When I consulted with CEOs and Boards, I often included a session on practicing and cultivating the cardinal virtues and their necessity for leaders. Yes, this was a nod to my undergraduate training in philosophy before going on to study economics and finance, but once it was a “cardinal” or hinge on which virtue training turned. This was taught in one room school houses across the country, written into secondary primers, university curriculums and western civilization and culture foundation classes. Today, we largely neglect this virtue education and ethics. We don’t require students to read Aristitotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and consider the makings of the good life. And as a nation we are much the poorer for its absence. We have a political class that views personal virtue as naive and our current quagmire is its direct result. Our leaders lie, profit from influencers who control them, and use their leverage to make side deals for their personal and family wealth. Tribal politics are no better because the ethos is the tribe rather than the underlying virtue. As a nation, we need to go back to basics and teach the virtues again: Courage (fortitude), Temperance (self-control), Justice and Wisdom (prudence). And hold our leaders accountable for their standard. We need to demand a hinge of ethical behavior on which our polis turns.

A really warm day in the PNW, and no one felt like meat. We baked off some Schiacciata and a dessert tart very early in the morning, and made some fresh pappardelle pasta. In the slow cooker we made Marcella Hazan’s tomato and butter sauce, using some divine Italian organic passata I had saved for just such an occasion, along with some fire roasted tomatoes. We served the pasta with parmigiana cheese and fresh basil; fresh green beans with garlic and scallions, cooked the Chinese way with hot oil; corn on the cob; and Caesar salad. For dessert, a sugar tart, Vaudouse-style with cream, fresh peaches and whipped cream. This is what my American grandmother called a “garden dinner.” It was Perfect.

Sunday Breakfast! We made an old-school French family favorite, Oeufs au Plat Bressanne, which I first started cooking from Elizabeth David’s beloved book “Summer Cooking,” a volume containing three wonderful volumes that I often took to France for holidays and from which I have cooked extensively. This dish also makes a terrific supper served with a salade vinaigrette. The eggs on toast and covered in cream infused with rosemary, garlic and nutmeg, and shaved Gruyere, are finished with a scattering of chives as they emerge from a moderate oven. Happy Sunday, Everyone!

After a long, but delightful day doing heavy garden work, it seemed a good and fun Saturday night dinner was in order. We decided midday to debone, dice and marinate some chicken in a lemon, olive oil, garlic, Greek yogurt, honey and a warm spice marinade. We assembled the chicken on skewers, grilled them off until caramelized and brushed them with fresh made salse verde. We made some farro simmered in stock and tossed it with organic cherry tomatoes and scallions; and a French carrot rapées, with a Dijon vinaigrette. It hit the mark after a hard day’s labor!

They changed their sky but not their souls. -Horace

We decided to make sheets of fresh pasta, rolled on our machine, for some ravioli in brodo, filled with spinach, ricotta, nutmeg and parmigiana. We tossed these, once cooked, in a sauce reduction made of olive oil, fresh garlic, white wine, pasta water, stock and cherry tomatoes. Scattered with fresh basil, it was a feast.

“Life is indeed terribly complicated—to a man who has lost his principles.” ― G.K. Chesterton

After an Asian chicken dinner with rice last night, we returned to our French training and roots. We made a pâte au pommes de terres, a delicious double crust pie made from our ruff puff pastry made with wine; gently parboiled, thinly sliced potatoes layered with gruyère shallots, thyme and cream. Baked in a hot oven and served with a baby butter lettuce salad vinaigrette, it was a very French pairing. For dessert, a slice of the Galette Perougiènne, a brioche and lemon galette my Vaudoise-born Swiss grandmother often made, though with a slightly different finish (see previous post); with fresh June strawberries.

The Really delicious French Galette Perougiènne for dessert tonight, to serve with some fresh June strawberries.

Okonomyaki with Kewpie mayonnaise for lunch on a very busy day. We made a pancake batter with Asian spices, ginger, and added it to shredded cabbage, carrot and scallion. Yum!

Enough.

After we cut the corn “restes” from Sunday dinner off the cobs, we saved the cobs to simmer this morning for a corn stock. And for dinner tonight, we made a really delicious corn chowder with sautéed leeks and garlic, corn, the corn stock, white wine, cream and warm spices with thyme. It was really delicious and worth the undertaking, making another French style “something from nothing” supper. We toasted some of Sunday’s Schiacciata (focaccia from Florence) to serve with the chowder for a delightful Monday soup! Perfect for a chilly PNW evening!

Sunday Dinner, and a menu from days of old: Provençal chicken with herbs, garlic, cherry tomatoes, olives, white wine and stock; Soubise, a French dish of braised rice, onions and butter; roast asparagus; corn on the cob; our house Schiacciata (a Florentine focaccia). For dessert, a tart made of sweetened farmers cheese and cherries.

Wonderful and festive Sunday breakfast at the marble table in the kitchen, a warm spot on a chilly PNW morning: baked French eggs. “Oeufs Cocotte,” with cherry tomatoes, basil and cheese; sausages; sourdough toast; fresh fruit; pour over coffee.

A delightful Saturday night supper. We sautéed some fresh leeks, then added a good bit of the leek and roasted asparagus velouté from the previous night “restes,” thickened it with a tempered egg yolk to enhance its ability to cling to the pasta, and tossed it with our hand rolled and cut pappardelle, some parmigiana reggiano and fresh chives. Superb.

Concerning

A fun and festive Friday night feast, with a glass of Rhone red! Happy Friday, Everyone! We made a ruff puff heirloom tomato tart, with farmer’s cheese, garlic, mixed Italian cheeses, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil; and a luscious fresh asparagus velouté, with housemade stock, sautéed leeks, garlic and cream, all puréed and garnished with a poached egg and asparagus spears.