Crisp days, blurry days, and a weekly menu

There was last Monday. The first day of our family road trip. The anticipation of joyful moments, picnics, walks, meals and laughs. Looking forward to the unsuspected. The discovery of new places.

The bright crisp air of the central coast of California. Ocean and country. We are surrounded by beautiful gardens. I wake up and feel compelled to go explore what the early morning sun brings out of this gorgeous vegetation. I want to go out and see the light. See nature. Capture it. My mind is clear, light, peaceful, inspired. Unencumbered by the everyday. All it is interested in this morning is witnessing the surrounding beauty. It is not interested in the forest, it is interested in its trees. Perhaps that is the meaning of Zen.

And there was this morning. Back to “real life” and its burdens, deadlines, obligations, fires to put out. But in fact, it is less real. My mind projects into an uncertain future, is flooded with worries and doubt. I feel down, anxious, guilty, overwhelmed, helpless. It’s uncomfortable and downright depressing. I try to talk myself out of it. It doesn’t work. What I try to teach my son I must practice myself: just be with my feelings, without judgment, without solution. Just be with them. It’s difficult.

Some time ago, this morning would have paralyzed me. Kept me from doing anything. It would have been all-consuming. And for several minutes, it was.

Then I just go on anyway. I have been away from this haven of a blog for a week, too long. I have so much to share. There’s an effervescence around it: a wonderful stay at a lovely goat farm I want to tell you about, the first anniversary of this blog coming up in a few days, cherry and berry picking field trips, and an exciting new collaboration with my favorite goat cheese maker. There’s going to be a lot of talk of goat around here in the coming weeks, so I hope you’re ready for that :-) Til then, sharing our week's menu with you.

Looking back at these photos of last Monday, I read life into them. Patches of color. Bright or dark. Growth, that sometimes bears fruit. Lots of blur. And some clarity too. Perhaps that is why I felt so inspired that morning. Why I wanted to share them here with you. Perhaps you will see some of your life in them too.

On to the week's menu.

Cheeses of the week: Following French tradition, I always offer a little bit of cheese at the end of every meal, between the main course and dessert. Rotation this week: Comté, Port Salut (cow cheese), fresh goat cheese.

Desserts: At lunch, I offer a fruit yogurt (or plain yogurt with fresh fruit), but at night, I prefer sticking to plain yogurt (regular homemade* whole milk, sheep’s milk, goat's milk and Greek yogurt for extra protein) to avoid too much sugar before bedtime.

If you would like a particular recipe on the menu, feel free to contact me! (I marked with a * the recipes that will be the topic of upcoming posts).

MONDAY

Lunch 
Appetizer / Finger Foods: New potato, Italian parsley salad with poached egg
Main course: Smoked salmon, avocado

Goûter (4pm snack) – White nectarine

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Persian cucumber salad in creamy yogurt tarragon sauce
Main course: Pan-fried leg of lamb, cannelloni beans, lettuce & vinaigrette

TUESDAY

Lunch
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Cauliflower, tomato salad
Main course: Sauteed lemon shrimp

Goûter - Strawberry rhubarb compote + plums

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Sauteed rainbow chards, orange, goat cheese salad inspired by Vanilla Bean
Main course: Braised ham-wrapped endives au gratin

WEDNESDAY

Lunch
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Grated carrots French-style
Main course: Steak tartare, butter lettuce with herbed hazelnut vinaigrette

Goûter – Apricots

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Green beans, cauliflower, chives salad
Main course: Roasted chicken, zucchini eggplant au gratin*

THURSDAY

Lunch
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Mixed quinoa, crudités, beans salad
Main course: Ham, leftover zucchini eggplant gratin

Goûter - White peach

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Authentic Greek salad
Main course: Dover sole fillets with spinach-broccoli puree

FRIDAY

Lunch

Appetizer / Finger Foods: Sauteed watermelon radishes & romano Italian beans inspired by Gourmande in the kitchen
Main course: Chicken liver salad with raspberry vinaigrette

Goûter - Cherries

Dinner 
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Greens soup (from carrot, beet, radish greens)
Main course: Bison patties, baked yams

SATURDAY

Lunch - We're going cherry picking at Copeland Cherry Ranch
Packing a picnic with feta chickpea salad, cherry tomatoes, melon and prosciutto, cheese.

Goûter - Cherries!

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Yellow heirloom tomato gazpacho
Main course: Leeks lemon feta quiche with mâche salad

SUNDAY

Lunch - OUT - going foraging again, looking forward to learning more from Pascal and Mia!


Goûter - Cherry clafoutis*

Dinner
Appetizer / Finger Foods: Artichoke custards
Main course: My mother's oven-roasted ribs, peas and carrot jardinière

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