tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56707572009-02-21T08:25:14.244-05:00In celebration of food, art, and life's decadent pleasuresFloranoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1079494083441850652004-03-16T22:28:00.000-05:002004-03-16T22:41:23.936-05:00

Quarter to five, Inky black sky. Fifteen after... (Where are those slippers?) Stretch. Yawn. Yes, little things do matter! Lamplight. Shadows. Oven's on. A toasty glow. Poppy seed bagel. Cream cheese and lox. Simple stuff. Doesn't have to be a lot. Beatles on the radio. Frosting on the window. Feet up. Chair creaks. Soft sigh as I settle back onto the pillow. Poppy seed bagel. Cream cheese

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1078803363991389102004-03-08T22:36:00.000-05:002004-03-09T11:50:51.233-05:00

For the Chinese, food (the cornerstone of their culture) is more than a means of physical nourishment. Each dish is imbued with the characteristics of yin and yang - cool and hot; sweet and sour; rich and light. Flavours and textures contrast, each dish a continuous striving for culinary harmony, a balancing act of opposites. This quest for equilibrium is essential for food is supposed to

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1062937063503587372003-09-07T08:17:00.000-04:002003-09-07T08:17:43.520-04:00

The painting is enormous, standing nearly seven feet tall. There is a strong use of dramatic monochromes, a stark difference between black and white and a powerful use of rich, deep browns. John Singer Sargent, painter of beautiful women and powerful men, displayed his portrait of 23-year-old Virginie Gautreau at the 1884 Paris Salon. There is an intimacy implied in the relationship between the

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1062643401657361232003-09-03T22:43:00.000-04:002003-09-04T20:21:30.586-04:00

One of the only three original Toronto Street buildings from the 1800s, Fig Leaf Ristorante stands in quiet but monumental splendour, a graceful entrance leading to an interior full of bustling bonhomie. A favourite, semi-formal lunch spot for the Bay Street crowd, a reservation is always a good idea since the dining room fills up quickly come noon. The owners have carefully and lovingly

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1062381087900760222003-08-31T21:51:00.000-04:002005-11-13T11:23:57.760-05:00

I love preparing curries - to me, it is comfort food and whether I make it with beef, chicken or seafood, it is always a dish I prepare in quantity and share with friends. My curries are never the same each time, and that is part of the beauty of the exercise. The concept is to savour each moment, the process as much as the end result unpredictable but a pleasure at every stage.Curry days are

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1062102570420059872003-08-28T16:29:00.000-04:002003-08-29T09:15:58.090-04:00

Alluring, caressing, deceptively delicate, silk's natural charms have been seducing emperors and commoners alike for more than 5000 years. Silk has shaped history, created dynasties, destroyed empires, spurred innovation, inspired military conquests and left an indelible imprint on political, economic and religious powerhousing across two continents. In 139 BC, the world's longest road,

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1061839734565887672003-08-25T15:28:00.000-04:002003-08-29T09:22:50.416-04:00

The colours immediately leap out at you - the primary reds, blues and yellows. The intense skies, the deep seas, the warm earth, the sun-baked walls, the splashes of scarlet - alive, vital, vivid. His people are robust, often full-bodied, they are enjoying life by the beach, under the stars, in a restaurant, at a jazz club. Didier Lourenco, born in 1968, and one of Spain's most celebrated

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1061172894968535432003-08-17T22:14:00.000-04:002005-10-02T13:58:19.016-04:00

What a weekend! All I want right now is to stroll into a cool, dark bar somewhere and down margaritas by the gallon.Chaos reigns in the living-room where I have boxes piled up six-deep. Bags are strewn about, waiting to be organized and labeled. Mysterious objects roll around, waiting to be discerned as a missing part of some recognizable instrument. Books keep appearing out of nowhere - books

Floranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1061077618826710592003-08-16T19:46:00.000-04:002005-10-02T14:02:08.173-04:00

With the massive power outage on Thursday, and the unpredictable on/off again power on Friday, I was in a mood for anything that would get me out of the stuffy apartment (currently a very chaotic, stuffy apartment in preparation for Monday's move). I needed food! No dinner on Thursday, cereal for brunch on Friday - when Friday night rolled around, I told JK I was ready to eat a cow all by myself

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1060998917655355822003-08-15T21:55:00.000-04:002004-08-14T22:54:04.810-04:00

Honey. A potent word with powerful associations. It is golden ambrosia, a god's sustenance. It is hydromel, honey wine, foamy mead, Beowulf's cheer. It brings to mind fields of summer flowers, lazy picnics, a child's sticky fingers. Honey and lemon, a soothing comfort; honey cakes, a satisfying treat. It is the sun-kissed glow of a woman's skin and the sweet endearment for a familiar love. Man's

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1060880857195590772003-08-14T13:07:00.000-04:002004-08-14T22:54:24.866-04:00

"Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy — the joy of being Salvador Dalí — and I ask myself in rapture, "What wonderful things this Salvador Dalí is going to accomplish today?" — Salvador Felipe Jacinto DalíA notorious self-publicist, self-styled mad genius, eccentric and often dramatically theatrical, Salvador Dali is considered by many to be one of the greatest painters

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1060794141630628322003-08-13T13:02:00.000-04:002004-08-14T22:54:46.866-04:00

The smell of brewing coffee is an unashamed assault of the senses. The heady and fragrant scent tantalizes and teases, provoking a primal response from the passionate admirers of its many-layered charms. According to legend, coffee was first discovered in 600 AD by a shepherd named Kaldi who noticed that his goats were more frisky than usual after grazing on a coffee shrub. It wasn't until 950

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1060734263538163592003-08-12T20:24:00.000-04:002004-08-14T22:55:08.160-04:00

Voluptuous, inviting, accessible. Flat curves, round lines, and a picture on a two-dimensional plane. Basic imagery, yet Al Hirschfeld's line drawings stun with their vibrant aliveness. They compel and propel you inwards, into the subject's presence. You gaze at these incorrigible images with Hirschfeld's eyes, created almost as if by sleight of hand. A caricaturist and an illustrator, he had a

Floranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670757.post-1060652466139916922003-08-11T21:41:00.000-04:002004-08-14T22:55:26.006-04:00

Hot summer nights on Bourbon Street. Early sounds of jazz thread their way from behind wooden window slats, blues caress from cool, dark rooms with satisfyingly mysterious depths. The beat picks up. The rhythm gets hotter and steamier as the night goes on - the notes more complicated, the music more soulful, a sound that moves in time with your heart. Like the music of New Orleans, the food is

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