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.

Cooking for Easter: Part Four

Part four of cooking for Easter was making Risotto aux fines herbes, and since I have already written about the joys of risotto in a previous blog, I won't spend much time on this dish.

You may be wondering why I am still writing about Easter. It's partly because I had a very busy week right after Easter. But it's also because my limited Blogger knowledge has prevented me from posting a series of photos in the same blog. If you don't know what I mean, just look at what my fellow expat Blogger Ken does in his beautiful blog Living the Life in Saint Aignan.

I have learned a lot of things since starting my blog in December, but somehow this seemingly simple trick has escaped me. Can anybody out there help?

Celine's wedding!

My house is full of beautiful flowers! Roses, tulips, orchids, more roses, and more tulips! Yesterday December 14th we celebrated Celine and Joren's wedding in Paris, in the same Townhall as Jean-Louis and I got married 32 years ago. Celine is my daughter, and the happy owner of Tao (aka Taocito) the friendly bichon you have seen often in this blog. Celine and Joren, who live in Amsterdam, wanted to get married in the city of lights, and Joren's family accepted to come to Paris for the event.
I had arranged a city tour in a private van after the Civil Ceremony for Joren's family to enjoy their stay in the city; the time spent together was fun and the city decorations and lights a great gift for all of us - in spite of the heavy traffic at 6 pm. Then we all came home for a cocktail: Champagne a go go, and canapés and verrines from Lucullus, a well known caterer in rue d'Auteuil.
My tablecloth was in white organza hand emroided with small yellow flowers. I had bought it many years ago with a wedding in mind ... Actually, Celine was 6 years old when I bought it!

I had ordered a bouquet with touches of yellow from Le Bois d'Auteuil, a delightful flower shop near my house, on rue d'Auteuil.

My silverware is Christophle and the glasses in Baccarat crystal.
Coffee was available to keep awake those who were driving back to the Netherlands after the meal, my cups are in fine 5 colors decorated porcelein from China.

We had booked a table for 12 at Restaurant Le Congres Auteuil, in the same building as our flat, and I must say everything was perfect!
For the appetizer, we proposed a choice of Foie Gras, Oysters, or Warm Goat Cheese on a bed of green beans.
The entree could be scallops with risotto, or grilled duck breasts, or lamb in a thyme sauce.

The wines were a Gewurstraminer vieilles vignes for the foie gras (sweet white wine from Alsatia), a white Menetou Salon for those who had opted for sea dishes, and a Bordeaux Saint Emilion (red) for the meaty courses.

Everyhting was just perfect!
Special thanks to Faty, who assisted us and helped our Dutch guests in their choices.

We came back home for dessert - and more champagne. We had ordered a classic French wedding cake, a piece montée, from Le Notre, a wonderful and well known Parisian patissier. According to Wikipedia, a pièce montée (from French, literally "assembled piece" or "mounted piece" ) is a kind of decorative confectionary centerpiece in an architectural or sculptural form used for formal banquets and made of materials such as confectioner's paste, nougat, marzipan, and spun sugar.

Vive les mariés!

Carnival

Carnival in New Orleans is impossible to describe.
And, since I forgot to bring the cable for my camera to download photos into the computer, I can't share the pictures I've taken!
I'll have to post them when I get home.

Check out nola.com for some great images.

The Seven Year Itch

We're coming up on seven years of living way out here in the French countryside. Seven.

Husband grew up in New York City. I spent my entire adult life living smack dab in the middle of urban spaces - Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans. I never had the desire to live in a rural setting.

Now we live in a village of 418 people.
Which is beautiful. Idyllic. Full of friendly neighbors and a tranquil, charming village life.

Lately though, we've both been craving a change of pace, we're wanting some new adventures. It's time to head to a city. We want to go see films, go out to art galleries and restaurants, see some live music, get back into the general buzz of an urban landscape.
And we miss take out! The luxury of being able to call for Chinese food, pizza, etc. while lazing about the house, wearing slippers, hair up in a messy ponytail, no make-up. (heck, just getting some decent Chinese food, delivered or not, would be a luxury!)

But which city?
Montpellier?
Marseille?
Paris, perhaps?

Seven years. I'm starting to itch.

Recipe Development Techniques

I am deep into recipe development right now, sometimes creating up to 4 or 5 recipes in one day. My first step was making the scary decision to take my laptop into the kitchen. I was talked into it by my friend Pam of Project Foodie. Of course, Pam has a more modern kitchen than I do. Mine is circa 1920 and has no built in counters. I don't work as "clean" as I should in the kitchen so I fear gunking up my keyboard with whatever I'm cooking! Maybe this will force me to be a bit less messy. I have begun wearing an apron in the kitchen and slipping a kitchen towel through the apron strings.

My real working space is a very cramped and crowded butcher block island. I also have various improvised spaces and a tiny little cutting board that slides out from a cabinet. I have always used it as a place to hold whatever cookbooks I was cooking out of at the moment, sometimes stacking up two or three on top of each other. Using print-outs of recipes from my computer was problematic because the ink always smeared as ingredients dripped onto them. Also my printer died earlier this week, with any luck the new one will show up today. It's a laser printer so perhaps I'll have less ink issues.

My recipes usually start out as just a list of ingredients. I come up with the amounts as I go and fill them in, and after tasting often add an ingredient or go back and recalculate the amounts.

How about you? Any tips? What's your process for creating recipes in the kitchen?

Interested in hiring me to do recipe development? Check out my web site for more information and links to recipes I have developed for clients.

Too cool

Earlier this year at the Wired Rave Awards I met Helene Goupil and Josh Krist. They were working on an upcoming San Francisco guide book and we chatted about the SF food scene. Later I talked to them a bit more and then completely forgot about it.

Last night I went to a book launch party and was amazed to find--I'm in the book! Not only is my blog mentioned but so are a bunch of other local food blogs.


San Francisco The Unknown City is hands down the coolest, hippest guide to San Francisco I've ever come across. While the contents include such standards as Dining, Shopping, Nightlife and Notoriety this book covers not just local favorites, but many places I doubt have ever been listed in a guidebook before. Places like The Crissy Field Center Cafe, the hidden Japanese restaurant Kappa and The Cake Gallery for "naughty treats" are all in there.

Do people outside the Bay Area know about artist collective The Grotto? The wacky Gregangelo Museum? Vegan shopping at Otsu? They can read about it now. The writing is crisp, funny and shares the inside scoop without ever making you feel like an outsider or an idiot for not being in the know. No question, this book will be as treasured by locals as it will by visitors. And I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm in it!


Have you been to the very cool and contemporary Design Public site lately? On their blog, they are hosting Pass The Mic: Delicious Design week . So far you'll find design inspired posts by food bloggers such as Chubby Hubby, Scent of Green Bananas and yours truly. My post even includes a recipe. Check it out!