It´s such a treat to be invited to a ´new´ house for the first time. As we parked our bikes, we heard the Louvin Brothers singing through the open window, and as we walked in the door, there was the smell of eggplant frying... and Marcella Hazan´s Essentials was lying open on the page with one of my favorite recipes which I used to make all the time but somehow forgot about.. and a happy dog jumped to greet us, and I spotted a glorious blueberry pie in a corner of the kitchen, and I knew things could not go wrong.
There were salty, spicy, briny clams baked with rosemary, tomatoes, beer and butter, there was a perfect and juicy onion frittata, there were those nostalgically delicious eggplant patties and a crunchy tart Ceasar Salad, and then there was Pie.
The pie.. oh that pie! The filling was just right, soft but not too runny, and it had the most perfect flaky and tender crust. Turns out it was made with this.. I need some.
There was music too, and some You Tube fun, and an Ethiopian dancer, and there was (at least in my case) too much wine, and on the way home there was a Barbra Streisand moment in the Vondelpark that might better stay undocumented.
Thanks guys!
6 comments:
Lovely visit, Klary---the pie is amazing.
Are we speaking of THE Louvin Brothers? I didn't think anyone listened to them any more.
This is my own memory of them, from a day in my childhood when they played their music on my Grandmother's front porch:
http://lawntea.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunshine-on-path.html
rachel
Charlie and Ira, yes...thanks for the memory, rachel, it's a nice one.
Miss Klary, I'm assuming you didn't get anything photogenic from the eggplant course either? And did any of my D/K photos end up not being crap?
rachel, how exciting that you saw them play!
mark.. no, there were no good eggplant pics.. as for the people pics: my hair looked great in all of them, and that's about it.
Thanks Klary and Mark!
It makes the long kitchen-sessions very worthwhile when the result gets globally documented; this is a new experience for me...
We had a lot of fun as well, thanks for the company.
Jeroen
Thank you all for looking in at Lawn Tea!!
It's so good to know that the old music still has its admirers. And I see you call them "Charlie and Ira"---I don't think I've ever heard it phrased that way.
It was always "Ira'n'Charlie," in a quick burst, almost one word, to those whose familiarity with their music was an everyday thing, and whose friends and acquaintances spoke of them thus, as well.
I would imagine that you all do not have occasion to speak of them often, at all, and especially not to many other people, unless there's a resurge of fans there, and that would be a lovely thing.
The strains of "AAAAAA-la-BAAAAAM-a" are running through my head right now.
They were kind, polite gentlemen, and only a child's awe for these "famous people" made them any different from similarly-dressed, equally-mannerly men of our own town.
I DO try to imagine what it took for Mammaw to pick up her own instrument and sit down with that gifted, famous mandolin player, and I think it would have been her version of sitting down to a duet with Perlman.
Thank you all for dropping in!!
rachel
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