Stone Cold Soup - Yummm

My enfant terrible is out of town for a few days at his grandmother's (actually he's a great kid and I miss him very much) and while he's away I'm getting extra time with my husband.

On Wednesday night G-Pup and I met for a beer at The Rex after his workday. Despite living in Toronto since 1983, it was the first time I had set foot inside the old Jazz bar. I've yet to see any performances there.

After one there, we ambled far west along Toronto's bustling Queen Street. After deciding on something casual to eat but before we actually walked all the way home, we stopped at an old diner called The Swan. The Swan is really sparsely decorated - if you could even call it decorated - but what they do have are the original diner fittings that look like they date back to the '30s.

Most of the restaurant was reserved for a private party complete with oyster shucking on ice, so G and I sat at the bar.

I wanted to tell you about the soup I had there. I've been on an avocado kick since I first went to Julie's Cuban restaurant last winter. The Swan's soup of the day was Avocado Vichyssoise. It was absolutely delicious.

It was thicky, creamy, ice cold. Besides the avocado there was a hint of cumin and a hint of coriander. I loved it.

I've been searching for a recipe and I found this one in an old New York Times article, which is in turn from the book ''Paris in a Basket: Markets -- The Food and the People'' by Nicolle Aimee Meyer and Amanda Pilar Smith (Konemann, $19.95). I haven't tried it yet, but this recipe seems like it might be closest to the one I enjoyed at The Swan.

AVOCADO VICHYSSOISE

Time: 30 minutes, plus chilling

1 1/4 pounds medium boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
Salt
2 Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
4 cups chilled, defatted chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cilantro leaves for garnish.


1. Place potatoes in a saucepan of salted water, and cook until tender. Drain.
2. Place half the potatoes and half the avocados in a blender with 1 cup chicken stock, cumin and lemon juice. Process to smooth puree, gradually adding another cup of stock, and transfer to a bowl. Puree the remaining potatoes and avocados with the remaining stock, and combine with the first batch. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.
3. Serve garnished with a few cilantro leaves or chives.
Yield: 6 servings

recipe found athttp://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/31/dining/by-the-book-outdoor-markets-inside-the-kitchen.html
soup image www. marthastewart.com
top image: www.blogto.com

2nd image: dineto/swan

Van Gogh - Self-Portrait at the Easel

Jo Bonger-Van Gogh, Theo Van Gogh's widow and Vincent's sister-in-law, was quoted saying that the above painting was "of all of his self-portraits, the one with the most likeness."

Denvir, Bernard, Vincent, A Complete Portrait, Running Press, Philadelphia, 1994

No Van Go 2

While I was trying to find a photo of Van Gogh to accompany the post below I happened upon this photo, supposedly of Vincent Van Gogh. It came to light about 5 years ago and was on display at the Seton Gallery at the University of New Haven in an exhibition titled Discovering Vincent van Gogh: A Forensic Study in Identification.

The man in the photograph does bear a striking resemblance to Van Gogh. The information found on the 4 1/2" X 5 1/2", photograph circa 1886, identifies the photographer as Victor Morin, 42 RUE ST. FRANCOIS, ST HYACINTHE.

The photograph was discovered in the early 1990s by a customer flipping through an album of photographs, mostly of clergymen, dating back to the late 19th century at an antique dealer's in Massachusetts.

The man who found the picture saw the resemblance to Vincent Van Gogh and took the photograph to a photo historian who had previously worked on identifying images of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant. The expert was convinced it was Vincent, contesting the veracity of earlier known photos of Vincent, believing them to be his brother instead.

Tests were performed on the photograph by a forensic institute also in New Haven. Investigators matched the size of the forehead, the shape of the eyes and even individual hairs.

They too believed this to be Van Gogh stating, "Even the most minute detail matched up, even the smallest hairs on the beards matched up,"

The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam has contested that the picture is the artist. And rightly so.

I’d like this to be a photo of Vincent Van Gogh – my stomach flipped when I saw it. But alas, it’s just wishful thinking. Despite Van Gogh’s hard life, the subject of the photo looks older than the 33 years Vincent would be in the photo. But the quickest Google verifies the photographer Morin as being located in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. There is no other St. Hyacinthe.

Considering Vincent van Gogh was hungry enough to eat paint and borrowed money constantly from his brother, I don’t think Vincent came to La Belle Province and had his photo taken.

Thanks to an article at Guardian.co.uk, The Guardian, Tuesday 24 February 2004, David Teather

No Van Go

Forvo.com is a great website that features native speakers pronouncing words or names from all over the world. Apparently Vincent Van Gogh's name, which most of us lazy English speakers pronounce Van Go or Van Goff, is really pronounced closer to Van Hoch. You have to get really guttural with the GH.

Here's how it sounds. Make sure you hit the arrow with Juansi at the bottom of the page or else you'll get a German version.

Here's another from the vggallery.com

and yet another from a website I've just discovered called ingolo.com

Gelukkig Verjaardag dear Rembrandt

It was 403 years ago today, that Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the Dutch painter, was born. He depicted himself 40-50 times, which trumps even Vincent Van Gogh. Here is an early self-portrait of Rembrandt and his last, plus some pithy quotes.



"Practise what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know"

"Old age is a hindrance to creativity but cannot crush my youthful spirit. "

"Choose only one master - Nature."

"I envy the poet. He is encouraged towards drunkenness and wallows with nubile wenches while the painter must endure wretchedness and pain for his art."



Here, according to a Dutch speaker, is the pronunciation of Rembrandt van Rijn.

Vive la France! Vive la république!

Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L’étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Egorger vos fils, vos compagnes !

Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons !
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !


La Marseillaise, 1907, from youtube.

Bonne Fête Nationale!

Fête Nationale or Bastille Day is the national French holiday which commemorates the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 which in turn signaled the beginning of the French Revolution.

The Bastille was a medieval fortress-like prison that had come to be associated in the minds of the French citizens with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy. The capturing of the Bastille was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French nation; the people had signaled that the king's power was no longer absolute – the ancien régime was at an end.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way” Charles Dickens.

Claude Monet. Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878. 1878. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

Although not Bastille Day, this painting by Monet gives an Impression of a joyous celebration.

Life is the Ultimate Work of Art - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I realized recently that I haven’t seen any Woody Allen movies for years. I stopped paying him any attention since Crimes & Misdemeanors and Alice came out in the late 80s.

That’s what happens when old men have affairs with their 20-something step-daughters – I tend to ignore them. But since Woody and Soon-Yi have been a couple for 17 years and married for 12 – I guess I can get over it.

This week I watched the DVD of Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona and I liked it very much.

Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamoured with the same seductive painter and he endeavours to get both of them in his bed.

Vicky and Cristina, although close, are as different as Snow White and Rose Red. One is sexually adventurous - the other, cautious and about to enter into a conventional marriage. Both are mesmerized by the celebrated Juan Antonio and are unaware that his passionate and tempestuous ex-wife, Maria Elena, is about to re-enter his life.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a real treat with eye candy for everyone, with Rebecca Hall as Vicky, Scarlett Johansson as Cristina, Javier Bardem((melt)), as the handsome lothario and Penelope Cruz as his ex-wife.

Like all Allen movies witty dialogue abounds. The scenery and architecture in Barcelona and the Catalan province of Spain is fantastic.

I give Vicky Cristina Barcelona an 8 out of 10.

Kiki de Montparnasse

The liberated Kiki was a French artists' model, and a sometime nightclub singer, actress and painter. Mainly, she was a party-girl who was found in the right place at the right time.

Kiki was born Alice Prin in 1901. Her chosen name was simply Kiki, but was also referred to as Kiki de Montparnasse.

Kiki helped shape the social scene of 1920s Paris. Known by everyone in the circle of artists and writers that flourished in Montparnasse in the '20s, she was the muse and lover of several artists including Man Ray and posed for dozens of other artists.

I have a couple of books about her including her memoirs, but notably Kiki, Artists and Lovers, 1900-1930 by Billy Kluver and Julie Martin. It's one of my Desert Island Books.

I've saved this picture (below) for a couple of years. It's from The Style Scout; a street fashion blog out of London. I thought the young subject did an admirable job of recreating Kiki's look, whether intentional or not. (I think she knew)

Château des Brouillards

I don't have my notebook with me that has Renoir's address and phone number so when I was looking up P.A.R's Montmartre's address on-line I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal, January 25th 2008.

"A longtime Parisian home of Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir is on the market for €3.75 million (about $5.5 million), reduced from its listing last year of €4.5 million.

Known as the Château des Brouillards (mists), the 18th-century stone house was also the childhood home of famed filmmaker Jean Renoir, the painter's second son. The house is in Montmartre, the Bohemian enclave that lured Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and many other artists. The neighborhood figures in Renoir's 1876 masterpiece "Le Moulin de la Galette," as well as the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The four-floor, 3,200-square-foot stone house has four bedrooms and a concierge's apartment. There's a front garden and a 1,200-square-foot interior garden. The current owner's family has held the property for about half a century and hasn't renovated the interior, says listing agent Xavier Attal, of Immobest International in association with Quintessentially Estates and Prestige Properties.

Jean Renoir, who directed "Grand Illusion," wrote extensively about the Château in a memoir of his father, who died in 1919 at 78, calling it an "odd conglomeration" of buildings "perched high above the Paris mist" whose hedge let its inhabitants live "in a world apart.""

www.luxist.com also has an article about the house and includes photos.

Two Sisters

Here's a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir that one of my mother's favourites.

The Toronto Reference Library has a 1912 directory for Paris. In it I was able to find the addresses and phone numbers for many important citizens, including Renoir!