Brunch

Some people seem to lead such interesting lives, always meeting new people and traveling all over the place. Often those people will be told they’re so lucky to do all the things they do. The thing is, they’re not lucky, they simply create opportunities for themselves that most people don’t. One such person is my friend Andrea. Andrea is always on the move and manages to find fun in even the most dismal of places so if you’re invited to do something with her, it’s to your advantage to say yes and go along for the ride.

Whereas some people make tentative plans to do things in the future, Andrea just does things. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked about doing potluck lunches or dinners with friends, only for them not to materialize. A couple days ago Andrea invited myself and another friend over for potluck brunch. It wasn’t hard to put together and yet it’s something I’d probably talk about more than ever do.

When we arrived at Andrea’s yesterday she had set the table in bright spring colours, complete with champagne flutes and coupes, (legend has it they were modeled on the breasts of Marie Antoinette, Andrea's full of trivia too) fluffy chicks for company and fresh fruit. Our flutes were soon filled with champagne and Chambord as we set out the rest of our feast. I decided to bring themed baking and went with savoury and sweet tarts because brunch is one of those wonderful meals where if it’s acceptable to drink in the morning, it’s also acceptable to eat dessert. For savoury tarts I made Wild Mushroom and Spinach Tarts from Curtis Stone’s new book, (review to come soon) and for sweet I went with Caramel, Pecan, Chocolate Tarts, a switch up on a Dorie Greenspan recipe I’ve made numerous times. We also had homemade granola and a Dill and Ricotta Cheesecake whose recipe came via 101 Cookbooks.

It was a great way to start what could have been a day full of random activities. Unfortunately I had to cut things short to head into work. Being employed really gets in the way of spontaneity. It gets in the way of travel too. Flying away is on my mind since I got my passport in the mail today, (I had sent it in to be renewed, was it really four years ago that I went to Australia???) and just having it in my hands made me want to go places… Faraway places… I get a travel itch every now and then and it seems to have flared up lately. If I were more like Andrea I would probably be on a plane right now. Instead I’ll look at old photos, pine for days when I’m in a new place and then head into the kitchen to bake away my frustrations.