo chase stories of the gruesome, the glitzy cafe society and women. Marcello heartlessly uses and abuses several women throughout the film. You'll seriously wince. One that got away from him is Sylvia, a gorgeous American actress visiting Rome (played by the Swedish buxom blonde, Anita Ekberg). Sylvia cavorts throughout the city, and in one famous scene she carelessly frolics in the Trevi Fountain until Marcello goes in and retrieves her. Fellini weaves us in and out of wild party scenes, and up and down staircases—from the height of St. Peter's cathedral to the depths of a prostitute's flooded basement apartment—where Marcello encounters shallow, vapid, pretentious "beautiful" people. Marcello is being pulled between this crazy life of nonstop indulgences and a more simpler life away from the madness. On a beach at the end of the film—the morning after the night before—Marcello sees a young girl (whom he called an Umbrian Angel) that he met earlier in the film at a seaside cafe. She is meant to represent innocence and this simpler life, in this final scene she calls to Marcello to join her. But with the wind and crashing waves of the beach he cannot hear her (or decides not to) and instead he waves goodbye to her and returns to his inebriated friends and the sweet life of the soulless, idol rich jet set. And so it goes. Interesting that in the opening vignette Marcello is following the Jesus helicopter in another helicopter and tries to procure the phone numbers of some bikini clad women that he sees on a rooftop, but he cannot hear what they are saying. So the film begins and ends with Marcello not being able to hear the serenading siren's songs. Peppered with this and other symbolisms, the storyline and cinematography in this film are so beautifully done that even at 3 hours long, it's worth watching every fabulous minute of it.

Just for fun check out this video of Kate Hudson performing Cinema Italiano from the film Nine. Okay, even with a stellar female cast the film was a bit of a dud, but Hudson is hot and this song is da bomb!

I love the black and white, I love the play of light
The way Contini puts his image through a prism

I feel my body chill, Gives me a special thrill
Each time I see that Guido neo-realism

I love the dark handsome guys with their skinny
little ties dressing mod looking out of sight
I love to watch them as they cruise with their pointy
leather shoes wearing shades in the middle of the night

Whatever Guido does it makes me smile
He is the essence of Italian style...
I love the glamorously Latin world that only Guido can portray

Those scenes I love to see
from Guido's POV there's no one else
with his unique director's vision

His angles wide and tight
Each moment feels so right
Defines Italian style by only his decision

I love the speedy little cars, the hip coffee bars
the sleek women in Positano
Guido's the ultimate "uomo Romano"

Contini's Cinema Italiano
I love his Cinema Italiano

Guido Guido Guido
Guido Guido Guido
Guido Guido Guido
Guido GUIDO!!!

Dark handsome guys, Skinny little ties
Shades in the middle of the night
Speedy little cars, Hip coffee bars
sleek women in Positano!!!

Ape for Apricots

                                                                                         photo, Diane Carnevale

In the immortal words of the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz, "who put the ape in apricot?" Sometimes it's just the simple things that taste so wonderful... ripe apricots, a little nob of gorgonzola cheese, and a drizzle of orange blossom honey... dee-lish!

Yellow pear tomatoes

Sweet yellow pear tomatoes from the garden, drizzled with basil oil and topped with delicate boxwood basil and fleur de sel, lay alongside edible flower petals. Tastes like summertime!

Mr. Woodchuck!

The little bastard is back, and he's gotten bigger! Woody has a serious fondness for all manner of blossoms in my garden, and was totally caught with his hand in the cookie jar, shown here eating my hosta blossoms. He was probably in some sort of hosta blossom sugar induced euphoria, humming a happy little woodchuck tune to himself whilst carelessly nibbling away—you know, kind of like the way Winnie the Pooh may have done while licking some sticky honey. I know you have to make a living too, Mr. Woodchuck, but I'm still watching you! Click here to see photos of Woody earlier in the season.

I just know he's thinking, "uh-oh, busted!"