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Posts Tagged ‘robin ellis’

The American Book Tour Schedule

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , on March 5, 2012| 19 Comments »

Here’s the American tour schedule:

 Washington D.C.: Wed., March 7th 6-8pm, Georgetown event with cooking demonstration:
In Chicago area, a pop-up book-signing at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble in Evanston (northern suburb)
on Sunday, March 11th at 3pm.
In LA, Chevalier’s Books in Larchmont on Saturday Mar 17th 1pm-3pm.
126 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Tel: 323-465-1334
Fax: 323-465-6093
E-mail: chevaliers@earthlink.net
In the San Francisco area:
Wed, March 21st, 7pm, Books Inc,
Thursday, March 22nd The Booksmith, 7.30pm Downtown San Francisco in Haight-Ashbury,
1644 Haight Street, San Francisco CA 94117
415-863-8688 p 415-863-2540 f

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“If a job’s worth doing…”

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2011| 7 Comments »

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple has died, aged 56. In an early interview with Playboy magazine he is quoted as saying:

We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” (my italics)

This put me in mind of John Bloomfield, the costume designer on the first series of Poldark.

I remember once seeing John sitting on a dry stone wall in Cornwall while we were filming, sewing a button onto a part of a costume that would never be caught on camera, but was an authentic period detail.

It didn’t matter to him that it probably would never be seen, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep well that night if his costume had been incomplete!

We had worked together “B.P.” (Before Poldark!) on an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s social satire, Bel Ami.

He made me 17 stunning suits for the five-part serialisation, all of which he would sketch out beforehand in an original way.

John's pasted paper sketch for a George Duroy suit

With pieces of coloured paper–cutting like a tailor–he would build a patchwork portrait of the outfit.

Attention to detail from the start!

Rest In Peace– Steve Jobs.

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New Yorker Stocks Exchange…?

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , , , , , , on June 15, 2011| 5 Comments »

This is the cover of last week’s edition of the New Yorker magazine, which arrived in the post this morning.

Along the bottom of the stocks it reads:

NYC Dept. of  MORAL GUIDANCE       NO FEEDING   BACKSLIDERS

Is the backlash under way–is this the “Ancient Régime” fighting back?!

Any theories?

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Green Beans with black Mustard Seeds and Garlic

Posted in Food, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 14, 2011| 9 Comments »

Small piles of green beans are starting to appear in the markets.

Adapted from the actress and cookery writer, Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe ,
these goes well with spicy and not so spicy food.

for 4

1lb/450 gms green beans–topped
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
4 cloves of garlic — chopped very fine
1 dried red chilli–chopped fine
1 tsp salt
pepper

  • Cook the beans to just tender in plenty of lightly salted, boiling water–use tongs to whip one out of the water to test for doneness.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the seeds.
  • When they start to pop add the garlic.
  • Cook until it starts to turn light brown–careful not to burn it–it won’t take long.
  • Add the chilli and stir.
  • Add the beans and the salt.
  • Turn the heat to low and fold the beans over in the oil and spices.
  • (You are heating through and infusing the beans with the flavours–5 minutes should do it).
  • Add the pepper

"Still life" with Marmalade, Lily and spicy green beans

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“Here’s one I prepared earlier…!”

Posted in other sides to this life, tagged , , , , , , on June 13, 2011| 1 Comment »

Keith's bleu "hot rod"--2CV

Last week, by one of those lovely serendipities, I came across the site “A Taste of Garlic”.

My appetite/interest was whetted–any good Lautrecois’ would be, (L’ail rose [pink garlic] de Lautrec has its own appellation controllée)– by the title, and tickled by the lights-flashing exhaust-puffing 2CV logo.

Indeed this extra-ordinary site’s founder and inspiration–Keith Eckstein,  a Cornish polymath--is passionate about garlic and a lot else besides: Elvis, football (soccer), Johnny Depp, mushrooms, pigs, Johnny Halliday, IT support and web design, writing, reading and so on.

He writes delightful funny pieces and promotes other peoples books and blogs.

“Here, at  A Taste of Garlic, I review, share and promote other people’s Life in France experiences.”

I contacted him and, belying the laid back “deux chevaux” image, he’s a speedy worker.

A few days later he published an interview with me and today he writes a witty and comprehensive review of the blog.

Merci beaucoup–Keith!

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