a pastry pop up on a rainy day

 

chanda reminded me last night that she and lucien would be baristas at a cafe pop up hosted by the restaurant she works for. (the restaurant is not intending to open fully for breakfast until april.) i immediately wrote ellen to see if she wanted to meet for coffee and pastry (it's her favorite place).

the space is very small and we almost didn't walk in because it looked so crowded. however, several people walked out, leaving room for us at the bar.

here are our lattes made by chanda. lucien served up the oatmeal with cream and brown sugar and rhubarb . .

it was so delicious . . so incredibly creamy! the pastry chef was jr ryall from ballymaloe house hotel in shanagarry, county cork, ireland, and there were many cakes and other beautiful looking pastries all laid out along the bar. too bad i didn't take a pic! (you can see the cookbook in the prior photo.)

(it rained today, so many of the very dirty hills shrunk in size. the street cleaners have also resumed their rounds, so sidewalks and streets are beginning to look a little better. also, it poured during my walk home and i got very wet!)

rainy morning, steamy afternoon

 
the rain didn't keep anyone away from the green market . .  

as the vegetables are so luscious . . these beets!

cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, panisse, red leaf lettuce, celery, cherries . . 

and blueberries . . 

greg and i worked on putting the rest of the doors on the bookcase . . cricket supervised . . 

he thought the work progressed well . . 

zuzu was assistant inspector . .

and pluto made sure the structure was sound . . and also tasted the dust i had yet to vacuum up . . (i'm shouting answers to questions from chanda in the bedroom . . she was perusing tickets to london for august).

voila!

it took me forever to make dinner as there were some old vegetables that had to be wrapped up for the compost bin, and then i had to wash and chop for the beet salad and the green salad . . make a dressing and prepare the fish . . (porgie fillets) . . 

but it all worked out for a delicious meal.

rainy days

 
it's such a dark, dreary, rainy day with the wind howling through the courtyard and east along the street from the river.

saturday chores

it was very grey today . . and there was so much rain. it just poured nonstop. greg went out to the green market for granola, but the apple people (who sell the granola) were not there. he came back with a lemon scone, two chocolate croissants and a morning glory muffin. later on we had eggs and chicken apple sausage for lunch. i sorted through a lot of drawers and many piles that had accumulated in various places. we now have several bags that can go to the thrift store bin, and several items that can go out on the sidewalk to be picked up by anyone who is "stooping." (we'll put them out tomorrow when it isn't so wet.) chanda did some writing for school and greg solved some tech issues for work.

we played a game of "apples to apples" after lunch.

i won this time and greg is complaining that he won't play again because he lost (he likes to tease).

chanda and pluto:

i was trying to take a photo of pluto amidst the mess on my bed, but he wouldn't pose for me. he just kept preening himself. chanda came to the rescue, but it's a funny pic.

this is sweet . . 

after chanda left, greg and i worked until 7:30 and then finally made some ravioli and a salad for dinner. it was a late meal.

coffee in soho

today i met korrina for a coffee at a new cafe/restaurant she wanted to see. they haven't begun putting pastries out yet, but their coffee was very good. since they didn't have food we walked to three of cups for a bite to eat.

korrina's beautiful mittens she just finished (pattern by brandi cheyenne harper from her book, knitting for radical self-care).

and a work in progress . . 

(golden latte and a hot chocolate)

delicious paté . . 

what i came home to (i think they were hunting a spider). (and, yes, it was raining for my walk home.)

rainy tuesday

while these three were cozy at home, i ventured out into the rain to help ellen with class . . 

waiting for the others to get ready and for class to begin . . 

dinner with greg at danbo, a ramen place i noticed when sending a photo to korrina of a new wine bar on the same street. we thought we would try it this evening. i didn't think it was as good as the two places i like in our neighborhood, but greg really liked it.

more about monday

i walked downtown in the morning to meet greg and visit the department of motor vehicles to deal with some paperwork for the car. it was a pretty morning for which i was thankful, but the walk home grew grey and rainy. i was glad i had brought my umbrella for the last few blocks.

lunch after the appointment . . 

walking home . . 

city hall . . 

the clouds rolled through and it began to rain . . 

rainy monday

tea and honey moon cookies . . 

rainy saturday

the dark hot chocolate i bought when out with janet yesterday was too rich for me, so i brought it home and put it in the fridge to share with greg today. overnight it solidified and turned into a creamy pudding (i guess the cafe must add corn starch to it, perhaps). i whipped heavy cream to top it off and turned it into a delicious afternoon dessert.

it was a laundry day . . 

i folded while listening to a podcast from knitting designer joji locatelli.

pasta with fresh swiss chard for dinner.