Fennel Bulb Soup

TINY GRATER IS A MUST!

2 c cannellini beans
2 T olive olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 large fennel bulb, sliced thinly
2 small carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c tomato purée
2 c vegetable stock
3 c spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
Mustard seeds, sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper to taste

(You can use 1 c dried beans and if so first soak overnight. Then cook with 2 1/2 c water and a bay leaf until tender, about one hour.) I used canned beans that were all set to go. Purée half of the beans until creamy and smooth. Slice onion, fennel and carrot thinly. In a large pot, heat olive oil for a minute over medium-high heat, then sauté the vegetables. Here I added some mustard seed because I'm so low on seasoning and it turned out to be really good. When the onions and fennel are golden brown and shrunken, add the garlic and sauté just until fragrant; then add tomatro purée and tock. Put in 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme Stir in bean purée and whole beans and bring to a simmer. Stir in spinach (here baby arugula is a possible substitute) and cook for just a few minutes to wilt. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

I love this soup. It is soo so good, everyone should make it.

Brownie Cookies

The baking madness continues against the onslaught of endless rain. These are super rich! I first ever made them with Tiny.

3 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 c chocolate chips
8 T butter
3 eggs
1 c + 2 T sugar
2 1/4 t finely ground coffee
3/4 c flour
1/3 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c walnuts

350° and grease baking sheets.

In metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 c chocolate chips, and butter, stirring until smooth.

With electric mixer beat eggs, sugar and coffee at high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add chocolate mixture. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in remaining chocolate chips and walnuts.

Bake 8-10 minutes until cracked on top. Let cool.

Quiche and Company

Last night we had a lovely meal--quiche and an excellent salad full of nuts, beans, radishes, and endives. It's still dreary all the time and is set to rain all week. I feel like I'm in hibernation mode even though it's meant to be summer. Please, blow some sun along.



My schwester's delicious mushroom-spinach quiche--the best I've ever tasted:

For the crust:
1 1/2 c flour
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 t cold water

Mix flour, salt and sugar; add 1 stick of unsalted butter (cut up), mix with your free hand (your other hand is on the phone with your mutti and vatti) until coarse meal. Whisk egg with cold water; add into flour mix and blend with your hand until the dough is moist and clumpy, but not holding together yet. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough sticks together...around 5 turns, maybe more (and then lick your fingers). Chill for about an hour.

Take your dough out and roll it out to about 12-15" diameter (use a glass or empty bottle if you are pin-less). Put it in a buttered 9 1/2" pie dish. Chill for about half an hour (not strictly necessary, but yarrr). Put the oven to 400° and put in your crust (with pie weights on buttered foil if you have them, but who has pie weights? once I used paper clips but really it's not worth it). Bake for about half an hour (until golden), piercing crust with a fork halfway through.



For filling:
1 bunch green onions
1 box mushrooms
1 1/2 T butter
1 box frozen spinach
1 c half and half
2 eggs
salt + pepper to taste
cheese to taste

Cut off the little root bit of your green onions and discard, then cut them up in about 1/2 cm segments until well into the green (flavor!). Clean and cut mushrooms. Melt about 3/4 T of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add in your green onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add in another 3/4 T butter, mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste; put the heat to high! Cook until the mushrooms are getting nice and brown. Cool.

At the same time you can prepare the frozen spinach. Press out as much water as you can (you can just take handfuls of spinach and squeeze them, it's very satisfying). Cool.

Now for the grand finale! Put your oven to 350°. Mix half and half (or whipping cream), eggs, salt and pepper, and cheese to taste (I just grate til I'm happy, sorry for the imprecision : ). Mix in mushrooms/green onions, and as much spinach as you want (this one has the whole box and as you can see it's really spinach-ey). Pour into your crust, and bake for about half an hour--you want it to not be liquidy in the middle when you jiggle it. Take it out and let it stand for maybe 15 minutes (if you can!) to finish setting, and enjoy!

Best made in pairs because as good as it is the first time it's even better cold for lunch the next day.



...mademoiselle was there too! No quiche for her, only kisses.

For a Few Dollars More

Beer + fresh hot oatmeal raisin cookies + Clint Eastwood = friday night in Maine. Ha.

Rosy Reds

Seeing my first rosy red maple moth of the season makes me so happy. I saw three today hanging around the sides of buildings and one on the screen of my bedroom window. They look very pale right now and I can only assume that their color deepens to the bright pink and yellow later in the summer.

Hey Sparkler

Many happy returns of the day.

Rainy day

It's my third day in Maine--yesterday it poured rain, today is gray and drizzly. I have the day off but don't feel like going out at all. So I'm reading 2666, working on some embroidery, and writing postcards. Speaking of which, if you'd like some mail, give me you address or write me and I'll write you back. My address is:

P.O Box 371
Mount Desert, ME 04660

My cell phone has absolutely no reception here so if you need to reach me, let me know, and I'll give you the number for my land line. Also my internet is rather dodgy so these updates will become a bit more erratic

The storm last night snapped a lot of the lupine that cover my front yard so I went out this morning and cut the broken stalks to make a large bouquet. They are all different shades, from a very light pink to purple to a deep blue.

Double Indemnity

Vegetable Locomotion

I'm in Minneapolis now and today was my first day doing research at the Walker. It was a wonderful day, everyone was very helpful and there are all these neat rooms tucked away inside the building. I looked through the Walker's correspondence with Hollis Frampton, listened to a talk he gave after a retrospective of his films in 1972 and looked at some prints of his photographs. Above are two from his series titled "Sixteen Studies from Vegetable Locomotion", in fact a collaboration with artist Marion Faller. It's sort of a Muybridge joke and made me break into laughter often. These two were my favorites, called "Summer squash undergoing surgery (var. "Yellow Straightneck")" and "Beets Assembling (var. "Detroit Dark Red")".

Андре́й Рублёв

Last night watched Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublyov, 1966.

Sylvan City

These darker beech trees around Cambridge are so arresting, with deep purple-black leaves. Walking underneath them at sunset though colors and details them lovely.

Pie and Walden Pond

Delicious Strawberry Rhubarb!

Preheat oven to 400°

To make the crust homemade:
3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled butter, cut into pieces
about 10 tablespoons ice water

Combine flour, sugar and salt. Add in shortening and butter until coarse meal forms. Blend in ice water 2 tablespoons at a time until moist clumps form. Then gather the dough into ball, cut in half and flatten each half into a disk; wrap separately in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

For the filling we mixed frozen and fresh strawberries with lots of chopped rhubarb and added in 1/2-1 cup of brown sugar. As for the top, roll the dough and into cut strips. A talented helper is key!

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes then lower temperature to 350° and bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes more.



This was my first summer swim. We hiked around to find a quiet spot. The water was cold and such a deep green.

Rule of Three

These are pictures of a three-channel video installation project I completed this Spring. They are samplings from the longer, 6 minute, piece. No title yet.

Meet Fou

Her nose is always moving, blur.

La pagaille

Packing today is boring boring dull.
But lovely little daisies from a walk a few days ago are what I keep in mind. Messes, after all, can be quite pretty.

Lazy week

Rather than packing my room up I've been doing lots of other things.
- Went to Wellesley to visit my good friend. I picked these beautiful-smelling peonies there.
- Toured the Freedom Trail with a true patriot and another great friend.
- Adopted Fou and have been getting to know her.
- Grocery shopping for the Co-op with a big budget = chheeeeeses and wines!



The Royal Tenenbaums is always fun to see again. Tonight with some friends and wine and truffles!

Goodnight, make beautiful dreams. I'll be dreaming of my little rabbit. <3