LOCAL COLOR

The Missus and I always enjoy it when one or both of our usually Remotely Located Daughters comes to visit.  This time it’s the Mistress of Sarcasm who has been gracing us with her presence as she prepares to spend a weekend in Savannah attending a wedding.

It’s a good time to be here in north Georgia.  The cherry trees are blossoming...




...and that means that the dogwoods and azaleas cannot be far behind.  Pinks, purples, reds, and whites.  Nice.

The trees are not the only thing that’s colorful, though.  Lookee:


Macarons - delicate French cookies from Alon’s Bakery. The intensity of the colors is matched by the intensity of the flavors... and that blue one (black currant) was a total knockout.

These jewel-like French macarons bear little or no resemblance to the familiar coconut macaroon that is a mainstay of the Passover dessert table... and yet you could certainly make a pesahdik version if you wished, since the outer shell is mainly egg whites, almond flour, and sugar.  [That was not an issue in any event, since the holiday was over.]

We saw these little fellows over at Alon’s Bakery and Market, where we had gone to have lunch the other day.  It was mainly the blue one that caught my attention.  How often do you ever see blue food - except for those damnable semi-frozen slush drinks that taste vaguely of raspberry and that stain the tongue a horrible cyanotic blue-purple?  Was this little macaron Windex-flavored?  No: It was black currant... and it was intensely flavored without being cloying.  I could have eaten a dozen of those little sumbitches, but they were expensive (and calorific) enough to warrant some degree of restraint.

There was more colorful food yet to come, though.  The Mistress had developed a jones for one of her favorite light supper dishes, a Carrot Apple Ginger soup made according to a recipe she had found at Joy the Baker.  This soup hits all the right flavor notes: The mild earthy sweetness of the carrots is complemented by a bit of apple and given a jolt of warmth by a substantial dose of fresh ginger.  It’s substantial, yet not overly rich... and that bright color is especially appealing on a grey day in early Spring.


Carrot Apple Ginger Soup, one of the Mistress of Sarcasm’s favorites. I can see why.

The Mistress will, alas, have to head back north in a few days.  Perhaps she can take some of our local color with her.