Aunt Emilienne, with (cooked) dinner, photo by Jerry Tang
My Aunt Emilienne is pretty off the hook. My Mom, Bernadette, comes from a big family of mostly sisters (Yvonne, Felicie, Emilienne, Jeanine, Jacqueline) and a bunch of brothers, too (Victor, Georges, Daniel, Jerry (ne Thierry)).
Emilienne is the Martha Stewart of the family. She builds lamps out of vintage blow torches. She paints (see below), and makes incredible pressed-flower collages.
Emilienne's portrait of me made up my Linda Mason, photo by Jerry Tang
Every time she comes to visit us for Christmas, she makes a true Buche de Noel, with no detail overlooked: sponge and mousse, faux bois and -- my fav -- faux champignons. The last time she came to visit, she brought back truly transporting herbs and other aromatics from Iran.
photo by Emilienne Tang
But now, she's raw! I asked her to share a couple pictures of what she likes to make. Above, you can see a sort of raw bibimbap, "life soup", cashew nut lasagna, and a raw chocolate cake with fresh coconut. I love my Vitamix, but this is not easy stuff to make. And that's why Emilienne is somewhat of a hero of mine.
Bon vivant! a soup of celery, parsley, ginger, date, turnips, carrots, and avocado, photo by Emilienne Tang