Labor Day week-end

Joe came to visit me for this last, long week-end before classes begin. Apart from the obvious merit of simply seeing each other, it was a chance for him to discover my new environs, and a chance for me to get some help setting up my new apartment. We ate copiously; we explored. We stocked up on wine. We watched Daria. We set up my internet. All in all, a highly successful goodbye to summer.

Some loot from Saturday's farmer's market excursion.

Saturday night thunder storm.

Walking the Nichols Arboretum.

Apple season is soon upon us...

Rosemary Tom Collins.

Buttermilk biscuit and sorghum syrup from Zingerman's (again).

Parking lot shenanigans.

Summer food

Eating in summertime is an occasion to be fêted, as beautiful fruits and vegetables abound. Here are some hot hits of the past week.

Arugula with soy beans, spiced almonds and raspberries.

Muffin and 1989 National Geographic at Commune.

Cured chickpea salad; chicken sandwich.

I consume the muffin; Joe consumes an article on the USSR.

Fried sardines.

Joe demonstrates the tomato salad, may or may not be posing for a mug shot.

Breakfast

I love breakfast, and I always have. In part it's because I've always been a morning person, and a hungry morning person at that. When I was little, I relished this early meal because it meant I could eat anything I wanted: leftovers from the night before, soft-boiled eggs in hotel rooms, thick wedges of camembert... I've always been able to digest just about anything at any early hour. (I also had a period of ostrich-meat cheeseburgers.) When I first went out for an American breakfast, I was amazed and overjoyed to discover that my penchant for large, hot plates of starch, fat and protein was not so odd after all.

As evidenced by the great big world of websites around me, I'm certainly not the only one who's obsessed. I stare hungrily at the offerings of BKFST, xo breakfast, breakfast for dinner and simply breakfast, to name a few. Issue no. 3 of The Gentlewoman had a small feature on how several women start their mornings. It's no wonder that breakfast is so important to people - apart from physical nourishment, it's the ritual that starts off our day. It says a lot about us as people. For my part, I continue to favor substantial, eclectic breakfasts with a mix of savory and sweet.

Summer breakfast: yoghurt with honey, toasted pain de campagne, nectarine.

Saturday on the marina

As I had three hours free in my schedule today, I met up with my mother, and we walked from Fort Mason along the marina to take advantage of the fine weather. I proceeded to take pictures of boats with dutiful observance of my family's seafaring history. (Most of us modern generations, I must admit, have long embraced dryer occupations, but we still feel a connection to the ocean.)

Well hello, Bridge!

We rounded back and came to A16 as it was opening, nabbing two walk-up seats for an early dinner before I had to go back for a masterclass.

Beautifully cooked rabbit with wild fennel for my mother.

Monterey squid and halibut over zucchini and eggplant, roasted sunchokes for me.

Back to Fort Mason Center, with one last look at the sea before going into the theater.

Friday night Off the Grid

Every Friday night from five to ten, the parking lot of the Fort Mason Center, where I spend the bulk of my days in rehearsal, is overtaken by food trucks and tents and the hungry patrons that frequent them. So yesterday, during my break before evening rehearsals, I went down to explore the music and commotion a bit.

Seared chicken breast, sautéed zucchini with olives

Driving South.

My mother and I met up at San Francisco International, both landing at approximately the same time (she was coming back from France, so she definitely had me beat on the jet lag front). As I'm free until Sunday we drove down to Pebble Beach this afternoon for a short week-end at the sea. I'm certainly looking forward to a few walks by the beach, and slipping back into my familiar role as house cook.

Simple seared spicy chicken breast with rosemary

(serves 2-3)

2 large chicken breasts, halved length-wise

appr. 1 tsp nutmeg

appr. 1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 big sprigs rosemary

large sea salt, to taste

1/2 cup white wine, chicken stock or water

Rub the nutmeg into the pieces of chicken, and place them in a heated cast-iron skillet (preferably) with olive oil on high flame. Let sear about five minutes, until one side is browned a good deal. Add salt, red pepper and half the rosemary. Flip the chicken and let sear the second side.

Add the rest of the rosemary, and more salt as necessary. Add the wine, stock or water and cover loosely with a lid. Lower the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook until done through, approximately five to ten minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving.

As the chicken is cooking (err... burning under supervision), let's get going on the zucchini:

Sautéed zucchini with olives

(serves 2)

3 small zucchini

3 medium cloves of garlic (or 2 if you're not so garlic happy as we are), minced

5-6 Kalamata olives in brine, minced

salt, to taste

The ingredient list is really for the sake of formatting - here are the less than abundant requirements.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over high flame. Slice the zucchini and add them to the pan.

Let the slices brown, about ten minutes. Add salt (not too much, as the olives are already quite salty themselves), the olives and garlic. Lower heat to medium and let cook five minutes more.

The finished zucchini await their chicken companions on a plate.

Off to San Francisco

As of this picture, I had yet to fit my various sweaters and cardigans. Oi...

My bags are packed. The laundry and dishes are clean; the rubbish taken out (I forgot to do this before a two-month trip once, which resulted in a rather unwelcome homecoming surprise). Presently I will be on my way to the airport, and off to San Francisco for the next seven weeks.

Carry-on entertainment and necessities: books (About Town and Strong Opinions), notebooks, pens and cartridges, phone, wallet, haphazard embroidery, scores, passports.

I'll be part of Opera Academy of California's start-up summer program. We'll be presenting several master classes and scenes in addition to three full productions (I'll be singing Lazuli in L'Étoile). As the program is new, we will be a relatively small group of singers, so we'll be kept quite busy!

Going away also means finishing-off-the-contents-of-the-fridge meals:

Brown rice fried with lettuce, almonds and an egg for lunch yesterday...

... and eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, turmeric and pumpkin seeds on toast for breakfast today.

Winter Weeknight salad

While yesterday's slush spurred me to cook up a hearty dinner of sweet potatoes and baked bluefish (we bought a whole specimen and called him Bernard) covered with bacon and shallots, today seemed like a salad night. The result was a welcome mixture of tart, sweet and rich tastes and textures.

Arugula and pear salad with feta and pumpkin seeds.

The mixture, per plate:

A couple hefty handfuls of arugula or other dark green (spinach, etc..)

Half pear (red Anjou here), quartered and cut into thin slices

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (pepitas), toasted

1 oz feta

The dressing, for two plates:

1/4 cup kefir or tart plain yogurt

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

As is generally the case when I cook, I end up using ingredients off the top of my head, and mixing them by sight and taste rather than by strict number. I encourage you to do the same, and to disregard my "recipe" in however many ways you see fit.