Pear Clafouti

Coffee and warmed pear clafouti for breakfast? Yes, it is a great idea.

This was a recipe that I'd been looking forward to trying for the longest of time. Clafoutis (from the old Occitan verb clafir, meaning 'to fill') is a traditional French custard cake that is normally made with unpitted cherries, containing lots of cream and eggs which rises up and envelopes whatever fruit you decide to stud it with.

The version I made is technically called a flaugnarde (another Occitan word fleunhe and flaunhard, meaning 'soft' or 'downy').  

Ingredients:
4 pears, peeled and sliced as you like it (I halved them)
1 TB unsalted butter to grease the baking dish
1/3 + 1 TB granulated sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
6 TB flour
1 1/2 cups cream
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 TB Poire William or Calvados

Heat oven to 375F. Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, adding the remaining ingredients. Rest the batter 10 minutes (prepare your pears now if you like...). Arrange pears in the baking dish, pour batter over, and bake 35 - 40 minutes until golden brown and raised.

Bruised, slightly over ripe Bartlett pears from the discount section in Natural Provisions
in Willitson... you'd never tell after peeling them.

Enveloped...  I decided to halve the fruit to create decently sized
portions suitable for breakfast

Voluminous!

Sources: Pear Clafoutis Recipe, courtesy of Ina Garten at Food Network

Alizarin and Burnt Sienna

Playing with Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Crimson to accentuate the fruit, and still scratching my head wondering how to brighten the purple table on the bottom half of the picture. 

Feeling confident and excited as I wait for my newest layer to dry. My motivation to spend time on this senior project has been refreshed and invigorated by the oncoming season, with talk of pruning, grafting, and budding... I'm going to make the effort to finish this indoor part of the project while it's still too cold outside for me to want to stand around in a tree with the freezing cold wind blowing in my face.

Tomorrow, I'll be scrubbing and sanitizing my wine making equipment to start some batches of pear wine and pear pyment!

Sometimes I miss the canvas...? Only noticed this in the mirror after I posted the
last pictures, on my way out to lunch.

The Painting, Take II

New 24" x 18" canvas

I started the painting over. Last semester ended in a frenzy and the head space that I was in during the original composition process was not one that I normally produce satisfying art with. It can't be forced, which was exactly what happened as my deadlines approached, and I took some pictures that I wasn't that enthralled with and began from there. The idea fell flat, and I shoved the painting (which, after the last time I worked on it, was full of dark, matte colors that reflected my mood at the time...) into the corner when I got home for break and didn't look at it once for the entire five weeks. Some might say I have commitment issues.

Bigger, more exciting ideas this time - quick sketch, no photos to work from. 

I have to allow the project to materialize on its own accord. It's never worked well for me to sit down and just do art, especially since I haven't taken any classes or done much in the past several years. I've got a studio art class this semester, and am looking forward to exercising that creative brain muscle again...

Forget about Lamp Black, I went straight for the Alizarin Crimson to solidify the idea!

As much as I loved negative space, it felt lacking with all that extra space. The solution? More pears! Very womb-like at this stage... very pleasant to walk into my room and see this waiting for me. 

There was something too stiff and conventional about the way I approached the first painting. I wanted more color; more funky, rotund shaped fruits reminiscent of 'love handles' on the human body. I know what pears look like, and didn't need a picture to refer to. Walking further and further away from the Apollonian, logical, realistic approach into the Dionysian, sensual, and abstract realm. Suits me better at this time in my life.

Messing with the background, trying to figure out how to achieve a brighter purple on the bottom half.
Looks black in the photo. 

It almost feels like I'm not the one making decisions when I do art, as if something takes over and controls my hand. The idea came in a flash this past week, and I've looked forward every day since I restarted for the when the next layer of paint dries so I can keep working on it. Flecks and crosshatching are in the future...

Palette...

This morning's progress- so much fun with Chrome Yellow and Indian Yellow!

   

Red Wine Poached Pears

After looking at several different recipes, I decided that this wasn't a terribly challenging way to prepare pears and used what I had on hand one evening when I made dinner for older gentlemen who's a mentor and friend of mine. He's a rather cheap fellow who doesn't often bother to eat vegetables and fruit, so this was my effort to make a simple but elegant meal for him that did not involve a microwave. I rattled on and on about my senior project while I cooked... he was more than happy to indulge my fruit monomania.


Recipe for Two:

2 ripe, firm fleshed pears (I used Starkrimsons)
1 half leftover bottle of red wine you didn't like that much
Enough apple juice or other fruit juice to finish covering the fruit
1/2 cup sugar
1 orange zest cut in a single, attractive spiral
3 cloves

Let come to a boil, and turn the heat down to keep the liquid simmering for about a half hour. Prod with a knife or fork (though not too much, since the holes look bad...) to test and see if they've cooked all the way through.

A pretty way to present is to carefully cut the pear
in a fan, leaving it intact at the top. You can pick out the seeds, if you want.