Mise en Place For Cooking Class

It has been a very busy “winter into spring” at Domaine de Manion. I gave two back-to-back cooking classes here at Domaine de Manion with lovely, talented students who enjoyed their seasonal “French Printemps” menu and lunch together.

Our Wine Room Restored

Last fall we had a significant water leak and damage that affected most of our interior barn. It was a slow process to repair the damage, find and install new barn wood flooring upstairs, and bring back all the furnishings that had been stored off site for months. We took it as a refresh of the barn. After much patience and hard work, the wine room is now fully restored and refreshed, ready to be used again.

Salmon Wellington For Easter Brunch

Easter came quickly. The menu was Salmon Wellington, Grilled Asparagus with Balsamic Glaze, Salad Vinaigrette, and French Lemon Yogurt Cake (the same delicious recipe taught at my last two cooking classes). Not to forget a lovely French Champagne to toast with my parents coming to California, and having this very special, and rare Easter in our home together!

The Little Garden Club of Newport Beach Visiting

In early April, a year in the planning, The Little Garden Club of Newport Beach, came for a visit and garden tour. This lovely club was founded in the ‘70’s, and is still going strong with many creative and dynamic ladies. We had tasty box lunches from Thyme in the Ranch, and gathered together in the sitting area by our vineyard. It was a lovely spring day, and it was great to see this club again.

Double Peony Poppies Blooming In April

It is wonderful to see the garden and vineyard waking up, and each day unfolding with more and more beauty. Years ago I was given these poppy seeds and sowed them in what I now call the south garden. These magnificent red Double Peony Poppies pop up randomly, but in the same general area, simply dictated by the weather. Every April they come back and put on quite a show. I look forward each year to their return and the drama they add to the garden.

Wishing you a very happy and beautiful springtime!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

The Garden is Awakening

Although we can always use more rain, the late winter rains we have had are perfect for waking up your garden. I wanted to share with you a few photos of spring emerging at Domaine de Manion.

The all-white narcissus bulbs come up first in the barn lawn. White flowers and green grass make for a traditional classic color combination.

Jennifer Rebecca Iris At Her Best

A sweet friend of mine gave me a some Jennifer Rebecca Iris a few years ago. I have moved them around in the garden trying to find the best place for them. I finally decided they needed a more central focal sunny location in about the center of the garden. A great spot for them, I have never seen them so happy blooming as now.

i recommend planting iris in your garden. They require little care, are fairly drought tolerant, leaves look great even when not blooming, and when iris do bloom, they look fabulous in your garden or your flower arrangement.

Wisteria Over The Storage Shed

Wisteria are especially spectacular this year in our area. A few of my friends have shared their gorgeous blooming wisteria with me. My wisteria spruces up my storage shed in late winter with a showy splash of cascading purple blooms that are all too brief but memorable. Wisteria are great pollinators too, but be aware they need strong support and their roots can be invasive.

Across many cultures, wisteria symbolism varies, but generally they represent love, romance, longevity, resilience, good luck, and sometimes, humility and reflection.

Blossoming Peach Tree

My orchard was an orchestra of blooms this spring, and so I am hopeful it is an excellent year for fruit, and for the budding vineyard.

French Blue Flowers of Yankee Point Ceanothus

My Yankee Point Ceanothus is showing off this spring too. A great drought tolerant ground cover, I have it planted between my Crape Myrtle Natchez hedge for a little interest. When it blooms, it is a French blue bonus.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms from the Oven

As promised, I wanted to share the recipe for “Zucchini Blossoms with Goat Cheese, Fresh Mint, and Anise Seeds” after finding fresh zucchini blossoms recently at the Cardiff Farmers Market. The recipe is from the cookbook, Dinner Chez Moi by Elizabeth Bard. Please Note: if you buy your zucchini blossoms at the morning Farmers Market, store them in your refrigerator like a flower bouquet, with the stems in a glass of cold water, until you are ready to use.

If you are not familiar with Elizabeth Bard, she is a New Yorker who fell in love with a Frenchman, moved to Paris, married, and moved eventually to Provence with her husband and small son. She has written two previous memoirs, Lunch in Paris, and Picnic in Provence. All of her books have a culinary thread, with a dash of humor and a heaping of joie de vivre. Elizabeth is not a chef, but a good home cook. In Dinner Chez Moi, she shares 50 secrets French secrets of cooking, eating, and entertaining.

Zucchini Blossoms with Goat Cheese, Fresh Mint, and Anise Seeds

Lovingly Adapted from Dinner Chez Moi By Elizabeth Bard

Serves 4: As an Hors d’oeuvres or Light Appetizer

Ingredients:

1 egg

6 ounces soft goat cheese, cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon whole anise seeds

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Pinch of coarse sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

12 large zucchini blossoms

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the cheese, anise seeds, mint, salt, and pepper. Mash with a fork to combine. Gently rinse the blossoms and blot dry on a kitchen or paper towel.

When ready to stuff your blossoms, gently hold open each flower, no need to remove the stamen, but do check for any ants or insects. Stuff your blossoms with a heaping teaspoon or more of filling. Depending on your size of squash blossoms, you may have a bit of stuffing leftover. Twist the ends of the blossoms to close.

Place the olive oil in a 9” x 13” casserole dish and brush or shake the dish so it coats the entire bottom of the dish. Gently roll each zucchini blossom in the oil and retwist the ends to make sure they’re closed.

Bake for 20 minutes, until fragrant and golden. Serve warm with a glass of chilled rosé. Yum!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Happy Blue Agapanthas

Ironically, for a Mediterranean garden, I have a lot of color mid summer. It is as if the garden is humming and singing and soaking up all the summer sunshine. It is happy! I thought I would share with you a a few of my bluish plants that are so pretty now.

Whenever the agapanthas bloom, they always make such a statement. I have a few different varieties, some are standard, and some are dwarf. Some are French Blue, and some lean towards dark blue. All are spectacular. I also have and recommend especially for containers, The Sunset Collection Everblooming White Agapanthas.

Imperial Blue Plumbago

You can’t go wrong growing plumbago in your garden, either the Imperial Blue or the Alba. It grows quickly, can be shaped easily, blooms summer to fall, and is very drought tolerant.

Blooming Vitex Chasteberry Hedge

I just did an Instagram post on this Vitex Chasteberry shrub. A deciduous Mediterranean shrub which explodes mid-summer with stunning, spikey, blue/purple blooms. It is usually used in a garden as a single focal shrub or groomed tree. I thought it had all of the characteristics for a great hedge, another experiment that worked out. It is very low maintenance, drought tolerant, and attracts a lot of bees and butterflies for your garden.

Lobelia Riviera In A Container

I love the classic lobelia spilling over in a pot or container. It always looks so romantic. It comes in many colors, but the Riviera is my favorite.

Duranta Skyflower Flanking Our Gate

Duranta Skyflower is a classic flowering shrub in the verbena family. It is low maintenance, easily to train, and blooms spring through fall with bluish-purple flowers. It also comes in a variety with varigated leaves.

If your garden palette has blue in it, or you are looking to add a little blue in your garden, these are a few plant suggestions that are really terrific.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

One Of My Favorite Perfumes

One can enjoy a little Paris, everyday, simply by dabbing a little French perfume on your neck, wrists, and décolletage. In fact, it is one of my 25 suggestions in an earlier post, Finding Your Frenchness. Have a signature perfume. If one signature scent is not enough for you, have one for daytime and one for evening, or one for spring/summer and one for fall/winter.

Miss Dior was my signature perfume in high school that I loved to wear. I loved the fresh floral scent, yet never knew all of the fascinating history behind this fragrance. Rekindling my love for this fragrance came from two recent events. The first, was watching the Apple TV+ series, The New Look (2024), which tells the story of Christian Dior’s couture journey during Nazi Paris, opening his own couture house, and his famous debut of “The New Look” his ultra-feminine collection for women in 1947 that gave hope, beauty, and spirit once again to the world. The second, was reading the book, Miss Dior (2021) by Justine Picardie, specifically about Christian Dior’s younger sister, Catherine.

Catherine Dior’s story is fascinating. Christian and Catherine Dior were always very close. Catherine Dior was Christian Dior’s muse, and whom the fragrance, Miss Dior, is named after. She was the only member of their family to be at his couture house the day his “The New Look” collection was presented to Paris and the world. The fragrance of Miss Dior had been created, but not released yet on the market. His couture house was filled with a preview of Miss Dior fragrance scent wafting in the air that momentous day.

Christian Dior’s inspiration for his fragrance, “Miss Dior” was remembering his mother’s garden full of roses and exactly how it smelled. Lily of the Valley scent is prominent in the fragrance too, as he thought of it as his “good luck” flower. Each of his designs had a small Lily of the Valley discreetly sewn into the garment.

Christian Dior and his couture designs became world famous virtually overnight. At one point in his career, he was responsible for 50% of France’s exports. Catherine Dior’s life was humble, courageous, and always tied to flowers. She joined the French Resistance during World War II, was captured by the Nazi’s, tortured, and survived years in a concentration camp. She was honored and recognized by France for her service and bravery. After the war ended, and after she had time to heal physically, socially, and spiritually, for a few years she had a cut flower business in Paris. Preferring to be a rose cultivator, she moved to South France near Grasse, Provence, and lived in the rustic family home she inherited from her father, where he had lived later in his life. She helped Christian Dior cultivate the specific roses he needed for his fragrance. She still tended her beloved roses, close to age 90, and up until shortly before her death.

Christian Dior had an untimely death of heart failure in Italy at age 52. He left everything to Catherine Dior. Although Christian Dior was very successful, he employed 1,000 people at that time and was one million “1957” dollars in debt. He had bought a lovely huge estate in Provence he was renovating, as well as a new apartment in the Paris 16th arrondissement. Catherine Dior took on the task of selling the properties to pay off his debts, ensure his name and business would endure, and started the first Christian Dior museum in Normandy on the property where the entire Dior family had once lived and prospered before their father went bankrupt and fell onto hard times.

There is a Christian Dior museum in Paris called La Galerie Dior, at 11 Rue François 1er, Paris France. It is part history, and part testament, to Christian Dior and his six successors, and their visionary Parisian haute couture. It is closed on Tuesdays, and you must get tickets in advance. It is on my list for next time I am in Paris.

With all of the incredible history behind the Miss Dior fragrance, it makes it so much more special wearing it. I love knowing that it is so garden-oriented, so rose-oriented, and really so love-oriented.

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“MON PETIT CHOU” CORNER

Two Of The Three, Clear Stain Glass Windows

I am selling three clear stained glass windows and a glass etching. These were in our home when we bought our property, and probably from a previous owner’s remodel in the 1980’s. They would be perfect for someone’s garden shed or a “she” shed. The clear stained glass have wood frames, which would probably have to be re-framed. The etching below is glass with no frame. Pick up only, no shipping.

Stained Glass Windows Dimensions are 62.5” long x 26.5” wide. Price is $75.00 for each window.

Etching is 32” high x 24” wide. Price is $75.00

If you have an interest in any of these, please email or call me at (tel) (760) 402-7600. Thank you.

Glass Etching With Woodland & Deer Setting

Wishing You A Great Week & Bastille Day July 14….Bonnie

“Simple French Comfort Food” Cooking Class

March 2024 started off with a bang, with a full class for the “Simple French Comfort Food” cooking class. The blustery day started out with a little rain, so a nice warm fire and a comforting menu was perfect. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and made delicious recipes that culminated in a relaxing lunch, à table. All my students were an inspiration for me. Merci!

À Table For A Relaxing Lunch With Recipes Completed

Winter Storms Brought Spectacular Sunsets

Welcome winter rains brought spectacular sunsets. The mature trees have been trimmed. The garden pathways replenished with fresh mulch. The flowerbeds manicured. The vineyard and roses pruned and poised for another growing season. The potager has been planted.

The garden and vineyard are waiting for longer days and warmer temperatures. I am hopeful all this wonderful winter rain will promise a spectacular showing in spring.

Olivenhain Garden Club Visiting March 2024. Thank You For The Photo By Olivenhain Garden Club

In mid-March, The Olivenhain Garden Club came for a garden tour and a glimpse of spring emerging. Just like your favorite perennial, this club, and many other lovely garden clubs have been here before for a visit, and have seen the garden and Domaine de Manion evolve over the years.

The Olivenhain Garden Club comments and compliments were so nice. They didn’t go hungry, I prepared a few different charcuterie boards and platters for them.

One Of The Charcuterie Boards. A Little Something For Everyone

“Meet The Masters” Check-In And Book Signing For Gabriela Salazar

Mid-March was The Village Garden Club of La Jolla’s “Meet the Masters” 2024 event with program speaker, fabulous Gabriela Salazar, an internationally recognized floral artist and grower out of Mexico. She wowed us with her flower philosophy and technique in flower arranging.

It was a huge, fun, successful event. I helped, along with many dutiful ladies checking guests in, and giving them their table seating. It was a pleasure to be on this committee with my fellow members. Hats off to The Village Garden Club of La Jolla!

As March continued to unfold, spring was emerging, slowly but surely. First, narcissus bulbs appeared in the lawn, next Cherokee rose started to bloom, and then wisteria came to life in purple pendulum display. Early spring was here!

Naturalized Narcissus Bulbs Transition Winter Into Spring

Cherokee Rose Beginning To Bloom White

Wisteria Over the Shed Heralds In Spring

March 2024 started off with a bang, and is ending with a bang, Easter! March has had momentum with a nice energy, perhaps it will continue throughout the year. I wish all of you a beautiful spring!

Vintage Hen And Chick Remind Us Easter Is Here

Bon Appétit, Bon Weekend, and Happy Easter…Bonnie

Paperwhites Create Holiday Cheer In The Garden

If you force Paperwhites (part of the Narcissus family) in beautiful containers inside your home for the holidays, what do you do with them afterwards? Several years ago I started planting the spent bulbs in key spots in my garden. Just like clockwork they emerge on their own in the garden in time for the holidays. Not only do their spectacular blooms create a very special holiday feel to your garden, their heavenly scent is intoxicating as you pass by them. There are many, many Paperwhite varieties, and most can be found at garden stores and nurseries in late fall. Online bulb companies such as Brent and Becky’s Bulbs and Easy to Grow Bulbs offer a nice selection.

Plant them in a home entrance flower bed, near a gate, or a pathway to capture their scent as you pass by. Of course, this suggestion is for those who live in a Mediterranean climate, most varieties are hardy in USDA zones 9-11. My garden is in zone 10, and they are very happy. If you don’t live in the mentioned zones, enjoy your Paperwhites indoors.

Paperwhites like air, sunlight, and light water. They don’t like their feet wet, and they don’t need fertilizer. Planted in groups and mass in the garden they are spectacular. Bloom time is about 2 weeks. If you are planting your Paperwhite bulbs in the garden from a forced vase, it might take a few years for the bulbs to catch on and really shine. You can clip spent flowers, but keeping the green foliage and letting it brown and die back by itself, it actually provides energy to the bulb for next year’s blooming.

Please be aware the entire Paperwhite plant is toxic to pets and to people. It is the plant’s natural defense. If you have a curious pet, an inquisitive small child, or grandchild, you might not want to tempt them with reachable Paperwhites. On the other hand, Paperwhites will deter gophers and deer in their immediate area, so an added benefit, beauty and function.

Past Related Posts:

Big on Bloom

Narcissus Bulbs Deter Gophers

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Every year I bring out this vintage sleigh to decorate and place by my front door. Year to year the vignette and decorations vary. My holiday decorations and style are generally simple and rustic, and often using greens from my garden.

Making This Vignette:

Find an interesting piece for a base, such as this weather-worn sleigh. Choose a piece that is novel, whimsical, and might bring on a smile.

Use a focal piece or showstopper. I chose a 10” beautiful red poinsettia plant inspired from a recent tour at Weidner’s Gardens, organized by one of my garden clubs, The Village Garden Club of La Jolla.

Wrap the plant in simple burlap.

Cut Blue Juniper greens and Little Gem Magnolia pieces from my garden, arranging them on the sleigh. Look for greens, foliage, berries, pine cones in your garden, or possibly from a neighbor or friend.

Add another smaller interesting piece. In this vignette, an interesting pine cone from another part of California.

Add a colorful bow, if your vignette needs a pop. I didn’t want to take away from the color and beauty of the poinsettia, so I didn’t add a bow.

Make sure everything in your vignette can tolerate being outdoor for a period of time.

Enjoy what you have created. If you make a vignette, I would love to hear about it!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie