forty-sixth at grace: April 2011

4.23.2011

the saturday sandwich - one worth crossing the street for

happy weekend y'all
happy very near to the start of may.

____

i'm big on sandwiches

super keen on

the flake of a croissant

and the texture of bread.

smitten about proper cheese

and well-grilled meat.

truth be told

i could just about fill
the pages of a book

with the the merits

of the little bready gems.

garden tomatoes

and crisp greens.

and stacks of things

layered just so.

and thus, via special request

my first ever attempt at
a steak and egg.

for me,

it's one last kick at that wintery can.

it's a farewell to cold

and a bright hello to spring.

and for all intents and purposes
it's super easy.

it has a fried egg,
sunny side up

the yellow of yolk oozing still.

it has tarragon and lemon

and good lot of crème fraîche.

it has avocado
and butter and pan-fried bread.

it's got bali pepper (!!) and sel gris,

and perfect pieces of strip loin.

it's the kinda sandwich

you'd cross the street for,

i can all but promise.

talk soon

xox, n

plus,

a tentative plan for the coming week:

a story about juice
a whole lot of cake

and a wee shop update too!

hooray to all of it.

__________

world kitchen in new york
a recent gift. kinda lucky.

pink shorts

new shoes
a pretty ring
a teacup and saucer
a rigger belt
and a tea pot

photos: michael graydon

prop and food styling: me

props from: martine blackhurst

_____

the first four:

a chicken salad sandwich

a spot prawn croissant

yorkshires and beef and little beet greens

a spicy crab brioche

a steak sandwich worth crossing the street for

the process

make the tarragon and lemon crème fraîche, refrigerate

wash and dry the greens, set aside

slice and butter the bread, set aside

season and grill or pan fry the steak

allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes

pan fry both sides of 4 slices of bread that has been buttered on both side

fry two eggs, season with sel gris and bali pepper

slice the steak

mash the avocado with the back of a spoon

get ready to assemble

ingredients

1/4 loaf of country white bread, sliced

unsalted butter, room temperature

1 strip loin steak, seared or grilled

2 eggs, seasoned and fried sunny side up

1/2 a ripe avocado, roughly mashed

a couple handfuls of fresh arugula

a few dollops of tarragon and lemon crème fraîche

a small bit of cloth bound cheddar, shaved*

long bali peppercorns, cracked

fleur de sel

tarragon and lemon crème fraîche

1/4 cup crème fraîche

the juice of half a lemon, strained

2 1/2 teaspoons kozliks triple crunch mustard

1/4 of a small shallot, finely diced

a large handful of fresh tarragon leaves, lightly chopped

a couple pinches bali long peppercorns, freshly cracked

a couple pinches sel gris

wash and dry the tarragon, remove the leaves, discard the stems, chop and set aside

with a mortar and pestle grind a couple long bali peppercorns, set aside
juice and strain half a lemon and chop the shallots
in a small bowl mix the crème fraîche and lemon juice

add the mustard and shallots and mix in the tarragon

season to taste, cover and refrigerate

to assemble

spread the avocado on the bottom slice of each sandwich

arrange the arugula atop the avocado

divide the steak between the two sandwiches

add a couple dollops of the tarragon and lemon crème fraiche

season with fleur de sel and bali pepper

gingerly place the sunny side up egg atop there

shave a liberal portion of cloth bound cheddar on each

place the remaining pieces of bread
squish down a little and that's it, you're all done.
yum!

*i like cloth bound cheddar in this sandwich but any white cheddar will do just fine

4.14.2011

on childhood wonder and clouds made from dough.

hi!

how are things?

it feels like ages since we've chatted

i miss you guys!

i've just a moment

but let's talk a little about wonder
the whimsical childlike sort.

___

i can pinpoint the moment i first felt it, wonder that is.
it was spring and i was four, maybe five.

i remember it like it happened last week.
like the way you remember the first time you had bread
warm from the oven.

i sat crouched on the green grass
in the lower field
to the front of my grandparent's home.
there were two fields there
a top and a bottom
the pitch of both starting north
and bending just slightly
south, edged in fences of worn wood
and divided through the center
with a rickety gate.

there was a barn that sat to the left side
and up on the hill, my grandparent's home.

there was swimming pool behind it
and a deck that wrapped right the way 'round.
there was a garage and a fish pond
and place where an old truck sat.

i wasn't alone there
my cousin sat near to me
with my great grandfather
between us two.
he was a man
i can't explain to you now
i don't know the colour of his hair
or the shade of his eyes.
i don't remember the lilt of his voice
nor the way he walked.
i only remember his hands.
like it were yesterday
i remember those hands.

he was kneeling down beside me
his elbows bent and his hands cupped
filled with small violets
he had plucked
from between shards of green grass.
his fingers cracked,
dry around the edges
worn with age.
but his heart tender i think,
showing us two little girls
those tiny wild flowers.

i can see the stems
the green and fresh that they were.
the watery kind of string that seemed
to fall from their ends.

and i'll tell you,
it was those violets that got me to wonder.
it was the tiny specs of white
that seemed to hover

near the deep dark of their centers.
it was the shape of their petals
how uniformly together
they seemed to be.

it was the fascination
that such pretty little things
were in a field, growing

where the horses came to eat.

it's kinda beautiful, that.