So, in case you were worn out from your extended four day weekend this past weekend, not to worry, there is yet ANOTHER holiday coming up. On Monday.
Pentecoste.
Don't know what it is, but I'm getting the feeling that people like to take their holidays...
(again, all you religious fanatics out there, Erik and I would love to know what this one is about too. We figured it's when he comes back down from heaven to check up on his homies. Which means there should be another holiday after that for him to go back, non?)
Monday, May 29, 2006
Erik and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
I woke up tired this morning. I didn't sleep well because I ate too much at the BBQ yesterday.
It rained on my way up the stairs to school, and I didn't have my umbrella.
When I got to school, the meeting that was supposed to start at 9:30 and last 40 minutes started at 10:00 and lasted two hours. And the room was freezing!
Everyone in the lab is at a conference in Nice, where it's 30C. It's cold and rainy here today.
The salad that I brought for lunch today opened up in my bag and spilled dressing everywhere.
I dropped pepperoni from my replacement lunch pizza down the front of my white shirt.
The automatic lights turned out while I was going to the bathroom.
The NSERC office lost both copies of the application form I sent for the next installment of my fellowship. I can't send another one until next week because they have (had) the original and Pere needs to sign it.
The oven broke (again) while dinner was cooking.
AND when I was putting hot sauce on my pizza for dinner, it came out too fast and my pizza was too spicy.
I have to wear my railroad pyjamas to bed tonight. And I hate railroads!
I think I'll move to Nice.
Torie says everyone has bad days.
Even in Nice.
**inspired by one of Torie's favorite stories, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst.
It rained on my way up the stairs to school, and I didn't have my umbrella.
When I got to school, the meeting that was supposed to start at 9:30 and last 40 minutes started at 10:00 and lasted two hours. And the room was freezing!
Everyone in the lab is at a conference in Nice, where it's 30C. It's cold and rainy here today.
The salad that I brought for lunch today opened up in my bag and spilled dressing everywhere.
I dropped pepperoni from my replacement lunch pizza down the front of my white shirt.
The automatic lights turned out while I was going to the bathroom.
The NSERC office lost both copies of the application form I sent for the next installment of my fellowship. I can't send another one until next week because they have (had) the original and Pere needs to sign it.
The oven broke (again) while dinner was cooking.
AND when I was putting hot sauce on my pizza for dinner, it came out too fast and my pizza was too spicy.
I have to wear my railroad pyjamas to bed tonight. And I hate railroads!
I think I'll move to Nice.
Torie says everyone has bad days.
Even in Nice.
**inspired by one of Torie's favorite stories, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst.
Friday, May 26, 2006
I've added an update to our Enlightenment post. Thanks Howard and Mom for helping us figure out this holy day.
Our Victoria Day Celebrations
Here are some pictures from our Sunday afternoon at the Jardin des Tuileries.
Enjoying the sun.
A posed action shot of Erik returning from the snack stand with beer and ice cream.
Enjoying the beer.
Enjoying the scenery
And of course, a painted cow. Why not?
Enjoying the sun.
A posed action shot of Erik returning from the snack stand with beer and ice cream.
Enjoying the beer.
Enjoying the scenery
And of course, a painted cow. Why not?
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Expensive Dinner
Totally worth every penny.
Ok. Where to start.
We started off our evening with drinks at a new place, les Nemrods, on rue Cherche Midi. From there we headed off in search of another satisfying place in our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, because of the holiday, it seemed like many places were closed, and we ended up doing a large loop around the 6th arrondissement, before ending up almost back at our house.
At this point, I also had to go to the washroom quite badly. We decided to just go to the first place we had origially thought of going to, and walked past, only to realize that it was of course, closed. Next option, the restaurant across the street, the Fleur de Sel. Looked a bit touristy, and there was only one table of guests inside, so Erik convinced me to check out one more place a couple of buildings down. Looked cute, and it had a bathroom, so in we went.
What an interesting place.
My first thought once we sat down and glanced at the menu was "this is NOT the kind of place we were looking for." Glancing at the decor, we tried to figure out what kind of restuarant this was. Antique hat boxes on one side. Paintings of naked women on the other. An old pump organ in the back. The menu seemed to consist almost entirely of caviar, foie gras and smoked fish.
The owner, however, was super friendly. And we were the only table in the place, so he had lots of time for us.
Turns out there were also some specials on offer, which he explained to us, and described the kinds of foie gras that they were offering. We decided to each order different things, and told the owner that we were going to share everything. We started with a torchon of foie gras which ended up being a sample place with a slice of the torchon, and a slice of red wine foie gras and the terrine St. Jaques. Our main course was grilled tuna with garlic mashed potatoes and an African chicken dish served with rice. Dessert was the most delicious soft centred chocolate cake and sliced pineapple with mango sorbet.
The meal got off to a great start with our apperitifs. Erik had a fantastic glass of port, and I had the most delicious Kir that I've ever had. When the entrees came out, the owner recommended that we eat the foie gras first, and try it with a bit of fleur de sel, then eat the terrine second. The foie gras was delicious. Nice and smooth, a very delicate taste, very simple, and nicely accented by the fleur de sel. The salt that we added also added a nice crunch. The terrine was also fantastic. A more complex dish, but no less tasty, and we were glad that he had told us to eat the foie gras first, because it would have tasted quite bland after the terrine.
The main courses came out next, and were fantastic. Erik had asked for the tuna to be sanguine, or just seared on the outside. Again, the owner recommended eating the tuna first, the chicken second. The tuna was perfectly cooked, and we again sprinkled it with fleur de sel, wich added a nice amount of saltiness, and a great crunch. The chicken dish was also great. An interesting kind of chicken stew/curry, with a mild flavour and creamy sauce. There was some kind of unusual vegetable in it, but we can't remember what it was called.
With all of this, we drank a 2001 Chilean wine, which the owner recommended, and just to be sure, he had us taste the Chilean one, and another one he thought we might like. I remember thinking that it was a large bottle, but didn't think much of it until I noticed later on in the meal that it was a big bottle...100cl. Ah well, it was a long meal, and it was some darn good wine.
In between the main course and dessert, a gentleman came in. Turns out he owned the restaurant on the corner that we almost went to, the Fleur de Sel. Which led to an extensive conversation about this salt, why it is special, and how it is harvested. He proceeded to recommend that we go and visit this town on the west coast of France, Guerlande, and drew us a map of France indicating where this town is, along with two other places nearby that are nice to visit.
Dessert came, and was fantastic. He said the chocolate was the specialty, but I'm not a huge chocolate dessert fan, so I had the pineapple instead. The chocolate cake was in fact amazing, and it was a good thing Erik decided to get one or we would have missed out. The pineapple was also delicious, and a very light and refreshing way to end the meal.
After dessert, owner #2 got into a discussion with us about American politics, he was interested to know how all of that affected Canada. Finally the bill came (whoops, a bit more than we had planned on spending...) and we learned that there is an expression in French for when things are expensive...you say they are 'sale' or salty. He then wanted to know the equivalent expression in English, but we couldn't come up with anything...
Anyway, it was a fantastic meal, and as I'm writing this I want to go back and have some more tuna, and maybe that chocolate cake. It was just SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!
It's on our list, so if you're coming to visit, we highly recommend it!
Les Colocks
131, rue du Cherche Midi 75015 PARIS
Ok. Where to start.
We started off our evening with drinks at a new place, les Nemrods, on rue Cherche Midi. From there we headed off in search of another satisfying place in our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, because of the holiday, it seemed like many places were closed, and we ended up doing a large loop around the 6th arrondissement, before ending up almost back at our house.
At this point, I also had to go to the washroom quite badly. We decided to just go to the first place we had origially thought of going to, and walked past, only to realize that it was of course, closed. Next option, the restaurant across the street, the Fleur de Sel. Looked a bit touristy, and there was only one table of guests inside, so Erik convinced me to check out one more place a couple of buildings down. Looked cute, and it had a bathroom, so in we went.
What an interesting place.
My first thought once we sat down and glanced at the menu was "this is NOT the kind of place we were looking for." Glancing at the decor, we tried to figure out what kind of restuarant this was. Antique hat boxes on one side. Paintings of naked women on the other. An old pump organ in the back. The menu seemed to consist almost entirely of caviar, foie gras and smoked fish.
The owner, however, was super friendly. And we were the only table in the place, so he had lots of time for us.
Turns out there were also some specials on offer, which he explained to us, and described the kinds of foie gras that they were offering. We decided to each order different things, and told the owner that we were going to share everything. We started with a torchon of foie gras which ended up being a sample place with a slice of the torchon, and a slice of red wine foie gras and the terrine St. Jaques. Our main course was grilled tuna with garlic mashed potatoes and an African chicken dish served with rice. Dessert was the most delicious soft centred chocolate cake and sliced pineapple with mango sorbet.
The meal got off to a great start with our apperitifs. Erik had a fantastic glass of port, and I had the most delicious Kir that I've ever had. When the entrees came out, the owner recommended that we eat the foie gras first, and try it with a bit of fleur de sel, then eat the terrine second. The foie gras was delicious. Nice and smooth, a very delicate taste, very simple, and nicely accented by the fleur de sel. The salt that we added also added a nice crunch. The terrine was also fantastic. A more complex dish, but no less tasty, and we were glad that he had told us to eat the foie gras first, because it would have tasted quite bland after the terrine.
The main courses came out next, and were fantastic. Erik had asked for the tuna to be sanguine, or just seared on the outside. Again, the owner recommended eating the tuna first, the chicken second. The tuna was perfectly cooked, and we again sprinkled it with fleur de sel, wich added a nice amount of saltiness, and a great crunch. The chicken dish was also great. An interesting kind of chicken stew/curry, with a mild flavour and creamy sauce. There was some kind of unusual vegetable in it, but we can't remember what it was called.
With all of this, we drank a 2001 Chilean wine, which the owner recommended, and just to be sure, he had us taste the Chilean one, and another one he thought we might like. I remember thinking that it was a large bottle, but didn't think much of it until I noticed later on in the meal that it was a big bottle...100cl. Ah well, it was a long meal, and it was some darn good wine.
In between the main course and dessert, a gentleman came in. Turns out he owned the restaurant on the corner that we almost went to, the Fleur de Sel. Which led to an extensive conversation about this salt, why it is special, and how it is harvested. He proceeded to recommend that we go and visit this town on the west coast of France, Guerlande, and drew us a map of France indicating where this town is, along with two other places nearby that are nice to visit.
Dessert came, and was fantastic. He said the chocolate was the specialty, but I'm not a huge chocolate dessert fan, so I had the pineapple instead. The chocolate cake was in fact amazing, and it was a good thing Erik decided to get one or we would have missed out. The pineapple was also delicious, and a very light and refreshing way to end the meal.
After dessert, owner #2 got into a discussion with us about American politics, he was interested to know how all of that affected Canada. Finally the bill came (whoops, a bit more than we had planned on spending...) and we learned that there is an expression in French for when things are expensive...you say they are 'sale' or salty. He then wanted to know the equivalent expression in English, but we couldn't come up with anything...
Anyway, it was a fantastic meal, and as I'm writing this I want to go back and have some more tuna, and maybe that chocolate cake. It was just SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!
It's on our list, so if you're coming to visit, we highly recommend it!
Les Colocks
131, rue du Cherche Midi 75015 PARIS
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Enlightenment Needed
So, the holiday on Thursday is Ascension (the things you learn at the grocery store...).
Erik has given me a bare bones explanation, but, as my religious knowldedge is extremely limited, I still have some more questions.
Here's what I know:
*********
So, we've gotten some interesting responses to this post (OK, well just two. I'm a bit relieved that I'm not the only one who is completely in the dark when it comes to religion).
Anyway, here is what I've learned, from Howard and Mom.
Erik has given me a bare bones explanation, but, as my religious knowldedge is extremely limited, I still have some more questions.
Here's what I know:
- May 25 is the day Jesus 'ascends' to Heaven
- That's about it.
- Why May 25? Why is Easter always a Sunday, but Ascension is a specific day?
- What the heck did Jesus do between Easter and Ascention (Erik and I had some pretty funny ideas, all of which I'm sure are wrong...)
- Why have we never heard of this holiday before? It's obviously a Christian holiday, so why isn't it celebrated in Canada?
*********
So, we've gotten some interesting responses to this post (OK, well just two. I'm a bit relieved that I'm not the only one who is completely in the dark when it comes to religion).
Anyway, here is what I've learned, from Howard and Mom.
- I guess it's not always May 25th, but the 40th day after Easter. Makes a bit more sense.
- Apparently it used to be celebrated in Canada, but churches have moved the celebration to the nearest Sunday (shame on them! Who doesn't like a day off?)
- In between Easter and Ascension, Jesus visits his apostles and books passage to the south of France to set up house with his new family and leave clues for Da Vinci (thanks Howard for that one :) ). Erik and I figured he was probably at an internet cafe catching up on his email. That's what we would have done :)
Midi Vins
On Saturday, Erik and I had an afternoon of wine.
We started at our favorite cafe, l'Enclos du Temps (we call it the Time Machine, and yes, we realise that's not the actual translation). This is one of the places where we know two of the staff, and the guy was quite helpful when we asked about the wines that they had. I tried two bordeaux, which were both nice, and Erik had two different ones, and they very kindly poured him a sample glass of the second one so he could decide if it was acceptable. It was, and was also delicious.
After our apperitif stop, we headed off for dinner. We had originally wanted to try a little place across the street from us, but it was closed, so we headed over to rue Cherche Midi to see what we could find.
We stuck our heads in a couple of places before deciding on the Midi Vins. It smelled the best, and had the most interesting menu. And they had a dog.
It was a cozy little place, with a dozen or so tables, and the tables were made out of old bottle holders (kind of hard to describe, but pretty cool). Right away we were served an amuse bouche of some kind of spread on baguette. We both thought it tasted like turkey, but we never asked, so it could have been anything.
The food was fantastic! It's one of those places where the menu is written on a little blackboard that they bring right to your table. For our entrees, we had an endive and roquefort (Erik's new favorite cheese, and word--he also enjoys a Roquefort beer and wine) salad, and a mesclun salad with shrimp. Yum! Our plats were beef with camembert sauce, and mashed potatoes, and white fish, fried with rice. The beef was delicious, and the sauce a nice match, and the fish was nice and crispy, and had a fresh vegetable salsa with it. Yum yum! Then dessert, usually my favorite part of dinner. Unfortunately it was the least impressive part of this meal, but by this point we were full, and full of wine, so it didn't really matter. Erik had the warm chocolate cake, and I had the rhubarb tart. I thought the pastry on the tart was a bit tasteless, but Erik enjoyed his cake. Along with all of this we had a bottle of 2001 St. Chinian which was absolutely delicious.
A nice way to spend our Saturday night. Really, we're just trying to find some good restaurants to take all of our visitors this summer!
**************************
We know all of you at home were lucky to be celebrating the long weekend, this weekend, and we did try to fit in some celebrating over here. We're still trying to get to the musee d'Orsay, but our plan to get there before it opened on Sunday morning failed, largely as a result of our wine afternoon on Saturday. By the time we did get there around 11:00 the line up was longer than the one we stood in at Christmas, and well, we just weren't up for it. We did spend some time instead at the Jardin des Tuileries, where we relaxed on lawn chairs and Erik drank beer purchased from one of the many kiosks. And we found out today that France isn't finished with long weekends yet. We have the mother of all long weekends coming up. Its the weekend to fait le pont. Thursday is a holiday (not sure why), so many people take Friday off as well to extend their vacation. Turns out the nursery school is closed not only on Thursday, but Friday too. I think the only thing better than a long weekend is a surpise one! Anyway, I still have to work on Saturday, which is really the perfect way to ruin a long weekend, but I'll do my best to enjoy what I've got. Hopefully it will warm up.....
Yes, many of you Canadians seem to be enjoying warmer weather than we are. I saw two people on the subway this morning in wool winter jackets. It's not nice.
We started at our favorite cafe, l'Enclos du Temps (we call it the Time Machine, and yes, we realise that's not the actual translation). This is one of the places where we know two of the staff, and the guy was quite helpful when we asked about the wines that they had. I tried two bordeaux, which were both nice, and Erik had two different ones, and they very kindly poured him a sample glass of the second one so he could decide if it was acceptable. It was, and was also delicious.
After our apperitif stop, we headed off for dinner. We had originally wanted to try a little place across the street from us, but it was closed, so we headed over to rue Cherche Midi to see what we could find.
We stuck our heads in a couple of places before deciding on the Midi Vins. It smelled the best, and had the most interesting menu. And they had a dog.
It was a cozy little place, with a dozen or so tables, and the tables were made out of old bottle holders (kind of hard to describe, but pretty cool). Right away we were served an amuse bouche of some kind of spread on baguette. We both thought it tasted like turkey, but we never asked, so it could have been anything.
The food was fantastic! It's one of those places where the menu is written on a little blackboard that they bring right to your table. For our entrees, we had an endive and roquefort (Erik's new favorite cheese, and word--he also enjoys a Roquefort beer and wine) salad, and a mesclun salad with shrimp. Yum! Our plats were beef with camembert sauce, and mashed potatoes, and white fish, fried with rice. The beef was delicious, and the sauce a nice match, and the fish was nice and crispy, and had a fresh vegetable salsa with it. Yum yum! Then dessert, usually my favorite part of dinner. Unfortunately it was the least impressive part of this meal, but by this point we were full, and full of wine, so it didn't really matter. Erik had the warm chocolate cake, and I had the rhubarb tart. I thought the pastry on the tart was a bit tasteless, but Erik enjoyed his cake. Along with all of this we had a bottle of 2001 St. Chinian which was absolutely delicious.
A nice way to spend our Saturday night. Really, we're just trying to find some good restaurants to take all of our visitors this summer!
**************************
We know all of you at home were lucky to be celebrating the long weekend, this weekend, and we did try to fit in some celebrating over here. We're still trying to get to the musee d'Orsay, but our plan to get there before it opened on Sunday morning failed, largely as a result of our wine afternoon on Saturday. By the time we did get there around 11:00 the line up was longer than the one we stood in at Christmas, and well, we just weren't up for it. We did spend some time instead at the Jardin des Tuileries, where we relaxed on lawn chairs and Erik drank beer purchased from one of the many kiosks. And we found out today that France isn't finished with long weekends yet. We have the mother of all long weekends coming up. Its the weekend to fait le pont. Thursday is a holiday (not sure why), so many people take Friday off as well to extend their vacation. Turns out the nursery school is closed not only on Thursday, but Friday too. I think the only thing better than a long weekend is a surpise one! Anyway, I still have to work on Saturday, which is really the perfect way to ruin a long weekend, but I'll do my best to enjoy what I've got. Hopefully it will warm up.....
Yes, many of you Canadians seem to be enjoying warmer weather than we are. I saw two people on the subway this morning in wool winter jackets. It's not nice.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Five fun things about fitness classes in France (say that five times fast!)
1. Buddy Pimp. As in the 'Body Pump' class. I also enjoy 'buddy attack'.
2. the seengal. As in 'single' lunge. Took me about five minutes to figure it out.
3. the Bahzeek. As in 'basic' step. That one only took about three minutes.
4. Steep toushe. (step touch)
5. Eel jack (heel jack)
2. the seengal. As in 'single' lunge. Took me about five minutes to figure it out.
3. the Bahzeek. As in 'basic' step. That one only took about three minutes.
4. Steep toushe. (step touch)
5. Eel jack (heel jack)
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Fun times in a fancy city
A night in Australia...or the Australian bar, anyway.
Would you trust that guy??
Hilary, the Australian one, tried Fosters for the first time. Apparently no one drinks it there...
Are we there yet? Toronto's not that far away...
Gotta love the Eiffel tower. This was on our monster walk last weekend in search of french fries. We headed for a place that Erik, Karina and Steve had gone to at Christmas time. We found the bar, but they weren't serving fries (too early!). Oh well, it was a nice walk.
Would you trust that guy??
Hilary, the Australian one, tried Fosters for the first time. Apparently no one drinks it there...
Are we there yet? Toronto's not that far away...
Gotta love the Eiffel tower. This was on our monster walk last weekend in search of french fries. We headed for a place that Erik, Karina and Steve had gone to at Christmas time. We found the bar, but they weren't serving fries (too early!). Oh well, it was a nice walk.
Cooking up a storm
Erik often makes fun of me for wanting a knife when I eat. Curry in a bowl is one of the few meals I'll eat with just a fork, but Erik thought it would be funny for this particular meal to provide me with all the possible utensils.
One of the things we ate in Valencia was tortilla an omlette with potatoes and onions. They were sooooo good. I found a recipe and tried it myself. Looked simple enough. Of course mine stuck completely to the bottom of the pan, and turned into scrambled eggs with hash browns. It's always fun to compare photos though. Doesn't look quite like the one in the recipe...
This was pear gorgonzola risotto with a slice of a really cool tomato. I can't remember what it was called, but Erik thought the shape was really interesting, and it was quite tasty too (all that from someone who swears he doesn't like tomatoes!)
There you go. Some tidbits from our kitchen.
Bon apetit!
Happy Mother's Day!!
We wish we were closer to help you celebrate, but we're thinking about you. We're so lucky to have such great moms, and to have so many great memories of things we've done together.
We hope you have a fantastic day!
Love Erik and Torie :)
(Thanks Jing for taking such fabulous pictures! It's always hard to find ones with the moms IN them)
We hope you have a fantastic day!
Love Erik and Torie :)
(Thanks Jing for taking such fabulous pictures! It's always hard to find ones with the moms IN them)
"Should we open another bottle of wine? Why not?"
Last night Erik and I hosted a Canadian dinner party at a friends house (Pavel and Tatiana, who work in Erik's lab--they're at the end of the table, Pavel is holding the wine, of course). After stressing about the menu all week (what the heck is "Canadian" food, aside from poutine?), and racing through all the prep work yesterday afternoon, we made it out to their house in Lozere, with time to spare. We did all the prep work here, and basically just had to cook everything in their oven once we arrived. It went pretty smoothly, although we should have put the pork in sooner, and taken it out sooner (it was a bit dry), and we also forgot that Bicher, one of the guests, is Muslim, and although he was a good sport, we both felt horrible for serving pork. Ahh the things you learn...
Dinner for 8, to go...waiting for the RER at Denfert Rochereau
So, here is the menu:
Appetizer-Puff pastries filled with smoked salmon and spinach and ricotta filling. Forgot to take a picture of this one, but they were quite tasty. I liked the fact that we got this recipe via Joan, Howard and Karina's trip to Japan, and that it was written in French (creme fraiche isn't really a very Canadian ingredient, is it?). We served it with a small mesclun salad on the side with maple hinted vinagrette.
Plat-Pork tendeloin with maple dijon glaze; Elsie potatoes and roasted asparagus wrapped in proscuitto and goat cheese (who could have known that the asparagus would be more expensive than the pork?). As I mentioned, the pork was a bit overcooked, but still delicious. The potatoes were fantastic, and Erik even managed to find cream cheese (called fromage a tartiner), although he bought way more than was needed, and put it all in before realizing this, and the asparagus was also good, but not at all Canadian.
Getting ready to plate
Elsie potatoes just out of the oven
Erik carves the pork tenderloin
Voila!
Cheese course-Pavel bought the cheese, and there was a great selection. My favorite, Brillat Savarin which is a triple creme and super yummy; a chevre; a Comte; a Parmesan; and a soft Corsican cheese with a rind, like brie.
Dessert-Apple pie with cheddar cheese. Yum yum yum! I wish there had been some leftovers of this, because it turned out really well. My big challenge was to make the pastry without shortening, and I found a recipe that used all butter. It was great! Sweeter than regular pastry, but still great. I used Golden Delicious apples, and we served the cheese on the side. Very well received.
As always, it's fun having dinner at their house. Pavel is into wine, and always has an interesting selection to try. We brought two Canadian bottles, thanks to our trusty winerunner, Karina: a Blasted Church Pinot Noir, and a Jackson Triggs 2002 Meritage. This was the first Canadian wine we'd had since leaving, and we found the Pinot Noir to be a bit flat, and 'juice-y' tasting. The Jackson Triggs was quite good though, and we thought a reasonable competitor to the French wines that we're used to now. Pavel also served a South African wine, a French Baune, and one from Luxembourg that Pere and Alice brought. I think in all we went through about six bottles, which really isn't bad considering there were eight adults, but Pavel kept asking if we should open another bottle. And he wasn't afraid to get out more glasses so people could have more than one wine on the go. Good fun.
Here are the recipes, for anyone who's interested:
Feuilletes aux epinards et au saumon (thank you Joan for typing up and sending this recipe, at the last minute!)
Pour 3 personnes Preparation: 10 min. Cuisson: 25 min.
*I tripled the recipe to serve 8, and had some spinach mixture left over.1 pare feuilettes prêt a derouler (puff pastry)
100 g de saumon frais (smoked salmon)
50 g d'epinards haches (surgeles ou de conserve) (chopped spinach, we used the frozen kind)
1 cuilleree a cafe de crème fraiche epaisse (one tsp of creme fraiche--I used tablespoon by accident!)
1/2 cuilleree a cafe de jus de citron (1/2 tsp of lemon juice)
1 oeuf (pour la dorure) (egg for the glaze)
sel, poivre
Prechauffez votre four th.7 (220C). Si besoin, faites decongeler les epinards.
Deroulez la pate feuilletee et decoupez 3 carres de pate. Gardez les chutes pour decoration.(ah, the creative part you get to do later!)
Melangez les epinards, la crème fraiche et le jus de citron. Salez (un petit-my advice) et poivrez.
Repartissez ce melange au centre de chaque carre, puis deposez un morceau de saumon prealablement sale.
Reunissez les 4 coins du carre au centre. Pressez legerement la pate pour que les feuilletes ne s'ouvrent pas a la cuisson.
Decorez les feuilletes avec les chutes de pate puis badigeonnez-les d'oeuf battu (there are pictures but you'll just have to do your own creativite thing with those little pieces of pastry).
Faites cuire dans votre four 20 a 25 minutes
ROAST PORK TENDERLOIN WITH MAPLE,
2 Whole pork tenderloin (called fillet mignon in French), about 13/4 lbs (800 grams), trimmed
1/2 cup Maple syrup 125 mL
1/4 cup
2 tbsp Coarsely chopped fresh sage, or 2 tsp dried crumbled
Coarse sea salt, cracked black pepper
Place the pork in a sided dish just large enough to hold it in a single layer. Prick the meat a few times with a fork.
Combine the maple syrup, mustard and sage in a bowl; pour over the pork. Cover and marinate in the fridge for four hours, or overnight, turning occasionally.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with parchment. Place the pork in the dish; spoon over the marinade. Season with salt and pepper. Roast 35-40 minutes, basting occasionally, or until just cooked through.
Remove and rest the meat five minutes before slicing and arranging on a platter. Spoon over some of the pan juices if desired.
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
- Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Elsie PotatoesAsparagus with Proscuitto and goat cheese
-there isn't really a recipe for these. You can easily adjust the amounts, just use what you need.
Boil the asparagus until tender. Spread goat cheese on a slice of proscuitto, and roll bundles of five asparagus spears in the proscuitto.
Sprinkly with olive oil, and roast in the oven, or BBQ until the proscuitto is crispy.
Best Ever Apple Pie (from the Complete Canadian Living Cookbook)
-8 cups (1.2 kg) thinly sliced peeled apples (they recommend Northern Spy apples, or Golden Delicious)
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-3 tbsp flour
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-I used this butter pastry recipe for the crust.
Toss apples with lemon juice (I'm sure I used more than 2 tbsp. It was almost a whole lemon's worth of juice).
Stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon; sprinkle over apples and toss until coated. Scrape into pie shell. Add top crust, or lattice crust.
Brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 45 minutes at 180C until the filling in bubbly and the apples are soft.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Telemarketers
It's official! This morning we received our first French telemarketing call. I had to ask the woman to repeat everything more slowly, but I understood enough the second time to tell her "non, merci, on a deja deux portables" (she wanted to give us a free cell phone).
Nothing makes a place feel like home like getting a call from a telemarketer. Wait till they get Erik on the phone....
Nothing makes a place feel like home like getting a call from a telemarketer. Wait till they get Erik on the phone....
Inspire Us!
On Saturday we are hosting a dinner at one of Erik's friend's house. Apparently it will be a Canadian meal. Which leads to the obvious question--what to serve as an example of Canadian food?
At this point, we're not feeling particularly creative, so any suggestions are welcome! Feel free to post in the comments section if you want, so everyone can enjoy the responses. You can leave comments without having an account by choosing the 'anonymous' option.
Thanks!
At this point, we're not feeling particularly creative, so any suggestions are welcome! Feel free to post in the comments section if you want, so everyone can enjoy the responses. You can leave comments without having an account by choosing the 'anonymous' option.
Thanks!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Raw Sewage
A whiff of sewage from somewhere in the city reminded Erik of Steve's stinky toilet. Which led to us both declaring how badly we want to go back to Japan! (Just to clarify, the stinky toilet wasn't a particularly fond memory that we have of Steve's apartment, just a memory in general...)
Erik is busy right now watching sumo highlights online, and getting excited for the sumo basho, which I believe starts today. It doesn't help that Steve keeps sending us things like a recording of the last basho with English commentary, or a DVD of a Japanese comedy troupes latest endeavor: No Laughing High School. Picture four grown Japanese men dressed up in Japanese high school student school uniforms. They spend 24 hours at this school, and everytime they laugh they get smacked with a kendo stick. Hmm...my description seems a bit violent, but it's actually quite funny, despite the fact that we don't know that they are saying.
Then there were the cherry blossoms that seemed to say "go to Japan!" with every gust of wind.
Ah well. Until Erik finds a conference he (and I) can go to in Japan, I guess we'll have to amuse ourselves with take out sushi and trips down memory lane.
Erik is busy right now watching sumo highlights online, and getting excited for the sumo basho, which I believe starts today. It doesn't help that Steve keeps sending us things like a recording of the last basho with English commentary, or a DVD of a Japanese comedy troupes latest endeavor: No Laughing High School. Picture four grown Japanese men dressed up in Japanese high school student school uniforms. They spend 24 hours at this school, and everytime they laugh they get smacked with a kendo stick. Hmm...my description seems a bit violent, but it's actually quite funny, despite the fact that we don't know that they are saying.
Then there were the cherry blossoms that seemed to say "go to Japan!" with every gust of wind.
Ah well. Until Erik finds a conference he (and I) can go to in Japan, I guess we'll have to amuse ourselves with take out sushi and trips down memory lane.
Ho Hum
I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but now that things are settling down, and we're getting used to our new life here, I've found it difficult to find things to write about.
I do love writing this blog, and I had fun last week re-reading some of our earlier entries. It's interesting to see how much everything has changed since we first got here. I've forgotten how 'foreign' France seemed when we first arrived, and how overwhelmed I felt by the French language. Reading some of my early bread posts, I laugh now at how I thought there was no sliced sandwich bread here (a whole aisle in our Inno, appropriately called "Industrial Bread"). And my many posts about the lack of skim milk, and the soapy tasting fat-free yogurt. I have in fact found skim milk, and it only comes unrefrigerated, which has actually turned out to be quite convenient, as I can keep a box in the cupboard for those mornings when I've already poured out my cereal and soaked it with the last drop of milk in the fridge. As for yogurt, I have found some edible fat free ones, but am far more impressed with the full fat kind. And as for French, although neither of us are 100% fluent, it's definetly not as frustrating as it used to be. I'm more surprised when I hear people speaking English now, and hearing French all the time seems so normal that I'm often surprised when people don't speak English (not sure if that makes sense...)
Anyway, I now find myself thinking about things I will miss about Paris when we come back to Canada. On the list right now are the metro and train systems (I often wonder how we will ever survive without them). The food. The sense of community that people feel within their arrondisements. Saying hello to the owners of the two restaurants and the cafe on our corner (we've lived here for two months! We lived on Augusta for two years and never knew anyone aside from the owners of Sneaky Dees well enough to say hello!).
I guess this has been a long winded way of saying that nothing is new...the weather can't decide between sweltering hot and pretty darn cold, and I just wish it would make up it's mind! We have another long weekend right now, and we were planning to go to the Musee d'Orsay to see the Cezanne and Pisarro exhibit, but since it's 2:00 and we're still here, we might have to save that for next weekend.
That's it! Hope everyone is well. Send me postcards! :)
I do love writing this blog, and I had fun last week re-reading some of our earlier entries. It's interesting to see how much everything has changed since we first got here. I've forgotten how 'foreign' France seemed when we first arrived, and how overwhelmed I felt by the French language. Reading some of my early bread posts, I laugh now at how I thought there was no sliced sandwich bread here (a whole aisle in our Inno, appropriately called "Industrial Bread"). And my many posts about the lack of skim milk, and the soapy tasting fat-free yogurt. I have in fact found skim milk, and it only comes unrefrigerated, which has actually turned out to be quite convenient, as I can keep a box in the cupboard for those mornings when I've already poured out my cereal and soaked it with the last drop of milk in the fridge. As for yogurt, I have found some edible fat free ones, but am far more impressed with the full fat kind. And as for French, although neither of us are 100% fluent, it's definetly not as frustrating as it used to be. I'm more surprised when I hear people speaking English now, and hearing French all the time seems so normal that I'm often surprised when people don't speak English (not sure if that makes sense...)
Anyway, I now find myself thinking about things I will miss about Paris when we come back to Canada. On the list right now are the metro and train systems (I often wonder how we will ever survive without them). The food. The sense of community that people feel within their arrondisements. Saying hello to the owners of the two restaurants and the cafe on our corner (we've lived here for two months! We lived on Augusta for two years and never knew anyone aside from the owners of Sneaky Dees well enough to say hello!).
I guess this has been a long winded way of saying that nothing is new...the weather can't decide between sweltering hot and pretty darn cold, and I just wish it would make up it's mind! We have another long weekend right now, and we were planning to go to the Musee d'Orsay to see the Cezanne and Pisarro exhibit, but since it's 2:00 and we're still here, we might have to save that for next weekend.
That's it! Hope everyone is well. Send me postcards! :)
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