Friday, July 30, 2010

Bijou Burgers

Here is Cendrillon's first recipe (did I mention I was aiming for an all-rounded blog?): Bijou Burgers, 'bijou' being the French for jewel, also a paraphrase for cute, small or appealing. If you are anything of a foodie you will go into ecstasy over these. They are quite fast to make, and add a gourmet twist to what is supposedly the symbol of fast food, obese America. They are delicious open-topped on toasted bread.


Ingredients:(serves 4)

For the burgers:
1 packet 5% fat beef mince
2 onions
1 loaf of bread, sliced and toasted
1 1/2 cups of finely ground nuts (e.g. hazelnut, almond or coconut)
Olive oil

Garnishing:
Roquette
Lamb's Lettuce
Mustard
Tomatoes

1. Mince the onions in an electric mixer, place in a frying pan with olive oil, paprika and herbes de provence (basil, thyme, estragon) until translucent.

2.Mix the mince, onions and nuts together and, with your hands, form patties about 6cm in diameter. Fry them until crispy brown and serve immediately.

3. Mix the mustard and honey together to make sweet mustard (optional), melt cheese on top and decorate with roquette or lamb's lettuce, and enjoy!





Thursday, July 29, 2010

Aurèle, 15 Rue Royale, Paris


Buy of the month? A pair of real 50's pink satin-covered stilettos! Absolutely gorgeous, they are a fetichist's dream. Everything about them is perfect, apart from a little hardly-noticeable water-staining on the toe--I have been in raptures ever since we bought them in a lightning buy in Patine et Paillettes, my favorite shop in all of Uzes, selling a combination of secondhand clothing and antiques. These were in the antiques section, and come with a cute little clutch bag.













I hope after this post that it is sill clear that I am a die-hard feminist.
You know 'stiletto' means dagger in Italian? Therefore I think that stilettos should be a symbol of feminist empowerment, and not the icon of femininity.

Thanks to my sister for modelling the clutch.

Oops!

Dear readers,
I forgot to mention the address of the pottery gallery we discovered in my post 'Pottering about'. Here it is:
Les Souris Blanches
21 Rue de la Fontaine
St Quentin la Poterie

Agnes Alex makes the plates and lamps, Marine Maudet makes the sculptures, which I stupidly forgot to take pictures of...

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pottering about


















Went into the St Quentin la Poterie Tuesday market because rumour had it that cheap courgette flowers, one of my favourite foods, could be found there. However, there were none to be found so we went on a wander to find some nice things to look at. St Quentin has been famous for its pottery since the Roman occupation, so it's full of beautiful shops selling porcelain and clay creations. We came across this gorgeous boutique, a shared space between three artists: a painter, a porcelain potter and a sculptor, named 'Les Souris Blanches', The White Mice. Just thought I'd share some of this exquisite bone china lighting. We got a salt bowl and a candle holder.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Pop into Ventilo














I was corrupted a couple of years ago, when, to my mother's great delight, she discovered that there was a Ventilo factory outlet not too far from where we live, and took me along. It didn't take me long before I was hooked, and now the damage is irreversible. Their Avignon boutique is just so delicious, a quirky mix of ideas and styles, mixing the baroque extravaganza of a full-length mirror with the carefreeness of seashells. You encounter a floral armchair, a coloured spun-glass chandelier, suspended mannequins... I also spied some gorgeous embroidered tennis shoes a la Bensimon, which gave me a bee in my bonnet about boutis tennis shoes. Wouldn't that be a adorable?

Accosted by the Off


Here are some pictures of the street tactics of the Off performers in the Avignon festival. The Avignon Festival consists of two theatrical concepts: the professional troupes performing in the big theatres, which you have to reserve months in advance, and the 'Off,' the informal grass-root casts consisting of gappies, friends and other drama hacks, who perform in any possible space: cellars, pocket theatres with twenty minute turn-overs... It's the Off that have to attach the posters in precarious places, hand out flyers and parade about the medieval streets in attention-seeking costumes.
Did you know that the Avignon Festival, rival to Edinburgh, has been around since 1947, when Jean Vilar performed three plays: the Bard's Richard II, Paul Claudel's Tobie et Sara, and Maurice Clavel's La Terrace du Midi in the Papal Palace itself? The first Festival was therefore defined as a festival celebrating unknown works and modern scripts.