Welcome to IACP

Ok I'm a newbie. That's the reason you are seeing a badge instead of pictures of the opening night event at the famous Merchandise Mart. In the showrooms were different and sometimes interactive and artistic food displays. Highlights? Well the best food was the beef and potatoes with cuban beef, tenderloin, mini meatloaves and brisket. As far as the potatoes go there were potato puffs, truffled mashed potatoes and a smoky cajun potato salad.

There was also a deconstructed or perhaps reconstructed bananas foster that was liquid with frozen ice cream beads from Moto and some wacky jelled flower displays that I had never seen before. One jelled display was a whole human being and had different botanical looking elements embedded within. There were also life-sized models of clothing made from cabbage leaves and other vegetables. Go ahead. Use your imagination.

Oh! I forgot to mention I saw "Betty" of the Reynolds Wrap ads. More celebrity sightings later.

More on Moto next...
FOOD

And the answer is: Gâteau de Pommes de Terre

Some of you participated in my latest guessing game, but no one got the answer exactly right.

Spacedlaw came pretty close, though, with the suggestion that it looked like a soufflé but could be hachis parmentier, which is similar to the British specialty shepherd's pie. And I'm blogging this at 6:15 am, so you're not going to get any American equivalents of the dish -- this is all I know.

As you can see from the extract above from Les Recettes Faciles de Françoise Bernard -- my precious copy of the book, with the little plus mark at the bottom to indicate "this was good" -- the recipe's name is "Gâteau de pommes de terre."

Since this is not exactly a famous French classic, and no one would look under "gâteau" for a potato recipe, the book cleverly files the recipe under "Pommes de terre (gâteau de)" -- which I somehow find quite charming.

Although it seems like an oxymoron, I'd describe the dish as a potato soufflé -- I'm not sure where the idea of "gâteau" came from as there's nothing cake-like about it.

Rather than start with a bechamel sauce, the base of the dish is mashed potatoes, to which you add 2 egg yolks, two beaten egg whites, and grated cheese.

I usually bake it a little longer than the suggested 25 to 30 minutes to get a cheesy, golden crust over the top. And while separating the eggs and beating the whites sounds like kind of a pain for an everyday dish, I highly suggest keeping this step. I skipped it once and the result was, umm, very compact.

If you can't decipher the recipe above, this version of "Potato soufflé" looks similar and maybe even better. Cream instead of milk! Chives added! I'll have to check it out...

Spa Water:Recipe

I don't know if growing up living on the water or being born a water sign--cancer, has anything to do with it but I really do love the water. I love going to the beach and just seeing the ocean calms me. I am transfixed by the sounds, the feel, the look, and the motion of water. I don't know exactly why water is relaxing, but it really is.

The relaxing nature of water is something that spas put to good use. Everywhere you turn there's water--whirlpools, baths, jet sprays, cool blue tones, waterfall sounds and water to drink. Every detail is orchestrated at a spa, everything soothing, relaxing, rejuvenating. Even the beverage. If you've been to spa you know what I mean. They serve you "spa water". It's probably just mineral water but in it is some combination of mint, cucumber and lemon. It is refreshing and just seems to reinforce the whole spa experience.

So this weekend even though the Kentucky Derby dictates mint juleps, it's been awfully hot around here lately, so I'm sharing my own recipe for minty spa water instead. The best thing about the recipe is the word "muddle" which means to make turbid or muddy, to befog or stupefy especially with liquor, to mix confusedly or to make a mess of, but in the culinary vernacular to muddle is to "mash or crush ingredients with a spoon or a muddler (a rod with a flattened end)." While not quite a day at the beach, spa water is guaranteed to keep you cool and refresh you.

Spa Water
makes 4 large glasses

handful of mint
8 thin slices of cucumber
half a lemon sliced in half circles
a bottle of sparking or still water
ice

Muddle or crush the mint in a pitcher, then add the cucumber and lemon. Pour the water into the pitcher and serve in tall glasses filled with ice. If using sparkling water you will need to serve right away, otherwise it keeps brilliantly in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Amy Meets Jacques Pepin!

READ MORE Over at Bay Area Bites is the first part of my interview with Jacques Pepin. Read about the "celebrity chef" phenomenon, cookbooks, food trends and more...

FOOD

Good old guessing game -- answer included

It's been a long time since I spiced up Cuisine Quotidienne with a guessing game.

A few of the ones I have run have been a little too simple for your clever minds and eyes, but this one might stump a few.

One comment -- it didn't turn out to be quite what I had meant it to be.

Update: I've already received quite a few guesses on this one, and spacedlaw hit the nail on the head; it's a flan au potiron, or a pumpkin flan.

I'm not sure if spaced had a savoury or sweet version in mind, but this one was not a dessert!

I had meant to make a clafouti au potiron, which is one of my daughter's favorite supper dishes. But somehow I forgot the flour, which gives the clafouti a thicker consistency than a flan.

The lesson learned: both are delicious.

This is one of my improvised recipes, but find any savoury clafouti recipe and replace the main ingredient by chunks of steamed pumpking. Then forget the flour if you want a flan!

December's La Fête du Fromage Round-Up

December is a crazy time of year for most of us. A warm thank you to all of you who found a moment to savor cheese for this month's Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.


Shira of Petit Pois made Oeufs en Cocotte for a light supper with leftover slow cooked onions and eggs, then sprinkled with shredded Gruyère. The result was savory little gratin crowned with delicious, golden cheese. What a great looking dish!

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Creamy and rich Grès des Vosges sounds amazing! Chelly from Rolling in Dough happily tasted this Kirsch infused, French cheese from Alsace. A glass of Gewurztraminer and some slices of baguette alongside made a perfect snack.

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Nathalie at Spaced Out Ramblings shared another luscious looking Italian cheese with us for December's Fête. Stracchino is a soft, spreadable cow's-milk cheese from the Lombardy region that is both wonderful to cook with or to simply enjoy spread on some fresh bread.

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Little discs of chèvre wrapped in bacon and pan fried until the bacon is crispy and the cheese has warmed and is starting to ooze a bit? Well, it just doesn't get much better than that.
Camille of Croque Camille recently discovered this French convenience food called Fournée au Chèvre and is, not surprisingly, thoroughly smitten!

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My entry to La Fête is the smoky and nutty flavored Trappe Echourgnac. This delicious French cheese is matured in walnut liqueur from the Périgord and produced by nuns at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Bonne Espérance (our Lady of Good Hope) in the Dordogne.

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Thanks again for another fantastic Fête!


Please taste and share some cheese with us again in January.

Tell us why you chose this particular cheese. Tell us how it tasted. Tell us about its texture and aroma. Did you eat it on its own? Or with something? Did you drink anything special with your cheese? Would you recommend it or not? Is there something unusual or interesting about it?

The 15th of every month will be the official day for La Fête du Fromage. Please have your entries to me by the end of the 13th.

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

The Snarky Guy

Last week I stumbled across a snide, snarky post written by some grouchy English guy who lives in the eastern Languedoc. About me! And with a link to Chez Loulou.
I've never seen this blog before so I don't know anything about the author. But it does appear that he was born with a major chip on his shoulder.

His words are just so mean.

"It's a blog from a woman that is obsessed with cheese. Yes, bloody cheese. She takes a picture of some bloody cheese or turnips and somehow thinks that it makes an interesting post. Get a load of the second one down. It's fog for christsake. And, just in case you are tempted to copy any of it she has a bloody copyright notice on the site. As if, lady!! As if!
If you stop laughing for a second and refocus you'll see that she has applied for French citizenship. If the police find her blog they'll take one look at it and fire her arse out of the country. There are already enough nutters in France without adding anymore."

Ouch

How can anyone living in this beautiful place be such a miserable, cantankerous human being?

Maybe he forgot to take his happy pills that morning or something?