Carnival

Here's how a school carnival in the French countryside is done.

Step 1. Get all the kids to dress up.

This year the theme was "Earth, Air, Water, Fire & Spring". The mothers really pull out all the stops & got very creative. There were a lot of home made costumes. Needless to say, the Girl's outfit was not one of them. I don't feel the least bit guilty buying it from a store, I'm not so Martha Stewart. Trust me, she would not have looked as adorable if I'd made her costume.

Step 2. Go door to door selling bread to raise funds for the school.

The families are then broken up into groups & assigned their target areas, usually their own village & the surroundings. The small contingent will then proceed to knock on doors selling a sort of French bread. Music & other sound makers like pots & pans accompany. Invitation to enter for apperitif can happen.


Step 3. Picnic lunch

Once all the bread is sold, everybody gathers around for lunch. It's a potluck of sorts where everybody brings their own food & yet shares what is available. This was the highlight of the day (at least for me) as wine is flowing, recipes are shared & families get to know one another.

Step 4. Parade through the village

The actual highlight of the day is the parade. The mascot, a huge paper mache creature (cos I'm not sure what it is & didn't want to offend anybody by asking) was brought out. Together with a group of musicians, everybody makes their way through the village throwing confetti.





Step 5. Bonfire

At the end of the parade, everybody gathers around one final time for the burning of the mascot. I'm not sure if there was any significance in it but we were cold & wet & really grateful to have the bonfire.

An evening of Japanese & Jazz

Yesterday while we were out for a walk, we came across this poster in our village. My heart skipped a beat - it's not often that we get a chance to watch a jazz concert around these parts. Of course I wanted to go check it out.

To start the evening, we decided to eat out & had a nice dinner at a small Japanese restaurant, Ochame @ St Etienne de Fontbellon. I had been sceptical about going there until I found out that they have a Japanese chef. Turned out this place is owned by a French man & his Japanese wife from Fukuoka, who's the chef.

The menu comprises mainly of sushi, sashimi & a selection of the usual Japanese dishes like yakitori, tonkatsu, soba, sukiyaki & even okonomiyaki. When we were there, only 2 other tables were occupied but they were busy with quite a few take out sushi orders.

The food was good, simple Japanese fare, nothing fancy & most definitely, nothing to knock your socks off. At least I was not disappointed. I would definitely go back again. X said he would have preferred something more interesting but then what can you expect from a little Japanese restaurant in the middle of Ardeche.

In a corner, they have a little shelf selling some Japanese products - sushi rice, green tea powder, soba & soy sauce. When we made enquiries, the owner offered the information that Keiko, the Japanese supermarket in Paris, has an online shop. Great, now I know where I can go to buy my shabu shabu sauce.

After that, we made our way to another St Etienne but this time, it's St Etienne de Boulogne. Apparently the mayor has given the function room to a group of jazz musicians for their practice sessions & they, as a token of their appreciation, put together this concert. The concert was already well underway when we arrived & was very well attended. We didn't stay for long cos it wasn't my kind of jazz & besides it was way past the Girl's bedtime.

I went home feeling all warm & fuzzy cos we did something different for a change.

Thai Beef Salad & Pad Thai

After all that angmoh food the past few days, I was ready to switch back to Asian. It was time to do some Thai food. I love Thai food. I love the flavors & how they balance sweet, sour, salty & spicy in every dish. Bangkok is food heaven for me - I've been there so often that I have a list of must eat places ranging from road side stalls to fancy restaurants.

For lunch, I decided to stick to the tried, tested & tasty Thai beef salad & Pad Thai - 2 of my favorite Thai dishes. I checked & thankfully I have all the ingredients I needed. But yikes, I just realised that I was down to my last block of tamarind. Time to stock up on my Asian groceries. Hmm maybe a trip to Nice is in order. Can you believe that I have to go all the way to Nice, which is a 4 hour drive, to buy Asian food stuff ? Be thankful, all of you who live in Asia or near a Chinatown.

Anyway sorry I digressed. So where was I. Ah Thai beef salad. This was one of the first Thai dishes that I attempted at home. It's so easy to make & everybody loves it. I have served this as a starter or as a main course with rice.

It really should be done with grilled beef but since I don't have a grill plate (I'm still looking for one that works on our induction stove), I just fry it on the pan.

Thai Beef Salad
serves 2

2 beef steak
2 large clove garlic, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp fish sauce
5 Tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes)
1/2 cucumber, peeled & sliced thinly
2 shallots, sliced
red chillies, sliced

1. Fry or grill beef depending on how you like yours done
2. Set aside & then cut to strips
3. Mix garlic, chilli, fish sauce, lime juice & sugar in a bowl
4. Toss the dressing with beef, cucumber & shallots
5. Serve over bed of lettuce




Pad Thai

If you have not seen Pim's wildly popular entry on Pad Thai for Beginners, go read it now. It has all you need to know about making Pad Thai. Over the years, I've tried making it many times & never quite got it right. Either the noodles become all sticky or it doesn't taste like it should.

Pim's entry is a little lengthy but definitely worth reading through. She leaves nothing out even including a description of how to extract tamarind juice. I follow everything to a tee. I've already done this half a dozen times & it has never failed me.

I just re-read her entry again & really like her idea of a Pad Thai party. I can imagine our French friends having a blast with the wok & making their own Pad Thai. Something to bear this in mind next time we plan a dinner party. X will be pleased cos for a change, the guests will do their own cooking.

Chicken Tagine with Almonds & Saffron

For FND this week, I decided to go Moroccan. I was going through our stack of cookbooks when I came across The Moroccan collection. I don't even know whose this belong to but looking at all the pictures of tagines, I was inspired to do one.

At the heart of Moroccan cooking is the tagine slaoui, a shallow round bottom dish with a lid that looks like a Chinese coolie's hat. It allows the tagine to be cooked over slow heat without drying out.

Well since I don't have one & neither do I think that I'll able to find one for our induction stove. I'll just have to use my good old regular pot. The result, the dish turned out okay but not great. It was just not flavorful enough. Could this have been because I didn't use a tagine slaoui ?

Chicken tagine with almonds & saffron
serves 4
extracted from The Moroccan Collection

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 large chicken breasts (I used chicken leg)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 small carrots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
150ml chicken stock
large pinch of saffron threads
50g almonds, grounded
salt & pepper
roughly chopped coriander to garnish

1. Heat oil in casserole. Add the chicken & brown evenly. Transfer to kitchen towel to drain.

2. Fry onions, celery, carrots & garlic gently for 5-7 mins until lightly coloured. Add stock & saffron. Stir in the almonds, season with salt & pepper & bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the casserole & add enough water to almost cover. Heat to simmering point & then cover tightly & cook gently for 30-40 mins until the chicken is cooked.

3. Remove the chicken. Boil the cooking liquid to reduce it to right consistency & flavour (I boiled it for a further 30 mins). Scatter over the coriander leaves & serve.

Ying Yang chocolate mousse

Mousse aux deux chocolats

My friend Martha asked if I had a recipe for chocolate mousse & it was the prefect excuse to try out this recipe. I have never attempted chocolate mousse before & instead of just doing the regular one, I decided to do this. Why walk when you can jump.

I thought I did a pretty decent job considering it's my first attempt. Of course I still have to wait for the Chef to give his final approval.

Ying yang chocolate mousse (makes 4 portions)
(I just made that up - sounds so much nicer than saying 2 chocolate mousse)

150 g dark chocolate
100 g white chocolate
3 eggs
20cl cream
20g sugar
a pinch of salt

1. Separate the whites & yolks. We will need 3 whites & only 2 yolks
2. Break the white chocolate into small pieces. Heat 5cl of cream. Remove once it starts to boil. Then add in the white chocolate. Stir & let it melt with the cream. Then add in the egg yolk & mix thoroughly. Set aside in a big bowl.
3. Do the same with 125g of dark chocolate & set aside in another bowl. Keep the 25g for later.
4. Whisk the 3 egg whites till stiff. Add a pinch of salt. Add the sugar as you whisk. Once done, fold in the dark chocolate.
5. Divide the mixture into 4 glasses. Leave in the fridge for 30 mins
6. Whisk the cream till it turns "moussey". Then add to the white chocolate mixture. Pour this into the glass of chocolate mousse. Leave in the fridge for 4 hours.
7. Serve chill. Grate the remaining dark chocolate & sprinkle on top.

Our Walks

When the Girl was a baby, I used to take her out for walks every day even during winter. Being out the house, getting some fresh air & a brisk walk always works wonders for me. Now that she has started pre-school, we don't do them as often. But when the weather's nice, she will come up to me to say "It's a nice day, let's go for a walk". I guess she misses them too.

Today, the sun was out & since she didn't want to take her afternoon nap, I decided to go for a walk. There is a trail behind the house that leads into the woods. It is very scenic & it's our favorite. I brought my camera with me cos I wanted to post the pictures on the blog. Surprisingly the Girl saw this as an opportunity for an outdoor photo shoot - I never had a more willing subject.

Being Bilingual

Right off the bat, X & I decided that we would split language duties. He would speak to the Girl solely in French & I in English. In principle, this should work very well. Only problem was that since X was away often, she spoke more English than French. So last summer just before she started pre school, I began speaking to her in French as well. I stick to one language per sentence but tend to use French & English interchangeably in a conversation. This proved to be a mistake cos that's why she comes up with gems like these.
** i noted these down yesterday & there are several references to chocolate because of this.

Pourquoi do that ?
(why do that ?)

My hands are dirty apres manger le chocolat
(My hands are dirty after eating the chocolate)

La mouche va eating my chocolate
(The fly is going to eat my chocolate)

I'm sitting toute seule
(I'm sitting by myself)

Pas yet
(not yet)

The last one is classic. For some reason, she just cannot say Don't or Not but of course, she has no problems saying No.

Despite my constant efforts to correct her, she's still messing it up. I have been told that it will pass & eventually she'll get it right. Which is another reason why I've been hesitant to start speaking to her in Mandarin. I know I should start early but it's seem rather daunting. What do you think ?

Cool things

I just got my basket delivered. I'm so excited. It's super light weight & looks even better than in the picture. And because of that, I discovered this site that sells some really cool stuff. It's a German based company called Design 3000. Most of what they have is fun yet functional. Here are some of my favorites.

What a great idea. This is for when you have friends who are always asking for a smaller piece of the cake because they are on a diet.

I want to get this for X cos he is always leaving his cell phone on the floor when he's charging it.

How cute are these. I've been looking for something for the wall of the Girl's room & this is perfect - fun & quirky without being cartoony.

Parmentier with Confit de Canard

Damn the Girl thwarted my effort to make Hache Parmentier. I mentioned yesterday that I was going to make it using left over Pot au Feu. Well the only problem was that there was not enough left over. She had 3 helpings & all that remained from yesterday's lunch was a small piece of beef.

But I had my heart set on making Parmentier & besides, I didn't want to disappoint you guys coming here expecting to see it. So I decided to use Confit de Canard instead. Parmentier is actually a good way to use up any left over meat - we've done it with rabbit & X's mother does it with fish.

Confit de Carnard is duck confit. It's leg of duck cured with salt & then cooked in it's own fat. I have yet to attempt it & although it's not a difficult process, it's just very tedious. Maybe one day when I'm feeling adventurous I might give it a go but for now, I'll do what every one here does, get it from a can. I know I shouldn't admit to eating canned food much less blog about it but it's about one of the few things I like from a can.

Here's what it looks like. This is NSFH - not safe for the health conscious. If you are one of them, turn away right now. Do not read any further.

This is the leg of duck rendered in it's own fat. That is a lot of fat. I can feel my arteries clotting up just by looking at it. Anyway after you take out the duck leg & scrape off as much fat as you possibly can, don't throw the fat away. You can use it for your facial (just kidding !!). Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge & use it for frying potatoes.

So on to making Parmentier with Confit de Canard.

First off prepare mashed potatoes. Don't be embarrassed that you don't know how to make mashed potatoes. I didn't until I came to France. Boil 5-6 potatoes. When done (soft enough to poke your fork through), remove & mash with some butter (cut several small pieces into the mash - the heat from the potatoes will melt the butter). Then slowly add milk & mix it in. Add a little at a time until you get the consistency you want. For making Parmentier, it's better to be creamier so add a little more milk. Season with salt & pepper.

Take 1 or 2 duck leg, remove skin, bones & as much fat as you can. Shred the meat. Next fry it for 2-3 mins just until the meat gets a little colour. No need to add oil cos did I mention that there's a lot of fat. Well in case you missed it, let me tell you again, there is a lot of fat on the duck.

Now you're ready to assemble the Parmentier. Put about half of the mashed potatoes in your oven dish. Next layer with the shredded duck meat. Then pour in the rest of the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle bread crumbs all over & cut several small slices of butter & place it on top. Bake in the oven at 210 for 30 mins or until the top is browned.

Parmentier with Confit de Canard

Parmentier is not the most photogenic food but trust me, it is delicious. The saltiness of the duck confit goes very well with the mashed potatoes.

Pot au Feu

Looking back at my posts, I realised that I'd not included any French recipes. Not that I don't cook any French dishes, I actually do a fair bit of them. I guess it is not as challenging to attempt say chee cheong fun in a French kitchen.

Since we're having a bit of a cold spell, I thought I'd make pot au feu. The ubiquitous French comfort dish.

I love pot au feu for many reasons. 1. It is so easy to prepare. Dump all ingredients into the pot & don't think about it for the next 3 hours. 2. It's a one dish meal. Serve the meat with vegetables & potatoes & you're done. 3. I can use left overs for hache parmentier.

It's so easy that there's no recipe for this. Just buy a cartilaginous cut of beef (I usually use beef shank) or you can use short ribs, put in a pot with enough water to cover it. Let it boil. Once it's boiling, reduce heat & ladle off the scum. Then add 2-3 carrots, cut in big pieces & 2-3 leeks whole. Salt & pepper. Cook for 3 hours or until the meat is tender. In the meantime, boil some potatoes & make your own mayonnaise. Voila, that's it.

Serve the meat with the soft vegetables & boiled potatoes together with some home made mayonnaise. The broth is usually served separately. It's perfect on a cold winter day.

Watch out for tomorrow's installment of hache parmentier.

My little escape

I really have been living under a rock.

Why have I not heard of this ?

It was only because I was looking at Pam's blog that I saw the clip from Youtube. First the haunting music of Caetano Veloso drew me in. Then the sexual tension & the sultry atmosphere. Then of course, there is Gong Li. I had chores to take care of but they will just have to wait, while I finished the movie.

I was transported away.

Update : I had to youtube the song & guess what I came up with. The maestro singing on Almodovar's Talk to Her. Tell me if it didn't send chills up your spine.

Snow

Forget that it was only last week I said spring is here ...... cos winter is not ready to leave yet.

I'm just glad we didn't have to hunt Easter eggs in the snow.

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday.
The family got together.
We ate. We drank.
The children with their little baskets
in the garden hunting for eggs.
How do I tell the Girl not to
eat too much chocolate ?

My modified fish stew

I'm not a very adventurous cook. I don't try to re-create new dishes nor venture out to concoct something from what I have on hand. I tend to stick to recipes (I'm very good at following instructions) & the most I would do is perhaps make substitutions where none is available.

Case in point. I came across this tempting fish stew at Simply Recipes (it is becoming my go to place for recipes). I love fish stew & this looked easy enough. The only thing is I couldn't find clam juice. Anywhere. Despite 3 trips to different supermarkets. Ah well, I'll substitute with dashi stock instead. And instead of oregano (since I didn't have any) I added saffron (at least to make it more like bouillabaisse altho this is not even close). And I served the fish stew with rice. Since I've not done this with clam juice, I have no point of comparison but I love it anyway & the Girl seemed to like it too cos she kept pouring the sauce/soup over her rice.

Here's the recipe for the Fish Stew

Fish Stew (for 4 )

6 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 large garlic cloves chopped
2/3 cup of fresh parsley chopped
1 cup fresh chopped tomato (1 medium tomato) I used half a bottle of home made coulis
2 tsp tomato paste
230 ml clam juice (I couldn't find any so I'd substituted with Japanese dashi stock instead. 230 ml of water with 1.5 tsp of dashi powder)
2/3 cup of white wine
700 g fish fillets (use at least 3 diff types of firm white fish - I used sea bass, cod & another fish which I don't have the English name)

oregano, tabasco, thyme, pepper, salt to taste (I added thyme, salt & pepper but also a little saffron for the extra kick)


1. Heat olive oil & then fry onions & garlic for about 4 mins
2. Add parsley & fry further
3. Add tomatoes, paste & cook for another 2 mins
4. Add clam juice (stock), wine & fish. Simmer till fish is cooked. Not more than 10 mins. You don't want the fish to break up. Add herbs, spices, salt & pepper to taste.

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream

I've been having so much fun with the ice cream maker. It has even infected X - he, of course has an industrial size ice cream maker & has attempted to make some on the boat.

Right after my success with green tea ice cream, the next flavour I wanted to attempt was cookies. After all one of my favorite is Haagen Dazs Cookies & Cream & they don't sell it here.

I used the basic custard recipe but just added 4 Tbsp of vanilla to it. The crushed cookies were added about 5 mins before the ice cream is finished churning in the machine.

This turned out even better than the green tea ice cream !! Strangely enough, the cookies were not great but when mixed with the ice cream, heavenly. I can imagine what it would be like if I got my hands on some good quality chocolate chip cookies. Only comment was X prefers bigger chunks of cookies (will remember to crush them less the next round). I don't think we need to ever buy any ice cream again.




On the other hand, my attempt at blueberry ice cream didn't turn out so great. Instead of using the basic custard recipe, I tried with only heavy cream. Although it looked great (bright purple), it tasted too much of cream & not enough of blueberries. Back to the drawing board. I'll put up the recipe only after I'd gotten it right.

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream

250 ml milk
250 ml heavy cream
180 g sugar
5 egg yolks
4 Tbsp vanilla
4-5 chocolate chip cookies


1. Beat egg yokes then add in the sugar
2. Heat milk in a small pan over low heat. Do not boil
3. Remove from fire & pour in the egg mixture
4. Put it back over the stove & continue cooking over low heat. It is very important that it does not boil else you'll end up with bits of scrambled eggs. Stirring constantly until mixture thickens. This is how I check - I'll tilt the pan & if a thin film stays at the bottom of the pan, it's ready.
5. Remove & strain through a fine sieve.
6. Let this cool completely.
7. Lightly whip the cream & add 4 Tbsp vanilla. Add this to the cold custard.
8. Pour into ice cream maker & prepare as per instructions. Add the crushed cookies 5 mins before the cycle ends.

Beef Fajita

Beef Fajita

Every Friday night, X returns home for the weekend. By the time, he's back it's time for the Girl to go to bed. So it's kind of our date night & I'll try to prepare something special. I've even decided to name this our Friday Night Dinners (which will be known henceforth simply as FND).

This week it was inspired by a pineapple salsa. When Sri of Feedmyworld shared this on a forum, I immediately wanted to try it. Besides, it has been a while since I made Mexican. After I tried it for the first time, I knew I wanted to do this again for FND.


I cooked the beef as per Sri's recipe but fried the peppers & onions with Mexican seasoning. Along with the pineapple salsa, I also prepared a tomato salsa. So this time round, I didn't do a guacamole which I would normally have done.

The pineapple salsa was a big hit with the chef (thanks again Sri), not that I had any doubt. He really liked the refreshing taste & preferred it over the tomato salsa. I'm sure I'll be making this again & again. Plus it's just fun - lay out the beef, peppers, pineapple salsa, cheese separately, let each person wrap their own beef fajita. Sit back & watch them lick their fingers after. Ole !

Charcuterie

Charcuterie (from either the French chair cuite, cooked meat, or the French cuiseur de chair, cooker of meat) is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as sausage and confit, primarily from pork. The practice goes back to ancient times and can involve the chemical preservation, or curing, of meats.

excerpt from Wikipedia

We recently had a charcuterie session. Unfortunately it happened pre-blog else it would have made one helluva post.

We do it at least once a year. X's father would buy a whole pig & we would spend the weekend making sausages, caillettes, hams, pates, rillettes, boudin, the works. For a city girl from Singapore who only buys these from the supermarkets, it was a real eye opening experience. I will blog about it when we next make charcuterie.

Right after, X's father gave me this book which he has had for years. It's everything you need to know about charcuterie. Recipes, techniques, cuts of meat, storage etc. I've only had a chance to flip through the book & it's chokeful of information. I guess once I start making charcuterie on my own, this will be a good reference book. Until then, I'm just going to enjoy looking at the pictures.

International Francophone Day

For those of you who may not be aware, March is the month of La Fete de la Francophonie. Throughout the month, all over the world, events are being held to celebrate all things Frenchie. And today is the International Francophone Day. So if you're interested, go to the official website to see what's happening in your area.

Decoration Ceremony

Last night, for the first time in my life, I attended a decoration ceremony. X's father was decorated for fighting in the Algerian war. The war lasted for 8 years from 1954-1962 where the Algerians fought to gain liberation from their French colonial rulers.

It started off with a mass held in the church of St Julien du Serre. Even tho we moved here a year ago, I've never been inside the church. It's only open for special occasions so I was naturally excited to be there (I will do a later post featuring the church).

The church was packed. It felt like the entire commune was there. I've never seen so many people in the neighbourhood. Needless to say, the Girl & I were the 2 youngest amongst them. Aside from the fact that we live right there, I think I was asked to attend so that I could be the photographer. Funnily enough, the journalist from La Tribune, the local weekly came up to me to asked which newspaper I represented. It might have something to do with the fact that I have a kick ass camera (thank you X).

After the mass & service honouring those who had served & died, we proceeded to the hall for the actual decoration ceremony. It was a simple ceremony with the band playing military tunes & of course, La Marseillaise (the national anthem of France) followed by the recipients getting their medals.

Look at that crowd

The guy who was in charged of the medals was standing right next to me & he graciously let me take a picture of them before the ceremony started.

The recipients

Tag

I got Tagged. By Sri.

Okay so here goes.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
The Girl

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Lying in bed trying to figure out if I should get up

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Trying to get the Girl to take a nap

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Grew older

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
Don't put playdoh up your nose

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Orange Juice for breakfast, water & a glass of wine during lunch

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Wood (is that a colour ?)

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
I just ordered a basket on the internet

9. Where were you last night?
At home

10. What color is your front door?
Wood

11. Where do you keep your change?
In my wallet

12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny & cold

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Right now, green tea

14. What excites you?
Travel. Food photos.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Not just yet

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Oh yes !

17. Do you talk a lot?
In French, not so much. In English, depends on whom I'm talking to.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
What's that ? A TV show ? I guess the answer is No

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes.

20. Do you make up your own words?
No.

21. Are you a jealous person?
No.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Adelyne

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kim

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
X

25. What does the last text message you received say?
Too long ago to remember. I don't text message that much.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No.

27. Do you have curly hair?
No.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
Paris in May.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
I'll refrain from answering this in case that person is reading my blog.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Green tea ice cream.

31. Will you get married in the future?
I hope so.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
I haven't watched any the past 2 weeks.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Maybe I should be answering if there is anyone I don't like right now.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Today after lunch

35. Are you currently depressed?
No.

36. Did you cry today?
No. Should I ?

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Oh you mean I didn't have to do this.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Can't think of anybody right now. I'm still new at this.

Mother & Child meal

This is what we had for lunch today. Wonton mee with home made wontons & char siew. The 2 dishes are not identical cos the Girl doesn't like wontons (so strange).

That's what I call comfort food.