A South African Feast in the South of France

Our most recent World Food Evening took us on a sensory journey to the aromatic and zesty cuisine of South Africa.

We all brought a dish, as usual, and shared a wonderful meal that included Prawn Cakes with a spicy Cilantro Sauce, a deliciously curried Bobotie served with Apricot Blatjang and Tomato and Onion Salad, and finally a Coconut Tart for dessert.


soft, fragrant prawn cakes


crunchy, onion salad


I'm so disappointed that the photo of the Bobotie was blurry. By the time the main course comes around, I either forget to take photos or don't pay close enough attention to get a decent shot. It was a fabulous dish, full of spices, meat and fruit, then topped with a egg custard and baked. What an amazing melange of flavors!
The recipe came from BBC Good Food magazine. I've added an "American translation" to some of the British terms. (believe me, sometimes it's necessary!)


Bobotie

• 2 slices white bread
• 2 onions, chopped
• 25g butter
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1kg packet lean minced (ground) beef
• 2 tbsp madras curry paste
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 3 cloves
• 5 allspice berries
• 2 tbsp peach mango chutney
• 3 tbsp sultanas (golden raisins)
• 6 bay leaves
• 300 ml full-cream milk (whole milk)
  
• 2 large eggs
  

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. (350F) Pour cold water over the bread and set aside to soak.
2. Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter, stirring regularly for 10 mins until they are soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and beef and stir well, crushing the mince (ground beef) into fine grains until it changes colour. Stir in the curry paste, herbs, spices, chutney, sultanas (golden raisins) and 2 of the bay leaves with 1 tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper.
3. Cover and simmer for 10 mins. Squeeze the water from the bread, then beat into the meat mixture until well blended. Tip into an oval ovenproof dish (23 x 33cm and about 5-6cm deep)(9-10 inches and 2-3 inches deep). Press the mixture down well and smooth the top. You can make this and chill 1 day ahead.
4. For the topping, beat the milk and eggs with seasoning, then pour over the meat. Top with the remaining bay leaves and bake for 35-40 mins until the topping is set and starting to turn golden.
Serves 6


A new addition: a challenging quiz to make sure we get more out of the evening than recipes and great food! We all loved it and I believe it is to become a World Food Evening tradition from now on.

Thomas was happy to nibble on his mommy's necklace.


Our next gathering will be a swanky Manhattanesque Cocktails and Hors d'Oeuvres soirée.

A BO-BO menu!

Last night we had a Blue Cheese Quiche and a salad. A World in a PAN Home Chef Brigitte Labadie would say this is a ty pical BoBO menu.
Bo-Bo, which stands for Bourgeois and Boheme, is a Parisian sociological trend: young professional couples, many working in the artistic fields, chose to live in working class districts (such as the 11th, the 10th), or the subrubs thus changing the complete aspect and atmosphere of these areas.
A World in a PAN offers a tour to help you discover this lifestyle http://www.aworldinapan.com/classes_and_fees.php#5
So back to my menu! Last night we had a blue cheese quiche and a salad. You can see the picture here and the recipe in my website.
Weather in Paris was summer weather, at last! and we enjoyed a glass of cool Saint Nicolas de Bourgueuil (red) with our delicious meal.

Enjoy!

Photo du Jour - Grapes

Tiny little grapes.
Amazing that in less than six months they'll have been picked and crushed.

Eggplant Caponata

The beauty of eggplant caponata is certainly, in my opinion, its versatility.  Eaten warm, it can almost be equated to a rich, earthy soup; eaten cold on crackers and it becomes a small and delicous snack or appetizer; of course caponata makes a great pasta sauce, and serves equally well in sandwiches, spread with feta and mint.

In any case, this caponata is easy, healty, and very rich in flavor.  The addition of toasted pine nuts adds a hint of fat and creaminess which rounds everything out nicely.  The serving size of this dish varies; if you're just making it for yourself, you'll probably have leftovers for one more dish.

Bon appetit!

Eggplant Caponata - makes 2-3 servings

2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 small eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small onion, cubed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, cored
1/4-cup water
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp capers, drained
1/4-cup freshly chopped basil
A handful of toasted pine nuts

1.  Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the eggplant, onion, and garlic and cook until eggplant has softened, about 15 minutes.
2.  Meanwhile, blanch your tomatoes: place them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then immediately place them in a bowl of ice cold water (this makes it a cinch to peel off the skins).  Remove the tomato skins, and working over a bowl, dice the tomatoes into 1/2-inch pieces.
3.  Add the tomatoes with their juice, water, vinegar, and capers to the eggplant, and simmer, partially covered, until eggplant is very tender, about 15 minutes more.
4.  Stir in the basil; remove from heat and place into a serving bowl.  Top with pine nuts. 

If you're saving this to eat later, stir in the pine nuts and place in the fridge.  Can be stored for 2-3 days.

Photo du Jour - A Beautiful View

Colorful spring garden with a view over the vineyards and the Étang de Bages.

See the little café table? There were two chairs to sit and admire the view. What an idyllic place to relax with a glass of wine.

Citizen Cake:Restaurant

The older I get, the more service seems to matter to me. I don't expect great service in a dive or a diner, though I am pleased when I get it. But in a moderate to expensive place, it really bugs me if the service is less than top notch. I do recognize that things don't always go according to plan, especially in a restaurant. People show up late, they stay at their table for ages after their check has been delivered, they show up in mobs at unexpected and inconvenient times. Any number of things can make service go from smooth to bumpy.



But tonight after being told a table was being set for us then seeing it given away to others and being told a table would be ready in 20 minutes and then having to wait almost 40, my level of irritation was palpable. At the very point our group was ready to give up, we were finally seated. To his credit the manager on duty apologized profusely and did not charge us for our drinks, smoothing over some frazzled nerves.



But on to the desserts. Citizen Cake is known for it's pastries. Lots of spectacular cakes, cookies and homemade ice creams to choose from in addition to some other frankly unusual and daring dessert plates. We settled on several--one ice cream sandwich, one Retro Shag cake--which was a genoise cake splashed with rum, and layered with exotic passion fruit mousse and covered with vanilla buttercream, then carpeted with unsweetened coconut shavings. We also had a Pokemon's Purse which consisted of a warm milk chocolate and caramel cake, chocolate ice cream, sprinkled with salted Spanish peanuts and wrapped in Japanese mochi. The last dessert was by far the most unusual and consisted of chunks of apples and fennel in a honey syrup, and ale sabayon, Great Hill blue cheese and a topping of walnut streusel served with apple sorbet. It would be an understatement to say the desserts satisfied; they were deliciously witty and tasty. Combinations of wonderful decadent flavors, in just the right proportions to satisfy a sweet tooth and an already full belly.



Other signature cakes at Citizen Cake include the After Midnight Chocolate, the Debutante, and a Chocolate Work Orange, proving desserts can be fun and seriously good at the same time. Now if they could just seat everyone...



Citizen Cake

399 Grove St

San Francisco

415-861-2228

Best Wishes from France

For me, Christmas in France is all about enjoying the seasonal food and drink, lots of laughter and fun with friends who we never seem to see enough of during the year and little villages all decked out in their holiday finery.  I absolutely love it!

Whatever you're celebrating this weekend, I wish you and yours all the best.  Bonnes fêtes!

“No better life than the good life”

It was a birthday celebration Nicho-style, with a rousing hike among towering trees, plenty of guffawing, an afternoon rest in a sunny hammock with a chainsaw roaring sweetly nearby, homegrown lamb grilled over an open flame, and apple cake with cream-cheese frosting. Happy birthday to a man who truly knows how it’s done.The celebration began early. I arrived at Kate’s at 9:30 Saturday morning in

This one does something interesting

In the days since we last spoke, I’ve flown to Oklahoma and back. I’ve introduced my mother to 24. I’ve made Cafe Lago meatballs with my mother, braised a pan of endive and serrano ham with my mother, and put away a couple of Negronis, also with my mother. I’ve baked a coffee cake using a tin of baking powder from my mother’s cabinet that, you know, it turns out, expired in 2006. I’ve thrown

Photo du Jour - le Soleil

More gorgeous vines under clear, blue skies.
I love autumn in the Minervois!

Spice Rack Redux

Do you have an old-fashioned spice rack? You know the type I'm talking about. It looks so nice you probably put it on display. Lots of bottles, labeled and filled with herbs and spices. Sadly herbs and spices deteriorate rapidly when exposed to the sun. I know. I had spices lined up on a counter ledge. Every time I went to use them I was dismayed at how weak or faded they were.



There are a couple of things you can do to boost the flavor of spices that you cook with. One thing is to buy whole spices and to grind them when you use them. You know how much better fresh ground pepper is than pre-ground pepper, right? Well if you only grind one other spice, make it nutmeg. You will be amazed at how much better it is freshly ground. I use it in spinach, with cheese dishes, in baked goods. It's quite versatile actually. The one spice you should not grind yourself is cinnamon sticks. Turns out that the cinnamon we get in sticks is not as good quality as the ground stuff. Check out Penzeys for a whopping seven different kinds of cinnamon for purchase. Penzeys also has a terrific catalog of herbs and spices that includes lots of recipes, you can request it online. If you're the type of person who prefers spice mixes to the single spices, they also have a number of those, they make a great gift for someone just getting into cooking, maybe you?



The other things you can do to keep your herbs and spices fresh is to store them in the dark or conversely to put them in containers that protect them from the light. That's what I just did. After receiving several spices from Dean & Deluca in seamless tins, I noticed that they lasted much longer than the spices I had in jars. It was time to make a change. I found seamless tins of all sizes at reasonable prices at The Container Store. You can buy the containers online or in the stores. Labeled and lined up they look very chic and they stack so nicely you'll kiss your spice rack goodbye.

The Numbers

1427 - Number of posts on Chez Loulou
22 - Number of half written posts
3 - Number of half written books
191 - Number of French cheeses tasted
? - Number of French wines tasted
0 - Number of brains, kidneys or pieds de cochon eaten
1839 - Number (approximate) of baguettes eaten
19 - Number of emails received that start with "Dear Chez"
100+ - Number of emails received asking for help with moving to France
14 - Number of friends made through blogging
1- Number of stalkers
7992 - Number of Tweets 
7.8 - Number of years lived in France
8.8 - Number of years dealing with French bureaucracy
6726 - Number of photos in my Flickr account 
5 - Number of years spent writing Chez Loulou

A Sunday lunch meal

I have been having the feeling that I run a restaurant at home as we had friends for dinner several times the past week! I did not take the Baccarat glasses or Christophle silver ware out of teh cabinets, but I paid careful attention to to details so that the whole setting was harmonious. This was my lunch menu on Sunday. We served a cremant de Loire rose, a fresh and sparkling rose wine from Anjou. The atmosphre was set! One of my guests spoiled me with a delightful bouquet of roses that brought a sublte fragance to my living room! (you see it to the left of the glasses)As usual it it very important to dress the table with care. I opted for a Chinese setting with a table cloth made with toile de Jouy a French fabric from Jouy-en-Josas, that has been being made since 1700. The pattern I chose is "chinoiseries", a free Chinese blue and white inspiration. The plates are heavy Chinese porcelain plates that I brought from our stay in China.

We started with a simple aubergine gratin, served in individual ramequins: I alternated grilled aubergines with thin slices of tomatoes, I added some coulis de tomate (a thick tomato juice made by blending fresh peeled and seedless tomatoes) and toppeled this combination with parmigiano cheese and basil before baking for 20 minutes in a medium hot oven.

The main course was duck breasts a la plancha, served with a simple gravy made of the juice reduction and port wine.My cheese platter was served with a simple lettuce salad. I served a cherry clafoutis for dessert.
Bon appetit!

La Fête du Fromage

Tommette de Vache and Fourme d'Ambert were the two cheeses selected this week for our continuing celebration of French cheese.



I bought the Tommette de Vache from a small market stall this morning and cannot find any information about this cheese either in my cheese reference books or on the Internet. I do know that it is a raw cow's milk, fermier cheese and that I loved it! It's aroma was sweet and nutty and it's flavor was slightly salty, very buttery and reminiscent of Beaufort. A nice, dry white wine would be a good accompaniment.


Fourme d'Ambert is one of France's oldest cheeses and is known as it's mildest blue cheese. It comes from the Auvergne department where it is shaped into tall cylinders, injected with mold, then left to mature in humid caves. Made from cow's milk, it has a dry rind and a firm and dense, yet creamy texture, so it doesn't crumble like many blue cheeses. It's aroma is earthy and nutty and it's flavor brings to mind fruit and mushrooms. It was very nice but wasn't as interesting as Blue de Basque or Bleu de Gex. Enjoy some fruity red wine such as Beaujolais or a sweet white such as Sauternes with Fourme d'Ambert.

Roasted Beet Risotto:Recipe

I love watching cooking shows on TV. Seeing someone cook is just a great way to learn. But even better is watching firsthand. I was very lucky to live with a family in Florence and learn to cook many classic Italian dishes by watching every move in the kitchen.

I don't think I really had proper risotto until I lived in Italy. In Italy we ate it all the time as a first course. Since I've been back I rarely order it in restaurants because I'd rather make it at home. Usually when I make it I serve it as a main dish with a salad. I've hesitated to give a recipe for risotto because you use all of your senses to cook it to perfection and there is only so much I can explain.

Beets are a vegetable I like cold better than hot, except that I adore beet soup and I think beets make one of the best risotto dishes ever. It might seem like an odd combination--beets and rice, but trust me, it's wonderful. If you've never had perfectly cooked risotto try to find a great place to try it so you get a feel for what the consistency should be. Like eating pasta "al dente" for the first itme, it is a revelation.

Roasted Beet Risotto
Serves 2 as a main course or 3-4 as a starter

2 beets
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 Cup Arborio rice
1/4 cups white wine
2-3 cups of chicken stock or broth, heated but not boiling (canned chicken broth is fine)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Black pepper to taste

Begin by washing the beets, wrapping them in foil and baking at 450 degrees until done, about an hour, but check them after 45 minutes. Let them cool then cut them into small cubes.

In a large saucepan heat a tablespoon of butter with the olive oil. Slowly cook the onion until it softens but does not brown. Toast the rice in it over low heat until the grains become opaque, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the wine and let it cook, when the wine is completely absorbed add the beets. Begin adding the warm chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently. When it begins to completely absorb, but before the pan dries out, add more broth. Risotto takes almost exactly 18 minutes to cook, and you really should stir and watch and listen for the sound of the rice as the stock absorbs and evaporates.

When the rice is tender yet firm, neither mushy nor chewy, remove from the heat and add a splash more stock. Let it sit covered for just a minute, it should not be too dry. Risotto makes it's own "sauce". Add the last bit of butter and the grated parmesan, mix and serve seasoning with just a touch of black pepper at the table.

Enjoy!

Guavas in Uruguay!

I love guavas. I have lived in Colombia, Kenya, and in several countries in Asia, where guavas are common; I used to find the round yellow pink inside fruit with a sharp yet sweet flavor that I loved.

My mother makes a delicious jam with it (pictured above) which sometimes I have had here in uruguay with yogurt as an afternoon snack.

In Brazil, they make a paste out of this fruit and sell it in rectangles called "ticholos". I have found them for sale in the Montevideo streets, and they have brought sweet childhood memories. Trust me, they are delicious too.

But Uruguay has a type of guavas that I have never seen elsewhere (picture above). They are small, green outside and whitish inside. The flavor is very close to the yellow ones. I cut them in two and eat them out of the skin with a small cofee spoon. I have had several pounds of guayabas so far!

Slow Food Nation: Civic Center

Slow Food Nation is a an indoor and outdoor affair with high ticket fundraisers and plenty of free events and activities. If you want to enjoy it on the cheap, head over to Civic Center and take a walk through the inspiring Victory Garden. In the garden swing by the "Soapbox", where a series of speakers and artists get to have their say. The garden is ringed by booths called "the Marketplace" which is kind of like a national farmer's market with growers and producers from all over and plenty of free samples and tastes of fresh fruit, cheeses, nuts, milk and more.

Even if you're on a budget, stay for a snack or a meal. There are all kinds of offerings from Slow on the Go, including local favorites and regional specialities. My pick? A scrumptious muffaletta made from Heritage Foods company Salumi of Seattle! And if you can't make it to San Francisco, I hope you'll enjoy the slide show.

Leek & Potato Soup:Recipe

If I told you that I had a fabulous soup recipe with only three ingredients in it, would you believe me? Leeks, potatoes and water or chicken broth. Oh and a little butter to saute the leeks in, that's it.

It seems to be a mantra these days that by using the best ingredients one really doesn't need to do much to turn out a great meal. Leek and potato soup epitomizes this thinking. You can add milk or cream or top it off with a dollop of sour cream if you want to fancy it up, but it's really not necessary. Based on my own research (which is corroborated by the reviews of other cooks who have reacted to the multitude of leek & potato soup recipes posted on epicurious.com) complicated preparations with more ingredients tend to distract rather than enhance.

There is something so comforting about leek and potato soup. Its pale matte green color is comforting. Its smell is comforting. And of course the taste, mellow oniony leeks and potatoes combined together in a thick pottage is, well, comforting. Either smooth or chunky its soft texture and mild flavors are as soothing as flannel sheets. It's a great soup to go with a sandwich or just on its own. And it's the best antidote to a day of gustatory indulgence where you want something just short of another meal. Does this happen to you on the weekend sometimes? If so, you're not alone.

Here is my recipe for leek and potato soup. It's a soup that actually does not need fancy spices or herbs to make it taste good...ok I lied, this soup does need plenty of salt and pepper!

Couldn't-be-easier Leek and Potato Soup

2 leeks (white and pale green parts only) cut in half lengthwise,
then thinly sliced
3-4 potatoes peeled, cut in half then sliced
1 Tablespoon butter
4 cups or so of chicken broth or water or a combination (home made broth is best, of course)
salt & pepper to taste

Note: To clean the leeks, place the chopped leeks in a bowl of water and swish around until the leeks are clean. Lift the leeks out carefully, leaving the grit in the bottom of the bowl.

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat with butter. Cover saucepan; cook until leeks are tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes. Cover and cook until potatoes begin to soften, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add liquid. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Puree soup in batches in processor until smooth or use an immersion blender directly in the pot. Thin with additional broth, water or milk if soup is too thick. This soup can be very smooth or chunky as you prefer. Season with a good amount of salt and a little pepper. Top with a swirl of creme fraiche or sour cream if you desire.

Enjoy!

Frozen Mango Lassi: Recipe

I just wrote about a Hong Kong style mango dessert, but when I heard the next "Is My Blog Burning" was themed Orange your hungry? all I could think of was "I MUST come up with a mango recipe." I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to fixate on mangoes.

In general I like mangoes uncooked. They are terrific with Thai style sticky rice, as a filling in crepes, in fruit salad, in a salsa and also in mango lassi. Lassi is an Indian beverage made from yogurt or buttermilk, and water. It can be sweet or salty and is a great thing to drink with spicy food. Mango lassi is a sweet drink, flavored with mango puree.

It occurred to me that mango lassi is so cool and refreshing, what about chilling it down even further to the point of freezing it? When I was growing up we used to make a dessert of pureed frozen bananas, so why not mangoes? I always like to find a recipe that only has two or three ingredients but tastes like heaven. Mashed potatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, and even s'mores fall into this category for me. So now I give you another three ingredient recipe, brought to you by the color orange:

Note: This would be great for dessert after an Indian dinner, but it's also healthy enough to eat for breakfast.

Frozen Mango Lassi
2 servings

1 medium mango
1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt
honey to taste

Cut up the mango into chunks and freeze. Pour the buttermilk or yogurt into ice cube trays or a very shallow container to freeze. When solid, take mango and buttermilk or yogurt cubes and place in the food processor, blend until creamy. Taste and add honey to sweeten if necessary. Scoop with an ice cream scoop and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Spending a Week In Paris...

...the City of Light.
Also the city of snow, steamy cafés and bustling holiday shoppers. And packed Metros, warm croissants and little dogs wearing little jackets.
Winter in Paris is a whole new experience. Other than cold toes, which I took care of by buying some ski socks, I love seeing this city in a new light.

FRANCE TARTE TATIN RECIPE part 1/2 YouTube Video VIDEOGULP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URnHWrCmMTIendofvid
[starttext]
FRANCE TARTE TATIN RECIPE part 1/2 YouTube Video VIDEOGULP !

GULP - Around the World in 80 Dishes takes you to the Loire Valley of France, with a demonstration of a classic recipe for Tartes Tatin prepared by a Culinary Institute of America chef - French dish -

HOMEMADE VIDEO TARTE TATIN RECIPE - FRANCE Cooking

Selection YouTube video Videogulp !
[endtext]

Still Here....

My flight home left today...without me.
I made the decision to stay and help my mom for another week as she had to go back to the hospital last Thursday due to complications from her surgery. Hopefully she'll be released again tomorrow and her life will get back to normal.

The last two weeks have been some of the strangest of my life.

I've found myself slipping back into a stressed-out, things-aren't-moving-fast-enough, American much too quickly.
I need to go home!

Coconut Milk Dinner Buns

I discovered these buns when trying to figure out what to do with my last 1/2 cup of coconut milk (I can't throw ingredients away unless absolutely forced).  The recipe makes the lightest, fluffiest buns, slightly sweet, and amenable to all kinds of fillings.  One suggestion is a filling made from coconut, sugar and butter (yes please!), the kind of sweet buns you might find at a Chinese bakery.  But I have to tell you, slathered with a little butter, dripping with honey from the farmers market, and you're all set.  Plus, they really only require one rise, you can leave them alone for the second time while the oven pre-heats.

The original recipe calls for blended bread flour, which, evidently, has a higher percentage of protein, which helps to build the structure of the bread.  But I didn't have any and didn't really want to find any, so I used all purpose and all was well.

Coconut Milk Dinner Buns

Slightly adopted from this website

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1/2 cup coconut milk (I used light)

1/2 cup regular milk (I used half and half)

1/4 cup butter, cut into smaller pieces

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup warm water

5 - 6 cups all purpose flour

1 egg, beaten, for wash (optional)

Dissolve the first teaspoon of sugar in the 1/2 cup warm water, then sprinkle in the yeast.  Allow to bloom for 10 minutes before stirring.  In the meantime, warm both kinds of milk in a flame-proof bowl or saucepan until luke warm, stirring all the while.  Stir in the butter, the 3 tablespoons of sugar and the 2 teaspoons of salt, as well as the 1/2 cup warm water.

Take off the flame, making sure that the milk isn't hotter than luke warm.  Then add in the yeast and 2 cups of the flour.  A whisk comes in handy hear to beat the dough until starts to become smooth and elastic.

At this point, I switched to a wooden spoon and added in about 2 1/2 more cups of flour.  Continue to beat until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed.  I kneaded the extra 1/2 cup of flour into the dough, as well as a bit more.  Continue to knead until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky.  

Place the dough in a large, greased bowl and turn so that all sides of the dough are greased.  Cover with a towel and allow to double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Punch the dough down, then divide in half, and in half again, and again, until you end up with 16 dough-sections.  Roll each section into a bun between the palms of your hands and place on greased baking sheets.  Brush with the beaten egg wash.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the buns are a golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Transfer to cooling racks, and enjoy.

*   *   *

I'm sending this post over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting.  It's been so long!

The wonderful world of bloggers

World Eatz is a blog I love! I like its generosity and insight on food, I enjoy the recipes and the whole atmosphere - and the blogger behind, as I have recently discovered.

Blogger Simone contacted me by email, she was visiting Paris! I invited her to come over for a drink. Simone, her husband, and sister in law, Sunanna, who's currently studying and living in Paris, showed up Sunday evening with this beautifl bouquet of flowers!
We treated them to a red Crement from the Domaine-Sanzay near Saumur, in the Loire. Its fine bubbles and it ruby color are an invitation to celebrate, smile, and share!
Jean-Louis and I discovered three young smart people, curious about everything: life, politics, Paris, cultures, food, and more. Thank you Simone and Nicky and Sunanna, we really enjoyed your company! Well, my, the world of bloggers is full of great people!

>>> And now: Pigeon update

Our baby pigeon is growing fast, with tender down feather becoming big feathers that will allow it to fly away.

Mother pigeon is away long hours both morning and afternoon - getting food I presume. But when it's cold, like yesterday morning, it stays in the nest with the chick all morning.

Inside the Kitchen--Pre-reception reception

Imagine a party in black and white. Segregated, the chefs in their whites and the guests, in this case some people from Meals on Wheels the beneficiary of the events of the weekend, in black. Black has become the color of the guest at formal events such as these.

Many of the chefs are French, both those from the Ritz-Carlton and those from Las Vegas. The dinner tonight is featuring cuisine from chefs Bruno Davaillon and Sylvain Portay from Mix at Mandalay Bay, Damien Dulas from Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, Bradley Ogden from Lark Creek, Frederic Robert from Wynn Resort and Julian Serrano from Picasso at the Bellagio. Pity the poor chefs, this is their "working vacation" and any down time is their only chance to socialize.

In a far corner are the sommeliers, featured tonight are Richard Betts from the Little Nell, Luis de Santos from Spago, William Sherer from Auereole, Robert Smith from Picasso and Larry Stone from Rubicon Estate. They seem to be the only ones wearing any color.

More to come...

FOOD + INSIDE THE KITCHEN

Culinary Legacies: Chuck Williams

Williams-Sonoma Archives

Chuck Williams is the pioneer who brought European cookware, equipment and ingredients to America, everything from copper pans to Sabatier knives to Cuisinart food processors to balsamic vinegar. He is now in his early 90's so it was a treat to hear him along with Jacqueline Mallorca and Flo Braker in conversation this past week. The program was one in a series called "Stirring the Pot" put on by the San Francisco Professional Food Society.

When I think of the store he founded, Williams-Sonoma, a few things come to mind. The store epitomizes high quality, a high level of service and to be fair, high prices. So when store founder Chuck, along with friends Flo and Jacqueline shared their memories of "the early days", these three anecdotes most caught my attention.

On Quality:

During a photo shoot, a certain shot of a pie needed to be retaken to show off the pan in a better light. Chuck sliced into the pie, took a bite and exclaimed "We can't shoot this, it doesn't taste right!"

On Prices:

A woman came into the store and asked to see a souffle pan. Upon seeing the price she said, "That seems like a lot of money and besides I don't even know if I'll like souffle" to which Chuck replied "Well, you don't have to buy a souffle pan, a dog dish should do fine". Needless to say, she bought the pan.

On Service:

Back when the flagship store was just up the block from the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon on Sutter, Chuck used to bring his German Shepard in to the store and the dog would stay behind the front counter. When women going to the salon would realize they had no place to leave their pets, they would drop them off at the store to hang out with Chuck's dog. And you thought only Nordstrom was known for that kind of thing...!

FOOD

Creamy Scrambled Eggs: Recipe

I'm not the first to notice the meditative state that sometimes comes about while cooking. When you are completely focused on what you are doing it's easy to get all those pesky thoughts out of your head. But there is another mental state that cooking can produce. Calmness.

I was reading about how the long and slow method of cooking onions is preferable to cooking them fast over high heat and it got me thinking. That time spent over the stove can be very therapeutic. Which in turn got me thinking about eggs.

If there is one food that people are more picky about than any other, it's got to be eggs. We all prefer them a certain way. I've heard that some chefs test out potential kitchen help by asking them to cook eggs. And of course in sushi bars it is completely acceptable to ask to try the tamago, a sweet scrambled egg in order to decide whether or not the sushi bar meets your standards. Scrambled eggs are a simple dish, but not necessarily simple to get right.

No matter how you like your eggs, if you eat eggs, please, try cooking scrambled eggs low and slow. The 10 minutes you spend stirring the eggs over very low heat, so slow you barely see any progress, will slow you down. Plus the eggs end up so luxuriously soft and creamy they will transport you. You can really make these something special with truffles, fresh herbs, whatever you like. I particularly like garam masala. And you know, it's only 10 minutes...

Note: This recipe was inspired by a dish I had for brunch at the restaurant Foreign Cinema.

Creamy Scrambled Eggs with Cherry Tomatoes
Serves two

2 slices of wheat or white sandwich bread, very thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon butter
4 eggs, preferably free-range organic
1 Tablespoon milk or cream
10 – 15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 teaspoons truffle oil, a couple pinches of truffle salt or garam masala (whatever spice or herb you like with eggs is fine)
salt

Toast the bread and set aside. Break the eggs into a bowl, add the milk and beat with a whisk until combined. Heat a non-stick or omelet pan over low heat. Add the butter to the pan and when melted add the eggs. Cook the eggs very slowly; stirring constantly until almost, but not completely cooked through, this will take about 10 minutes.

To assemble:

Place one whole slice of toast on each plate, top with scrambled eggs and sprinkle with truffle salt, truffle oil or garam masala. Surround the toast with cherry tomato halves. Season with salt to taste. Serve with additional toast, if desired.

Enjoy!

FOOD

Encornets de pesto - Baby Squid with pesto

If you like Mediterranean food, including baby squid, you just might like this.  It's really delicious if you can find fresh ingredients, which is what I did here, thanks to a visit to Marché Raspail in the 6th district of Paris.  This becomes a great 1st course for summer - served at room temperature.

Ingredients for 4 servings
600g whole baby squid, cleaned up & cut into small rounds
1 lemon to garnish the plate

Pesto:
2 bunches of fresh basil
1 clove of garlic (2, if you love garlic)
80g (approximately) parmesan, high quality
80g (approximately), toasted pine nuts
splash of lemon
~100 ml of high quality olive oil

• In your food processor, add garlic until pulverized.  Add basil & mix.  Add parmesan & pine nuts.  Add olive oil.  Season.  Add lemon juice.  Adjust seasoning & ingredients as necessary.
• In a frying pan, heat a splash of olive oil.  Add the calamari rings, season & cook until tender (some water will be released).  Don't overcook or they become rubbery.  Remove from pan.
• Coat the calamari with some pesto.  Stir.  Add more pesto as required & season to taste.

Be sure to serve with a fresh baguette & a nice Sancerre.

Enjoy!

/dma

Wow.

Well, wow.I hope you’ll agree that eloquence is overrated, or at times like these, anyway. Wow.So, all that business about blushing? That, I now know, was nothing. As of today, my complexion is set to four-alarm fire, but I don’t half mind: Orangette has been chosen as the Best Overall Food Blog in the 2005 Food Blog Awards! No one could be more surprised than me. My little blog that could

La Fête du Fromage - le Cameau

The sweet, yeasty aroma of this week's exceptional cheese seduced me immediately!



Le Cameau is a raw milk Camembert that has been left to mature in an alcoholic apple and Calvados mélange from Normandy called Pommeau, then covered in crushed walnuts before being wrapped up and left to tempt the unsuspecting consumer with it's alluring look and fragrance.

It's creator, Carole Brihier, has created a société with her husband to continue the work of her Artisan Fromager Affineur father, André Faccetti.
La Société Fromages Service in Campigneulles-les-Grandes, in the Pas-de-Calais département, offers an array of unpasteurized Camembert and Brie cheeses that have been aged in either Cognac, Cointreau, Hard Cider, Pommeau, Calvados or Kirsch.


at room temperature - oozing all over the plate



the wet, sticky underside

The flavor was sweet, yeasty and fruity, with noticeable hints of apple from the Pommeau. It had a nice tang and tickled your tongue. The texture was smooth and supple and I thought the walnuts added a nice character.
I took some notes while I was tasting le Cameau for the first time and when I read them over, there was one word in capital letters; TANTALIZING.
That pretty much sums it up.

I couldn't recommend le Cameau more highly!

Hard cider would pair well with this cheese, but we drank a glass of local white, which worked just fine.

Her recipe box

Well. That was not at all what I planned for the month of April.So long, April. So long, plans.I want to get this show back on the road. I’ve missed being here, and I’ve missed you. But before we go any further, I want to offer a long overdue thank you to those who came to my readings last month. I thought I had a great time on my first tour, but somehow, I had an even better time this year,

Writing

Writing is funny. It doesn't always come naturally to me. It doesn't always ebb and flow.  I get hung up on sentence structure and trip over myself trying to write correctly.  I'm trying to get better at ignoring all the rules.

Today I am just trying to get a blog post written. And wishing it were coming a little more easily.

There are some blog writers out there who completely blow my mind with their brilliant stories and the sheer number of intense, heartfelt words they churn out every day. Paragraphs and paragraphs of them.
Every. Day.
Where does it all come from? Aren't their minds ever quiet?

I need more time to contemplate what I want to say and to find the words.  Time to write them, leave them for a bit so I can come back and have a fresh look at them.  Maybe I fuss too much, am too careful.
(Maybe I've become too comfortable with the limitations of 140 characters?)

So instead of writing about French cheese, or the Carte de Résident or about anything tangible, I'm just going to work through this frustrating writing funk by writing about it.

Voilà.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In a few hours I'll be boarding an airplane in Toulouse and heading to Spokane, Washington to be with my mom. I hope to be able to use her computer while I'm there, but if not, I'll be writing again around the 20th.
A bientôt.

Photo du Jour - le 1er août

The buzzing of the cigales is slowly quieting. The heat off the streets is shimmering. Hordes of Dutch, British and Belgian cars slowly drive around, looking lost. Young women walk around the village wearing teeny bikini tops and a sarongs, thinking there's a beach nearby, perhaps? People at the restaurant audaciously try to order 1 child's menu to share between their 3 pre-teens.

August is here.
Thankfully there are plenty of tranquil, out of the way places like this one to escape to.

Amsterdam discovery: Good chocolate!

When you bike in Amsterdam you may be surprised to bump into a draw bridge! Which is what happened to me this morning as I was exploring Amsterdam's not so well known neighborhoods.
As I biked the tempting smell of chocolate coming from a small shop called Chocolaterie Arti Shop compelled me to stop on the spot.
I walked into the shop with a careful eye, as I do not eat any chocolate not made with cocoa butter. Why? BEWARE, real "chocolate" is only chocolate made with cocoa butter, not with hydrogenated oils (berk!); however, European regulations allow now to call "chocolate" the paste made with these oils. In France and Belgium, most chocolate is still real chocolate ... . but I didn't know here.

So I walked in to have a look. There were three tables with delightful imitation Louis XV chairs painted in silver color and covered in flashing colors. I sat down and orderd a macchiato. It was served in an oval metal plate with a chocolate in an individual plate and a glass of sparkling water. I tasted the chocolate, and to my surprise I felt in my mouth the real thing !

I moved then to the tempting counter searching for something that would translate the Dutchness of the chocolate made here and found these imitation Dutch tiles made in white chocolate (Euros 12.5 each) of which I bought two to give as gift back in Paris.

Among the many other treats, I spotted Orangettes (chocolate dipped candy orange rinds), nougat covered chocolate, chocolate truffles, and more.

If you come to Amsterdam and you're looking for an out of the beaten track experience, come to this shop! It is located at Koningginnweg 141.

An interlude, or what I listen to when eating orangettes

It’s been making the rounds, and thanks to fellow Seattlite Megan of iheartbacon, it’s come to Orangette: the “music in my kitchen” survey. I’m generally not one for these sorts of things, but I’ll make an exception this time, since a) nobody likes a party pooper, and b) music accompanies nearly every moment of my waking life—and especially my time in the kitchen (which, in my experience, easily

Daily Bread

We don’t have a bakery in the village, but we can buy high-quality, locally-baked bread at the épicerie and tabac. Most people we know continue to buy fresh bread every day or two, but some stock it up in their freezer to avoid frequent trips to the baker’s, and a few use industrial pain de mie on a daily basis. Eating this type of bread with cheese is a sad state of affairs, but I do keep it on hand to make toast on the mornings when we have run out of fresh bread.

True pain de mie, however, has nothing to do with the above loaf. It is a light, slightly sweet bread made with flour, yeast, sugar, and milk and tastes something like a brioche.

Plain Jane, with chickpeas

Peanut butter on toast. A soft-boiled egg with salt and pepper. Butternut squash boiled in cider and mashed. A carrot dunked in lemon-tahini dressing. A cold apple, cored and cut into sixths. Spaghetti squash with sea salt. A glass of milk and a pile of graham crackers. Three-quarters of my diet looks and sounds like something you’d find on the tray of a high chair, or at snack time in preschool.

Photos du Jour -New Orleans

St. Louis Cathedral


50,000 frequent flyer miles is what it took to get me a free round trip ticket to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
I leave January 25.


Pirates Alley