Food
-
Carpathian wild & foraged food
Inevitably during our day trips we get to this place where the paved roads end, gradually becoming gravel, occasionally concrete blocks for stream forging, only to dissolve into paths that might end at the last house before the dark wall of the woods. Or, you might find yourself picking up an asphalt road on the other side on mountain. The seasons are spectacular, if unpredictable, for those on the lookout for a quiet drama, for those with no expectations, those determined enough to venture out there in any weather, even when told there is ” no mushrooms this year” because it is too try, or too wet, or too many…
-
Cosy and festive at home
Celebrating New Year’s Eve at home this year, with intention. The “recipe” is quite simple: boxes and envelopes stuffed to the brim with vintage family photos, something freshly baked and something moody and smooth to sip. Few easy ornaments to test the creative spark of the day, and off we go into the stories of the past. The brandied dried fruit of Christmas time made its way into homemade scones and vintage inspired concoction. The photos create stories and mysteries to ponder on. Who was the your woman climbing the trees in one photo, and looking like a poet’s muse in another? Who was Clara?
-
Home for the holidays
Home for the holidays, as in “staying” not “going”, “making” not “buying”, “planning” not “head-spinning”…The year of the pandemic brings on a different kind of Christmas and a deeply personal story. Call it looking for a silver lining, perhaps, but this is the celebration of the handmade, the slow, and the meaningful. The celebration of small measures, imperfection, joy of finishing a project started few months ago, or another two weeks ago. Brings the memories of collecting color tin candy wrappers all year long with my Grandmother to wrap large walnuts to hang on a Christmas tree on December 24th. The memories of cutting straw and delicate tissue paper for…
-
Gathering around autumn table
This is the season that I have been preparing for since early summer. How is that for slow living, or a ‘slow project’, because living, well, has been anything but slow recently. I started by sowing pink and white strawflowers this year in my container garden. I managed to harvest only a handful, some of them very tiny, because they disappeared among the ever overbearing purple basil. Then, I dismantled every farmers’ market bouquet I had bought this year, and meticulously separated the strawflowers to dry. They are not making appearance at this table, as I am keeping all the orange hues ones for another occasion. I have also picked…
-
Garden Story 2019
The end of gardening season is almost here. Sure, there is still baby spinach and red mustard that may or may not bring harvest before the frost, and a lone Tuscan kale plant, that I am half heartedly guarding against the critters…The days are short, shadows are long, and there is only enough warmth and direct sunshine to sustain less than an hour of sitting in a garden with a good read. Before the backyard disappears into a soggy and eventually a frosty, entangled mess, here is a reflection of what did well, and what was only a tease in our city backyard this year. I now strongly believe that…
-
Portugal – countryside food tales
Beyond my, now well documented, love of Lisbon there is a little secret. The countryside outside of Lisbon, all within less than 2 hour drive. Looking deeper, past the veneer of maybe little too perfect home renovations, there are still captivating stories to be told, with colorful local characters, oblivious to the demands of instagrammable perfect shots. Moments that unfold into stories, and only take time and curiosity to develop. Enter the village of Ericeira, on the Atlantic cost. While my traveling companions went into the cave looking for elusive sea urchins (elusive mostly because they were not in season!), I opted for the above ground vantage point, mesmerized by…
-
Raspberry cordial and rhubarb cake
It is late June as I write this, but it happened to be the same moist, lush green and heavy on a drizzle day as month ago when I set off to photograph the Raspberry Cordial and Rhubarb Cake afternoon treat. You would think that only children get restless when it rains for 48 hours non-stop…Think twice. On day two of the rain deluge in the southeastern Poland, a town tucked away at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, in the region called Beskid Niski, I opened wide my parents’ garage door, set up my trusty prop table stored there just for the occasion, and set up an afternoon tea. …
-
Easter at the table
I will simply call it ‘Easter state of mind’. Going back, it was truly the holiday that evoked Narnia-like world of ephemeral flowers awaking to the warm rays of sun, and everything that was delicate and wonderful and bound to disappear any moment. Wildflowers were at arms’ reach, when I was growing up, all you needed to do was to go to the end of the fields to a magical stream and cove called “debrza“, and pick to you heart’s content. Then, there were larch trees growing at the property, planted by my grandfather. By the time I was in college, most of them had fallen in a particularly powerful…
-
Wintry Blood Orange Pavlova
Technically speaking, the winter was supposed to be over right now. Still when the snow fell, I did not hesitate to head outside to photograph the cloud-fluffy meringue in, well, white fluffy snow. Even my flowers matched, a random bunch of white carnations, as if they anticipated the snow… Pavlova stands up to all seasons, but is sure lovely in winter when the fruit can make up for the lack of flowers in all its prettiness… The recipes are countless. I like the one from Cal Peternell. The reality check version, as I call it. I highly recommend caramelizing blood orange slices. I followed the technique described in this this…
-
Festive winter gathering
Wishing everyone magical celebrations tonight, however small and cosy, in rain or in snow, at the heart of a party, or lost in a novel…
