Visit to Musée de l'Orangerie

I finally took time to visit the Orangerie with my friend Guillaume back in June 2008 after having almost spent 5 years in France...and it wasn't even on our 'wish list' because we were suppose to visit the nearby Jeu de Paume (long story in an earlier article:http://nlliew66.blogspot.com/2009/07/last-dance-in-paris.html ).

But the impressionists were my passion when I first started painting seriously and every Cézanne, Renoir and Monet inspired me in ways that cannot be expressed in words...so off we joined the queue to enter the Orangerie. By the way, the Orangerie was really part of the royal gardens that included the Louvre Palace (now the famous museum that houses the Monalisa) and Orangerie simply means greenhouse for over wintering citrus plants...so actually seeing the waterlilies, Monet's last testament to the city of Paris, was a real treat.

The main collection of 4 huge Monets was in an infiniti-shaped gallery and a stroll to the lower galleries will reveal more impressionists from 2 art dealers's collection, the collection of Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume. I finally get to snap one with a real Picasso (I was not allowed to, even without flash, at the Picasso Museum). Visit the collection at the Orangerie at: http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/homes/home_id24803_u1l2.htm

a tiny Sisley next to Monet's landscape painting of Argenteuil...

Renoir in the polished style of his later years

an unusual subject for Renoir

Cézanne! and so many of them...I was like walking in my impressionist art book...

a tiny Gauguin 

Picassos....

a cubist piece: Grand Nature Morte (meaning the big still-life)

Maurice Utrillo, essentially a painter of the common Parisian crowd and life...

Chaim Soutine's topsy turvy landscape...

Matisse

Henri Rousseau dit Le douanier (Henri Rousseau the Custom Officer, as opposed to the famous philosopher). He is among the most recognisable Naive painter of all time.

a pensive portrait: apprenti (the apprentice) by Modigliani

a large canvas by André Derain: Arlequin et Pierrot (Harlequin and Pierrot), 2 characters with italian vaudeville theatre origin and deeply rooted into the French théâtre...

Last cook-down of 2011!

I was invited to cook New Year's Eve dinner at a friend's at Gohtong Jaya recently, the final meal cooked for 2011...

The setting...

Amuse-bouches: Smoked salmon with dill vinaigrette, pan-seared duck breast on celeriac slaw and pork terrine on toast with balsamic reduction and onion confit.

Starter: Red bell pepper and tomato soup, pan-seared king prawns, fried leeks and crème fraîche.

Ingredients (serves 8):

30 pcs of fresh king prawns, shelled and deveined

1 kg of red bell peppers

1 kg of ripe tomatoes

1.5 L chicken bouillon

2 stalks of leeks

2 bay leaves

1 clove garlic

sea salt

Roast the bell peppers in the oven and remove seeds and skin. Slit the ends of the tomatoes and plunge them into boiling water for a few seconds to help remove the skin. Quarter and remove seeds. In a casserole, cook the tomato flesh and the clove of garlic with the bay leaves until forming a thick sauce. Add the roasted peppers, chicken stock and adjust seasoning. Puree the soup at this point and set aside.

Finely julienne the stalk of the leeks and deep fry in hot oil. Set aside.

Marinate the prawns with salt and a tbsp of Grand Marnier, sear with butter until just done and set aside.

Spoon the hot soup onto a soup dish, garnish with the prawns, fried leeks, basil leaf and a quenelle of crème fraîche.

Main course: slow-cooked leg of lamb in white wine, mash of haricot "Bingo" demi-sec, cooking jus and rocket salad.

The haricot blanc "Bingo" called Borlotti by the italians. Demi-sec beans are fresh beans as opposed to dried beans that need 24 hour soaking before using. Fresh beans have the advantage of short cooking time and flavour.

Salad....

and the crowd pleaser: tiramisu on mocha-flavoured cream, strawberry coulis and glucose bubble.

Christmas Eve Dinner 2011

I invited some friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve and voila some photos of the event (minus the people)...

 The table was decorated with two pots of poinsettias that I bought in Cameron Highlands a week back...

First course: Terrine of pork with onion confit and balsamic reduction.

Main course: braised lamb in white wine served parmentier-style, with rocket salad and green peppercorn sauce.

 Salad of radicchio, tomato, radish and gelée  of beetroot with blue cheese and truffle-oil vinaigrette.

For the sweet-toothed: bitter chocolate mousse on black rice pudding, coconut cream and coulis of strawberry.