The abominable aubergine & other strange sightings

Paris street style. #thinkaubergine

#kalespotted

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Broccoli onboard.

Chicago’s best.

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Bonjour Kale Gimlet!

A few weeks ago, I got to tell my long story about how I ended up in Paris on my favourite podcast Radio Cherry Bombe. Although it really is like any other coming-of-age story set to a slightly soundstage-y backdrop, I talked about the moment where I finally decided I would move back to Paris for good and commit to the complicated life of being a professional illustrator. And I would not look back, doing whatever I could to manifest that dream. Luckily Paris has introduced me to many other wonderful women who have moved to this difficult city and have created and pursued their own projects with great zeal and grace.

My great friend Kristen Beddard of The Kale Project’s new book Bonjour Kale: A Memoir of Paris, Love, and Recipes (Sourcebooks) is a heartfelt story of starting over in a freakishly foreign place like Paris, sans job, sans projects. The biggest cultural difference was she couldn’t even find her ideal comfort food, kale. Kale in France had disappeared throughout the decades as it become an unpalatable taste of wartimes. In the meantime, it had even become a decorative plant. When I moved to Paris 8 years ago, I chuckled seeing kale cozied in next to the pansies in my neighborhood flower garden. (Foraging for Dummies, right up my ally!)

I can truly say that Kristen was one of the courageous people who brought a new wave of eating to the French plate. Three years ago, I tried and tried to pitch veggie-based cookbooks to editors and it was firmly always “too soon”. But now there is cashew cream served in carnivorous restaurants, organic grocery stores outnumbering their contemporaries, a general curiosity about things like chia seeds and how to eat better to feel better. And that’s no small feat in a country steeped in tradition like France.

In honor of the release of Bonjour Kale today, Kristen let me illustrate one of her favorite recipes from her book, a kale gimlet. It’s a sweet and spicy ode to her single days before her monumental move to Paris.

Order Bonjour Kale HERE.

Oh, and I also illustrated the cover, too! 🙂

Kale and Tequila Gimlet (from Bonjour Kale by Kristen Beddard, Sourcebooks)

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch kale
1/2-1 inch piece fresh ginger
1 1/2 shots lime juice
1 shot tequila
1/2 shot Grand Marnier
Agave syrup, to taste
1 handful cilantro
6 ice cubes

Preparation:
Juice the kale and ginger in a juicer. Measure out one shot of the juice. Pour the kale-ginger juice, lime juice, tequila, Grand Marnier, agave syrup and cilantro into a shaker with the ice. Shake vigorously. Pour and enjoy!

Yield: 1 drink

6 insider tips for beautiful coloring!

Yes, I published a coloring book, Edible Paradise: A Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables (Universe). But what do I actually know about coloring? To fully embrace the experience from black and white to color, I took on the looming task of coloring in 3 copies of my book (And they’re almost finished. To be continued soon…) I not only noted that the many ladybugs on each page begin to move around by the time I started the third copy, I also compiled 6 tips for effective and beautiful coloring.

Pick an engaging topic. Coloring books are like relationships. A good part of it just needs to click. Since you’ll be spending an exorbitant amount of time getting to know your coloring book, pick an engaging topic that ignites your need to color. Whether that’s Ryan Gosling, 4-letter words or seasonal fruits and veg, hold out for the right one.
Know the paper and medium. There’s nothing worse than opening the first page of a coloring book with “first-day-of-school” anticipation, only to find out that the markers you are using bleed through several pages at once. Try out your desired medium on the last page of the book. The paper will cue you in if it will hold up to whatever you want to color with.
Think about light. For a realistic final product, pick a direction from the where the imagined light source is coming from. This will act as a global guide for the where the highlights and shadows will be placed. This is especially important when coloring in my book Edible Paradise. Don’t be afraid to leave white on the page, a very important thing I learned using watercolors. It gives the page volume and lightness.
Edit! This is a lot like cooking. Sure there is the execution and technique that transforms brut ingredients into a meal. But it’s the drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, the pinch of sea salt and the touch of lemon zest that takes a dish from dinner to degustation. The same goes for coloring, a lot comes out of the final touches. Once I think I’m done with a page, I revisit it a few hours or days later. If it looks flat, I’ll add more shadows and contrast. If it is way overdone, I’ll consider using more white space in my next pages.
Use color as highlights. Take a look at the example above. Yes, a strawberry is identifiable just when in red, but when it has a slight touch of orange in the mix, it sings. Don’t be afraid to mix colors.
Have fun! Sure I just compiled some “rules” for coloring, but there shouldn’t be any. Coloring is all about experience. Sure, something may not work out mid-book, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have to scrap the whole thing. Don’t think about the subject so literally. Pick a totally crazy color scheme and go nuts. Or color in everything using opposite colors on the color wheel. It’s all up to you!

Want to take on Edible Paradise as your next coloring adventure? Order it here.

EP: The Book Tour!

EP book tour

Book tour alert! I’m on my way back to the motherland to celebrate the release of Edible Paradise: A Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables (Rizzoli’s Universe Imprint). When I won’t be stuffing my face with all the burgers, bagels and enchiladas La France has yet to perfect, I hope to meet you. Come show some francofly love, buy a book and get it signed.

Spring_10. Spring double page