Our book club finally met this past Thursday evening at Elizabeth’s house. The book, Mademoiselle Benoir: A Novel by Christine Conrad was a sweet, enjoyable and interesting book – a somewhat easier read than what we’d been previously reading. Younger man leaves big city live, buys farmhouse in South of France, becomes a painter and falls in love with older beautiful French woman. Family drama ensues…little bit of food, little bit of landscape, lota love and a little philosophy. We all enjoyed the book and especially enjoyed the French inspired dinner that chef extroidinere Elizabeth prepared.

French cheeses (including a delicious Brie with Truffles), Grapes and Baguette
Chicken Marbella (chicken baked with olives, prunes and oregano, a Silver Palette specialty and so PERFECT!!!)
Mousse au Chocolat for dessert, decadant!
oh, lots, perhaps too much red wine????!!

Chicken Marbella served with mashed potatoes

Meredith and Elizabeth – at this point we may have been casting the book, somehow this always happens and I was crying it was so funny. Elizabeth do you really think Michael Cera should be cast as the lead????

Our newest member Sara! You were a great addition!

The perfect French dessert!

Until next time, we are all submitting suggestions for our next read. I’ll keep you posted!

My good friend and bride-to-be Miriam and I went back down to the Flower Mart today to do a little wedding flower research (maybe I should get a job down here, seem to love it!). We started out at Moskatel’s for vases – Miriam was pleased to see that compared to brother company Michael’s, Moskatels has a much bigger selection and she purchased 3 choices.

We then went next door to the flower mart (quickly before it closed at noon) and scoped out what flowers were going to work in these vases. Miriam’s color palate is in the whites, yellows and greens and what a selection!

The beautiful bride-to-be with her favorite and future bouquet of Ranuculuous! For all you future brides, check out Miriam’s funny and informational blog NotABrideYet.blogspot.com for some great tips!

We loved these Coffee Beans, Miriam bought them in yellow.

So much to choose from! But any way you shake it, the bouquets for her wedding are going to be GORGEOUS!

Miriam and fiance Michael have a great wedding website offering their guests all the information organized in a beautiful and detailed way (such a good idea!) – MiriamandMichaelsWedding.com – check it out!

These days with lots of time on my hands and the weather still threatening rain I am really into making all kinds of new soups. On Valentine’s Day Marc took me for a very romantic lunch at thsi great French cafe in South Pasadena called Bistro a la Gare. And it really is by the “Gare” or in this case the LA Metro! The place is really charming, my favorite thing about it is the gorgeous wild garden they have growing outside. And, they are located right next to a nursery. Did I mention they also have a gourmet store attached. Baguette for the road! Anyhow we shared a Carrot soup which was so delicious and of course inspired me to try on myself. Talk about recession proof recipe – a couple bags of carrots, a little piece of ginger root, a little squirt of orange and voila, Carrot Ginger Soup! Here is the recipe I modified mine from. I added more carrots and ginger and less cream. You can’t go wrong!

Ginger Carrot Soup
Recipe courtesy Maxine Bonneau

Prep Time:30 minInactive Prep Time:20 minCook Time:45 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons sweet cream butter
2 onions, peeled and chopped
6 cups chicken broth
2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 cup whipping cream
Salt and white pepper
Sour cream
Parsley sprigs, for garnish
Directions
In a 6-quart pan, over medium high heat, add butter and onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are limp. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced.

Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Don’t fill the blender more than half way, do it in batches if you have to. Cover the blender and then hold a kitchen towel over the top of the blender*. Be careful when blending hot liquids as the mixture can spurt out of the blender. Pulse the blender to start it and then puree until smooth. Return to the pan and add cream, stir over high heat until hot. For a smoother flavor bring soup to a boil, add salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with dollop sour cream and parsley sprigs.

What I love about soups: Easy to make, super cheap to make, really delicious, healthy and makes you feel like you are really creating something! No guilt trip after eating soup unless you did eat that entire baguette with it, now that’s another story!!!

Looking for that dream house? Well this is your lucky day! Richard Gere’s Long Island farmhouse is on the market for a “cozy” 8.8 million. A grand total of 7 bedrooms and 10.5 baths. Guest house and Artist’s Studio. Beautiful!

Love how overgrown and natural the garden looks

The Artist’s Studio – what a dream!

Nice size bedroom and love the windows!

These 2 kitties had a lot of couples counseling before they could reach this point my sister Lisa tells me. Looks like they finally worked out their finicky feline issues and who knows what those coulda been!!! Even in the kitty world there is hope, especially on Valentine’s Day. Nero and Lucille, how sweet!!!

Yes, even during the madness of Valentine’s Day the Los Angeles Flower Mart is well worth the trip!
And guys, if there is one thing that is WOMEN 101, women love flowers. Although you are going to a little more trouble to go here you are, afterall, paying wholesale! Check out the website for hours, they are open to the public from about 6 or 8am and close at noon (although they are packing up well before that and I would get there before 11am!)

Expect to find buckets upon buckets of flowers!!!!! Know your color scheme, know what she/he likes!
Mix and match, add some greens. Branches are INCREDIBLE too!!!

Flowers in season will be especially affordable but really you cannot go wrong!

No, you will not find this – this you will very cleverly have to put together yourself or thats when you reach for the phone….(that’s ok, point is, just get flowers and get them ALOT!!!!)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

My sister just emailed me this recipe and I can’t wait to try it! For anyone searching for a great dish to make on Valentine’s Day, this could be it! The lime and ginger add a new twist to the classic tomato, seafood linguine combo! An Arugula salad, a really chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio, something chocolate for desert, I’d say you’d got it!!!

PAN SEARED SCALLOPS ON LIGUINE WITH TOMATO-CREAM SAUCE
Ingredients
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup chopped seeded plum tomato
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups hot cooked linguine
Cooking spray
3/4 pound large sea scallops
1/8 teaspoon salt
Chopped cilantro
Preparation
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium skillet; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 5 minutes). Drain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids.

Return wine mixture to skillet. Add cream; cook over medium heat 1 minute. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Stir in tomato, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Add linguine; toss well. Cover and keep warm.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Arrange scallops in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Add scallops to pasta mixture; toss gently to combine. Garnish with cilantro, if desired. BON APPETIT!