Croissants (Lucky Peach)

For those of us not eating clean or fresh or whatever is currently underway for creating a new body in the new year, pasta with potatoes. YES. Andrés made this for lunch last week when I was recovering from my latest knee injury. (I won’t lie, I instructed heavily and was generally quite difficult.) It was a wonderfully comforting dish, plain and simple, salty from the parmesan we grated into it, with bursts of orange carrot against the beige.

I sometimes smell the perfume my grandmother used to wear and I am instantly returned to her house in Cape Town. This made me think about her smell again, and that profound way smell can transport you to other times and places. (I was directed to the article via Rachel Roddy’s latest blog post.)

On food and memory. Jacques Pépin describes some of his food memories, the rituals made up of traditions, and food made with love and care.

How much do you want to make preserved quince tart tatin? Or anything quince related for that matter – everyone seems to be writing about them at the moment. Molly over at Orangette has a recipe for poaching them which also sounds divine. I have never eaten quince (other than as membrillo) and I’ve been keeping an eye out but haven’t found any yet!

‘Knowing where you are in the world is fundamental to knowing who you are’. A fascinating read about celestial navigation and how we navigate our place in the world. I have always found looking at the stars comforting in a way I cannot really explain. The stars are different here but seeing Orion in the night sky is immensely reassuring. His presence signals that I am on the same planet as the one before, even though sometimes I feel very far away from home, in a strange place with strange cultures (and Orion appears to me to be upside-down). But his presence in the night sky is a comfort, like the swallows that return year on year, that I can imagine at my mother’s house, swooping into the eaves on the stoep, raising their babies. I cannot wait to show Andrés the southern cross and the Milky Way, which you can see so clearly in the South African countryside.

I particularly love how the article goes on to talk about storytelling: ‘The human mind is structured around stories. Connecting things to stories, poems, songs, music and visual art makes this knowledge more real to us, charged with emotive power, which aids in the forming of memories. It helps us come to know things, and to know their place, by knowing ourselves more deeply as well. Storytelling helps us to find our place in the world’.

On family, living away and sharing meals  (Guernica)

The world of black market cheeses. Who knew? (Thanks Jen!)

Lastly, how much do you want to make a peanut caramel flapjack? The snack of snacks I think.

Have a good week!

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