Thursday, July 08, 2010

Les Fruits Rouges de Juillet

Fruit rouge the, 9" x 11"

It's July so you should be eating your fruits rouge.
If not, please hightail it over to Gerard Mulot 
76, rue de Seine 75006Nobody does fruit rouge better. Mulot seems to be in love with red fruits and why not? This is the season. I just had some for breakfast.
Gerard Mulot's bag/sac is perfectly rouge for your red desserts...
Sadaharu Aoki is no slouch with the red pastry brush, but let's face it, Macha green tea is really his favorite.
Ok, you cannot go 2 steps in Paris without bumping into some red fruits. The new Carette salon de the has a stack of them.
Did La Grande Epicerie have moi in mind with this 'Artistes Fruit Rouge'? But you cannot taste everything.
If you can't get your paws on some fab fruit rouge desserts there is always fraise tagada- no one can put a terrific spin on penny candy like the French.
Not to be left by the rue, Sennelier catches the fruit rouges tendance/trend and goes to town with it.
Naturalment you must be appropriately dressed to eat les fruit rouges.
You can make do with just a red fleur rouge, if you have no red shoes.
And yes, you can get away with just a red scarf if it comes to it.
True, you will have to go to Lyon to this all-red shop to get it, but it's just 2 hours there and back on the tgv, so why not?
Then sit yourself down at this red cafe in the Marais.
With this red book. Don't worry about the content, as long as it's red!
I did exactly this in juin. Granted it was not juillet (the RED month) so no wonder there were a few slipups. I ordered this delicious looking fruits rouges compote at À Priori Thé. They threw in the gingered brownie as an extra treat. miam-miam!
The tea salon is set outside in the Galerie Vivienne corridor so when I went inside to the loo, naturalement I took all my stuff, just playing it safe...
Imagine my surprise when I saw the staff’s red faces, crowded around my little table. They thought I'd done a runner! Don't believe anyone who tells you the French don't smile. Ha! There were Big smiles when they saw me return to pay the l'addition.
BONJOUR FRUITS ROUGES JUILLET!

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Hummingbird Bakery

Rose framboise cupcake, watercolor, 9" x 11"
Nevermind the scorching heat-there was NO internet for 4 days.
On to more important things - the mass invasion of the Cupcake into London!
Did you know British bakers are visiting New York City for just one day, stopping in at least 18 bakeries and then flying home to knock us off in their own inimitable way?The Hummingbird Bakery was on my route from South Ken Station to the Club, so I could not miss this major high point of London gourmandises. The lines are every bit as fraught with anticipation and angst as at Pierre Herme in Paris... In the name of research I too joined the line and bought a red velvet cuppie... Whilst stealing as many shots as possible... All in the name of cupcake research of course... I am not a true devotee of the almighty cupcake but Hummingbird's graphics are out of this world... Plus their cookery book, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook is praised to the skies on Amazon.uk and the pictures are adorable... I spotted these luscious OTT numbers along Kings Road - our cupcake is EVERYWHERE in London... Even as I was rushing to catch the 'chunnel' back to Paris I found cupcake wrapping paper in St. Pancras station. Why didn't I buy it at 5:20 am?
First stop in Paris, Le Grande Epicerie and what am I greeted by? Cupcakes bien sur. HMPH
One cannot escape these petit bijou sucres hauts en couleurs it seems...
In BHV cupcake cookbooks...
A London shot in Sainsbury (pronounced sanesbrie pls.)
Where do they come up with the term 'muffin cases'? No doubt you'll tell me the Brits invented the cupcake so they can call these whatever they like...
Fasten your pastry seatbelts PBers. London and perhaps Paris (God forbid) has taken to the Whoopee pie. What next? The full scoop on London listen to the BBC Food Program. You'll be enlightened further. This is an adorable video from Hummingbird, not to be missed.
BONJOUR LONDON CUPCAKES!

Friday, July 02, 2010

Petersham Nurseries

Are you off barbecuing your breakfast somewhere nice today? Or are you stuck at home catching up on painting homework or whatever. I thought I'd take you off on a nice outing to Petersham Nurseries. Believe me you could do far worse and there's no traffic to fight etc.

They have huge sheds filled to the limit with treasures you will instantly want to own.

Like these glorious over size pots. Does one HAVE to have a garden to own these? Is it obligatory?A tree trunk table. I so need this!!! Who knew?Every place your eye lands there are divine little still life setups.Someone here is a painter, that's for sure...

Thursday, July 01, 2010

CarolGillott.com

I'm delighted to announce, after 5 long days of labor, I have a new baby on board - Carol Gillott.com was born this week with the superb help of Mat Rosa. It's my chance to show you a few of the things I've done Did I mention in passing I painted chef's jackets. Merci Roger Verge.I've been a party sketcher

Not a bad profession as professions go...

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Pierre Herme Tarte croustillante aux cerises

Pierre Herme Cherry Strusel Tarte, watercolor, 9" x 11"
Normally I wouldn't picked out a strusel-covered tarte at Pierre Herme, but Amy and I discussed having a 'crumble' taste test at Les Deux Abeilles.  I took a shot of the tarte before gobbling it down Sunday just a week ago - I usually forget. M. says cherries/cerise = June/juin. This being the last day of June it seems appropriate to do an homage of sorts to cherries.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

New York Girls

I always wonder how Bill Cunningham does it?
Capture the New York Girl with such dash and ease..? Yesterday as I was slogging through the 90 degree heat, the New York Girl was everywhere! New York tourists are always looking up, so they completely miss her... Or they're looking and shooting each other at New York 'monuments' like Rock Center...The way to find the TRUE New York Girl (or NYG) is to look at the ground... Fab sandals everywhere. Does this NYG have a twisted ankle? Divinely simple Gucci sandals - how could I miss the logos all over... The Gucci's owner - quite soigne and all in neutrals.