Approaching early summer
Preparations, jasmine, apricots
Hi, friends —
Rome has just emerged from a week-long wash of rain, and thank goodness for that. It’s hard to wake up at 6:30 for work when your windows don’t have any light to let in, and the sound of your white noise machine bleeds into the sound of the rain.
Now, the sun is back, and we’re racing into summer. The wisteria is gone, and jasmine has arrived. It turns out that the ivy covering the Academy’s inner courtyard is actually jasmine, and it felt like overnight that it burst into thousands of tiny white flowers. I’m utterly delighted by the jasmine despite the fact that it clouds my eyes and clogs my nose. Beauty is pain, I suppose?
In the kitchen, we’ve begun to receive deliveries of summer produce — apricots, melons, eggplants, tomatoes — but they’re all shy versions of themselves, not yet at their sweetest and ripest. So we help them out: apricots poached in cardamom simple syrup for a galette, tomatoes slow-roasted with lots of olive oil until jammy, and so on. The produce is in the in-between stage, which actually reflects the energy at the Academy right now quite well. We are less than two weeks away from the week during which trustees descend upon Rome, adding big numbers to the lunch and dinner tables. Alice Waters, the founder of the Rome Sustainable Food Project, will also be here, and we of course want to make her proud. The fellows are busy preparing for Open Studios, the day they share the culmination of their efforts as Rome Prize winners. We, the fruits, and the vegetables are all preparing for our moments.
This past weekend, I stayed in Rome and laid low. I did yoga, watched Selling Sunset (which I strongly do not recommend despite the fact that I can’t stop watching it), and made homemade ricotta gnocchi while talking on the phone with Eliza. Truthfully, my head hasn’t been in a great place recently, so I’m trying to take extra care of myself. A bright light is my upcoming trip to London! My flight is on Friday evening (tomorrow!), and while there I’ll get to see (at least) two of my favorite people and dine at two restaurants I’ve long been eyeing. Like my Dublin trip, it’ll be a quick turnaround, but worth it, I’m sure.
That’s all I have in me today, as I need to absorb some sun outside before I head into the kitchen for work. More next week!
Love and warmth,
Phoebe
“We, the fruits, and the vegetables are all preparing for our moments.” Love that sentence.