Saturday, July 25, 2009

recipe for a perfect saturday


if you want to have a perfect saturday, here's what you need:

1 glorious, sunny day with temps in the lower 70s
1 husband, busily working in the garden, but not requiring anything from you
1 8-year-old daughter, calling out cheerfully and laughing frequently in the distance
1 friend for 8-year-old daughter (keeps her out of your hair)
1 peaceful, out-of-the-way spot in the garden (preferably with lots of comfy pillows)
1 stack of cookbooks to browse through, looking for inspiration
1 macbook pro
2 nikons (one w/60mm macro lens and one w/18-200mm zoom)
1 pot of mint tea
1 excellent wifi signal

add buzzing bees, flitting butterflies, singing birds and 6 meters of lavender for atmosphere.



these are my four favorite cookbooks. the ones i return to again and again. nigella lawson's forever summer, jamie oliver's happy days with the naked chef, sam & sam clark's first moro cookbook and nigel slater's real food. if i had to get rid of all of my other (100 or so) cookbooks and keep only four, it would be these four.


add in that when i went to the grocery store, they had a special on 6 bottles of a great spiers vintage selection sauvignon blanc (i saved 330 kroner or $60 off the regular price) if i hadn't been on my bike i'd have bought 12, but six is good too and i also discovered i could carry a box of six bottles of wine on the little carrier on my bike, which is good to know. and i love spiers (only delheim do i love more and i never see any here in denmark).


i stopped by our wonderful fish store in town. the owner is so friendly and pleasant, i definitely go out of my way to go there a couple of times a week. today, i bought a beautiful piece of halibut, which is marinating in golden locally-produced cold-pressed rapeseed oil, ginger, slices of lemon and white wine, plus a bit of cilantro from the herb garden. i also bought a handful of big crab claws that i'm going to dig all the good meat out of and make a crab crostini appetizer (inspired by nigella). with tarragon potato salad - tarragon and potatoes from our own garden, it will be a lovely summer dinner. and it will go brilliantly with the sauvignon blanc.


hoping your saturday is perfect too, wherever you are.

15 comments:

The Redhead Riter said...

I love Nigella and Jamie!!! How can you not love a woman who eats with her hands straight from the refrigerator and gets messy!!!

Sending blog ♥

spudballoo said...

Mmmmm wonderful photos, and a perfect day! Despite the fact I can't cook, I own 3 of those 4 books...I dont have the Moro one but MrSpud took me there for dinner once, does that count?

Yum to the wine, no thanks to the fish...bleargh!! xx

Marion Williams-Bennett said...

Glorious!
All that summer should be.. savor each moment!

Cyndy said...

My next two Saturdays will be filled with wedding bliss (and, thankfully, lots of chilled wine). I am looking forward to the Sundays that follow...

I wonder if any of the weddings will offer this type of fun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs%2Eusatoday%2Ecom%2Fondeadline%2F2009%2F07%2Fcouple%2Dboogieing%2Ddown%2Dthe%2Daisle%2Dis%2Da%2Dyoutube%2Dhit%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

Just Jules said...

I love seeing the cobweb on the cone flower ... lovely photos - perfect recipe

molly said...

WOOF! that is SOME perfect day!

kristina said...

yes, perfect! :-)

rxBambi said...

Sounds like you have had a wonderful day, and definitely one to keep in the memory book for a cold dark wintery saturday that will be upon us before long.
I've never heard of those cookbooks, but I'll check them out (slowly but surely I'll become just like you...it's what I do). As for the photos: excellent, but you can keep the bees...

kristine said...

love thos photos, especially all your yellow flowers. i have the same favouritest cookbooks as you, especially moro - delicious!!!

christina said...

Did you say- mac pro??? Hubba hubba!
I want to kiss on Jamie Oliver and call him, big pappa!
: ) I adore your saturday.
xo

Char said...

gorgeous shots - I so wish I had gotten the 60mm instead of the 100mm macro. Silly me.

:) it sounds like perfection for sure

Kim: said...

That whole post was like ... the word that sounds like "corn" but starts with a "p" instead. (I don't want you to get the wrong kind of traffic.)

Ahhh ... I drool.

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

Nirvana!

Suzanne said...

Remind me to come to your house on a Saturday...or any day.

Sigh.

I'm going to re-read this post until I have a day like this...

Magpie said...

Do you know Falling Cloudberries? It's a beautiful cookbook, and you'd love it if you don't have it.

http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Cloudberries-World-Family-Recipes/dp/1740453646