YDS Chronicles

So it's "Mad Men" weekend?

2010-07-23T20:13:00.003-04:00

This is a photograph of my grandmother, Marion Brown, promoting her second book, with a little help from James Beard, in New York, around 1955. The book is"Pickles and Preserves" of old pickling recipes (greengage preserves? mushroom catsup?); it was reissued a few years ago and is still available. Her better known cookbook, "Marion Brown's Southern Cooking" was a mainstay of mid-century Southern kitchens and has stayed continously in print. My grandmother died in 1995 at the age of 92, after they took away her vodka and cigarettes.

The book is not for beginners, but anyone who knows the Ball "Blue Book" probably knows what to do.

H/T to one of the best food blogs, "Gherkins and Tomatoes"!

Chennai, India

2010-02-12T17:55:00.002-05:00

Chennai auto-rickshaws. Very, very scary. If you can afford a car, you hire a full-time driver. Too dangerous for amateurs to drive.

Chinese Colors

2009-11-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

In Beijing, I was told "Blue is for the Heavens, yellow is for the Emperor, green for the Empress, and grey for the people". Beijing is nothing if not sensory overload, but the colors mostly are the same. Blue is usually bright cobalt blue (except for beautiful ultramarine tiled roofs) and red is always bright red, "the color of blood". Buildings are a soft warm grey.

Durian

2009-11-25T09:08:00.001-05:00

The yellow spiky fruit on the right is durian, which has a smell so objectionable it is banned from hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia (but maybe not in China). A friend called it 'corpse fruit'.

It's not Daddy's China

2009-11-25T08:48:00.001-05:00

When my father visited mainland China in 1980, it was so filthy they couldn't use the towels and brushed their teeth with Scotch whiskey. Not anymore. The parts of Beijing a tourist is apt to see are spotless. The Beijing airport, with its spit-and-polish officials, make most US airports look even worse than you thought.

Ishtar Gate, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

2009-11-25T08:44:00.001-05:00

The Ishtar Gate on display is the smaller of two gates erected in Babylon around 575 BC. The gate is constructed of bright blue ceramic tile that was excavated in the 1930s; one wonders how they dug this out. This gate is roughly 45 feet high, and extends through a long gallery. The larger gate is in storage.

Potsdam Politics

2009-09-28T19:44:00.004-04:00

Potsdam is the capital of the Brandenburg province, and a short train ride from metropolitan Berlin. I think they were geared up for the election, too. This crane lifted three guys at least 120 feet, we figured, for perhaps a signal relay to a venue behind the Potsdam Brandenburg Gate.

This was definitely not the time to have either the wrong color skin or the wrong color passport. An Al-Qaeda video was broadcast a few days before the election, and it was taken very seriously. Police with bullet-proof vests and rifles at their waists were all over the train station and airports.

Stranded at the Reichstag

2009-09-25T12:28:00.014-04:00

On the way to the next museum on my list, I was feeling really smug about getting around in Berlin, when the bus stopped in front of the Reichstag - home of Germany's Parliament. The driver made a long announcement which of course I didn't understand, and most of the people on the bus (a big double-decker) got off. So I did too. I had noticed a lot of film crew trailers around; I walked up to the Brandenburg Gate, which looked like it was getting set up for a concert. Still not getting it, I saw they were blocking streets and barely letting any traffic, even busses through. Finally I find the bus to take me back to the station, which then gets stopped for a long time for a whole lot of police, mounted police, and finally a motorcade around a big black Mercedes, which slips into Bellevue Palace, which is the residence of the German president. (The flag flying indicates the president is in residence. I don't think those dogs are there for exercise) The blockades, platforms and film crews? Sunday is election day. Angela Merkel (who is exactly my age) is supposed to be the clear winner. Moral? Always scope out local events. The Berlin Marathon messed up everyone else last week.

Museum Island

2009-09-24T13:01:00.001-04:00

Construction and bikes everywhere. Everybody in Berlin rides a bike (it's flat). Mostly 'step through' or what we think of as 'girl's' bikes: that includes macho looking guys with shaved heads.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin

2009-09-24T12:40:00.005-04:00

The Pergamon is one of four enormous museums in the "Museum Island" in Berlin; this is in the Mitte, the historic part, which would have been in the east German side, behind the Berlin Wall. The museums date roughly from the 1800s; the Pergamon is shrouded almost entirely in plastic , which gives it kind of a "Christo" effect .

2009-09-23T17:44:00.000-04:00

Gemaldegalerie, Berlin

2009-09-23T12:08:00.001-04:00

This is the finest collection of European art, in the best setting, I have ever seen. This is a closeup of an Albrecht Durer portrait; in his eyes you can see reflections of windows and even moldings. The gallery is in a new facility: the collection is as if all the art books you used to look at just fell open. Vermeers, a room full of Rembrandts, Hals, Cranach, fabulous loose Rubens, Bosch, van der Weyden...

Not Exactly how I pictured Berlin

2009-09-22T08:07:00.001-04:00

The Charlottenburg Palace, in Charlottenburg, which before unification was the affluent part of West Berlin. Except for things like this it reminds me of Durham. The interior is overwrought Baroque, but with very fine Chinese porcelain. The clipped bay trees in painted whiskey barrels are very cool.

Rosie, Danville Train Station

2009-09-15T18:03:00.000-04:00

My old friend Rosie (nom de blog) is the best, and certainly the most indefatigable, cook I know. Her recent posts on dealing with a pig's head are something other than else. Her recent posting on the Danville, Virginia, central market reminded me of this. Photograph in the Danville station, around 1972.

Where Greek statues go when they're tired.

2009-09-05T14:55:00.001-04:00

2009-09-05T14:52:00.001-04:00

Espaliers

2009-08-29T13:13:00.002-04:00

I thought espaliers existed only in gardening books. This is one of many pear trees espaliered in the garden of St Anne (a beautiful public garden and public library too.) The pear trees are underplanted with roses.

Creperie, Perros-Guirec

2009-08-29T13:10:00.001-04:00

Ever wondered what a Breton creperie kitchen looks like? Now you know.

Marina, Perros-Guirec

2009-08-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

Market Day, Lannion

2009-08-27T05:11:00.000-04:00

Because nothing says 'Celtic' like a harp. The mike is a nice touch, though.

Lannion Street

2009-08-26T12:22:00.000-04:00

Those large corner borders? They are secret gardens, too.

Convent of St Anne's

2009-08-26T12:14:00.009-04:00

A 17th century convent in the middle of town. A lovely public garden, a public library, and an engineering dept of the University of Rennes live here too.

St Anne's Garden

2009-08-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

It took me a while to figure it out but this is a working garden shed.

This one's for Rosie

2009-08-25T08:50:00.001-04:00

A galette Breton, which is a staple here. It's a buckwheat crepe about 13" or so, folded, with fillings. This had ham, onions, cheese, a few steamed pototo slices, and egg. The recipes I've seen use only buckwheat flour, not a mix of wheat and buckwheat flour like you usually see. The crepes are thin and crisp, not spongy. The fillings are not lavish so it makes a nice lunch.

2009-08-25T06:31:00.000-04:00

Lannion shopping district.

Municipal Flower Border

2009-08-24T05:46:00.001-04:00

A border near the bridge - probably 20' or so long. It contains scented geranium, lavender, Queen Ann's lace, maybe, artemesia, rubber plant, who knows what else. Lots of purple and blue annuals. What happens when they rip this stuff all out for the next season? You would think there would be armies of workers to maintain this perfection, but you don't see any.

Lannion Bridge

2009-08-24T05:38:00.001-04:00

One of the main bridges in the center of Lannion, which is a few miles inland from the Breton coast in northwest France. It is a mercantile town with a great deal of telecom (France Telecom, Alcatel) near by. It is also 'ville fleurie'. There are flowers everywhere, on lampposts, bridge railings, borders, corners, roundabouts, everywhere. Every single one perfect, not a wilt or weed anywhere. It is also the hydrangea capital of the universe.

Mimes

2009-07-26T15:28:00.000-04:00

The figure on the far left, with his hand to his hat, is actually a mime. The other figures are bronze. One would think there would be more to do in a city like Antwerp, but maybe not.

2009-07-26T10:40:00.001-04:00

The Big Cat is in Antwerp:

"That's the train station right next to the hotel (view from my room, 802).
stopped in a small grocery in the train station . Lots of shops in the train station - mainly diamond jewelers. Lots of hasidic jews wondering around."

Really big boats

2009-07-04T18:50:00.000-04:00

Much bigger than they look. Oddly, measured in feet, not meters.

What?

2009-07-04T18:46:00.000-04:00

There was a small (very small) boat regatta going on, and along came this.

Cannonballs

2009-07-04T18:44:00.000-04:00

This is what a cannonball foundry looks like. Much easier to make the cannonballs near the cannons.

Antibes Harbor

2009-07-04T18:41:00.000-04:00

Is, I think, the largest in Europe. The big boat is more typical than smaller ones. Antibes is interesting; much of it caters to English-speaking men looking for crew gigs.

Antibes

2009-07-04T18:38:00.000-04:00

From atop the wall in Old Antibes - sandy beaches are not common, not much by waves, or tides, either.

Pizza

2009-07-03T18:25:00.000-04:00

Not much variation among the menus here, but all of it is good - when the wind shifts, the garlic is pretty strong. All the pizza has crust as thin as crackers - like motzoh, or lavash. Other menu standards are beef tartar, lots of squid. You can get cheap, delicious sandwiches on baguettes everywhere. The baguettes are smaller, and less brittle than the ones you buy here.

Guys on the Beach

2009-07-03T18:16:00.000-04:00

You get used to the topless women on the beach quite quickly, at least I did. Old women too, the color of brown shoe polish. Boy was chagrined that no young women seemed to go topless - mostly the twenty-or-thirty somethings.

Serious yachtage

2009-07-03T18:00:00.000-04:00

Most boats makes the ones you see in NC look like rowboats.

Petanque

2009-07-03T17:44:00.000-04:00

Similar to bocci; played mostly by old men; pastis is part of the scheme.

Restaurant Owner

2009-07-03T17:42:00.000-04:00

It's true what they say about dogs in French restaurants, except this one - possibly the biggest dog I've ever seen - owns the kitchen, too.

But the Water's Really Cold

2009-07-03T17:37:00.000-04:00

Guy on the beach

2009-07-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

Boy, Island of St. Marguerite - where the Man in the Iron Mask was jailed.

JFK is even worse than you thought.

2009-06-23T02:46:00.001-04:00

There are lots of birds inside the Delta terminal, which is under construction. The little birds like the light fixtures, where they like to eat and groom. The pigeons like the rafters best.

La Belle France

2009-06-23T01:10:00.001-04:00

A penal Tour de France?