<Mari Quance DeRuntz>

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

english and sugar snap peas, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

cilantro, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

spinach and lettuces, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

beans and parsley, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

climbing rose, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

sweet onion, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

lettuces, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

savoy and rapini, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

blueberry, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

snap beans, originally uploaded by quanceblog2.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

GRILLED VEG, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

We're having a delicious extended Carolina spring.

PANINI, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Favorite meal, or, how Rome changed my life, chapter one.

PREFORMS, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

The Sunday ritual - walnut bread on the left, the one on the right is going to be a traditional batard. Am I just beginning to notice how many of the words that come first are French?

sugar snaps, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

4 x 8 foot plot of snow peas. (Can't decide which I like to eat more: the vines or the peas.)

new garden, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Spring break gave the time to plot a quick garden: poblanos, spinach, zucchini, frissee.

orchid, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

The one thing my brothers are better than me at... growing orchids. This one, however, two years after relocating to NC, exploded.

insalata, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

thyme, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

lemongrass, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Spring resurrection.

herbs, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

cilantro, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

naan, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

School was closed for the week for maintenance, so I'm adrift in free afternoons of running, researching (work and school), tending to materials (toning paper, making gesso, planning frames for Ariadne, Silenus and Euripides), and cooking/baking.

My stomach has also been leading my hands through the middle and far east all week, with a bit of Europe (Italy is my mother) tempering it all. The whole week has been a grand restoration, with thoughts always drifting back to recent and huge comprehensions in Arte. But on this blog, I'll stick to the foods.

First inspiration: pickled jalapenos, eggs, and beets, all packed into mason jars and laid up in the fridge. Fresh aioli made with pickled jalapenos tastes sort of like tartar sauce. Christmas fell on Sunday, which is bread day(have a pretty consistent weekly bake from a sourdough starter fermented from grapes ). Something about the mason jars led to homemade yogurt (like hearth bread using natural preferments, this is completely and deliciously different than what the local grocer supplies). This led to many yogurt derivatives, not being as weirdly tangy as storebought, I use it to thicken pasta sauces (great with peas, chicken stock and grated asiago) to replace coconut milk in Thai curries, and it goes without saying that when you have homemade yogurt, you have to make many middle-eastern bean dishes flavored with lemon, herbs and good olive oil, so I did. And then, of course, if you have fresh yogurt, you must make Naan, or yogurt flatbreads, to sop all of that deliciousness up with. S came home last night to an incredible spread.

quail, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Christmas dinner - courtesy S - Quail stuffed with wild mushrooms with asparagus and pan sauce, although he's been reading Art Culinaire and would probably call it something more fancy. Back when I was cheffing, and we would take exotic trips for one purpose: to eat, I'd always order quail. See, I could never be a vegetarian... love love love those little birds. They're even self-trussing - cut a small slit through the skin just above the thigh and poke the opposite leg through to secure; repeat on the other side, and now you've got a secure little bundle.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

persimmon, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

Was feeling smug and well-fed tonight after a hasty rustic salad of what happened to be ripe and on hand: homemade sourdough walnut bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic, spinach, gorgonzola, and ripe pear. Well, look what S came home with - a special he created at work. So yes, I'm spoiled rotten. NOT YELLOW MEALY TOMATOES, those are persimmons (tastes like a melon), prosciutto, watercress, toasted hazelnuts and shaved fennel.

ugly vest, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

... have some hope for this after I eventually finish it, which may be inspired by a Carolina cold front this weekend. Still to go: a simple rib on one armhole, seaming, weaving the loose ends (yawn) and blocking.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Yo little brother. Email me: marideruntz@yahoo.com (it's my spam mail, but you can leave your info there and I'll call.)

Sunday, August 14, 2005

tomatoes 081405, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

They went in very late, May, so the fruits are just now beginning to ripen. The flavor, though, is amazing. This is something we could have never done in Florida. Too many bugs.

Tomato hornworm attack began last week. It's an education learning a new plot of land, and a plan is emerging for a fall planting of arugula, beets, spinach, bitter greens...

Thursday, May 05, 2005

cotton 1, originally uploaded by quanceknit.

First summer project: a "Mind of Winter" original, the honeymoon tank, in plum.

The rest of the cottons arrived promptly from Webs - great, great prices, and I'm perfectly able to handle miles of stockingette right now. Meditative.

LS had a great idea at school: before each life drawing session, we should have a five-minute session of collective meditation. Empty our minds and quiet everything externally and internally. Brilliant. Am reminded of a Russian, or maybe it was Swedish, flick from back in the college days: The Sacrifice. One of the big ideas: if you did the same task every day at the same time, and everyone followed their own personal ritual in the same way, the world would be different, and that through this simple act of meditation, the mind could prevent the apocolyptic destiny presented by most religions.

Just a thought.