So Sylvie

Rosie Parsons

It was my birthday on June 2nd and I've been eating cake ever since. We had a comfy family birthday dinner at home on the 2nd. Unless I'm going to be sitting at a long table under a grape arbor in Tuscany, settled in for an eight course meal, I don't really care to go out to eat these days. I prefer a nice slow meal at home. I made a spinach mushroom lasagne with béchamel sauce and gruyère cheese. Mmmm. Then we had a chocolate madness cake with ganache. Mmmm.

 

Ladurée

 

On the 3rd of June my sweet neighbor Doug and his yellow labrador Cody surprised me with a triple layer chilled cake that had two layers of chocolate cake with a mint custard in the middle and ganache on top. Mmmmm.

Rosie Parsons

Then last night my friend and fellow collecting hound David came over with a mile high totally gourmet carrot cake, with an incredible cream cheese frosting. My dinner menu:

pilaf with raisins, cumin seed, and almonds

salad of fennel bulbs, bartlett pears, basque sheep's cheese, and nasturtiums

wild salmon fillets with a dill, lemon, olive oil marinade, cooked quickly in the oven in an iron skillet

shallots, crimini mushrooms, orange cauliflower and broccoli sauteed in olive oil

garlic naan

 

We also had an exquisite Australian wine that David brought. Luckily I saw him coming up the path as his hands were too full, what with the cake and wine, to ring the bell.

I saw a fabulous show on the Cooking Channel today — David Rocco's Dolce Vita.

 

 

David lives in Florence and his friend Eddy visited from Amalfi arriving at the flat loaded down with instruments, packages, and octopus from Napoli! He had to kick the door open because his hands were so full. Rocco says there's an Italian expression "bussare con i piedi" (something like that). It means you have to "knock with your feet" at the door because  you're bearing so many gifts. It's a good thing.

 

Paper Orchid

I'm so happy the summer is upon us and that I'm taking time to be with friends. Which leads me to my latest declaration. I hereby declare myself a Slow Blogger. I'd been having some guilt over the fact that I have dry spells where I don't post for weeks at a time. There are so many great blogs out there where people blog every day, even several times a day. I want to read them all, but I can't keep up. Slow down you amazing bloggers! You're making me look bad! I came to the conclusion that like my interior design style, and my cooking style, I am also a Slow Blogger. There. I've given myself permission and a context. I'm so relieved! See you soon?

 

Crew resting on the set of David Rocco's show

P.S. I've been receiving emails from readers asking "Who made those cakes?" They are by a British catering business called The Utterly Sexy Café