For Melis

IllustrationCurie@2010Babetteandfriends

Mille Feuille

Collage-Illustration©2010Babetteandfriends

It is a rainy Saturday, a perfect day for making sweets!

We decided to try and make Mille Feuille, since we woke up with a distinct sweet craving. While there are World Cup games going on, eyes are glued on "futbol" "soccer", whatever you call it, blood sugars may fall or rise and what better remedy than a perfect Mille Feuille?

Mille Feuille's success is all in the preparation of the dough.

Its thinness and freshness are essential for Mille Feuille.

Preparation is time consuming but, it is worth spending the extra time for crisp fluffy sheets. Once baked and filled with layers of fresh cream you will be delighted.

I watched the video of Master Pastry Chef,Keiko to refresh my memory for the dough and followed it for making my dough. It is very simple. She has also a great E book for novices. (thank you Keiko!)

For the cream you need:

Milk 500 g (17.5 oz) Butter (unsalted) 30 g (1 oz) Sugar 100 g (3.5 oz) Eggyolk 100g(3.5oz) Cake flour 40 g (1.4 oz) Vanilla essence

Bon Apetit.

Confession: For Babette and friends, I made their Doggie Mille Feuille with wheat flour and spread a bit of liver and cheddar in between their sheet of "mille woofs" so there would not be any "begging" while we are eating ours...

Iris to Ceres

Illustration@2010BabetteandFriends

Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims,
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom -groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn: thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air;--the queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch and messenger am I,
Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

From: The Tempest by Shakespeare

Mushroom Princess

Last night we had a feast of mushrooms. I usually like to eat my mushrooms in olive oil with parsley and not overly disguised in heavy cream.

But, this recipe sounded great : wild dried porcini lasagna with sage, from Dean and Deluca Cook Book.

While washing the mushrooms I got an idea for a new fairy tale. I wrote it down immediately. It now waits to be edited. In summary it is about unlikely heroes, borzoi brothers named Oscar and Nico and their rescue of a princess. Because she had been turned into a porcini mushroom -by a wicked witch - this unlucky princess lives in the shape of a fungus without her feet to walk about, with a nice bunny family deep in the woods ... Lovely, isn't it? Now, how to rewrite this without scaring 7 year olds so that they don't cry every time they see a mushroom and get traumatized by seeing someone eat them...Hmmmm...

I read about the etymology of porcini and I came across this interesting information:

The standard Italian name porcini means 'piglets'(remember the expression porco miseria! porco=pig). Apparently the attribution derives from the young mushroom's resemblance to pig's ears.

In French we call them cèpe de Bordeaux.

Apparently it has derived from the Gascon cep which means "trunk" for porcini mushroom's fat stalk, ultimately from the Latin cippus "stake".

Whatever it is called, whichever continent it grows on and however it is cooked this meaty edible fungus is always so delicious!

Mystery Visitor at the Farm

Hello, it is Babette here!

We had a mystery visitor! A little black cat who must have left home in a hurry without wearing a collar. How unwise!

My human thinks it is a lost house cat, but I think not, it is a barn cat all right,  with all that hissing scratching my human (what bad manners) she ought to be wild.

Cooper, Willy and I approached to say welcome with gentle woofs.  You would think he had seen the devil!  He climbed the maple tree and would not come down even after scrumptious treats were offered.

Silly cat! 

Nonetheless he remained in the garden. In the mornings as soon we lifted the shade here he was with big yellow eyes, gently meowing.  I guess it is kind of cute in a feline way.

We put out milk for him and he made himself comfortable under the porch and cleaned the plate with good appetite. Finally we became good friends. She had that ‘je ne cat quoi’, a wise wildness and comforting quietness.

My first cat friend. 

Then one day he was recognized by the postman, he said this cat belongs to someone, a neighbour 3 miles away. Apparently he was being searched for days: “ Haven’t  you seen the posters?  “ he asked. No we didn’t.

And now he is gone. 

I never liked that postman. 

Next time he comes around I plan to nip his ankle…

Apparently the cat was a she. 

NO wonder...

The sea in my mind

Illustration-Collage©2010Babetteandfriends

My human dreams of Maine these days. 

She keeps saying ‘Babette, very soon we will go by the sea, hear the waves, walk on the cliffs, go down on the beach, collect pebbles and eat fish cakes in a simple shack by the ocean and then feed the gulls’.

Well, I don’t like that big gaping bathtub she calls sea. Who knows what could be lurking under that deep puddle. I have no intention to get my pretty hair wet. Besides the lulling sighing song drives me nuts!

But how to woof this to her? 

 Collage available in Shop.

Storm

Storm is definitely brewing... There is already the smell of rain and wild flowers and hay in the air. Time to get my thunder wrap on!