There was a tragic turn of events last week. My beloved two dollar “hand-crafted-by-foreign-children-so-as-to-be-available-to-hoarding-americans-who-don’t-need-more-of-anything-for-two-dollars” coffee mug from Target was forever lost to this world because of soapy dish hands and an industrial sink. It was quite sad when it shattered, and I feared that my mornings were to be forever a little less happy. Not that I’m really ever all that happy before 8am.

You see, I judge the quality of my day based on how much I enjoy my morning coffee, and that stupid mug made countless mornings just a tad brighter, mostly because it didn’t hold heat very well and I like my morning soup luke warm. I’m a weirdo, what can I say. Thank goodness for those tiny, inexpensive and uneducated factory hands and Lord Jesus bless that mug.

R.I.P Cheap Ceramic Cup, provenance: Target on La Brea (2004-2010).

I thought my morning happiness was lost forever, or at the very least I might have to suck it up and drive the seven minutes it takes to get to Peet’s on Larchmont for the foreseeable future. But something happened to change the game completely. Something happened that would make all my mornings a little bit sunnier.

PostedOctober 11, 2010

Authormelissa mcclure

Categoriesgear and miscellany

Tagsservewear, sausalito, Heath ceramics, coffee cups, child labor laws, dinnerwear, coffee is morning soup, vessels

CommentPost a comment

Go get a copy of the October 2010 Bon Appetit if you want to see what a little photoshop and a hair and makeup team can do for a gal. Or if you just like soup. Take your pick.

Here is a link to the article and here it is in person below.... and a recipe for macerated strawberries and crème fraîche ice cream and some behind the scenes pics from the shoot.

You’re welcome.

Now I’ll put a sock in it. Or mittens on my hands, to be more accurate (you know what I mean, One Night Stand-Up).

PostedSeptember 19, 2010

Authormelissa mcclure

Categoriesgear and miscellany, desserts & sweet treats, vegetarian

Tagssoup and the single girl, Bon Appetit, I'll shut up when it's off the newsstand, recipe, soupapalooza!, Bossy, ice cream, creme fraiche ice cream, creme fraiche, dessert

CommentPost a comment

Bossy and I almost turned around when the thunderclouds opened up on us as we exited Firenze Certosa off the A-1 (the wrong exit, by the way, but more on that some other time); we were both wearing flimsy sundresses, after all, which had seemed like a perfectly appropriate sartorial decision to make for a mid-August excursion in land-locked Italy. It had been unseasonably comfortable in Umbria, but there was no reason to think it would be 60 degrees and rainy, unless, of course, either one of us had actually bothered to check the weather report.

But we had a two-fold mission for the day-- to pick up a painting for the owner of the villa we had taken over (Bossy’s sometime Boss, the Contessa di Mozzarella), and to have lunch with a fabulous artisanal food exporter, let’s call him the Baron of Borgo de’ Greci, whom Bossy had been provided with a cursory introduction to through mutual friends.

I suggested we turn right back around to Panicale as soon as we finished our errands, as this was not a proper introduction to the city due to my lack of a sweater and wellies. Bossy suggested that my “creature comfort needs” were a little “needy”.

But anyway, we managed to find our windy way into the parking lot of the train station and into the back of a taxi right as the rain REALLY started, and I have to say it was kind of magical, if not a bit cold.

PostedAugust 19, 2010

Authormelissa mcclure

Categoriesquick pics!, gear and miscellany

Tagsaugust adventure, umbrian adventure, florence, viva italia!, vintage silver gelato spoons are like unicorns, soupapalooza!, Beefcake, Bossy, officina profumo di santa maria novella, the Baron, panicale, contessa di mozzarella

1 CommentPost a comment

photo courtesy of Bossy Blonde (her pictures are much better than mine)

I didn’t take my camera with me for our quick little day trip into Montepulciano, a trip in which the single most notable part was the absence of car sickness on my part. I am incredibly sad about this (the lack of a camera, not the nausea) because we stumbled across something meaningful to me on a multitude of levels-- a store full of hand forged copper pots called Rinomata Rameria Mazzetti. It made the metalsmith geek in me absolutely giddy and it made the soup maker in me literally squeal.

“Oh my Gaaaaaaaawd. It can’t be!” I said in my best American Tourist accent to Bossy as we passed a window lined with copper bowls, vessels, fondue makers, baptismal fonts, you name it. There were repousséd copper sheets made to be used as house numbers in shapes of grapes and what I’m assuming is Bacchus (this is a wine region, after all), tiny butter and milk warmers and ladles. Basically, if I thought I could have gotten away with it, I would have hugged the nice Italian lady whose husband’s family have been coppersmiths for five generations, purchased 90% of her inventory and then bought a ramshackle Italian stone villa to house it all. I could momentarily imagine a whole new life created around this Tuscan kitchen... luckily for me, I don’t have the available balance (or the pot rack) to do such a thing.

Anyway, Mom, Dad, Secret Admirer(s): if you’re reading this give the nice Italian lady a call; though she doesn’t speak much English, she’d love to meet your Visa card, and I’d love a giant rondelle to make soup for 25 when I get home (2 mm thickness of the copper, please).

PostedAugust 15, 2010

Authormelissa mcclure

Categoriesgear and miscellany

Tagsumbrian adventure, august adventure, umbria, viva italia!, copper pot, gear, Tuscany, Bossy, hand forged, montepulciano, rinomata rameria mazzetti

CommentPost a comment

Despite all my good intentions to zuppapoloooza! as soon as I hit terra firma here in Italy, there sadly was no zuppa in the ‘polooza of this Sunday. Instead there was a road trip to a famous macelleria, an Italian butcher shop. Destination: M with a capital E - A - T. This is no ordinary butcher shop, oh no, this is a full five course meat tasting-- yes MEAT TASTING-- at the butcher’s restaurant across the street from the macelleria. Who could say no to that?

Dario Cecchini and his beautiful shop in Panzano, Chianti, Antica Macelleria Cecchini, were made even more famous in Bill Buford’s 2006 book Heat, becoming arguably the most celebrated butchery in Italy-- if not to Italians, then certainly to Americans. I knew about Dario (I call him Dario because we’re that close despite us not actually knowing each other or sharing a common language in which to communicate) because I read Buford’s book; unfortunately I never got to the part that related to Dario because I was kind of irritated with Bill Buford as soon as he stopped talking about Mario Batali and started talking about Bill Buford. He’s about as fun as searing your hands while preparing short ribs in a blazing kitchen. Instead of being a wild boar, which I love and have not stopped eating as a ragu since I got here (cinghiale!), he’s simply a bore which is simply intolerable.

So we set out on our quest for carne...

my cup runneth over: not to be all off-topic, but what is coffee if not your morning soup?

Bon Appetit, y'all!: I promise to totally shut up about it after it’s off the newsstand

lunch in the big city: the rainiest day in the history of Florence

I have a dream: that one day this kitchen will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed--that all copper pots are created equal.

the long and winding road to meat: two blondes, two and half hours and too much to eat

Why? Because soup is cheap, delicious and easy. Kind of like me.

a weekly attempt to eat well and to savor life. or to see how much food I can get on my clothes.