He’s away.
Come down from the mountain, you have been gone too long
The spring is upon us, follow my only song
Settle down with me by the fire of my yearning
You should come back home, back on your own nowThe world is alive now, in and outside our home
You run through the forest, settle before the sun
Darling, I can barely remember you beside me
You should come back home, back on your own now–Ragged Wood, Fleet Foxes
He’s away, and now I’m in the doldrums.
While he’s in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing, I read books distractedly, get a haircut*, put Fleet Foxes on repeat, have dinner with friends. It feels like a weekend spent in an alien vessel. At night as I lie in bed, his pillow silently bares its grey and white teeth, daring me to venture closer. I stick to the far end of my corner. If this were a boat, the balance would have long tipped me into the water. The deep water of sleep. But sleep is light, and the telephone is sulking. The MythTV box is sullen; it won’t play what I want to watch. At this, I flee into the kitchen, and devise a dessert for 2 to beckon him home with.
I’ve always wanted to make an ice-cream sphere, and this one was going to be Cherry Ripe inspired, but cherries aren’t in season yet, so when they are, I might have to revisit that idea.
But for now I don’t want to wait, so this one is vanilla and elderflower flavoured, with a heart of raspberry sorbet. Raspberry and elderflower sauces stroke the plate. Edible flowers from my balcony complete the picture, reminding me that it really is Spring.
So now I wait, and count down the days until he finally returns and we can share this.
(* My hairdresser told me he used to call a souffle, “soffle”, to which I replied that I wished he hadn’t told that to me just as he had the scissors right up against the side of my face, because I had to do everything I could to stop from laughing. Funny, tall, dark, handsome and SINGLE, ladies! Anyway, I love the new cut. I feel like Anna Wintour, minus the glamorous wardrobe and extra large sunglasses. I took a picture to show B, which I have also included on my About page. Unfortunately, you can’t actually see the hair because I’ve cropped the picture for the sake of anonymity.)
Tags: flowers, ice-cream, plated dessert, vanilla
Christie@fig&cherry said,
October 9, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
Ah, what a dreamy romantic read – thank you! Fingers crossed he’s only a few days away.
Cherry ripe is my favourite! Can’t wait to see that one – hopefully with a recipe.
ps. Love the photo! x
Y said,
October 9, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
Actually, it’s more than a few days, so that ice-cream might be a solid snowball in the freezer by the time he gets back! 😛
Reemski said,
October 9, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
So romantic…I hope it’s just as pretty, if not more pretty for when he gets home…
Did you make the raspberry sorbet too?
Shreya said,
October 9, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
lovely post.. amazing pic..
Lorraine E said,
October 9, 2008 @ 10:25 pm
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! If that doesn’t tempt him home , I don’t know what will!
Eileen said,
October 9, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Enjoyed your post and the photo is lovely.
Lee said,
October 10, 2008 @ 12:12 am
I’m sure your vanilla icecream sphere is as good as the photo’s promise.
But I was most curious about the music and although thought I’d never heard of Fleet Foxes, I was surprised at how familiar to me their sound is. Lovely folk harmonies and sweet lyrics. Very nice.
clumbsycookie said,
October 10, 2008 @ 3:54 am
Oh my! He has to go away more often to inspire you to make gorgeous things like this! Where’s the inside picture? This is perfect!
Gabriela said,
October 10, 2008 @ 5:59 am
The way you write about him is just darling. Absolutely. I hope he returns home safely and soon! From what I can see from the haircut, and the image of Anna Wintour’s grey and blonde bob, I am sure you look positively adorable. I wish I could pull cuts like that off — unfortunately, my hair is too frizzy, so I just keep it insanely short. Going to get a haircut this saturday though. :}
The dessert looks divine, as usual.
Y said,
October 10, 2008 @ 10:24 am
Lee: They’ve been described as having a “baroque pop” sound and they say their influences are Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel etc, which might explain why they sound familiar?
Clumbsycookie: No inside picture because I’m still waiting for him to come back, for us to dig into it!
Gabriela: Yeah, but goodness, no grey and blonde on my head.. yet! 😀
grace said,
October 10, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
aw, hang in there! now we’re all eager for him to get home so we can see the innards of this delectable treat! 🙂
Lee said,
October 10, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
No no – I meant I have actualy heard some of their songs. Their sound lodged in my memory, their name didn’t. But you can hear those influences in the harmonies.
Cakelaw said,
October 10, 2008 @ 9:37 pm
I hope your man is coming home soon! Sorry to hear that you’ve been lonely this week. Your icecream ball looks fab and very dramatic – can’t wait to see the cherry version in the summer.
Vera said,
October 11, 2008 @ 3:42 am
How sweet… The ice cream ball looks so tempting. I can’t believe the strength of your will 🙂
Indigo said,
October 11, 2008 @ 5:02 am
This is so beautiful, really gorgeous. And I love the sound of the haircut!
Eva said,
October 11, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
Your man definitely is a lucky one..;-)
cakebrain said,
October 11, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Awww. how romantic and poetic! Your pic looks simply gorgeous!
pea and pear said,
October 11, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
I had to give B a squeeze as I read this post just because he was here!! Wish I had some time to make a delicious icecream sphere…. maybe one day soon… hopefully soon!! Don’t forget me 🙂
Aran said,
October 12, 2008 @ 11:41 pm
it looks fantastic! i am so in love with ice cream in different shapes…
Helen said,
October 13, 2008 @ 5:28 am
Ahh, I feel the same when mine is away. I couldn’t make something as beautiful as this though, even if I wanted to.
Shari said,
October 13, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
I love how you write about your longing! And that dessert looks divine!
arfi said,
October 13, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
love your plating, Y!
Sophie said,
October 15, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
What a sweet post. I completely know what you mean. I’ve never been away from my hubby for too long, but when he’s studying in the room, it really does feel like he’s in another world. Very sweet dessert, it looks like a yummy snowball :).
Tartelette said,
October 15, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
The first day feels like a day off, the second one feels like a long day and by the third I am reading to get giggling again with him so I impatiently wait and bake/cook.
The sphere is perfectly etheral and romantic!
Miri said,
October 15, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
Hope he returns soon! The sphere looks so perfect, I can’t believe you were able to control yourself and wait until he’s back!
Mão na Massa said,
October 16, 2008 @ 5:36 am
Descobri agora o teu blog!!!
É FANTÀSTICO!!
Parabéns, tens receitas fabulosas….
bEIJOS
Piggy said,
October 16, 2008 @ 9:15 am
That’s a yummy looking dessert! How I wish I can have a garden full of edible flowers, so that I can use them to decorate my dessert, just like what you did with yours. 🙂