Raisin infused sherry

At the grave risk of too closely resembling a character in an Anita Brookner novel I've been drinking sherry in the late afternoons. I call it "raisin infused sherry" and it's quite irrestible. As an added benefit I get to snack on "sherry infused raisins" in between sips or get a headstart on dinner by tossing the enhanced raisins into a salad. This pre-dinner ritual just might be the new me. It's definitely un petit fig, a little island of happiness.

It was serendipity - all the best things are

Raisin infused sherry came into my life because of another obsession: making my grandma's noodle kugel recipe (updated, upscaled, she would approve) for every single Jewish holiday.

Recipe step #1:

Put raisins in a microsafe bowl or small saucepan and cover with sherry. Heat until liquid is steaming. Let cool while you prepare kugel mixture.

Now drain raisins and add them to kugel mixture OR, if it's not a Jewish holiday, skip the kugel part. Take reserved sherry to the sofa. If you have the energy put on music, merge with sofa and the paper or a magazine, but best is the Anthropologie catalog, and just be.

The complete kugel recipe: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E4D9163FF931A2575AC0A9619C8B63

Reverie

I'm going to Paris in November to spend 10 days with my daughter who is living there this semester. The last time I was in Paris, I was 17, on a high school trip - let's just say it was a while ago.

A pensionne, narrow, gently winding stairs up several flights, my best friend and I share a room, big bed, massive armoire, breakfast delivered to us in bed each morning. He pours the hot milk, the coffee, from two pitchers simultaneously into bowls. We flirt with him. The croissants are always perfect, strawberry preserves in a silver dish, white cloth napkins. Then wandering through Montmartre I buy a painting and a record album, Francoise Hardy. We sewed all the clothes we took on this French club trip. Remarkably, we were taken for French girls. Later that day, an outdoor cafe with glasses of citron presse, basking in that compliment, the April sun, being 17.

Boulangerie potatoes

Tonight I made boulangerie potatoes with white beans and thyme, cream, leeks, butter. Salad with blue cheese and a shallot vinaigrette, warm french dinner rolls, wine, that's it. It rained all day.
Recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman via Tummy Treasure