Cyclamen on the porch Laurie Fox Pessemier Acryilc/canvas 14 x 20" 35 x 50cm BUY
Quinces in a black bowl Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 15 x 18" 38 x 46cm SOLD
Fall Scene on Glass Window Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/glass 10 x 38" 25 x 96cm
Saturday in Venice Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 10 x 12" 25 x 30cm BUY
Waiting for Chutney
Quinces are a beautiful, aromatic fruit, but what to do with
them? I am making a quince and pear
chutney as we speak, an amalgamation of various recipes. No onion, a little salt (will that inhibit
the gelling process?), raisins, ginger, basalmic vinegar. We’ll see.
My general feeling is that if it smells good, and you let it settle for
a few weeks, it will be delicious.
I painted three times this week – slightly larger works for
me. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday rushed
by. I painted on a window -- we had
windows replaced in our corridor. I
know, nobody lives in the corridor, but our landlady and the carpenter decided
that would help keep the heat in, and it can’t hurt. We convinced the carpenter to use the help
of one of our classmates at Italian lessons – the carpenter could never have
done it without him.
I have always lived with immigrants around me: my own grandmother came from Poland. When I moved to Seattle, there were many
Asian immigrants, and waves of Vietnamese were arriving about the time I
did. Blair and I frequented “A Little
Bit of Saigon” almost all the time that we lived in Seattle. The best prices on clams and pork were at the
store next door, and we ate Durian fruit (looks like a football with spikes,
custard-y inside). One of our first
dates was at Chiyoko’s Japanese restaurant, where Blair spilled miso soup in
his lap and I laughed. Then I knew we
could get along. When we moved to Paris,
there were Tunisian grocers, who were always friendly. Our favorite Tunisian merchant, ultimately,
was Omar at the Tourne Bouchon. I still
miss him, and the Algerian flatbread seller in the Tuesday/Friday Raspail
market. But there are many new
immigrants here, for whom I am grateful.
I am not the only outsider.
Harika is an immigrant.
Blair and I are sort of immigrants ourselves. We moved to Paris in 1993, and have only
lived in the USA four years since then.
Our status in Italy, is “elective resident”, which is different from
people who MUST stay here. We’re used to
the place now, and couldn’t imagine any other.
We’re hoping to a get a two year visa on 31 October.
I added some cardamom, nutmeg, lemon, cloves. They all come from someplace else (well, not
the lemon). The house smells like Christmas. I put all the chutney into six jars, and wait
six weeks for the result.
