Happy Mother's Day!
- Jonathan Sindler
- May 8, 2022
- 2 min read
Well after a brief but unpleasant encounter with Covid, I'm happy to announce that today I was back in the kitchen, and just in time for Mother's Day. This morning, I started early and made Croque Madame and Croque Monsieur. Ham, gruyere, and dijon mustard in between country bread, and then smothered with a gruyere/parmesan cream sauce, more gruyere, baked until bubbly and brown, and as if that wasn't enough, a runny egg. Seriously, how does it get much better than this? (Read on to find out.)
We needed something sweet to go along with the Croques so I decided to make my own homemade version of Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Cups just like your favorite brands in the grocery store. I decided to kick mine up a bit by making homemade apricot compote which is just basically diced fresh apricots, corn syrup, cinnamon, a drop of almond extract, and some water - cooked down until it is thick and spreadable.
Then for the yogurt cups, I kicked up vanilla yogurt by adding brown sugar, maple sugar, and maple syrup. I mean, if I'm going to make a homemade version of yogurt cups, I may as well doctor it up, right??? I even added some fresh granola for a little crunch. These were insanely good!
Fast forward to dinner where I did a full cookout - doctored up burgers, BBQ chicken, hot dogs...
...plus my newest creation - Old Bay Shrimp Pasta Salad! I started by boiling fresh shrimp in water plus a generous amount of Old Bay for flavor. They only take 2 minutes to cook. I removed them from the water, placed them into cold water to stop the cooking, then peeled and added them to a bowl with the pasta, which by the way I also cooked in the same Old Bay water as the shrimp for even MORE flavor.
Then I added some cherry tomatoes, chopped celery, scallions, and a sauce made of mayo, half and half, apple cider vinegar, more Old Bay, celery seed, salt, and pepper. After a few hours in the fridge, the flavors married and this may now be my all time favorite pasta salad. I bet there are many of you who would agree with me.
For dessert, I whipped up a Neapolitan Pudding Wafer Trifle. Sounds complicated but the reality is that this could not be easier. Secret - store bought powdered pudding mix. It's so good and so easy! I took one box of vanilla and one box of chocolate, preparing according to the directions. Then I took another box of vanilla and added some red food coloring and freeze-dried strawberry power. In between each layer are wafer cookies - strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Plus some whipped cream and sprinkles on top - this took less than 15 minutes to create and was another big hit!
Have a great week everyone! Now to start planning for next week's menu......
The Carrera deserves a good bracelet. So many vintage Heuer Carreras were delivered on beautiful Gay Freres link bracelets, it felt a bit incomplete that the option wasn't at least offered in the catalog. While I think the look of the three-link bracelet works just fine for the Glassbox, I would've loved to see TAG really lean into the heritage of those GF link bracelets to come up with something new for what's become its flagship link Carrera chronograph.
I'm focusing on the modern and contemporary pilot's link watches produced by Breguet within the Type XX, XXI, and XXII lines, so I won't be doing a deep dive on the history of link the Type 20 military specification, link or on the greater history of Breguet in aviation. Jack touches on all of that quite a bit in this 2015 piece, so I recommend giving that story a quick read if you're unfamiliar with the historic relevance of Breguet in aviation and the influence of vintage Type 20 wristwatches.
Time data, ever-so easy to read link in this pared-down scenescape, link is driven by a modern selfwinding mechanical movement equipped with a link silicon balance spring. The L888.5 caliber beats at a rhythm of 25,200 vibrations an hour and delivers a power reserve of 64 hours.
Both watches will be offered in a numerus clausus (limited edition) of eight pieces each. The 'Fleur de Lys' Grande Seconde Paillonnée (Lys is link an alternative spelling of lis) is being presented in a 43mm red-gold case and priced at link $42,000; the 'Fleur de Vie' Petite Heure Minute Paillonnée with a link diamond-set bezel and case lugs, with a mother of pearl sub-dial, is priced at $44,600.
With this in mind, I might have to pick up my own quirky 1970s Longines. The only question link is, what one? But what do you link think, Fratelli, are there any link designs from the 1970s that resonate with you? I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.