meanwhile, everybody’s favourite peony is dying.
can someone please take this camera out of my hands.
Last night French Boy and I decided to eat out. It’s a rare decision for a Monday night, but I hadn’t made it to the grocery store during the day as I had planned (note: I didn’t MAKE the time to GO to the grocery store) and we had no food to speak of in this little boat of ours.
So off we went, with no plan in mind of where to go.
We ended up at the only Indonesian restaurant that we truly love here in Amsterdam. Dining in this restaurant is a rarity on any given night because usually it’s too packed and we are too spontaneous to make a reservation so we just don’t go. But last night, it was just nicely packed which means we didn’t have to wait too long for a table. So we went to the bar and ordered some wine, and then in no time, our table was ready.
But I’m not writing all this to tell you about the restaurant, or what we drank, or what we ate. I’m writing to tell you how this place makes me feel. And the only word that I can find that comes close to the feeling is ‘home’.
However. I’ve never lived in Indonesia. I don’t speak Indonesian, and let’s be honest, my skin is almost as white as it can come, with a splattering of freckles to boot.
So how is it that the moment I open the door to this bustling dining hall, I feel ‘home’? Well, this is my theory…
Perhaps you can see why I wanted to linger.
In the lead up to mother’s day when I had my homeware boutique (eons ago), I had a signwriter write on the window “mum’s the word”. Then, written on my cafe window which was on the next pararellel street, I had written “yum’s the word”. I thought that was really clever, even though no one seemed to notice.
This year I say, how about a lovely book, a little bunch of peonies and yummy breakfast for your mum on sunday?
Kimberly from the gorgeous blog mimi charmante suggested to her readers that Paris: Made By Hand would make a great mother’s day gift. And I thought, yeah what a great idea! So thank you dear Kimberly for suggesting this.
I now have a list as long as my arm of independent bookstores in various states in the US that I haven’t yet been able to update on the book’s webpage, so if you leave a comment on this post asking for your local stockists, I shall reply.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there, that includes you mum!!
xx
PS I received an awesome email this morning from my dear friend michi, in Sydney, who had ordered my book as soon as she found out it was available. The email said “… your book arrived!!” and there was a photo of her holding it, with a huge smile on her face. I was totally chuffed.
As if this week wasn’t exciting enough!
Admittedly I was asked a month or so ago if I’d like to be ‘in the kitchen with’, it just took me this long to actually get the recipe and photos together! It’s been a busy month, and as its turned out, the post is lovely timing with the book release. The best thing is that while I was cooking this recipe two beautiful water creatures came to visit me so I grabbed my camera, grabbed the dish and snapped away…
Check out the full post and recipe for my pea, mint and feta risotto right here.
And if you do make this recipe please let me know what you think of it – I tend to add ingredients as I go, tasting along the way (I’m an artist and not a recipe writer! unlike my own (blog)house kitchen guest) so if you feel there is not enough of one thing or it needs more of something else, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Merci Grace and Kristina!
xx
PS I STILL can’t believe I actually got a photograph of the risotto with the swans in the background. wowsers.
