Month: June 2013

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weekend distraction: peonies

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I love peonies. Who can say just why – the delicate proliferation of petals, the elaborate, explosive configurations… some instinctive affinity I can’t explain.  They are in season on the east coast now and I finally took some home,  spending a pleasant, meditative half an hour trimming and fiddling around with them in this porcelain pitcher. Every time I change the water I can fiddle with them some more, so it’s a nice, interactive purchase.

Want to try some more ambitious flower arrangements. Wabi-sabi has been on my mind, the aesthetic of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.”

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Their fragrance is lovely, like a young, light, restrained rose with maybe a hint of white floral in these particular blooms; tuberose, lily. I hope at some point to lord over a patch of earth and plant different varietals all over.

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try this: tomato jam

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Quita do Freixo red tomato jam

This is my new jam.

I was introduced to tomato jam at a cheese tasting at Formaggio recently. Blue Chair Early Girl Tomato Jam served with a delicate sheep’s milk cheese from the French side of the Pyrenees, made in the fruity, nutty, creamy (single-source/family operated) Basque style. Wonderful. The jam is sweet and fruity yet still vegetal, not too sweet. Delicious on toast and a refreshing alternative to standard jams with the same savory applications, I would say, as a hot pepper jelly. This particular example is made in Portugal and maybe a bit sweeter than the one I tried but still very good.

A few boutique jam producers (jammers?) make tomato jams, and it doesn’t look difficult to make it yourself. You go through the same process as for any fruit jam, with the option of adding enhancers like hot peppers, vinegars, or spices. This kind of tinkering appeals to me and I intend to try it when the jar runs out. As added incentive: the artisanal jam, she is not cheap.