Kale thoughts

(photo of French kale farmer, Hermoine Boehrer, by Damien Lafargue for the New York Times)

It is the beginning of fall, which should trigger my harvesting of kale. Alas the canicule in July wiped me out except for a couple of surviving plants that are supplying my morning smoothie greens. So I am already thinking about next year, and how I am going to manage crops simultaneously in Paris and Burgundy. I will definitely be picking up some new seeds when I am in PDX

Three thoughts about kale:

1. Everyone asks me why the French don't grow kale. I just learned that it's a World War II thing. Which coincidentally, I have learned more about World War II in the past two years than in all 16 years of formal education. It's weird how much historical wars come up in conversation over here.

2. In this NY Times article about The Kale Project in Paris, I learned that you can deter kale eating insects by planting mustard and chervil around it. *makes mental note* I really like the idea of these textures together. Welcome to next year's balcony aesthetic.

3. Now that I have learned proper pasta making from Mama Gio I plan to bust out some kale raviolis, and maybe kale lasagna noodles.

I wish I still had my inherited gardner at La Bonne Etape.

l'été: supérieur cinq

Top five favorite things so far this summer:

1. Finding the Cos summer sale on day one. Check out this cool online magazine that they publish.

2. Coriandre Diptyque candle. It goes well with Baeis and Figuer.

3. Making this kale salad (with the kale from my balcony),

while drinking San Pelligrino with Chlorophyll drops. Sounds weird, but it is super refreshing, plus some extra health benefits.

4. Hoist the rag by Tom Waits. (I always have to listen to it two times in a row.)

5. Martini Rosso (in Barcelona or at a Parisian bar) or Pastis (at home or in the village), just depends on the venue.
-Martini is made from four ingredients: wine, botanicals, sugar and alcohol. I prefer it on the rocks. 
-Pastis  is an anise-flavored liqueur and apéritif rom France, typically containing 40–45% alcohol by volume, so I dilute it with a 1:5 Pastis/water ratio. Sometimes I add menthe flavor, which is called a Perroquet (French for 'parrot').  

Canicule

Canicule (Fr.)/ Heatwave (Eng.) noun: a spell of abnormally hot weather.

A friend had written this on my new chalkboard wall as a joke about the title of my next book. How prophetic.

Last weekend, France experienced a canicule. I knew that hot weather was expected at some point and that my kale garden would likely suffer a little. Each summer France prepares their canicule alert plan in preparation for these abnormally hot periods. There are four categories of alerts:

• Green: no warnings in place
• Yellow: minor alert
• Oragne: High alert, dangerous meteorological conditions are forecast.
• Red: Maximum alert, severe and dangerous weather conditions, precautions to be taken.

To say the least, Paris was on code red last weekend. Code red is defined as: 
"People are recommended to take precautions by staying out of direct heat and sun and drinking water regularly. Special care should be taken of the young, elderly and ill. Severe medical impact expected."

I heeded this warning and decided to stay down in the village in close proximity to the Boys' pool, rather than suffering back in the city. How civilized of me. And while I was taking precautions to keep my person somewhat comfortable, my kale back in Paris did not fare so well.

Here we have the scene of the crime.

The kale, lettuce, herb garden before the canicule--so much promise.

 Post canicule-- melted kale, and a resilient survivor.

Oh, no!

I thought mint plants were supposed to be sturdy, however it was burnt to a crisp. Thank god for the new growth peeking through.

The lettuce had melted in on itself, and now two confused lettuce plants try and resurrect themselves through the devastation.

The one kale planter that seemed to persevere (and dare I say, thrive), was the one in the Maison Blanche wine box.

I think it is very auspicious that the only survivor was contained in the White House box.