Home » Archive for January, 2006

Happy New Year to all of you!
I am back from a great trip to France, where there were a lot of nice food experiences, of course, and family time in the Alps, skiing! More on that later, but in the meantime, while I was away, the recipes of the chocolate contest I participated in were [...]

The beauty of Christmas is that it varies from countries to countries, with every country bringing its own set of traditions and coutumes as to what to do and eat.
A while ago, Sam was sharing a British Christmas experience which I loved. Our dear English Rosbeef friends have no reasons to feel jealous of [...]

Paris was cold and windy, we even saw snow!-well, it quickly transformed in this undescriptive slush, so you have the picture of what it felt like walking in the Parisian streets. No need to say it was a big change from the beautiful sun we witnessed in the French Alps. I remembered being able to [...]

Food, photography, look, feel, taste. All the little things that make my eyes sparkle.
Sam from Becks & Posh and Andrew Barrow from Spittoon came up with a great idea: organizing a food photography challenge around the theme Oranges are not the only fruit. How appropriate for me since Santa Claus-hint, Felipe in Spanish- was [...]

There are those simple dishes that you want to make because you need comfort food, and because it reminds you of what your mum used to make when you were a child. Stuffed tomatoes are that kind of food for me. When I make them, I remember every detail of those family meals with les [...]

Airports and food, are they exclusive?
A few weeks ago, Philip and I were on our way to France for this year’s Christmas break. I had as a habit to prepare what we decided to call airport sandwiches-if we were not having sushi-as I was always dreading the general airline food. Beautiful wrapped sandwiches with [...]

Follow-up on the same foodography event organized by Sam and Andrew from Spittoon. Post started here.
Here are a few of my newly posted pics on Flickr.

Great way to learn more about food photo taking, which is mon vrai dada ( anyone knows how to translate this in English? ) TT?

The Irish flag! Green, white, orange! St Patrick’s day! Ah no, sorry, wrong day.

I reassure you, no I am not Irish, but I like Irish colours, and oh yes, my husband is Irish, and so are his zillions of cousins, the friends of the cuzs, and the sister and the mother and father, not to [...]

Presenting new creatures:

Who has not been puzzled and intrigued by the shape and the strong smell of a star anise? Such an elegant shape, playful, powerfully fragrant.
It belongs to this not-so-known group of spices that according to me, deserves a larger attention.
A few days ago, I was making my regular batch of yogurt, and following [...]

La réserve - my squirrel storage
I have a special liking for tarts. Not sure why and how that happened. I guess it must always have been this way. It is the crust, the oven cooking time and the fact that you have everything in one dish, all of these little things. So when I am [...]

I like bread. Now this is a very plain boring statement.
I like good bread. Sounds better. But what makes good bread?
I like the fragrance of fresh bread out of the oven, which reminds me of memories walking by bakeries.
I like rustic looking bread.
I needed to make my own bread.

If I still lived in France, there [...]

Pomegranate and Strawberry Faux Tiramisu and its blackberry coulis
I know of many people who would raise their arms in the air and cry out “Sacrilège! Comment peux-tu manger des fraises en hiver? Quelle honte!” (How can you eat strawberries in the depth of winter, shame on you!) Aren’t we supposed to eat what the soil [...]

If going to stay up late on a Friday night, there are just a few things that can persuade me to get up early: going for a long hike at the top of a mountain, or fly to a nice destination -but this is fading away a bit as I came to realize that I [...]

What a *cool* idea! That means, I have to think and try to use my memory which is already so quickly fading away. I wonder how many neurones I lose a day while getting older. My rate seems larger than the normal average.
I was delighted to be tagged by Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice [...]

I have a strong attraction for Asian food. I am far from being an expert at cooking it, but I still cook it often with favorite recipes of my own or from the many cookbooks I have, to which I add my own variations to satisfy my taste and favorite flavors. I use basics and [...]

Can you tell me what this is?

Lilizen from Gastronomades asked me to be part of an interesting photography event, that is take a picture of a food item just before it makes its way to the trash. Nothing goes in the trash in my kitchen, what can I think of? Liar! Ah well, all right, [...]

For the longest time, I had a very strong dislike for pears. The riper they were and the more I disliked them. I generally eat most of everything, food even on the verge to be trash-elected I have to confess, but that is mainly because of my crazy horrible I-want-to-lose-it bad habit of not throwing [...]

Replenishing in greens and indulging in the sweetness of coconut, with nice zest added by lime. On this past Sunday night, this is exactly what we felt like eating. A really light pasta dish with tons of vitamins. Maybe the weekend had been rough? Lightness, playfulness and easiness were key. I decided to make tagliatelles [...]

When I started my food blog about over a month ago, I had no real idea what world I was entering. My very first post covered food photography, as I had come across an article P. had sent for me to read. He always knew my strong interest in “you eat with your eyes first”, [...]

Are you thinking, what the hell is that?
Ah yes, like many, I like bread. What would we do without it I wonder? About 4 years ago, in order to try to solve a health stomach discomfort I suffered from, I “tried” to follow a detox diet recommended to me by my doctor. Why did [...]

Beet Chocolate Brownies
When I first thought of this chocolate-beet combination, I was a little doubtful this was going to work at all. Des légumes avec mon chocolat préféré ? Ca va pas, non ? (Vegetables with my favorite chocolate, are you nuts?). Now I like dark chocolate a lot, and beets as well, so [...]

I was tagged by Kiplog to answer this Meme questionnaire, Ten random and interesting facs about yourself (they don’t necessarily need to be food-related).
Well, where shall I start? In no order, these are random facts.

I got married on a very stormy day. We were just the two of us and were given the choice [...]

There are many good reasons why I love winter.

First, I come from a cold area in France, so I am used to it. J’suis une fille du Nord!
Then I love snow. Yes I said it, to the horror of my friend Pato (Quack !Quack!) from Argentina. Let me tell you how much she hates [...]

These are not sweet. Don’t get your hopes too high.
Viens ici, mon petit chou ! No, no, not at all. Wrong story, wrong word.
I was recently admiring the lovely cream puffs made by Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice. Looking at this beautiful puff pastry of hers reminded me that I used to make [...]

My Simplified Fish Bouillabaisse
It is my friend AG who would be the most pleased about this post. I am going to talk about Marseilles, and AG is from Marseilles. Marseilles as most of you know is in the South of France and I am from the East. Now this difference is as big as talking [...]

Tartelettes à l’orange- Orange Tartlets
Our friend Brendan is funny, witty, lively and recently I just heard he can cook! The amazing Brendan works at Radio Open Source with Christopher Lyndon, and a bunch of great people like David, Katherine and Robin; this might explain the booming constant outburst of energy coming out of Brendan. A [...]

These are the reasons why I like to live in Boston. One of our favorite things to do is simply take off with a picnic to a beautiful mountainous or oceany place for a hike. Sunday was Halibut Point, 1 hour North of Boston.
And as typical of those lunches, we had sushi and tea.

To Cléa and her dad.
Toutes mes pensées pour toi et ta famille, Cléa.
Thinking about you and your family, Cléa.

I really seem to be going around food themes this year. I am discovering new spices and forgotten vegetables. And I am cooking them.
I must have made an unconscious 2006 resolution that I am really sticking to doing.

Ah le beau fenouil! (Beautiful fennel!)
La badiane (Star anise) (pear tart)
La cannelle (Cinammon)

I wonder.
But a stronger reason is [...]

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine Potato,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine
Potato!

The story of hachis parmentier
I am married with an Irish man, you know this by now. And guess what, when I cook one particular ingredient, it does not matter under what form, he likes it. Irish? Have a guess. [...]

Today is Jan 26 but pretend it is already Jan 27 2006, le 27 janvier 2006! And see why…
High Friday # 15

Léger de citron vert à la menthe et léger de citron aux fraises marinées - Lime Mint Flan and Lemon Flan and its Marinated Strawberries
Only one week away from our trip to New Zealand [...]

Who said that cooking was not exercice? I mean, when I am cooking, I can sometimes become so hot, with red puffy cheeks, my hair tossed all around, as if I had been driving a convertible in windy Wellington (the most windy place I have ever been to! No kidding, I swear, all Wellingtonians can [...]

IMBB #22 - Cook with noodle
Pasta, noddle, originality? Hmmm, let’s see, there are hundreds of years of noddle making, right? How many? And by the way what is a noddle?
See what Amy says:
In addition to being defined as “ribbon-like pasta”, noodle also means brain and to improvise.
So let’s improvise and use a bit of [...]

How the idea started:
I swear, the oddest happened. At the beginning of winter, I took one of my azaleas inside just because it was going to be unhappy alone in its pot outside. One day, I am sitting at the dinner table and look at it wondering, “Funny, it almost looks like there is a [...]

Could not resist to post my friends the little cuties, the ducks, on their march on melting ice.
These were taken at the pond next to our house.
Love to just look at them but then I thought, oh my God, I love to eat duck!
Aaaaah! Mon dieu! Help! Que faire ? (What shall I do?)