Putting new windows in your apartment or house, buying a new air conditioning unit as weather heats up, picking a mover that will not damage your furniture or the front door of your new digs, cheaper is not always the wise option.

Better spend a little more once than a little less twice!

Minding the money for Concierge Mondays # 22

Walk into the storm andstroll around Hakkaido with illustrator and digital artist Mateusz Urbanowicz, Polish born, based in Tokyo.

I picked Into the Storm for 2 reasons. First here in New Jersey as I write this thunderstorms are on the way, second it in a way illustrates our walk into (and hopefully through) the Covid storm.

The stroll around Hokkaido, spoke to me through its ink illustrations. The small Hokkaido in Ink book contains 30 something ink illustrations, each with side notes. Book is available for purchase both in print and digital editions.

Let me give credit to Scott Pack for putting Mateusz Urbanowicz.

Watercolor and Ink for Tokyo Thursdays #320

Right Location, Rich Mix from Paintings to Distinct Clothing and Garden Fare Make for Successful Yard Sale

As in retail, you will get buyers, not just passing by visitors , if you have the right ingredients and not just a mass of things for people to dig through the piles.

How to Not have Just Another Yard Sale?  Concierge Mondays # 20

Summer lunch up North (meaning Scandinavia) has seafood rillettes on the menu.

Like this Smoked Mackerel Rillettes With Rye Crisps recipe from ScandiKitchen: Midsommar: Simply Delicious Food for Summer Days (Ryland Peters & Small, 2018, 2021) by Brontë Aurell, co-owner of ScandiKitchen in West London.

Smoked Mackerel Rillettes With Rye Crisps

This is a super-easy way to prepare an appetizer or light lunch. Rillettes are a coarse, potted meat similar to pâté that are stirred together and spread on toast. They’re usually made with fatty pork (or duck) leftovers, but I love making rillettes with fish. This recipe works well with both smoked mackerel and smoked salmon.

Ingredients:

8–12 thin slices of rye bread or store-bought rye crisps (available in supermarkets) 

200 ml/3⁄4 cup crème fraîche

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons chopped chives

squeeze of fresh lime juice

1⁄2 teaspoon horseradish sauce

300 g/10 1⁄2 oz. smoked mackerel

freshly ground black pepper (hold the salt until you taste it, some mackerel is very salty)

TO SERVE

1⁄4 small fennel bulb

1⁄2 apple

freshly squeezed lemon juice

fresh pea shoots

4 individual serving glasses

Serves 4 as a generous appetizer or light lunch

Directions:

If using rye bread, preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F) Gas 1. Slice the rye bread very thinly and place on a baking tray. If the bread is too thick it will be hard to eat as crispy bread, so do make sure it is thinly sliced. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10–20 minutes (depending on your bread) until completely dry. You can make it several days ahead and store in an airtight container.

Mix the crème fraîche with the mustard, chives, lime juice and horseradish (if using). Remove the skin from the mackerel and add the fish to the crème fraîche mixture. Stir just until mixed – I like my rillettes with a few chunky bits, but some people prefer it smoother. If you like yours smoother, simply mix a while longer. Check for seasoning and add black pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into the serving glasses. Chill until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, slice the fennel and apple very thinly, ideally using a mandoline. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to stop the apple going brown and mix well. Serve the apple and fennel salad with pea shoots, the glasses of mackerel and the rye toast on the side. You may need extra toast as the mackerel makes a generous portion.

( Reproduced with permission from ScandiKitchen: Midsommar: Simply Delicious Food for Summer Days By Brontë Aurell, Ryland Peters & Small, 2021 / photography by Peter Cassidy © Ryland Peters & Small, 2018, 2021)

P.S: Please note that the recipes in ScandiKitchen: Midsommar are the same as in ScandiKitchen Summer, which was published in 2018.

Into The Woods, want to wander off off Paris, here's a map of natural parks and wooded areas around Paris.

Carte des Bois via Enlarge Your Paris

Will online marketplaces soon be flooded with 'For Sale' breadmakers and Peloton (Interactive) bikes?

Will people start interacting with other people instead?

With warmer days and people starting to trickle back or being tricked back (at least part time) to the office, time will tell!

Not so new shiny objects for Concierge Mondays # 19

Being a liaison could become prominent concierge role for me in this getting past covid period.

After reading number of articles on what 'back at the office' might mean, most of us are still muddling through this, it appears that ferrying things (documents, supplies, and more) from main office to satellite ones and same to and from 'working from home' team members could be a prominent activity in my New Jersey Concierges line of  work.

Using a new canvas for changing shape of work, a slightly belated Concierge Mondays # 18

Whether you are moving, need to empty part of your house or apartment for a home improvement project, or just running out of space for some of your possessions, many of us do, pick up a facility that has a drive in garage or loading room with direct elevator access to your storage space.

Temperature control is also part of the basic requirements so none of your items suffer during their time in storage.

If you plan to sell some of the items brought to your storage unit, it will be a plus to have that easy elevator access to move items to buyer's vehicle. It will also allow you to conduct transaction without bringing 'strangers' in your home.

Slightly belated storage space tips for Concierge Mondays # 17

Make the message fit on a very small birthday cake, shrink It!

More small studio than penthouse!

Cake and portion control for Concierge Mondays # 16

Crustacean eating red mullet makes for smooth pink Whole Thai Fish Skewers, a recipe from Skewered: Recipes for Fire Food on Sticks from Around the World by Marcus Bawdon (© Dog ‘n’ Bone, April 27, 2021)

WHOLE THAI FISH SKEWERS

I’m a lover of red mullet and I think it’s much under-rated by a lot of folk. It’s a lovely pink, smooth-skinned fish, and the flesh is delicate with a shellfish flavor from all the prawns/shrimp and crustaceans it eats.
I figured it would work well with a red Thai curry coating and a nice crispy, slightly charred skin. This is a lovely way to cook fish as you get a crisp skin, without fear of the fish sticking because it’s not in contact with the grill grates.

Feeds 2

RECOMMENDED HEAT: Moderate coals

Ingredients:

2 red mullet, gutted and scaled
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
coarse sea salt
lime wedges, to serve

CHOOSE YOUR SKEWER
long flat metal skewers

Directions:

Set up a narrow grill so that the skewers go across both sides so that the fish can be supported just above the coals.

Skewer the fish through the head, body and out through the tail end. Make a couple of slashes in the thick part of the body to help even cooking, and to allow the curry paste to penetrate the flesh. Season lightly with the salt, and then brush on the Thai red curry paste. Make sure the fish has a nice even coating of the paste.

Place the fish skewers over the coals and turn occasionally, making sure the char on the skin doesn’t get too dark. Total cooking time should be 10–12 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish has an internal temperature of 55°C/130°F on a digital probe thermometer.
Finish with a squeeze of lime juice and serve with some fragrant jasmine rice, if liked.

(* Excerpted from Skewered: Recipes from Around the World for Fire Food on Sticks by Marcus Bawdon - © Dog ‘n’ Bone, 2021- Photography by Marcus Bawdon)