On The (French) Road… Again
June 3rd, 2011 | Rachel
Just a quick update on what we’ve been doing.
After our tour of northwest France, we headed south to spend some time amongst the grape vines. We spent the first night in the city of Bordeaux.
Somehow I ended up on a date with Justin Bieber.
I learned that the French put butter on their oysters… and have bars with automatic wine dispensers.
The next day we went to a large flea market in the middle of the city. We found the honey badger, but he doesn’t care.
The main event, of course, was the wine. We spend two days driving around St. Emilion and Medoc, touring wineries, and drinking wine.
As a special treat, May 30 was Steve’s birthday. We celebrated by visiting two wineries and eating lunch and dinner at two particularly delicious restaurants.
Stay tuned for more!
On The (French) Road…
May 27th, 2011 | Rachel
Steve and I are finally staying at a hotel with wifi, so here’s a brief update about our trip so far (tip: if you click on the photos you can view them larger):
1. We missed our flight to Paris! :*-(
2. Fortunately, the universe was smiling upon us that day and gave us two seats (together!) on a direct flight an hour later. :-D
3. Since arriving in France there has been quite a bit of this:
4. Our first stop was Versailles. Determined to beat the jet lag, we spent the first day deliriously wandering around the (rather charming) city.
5. We spent the entire next day at the French Open!
6. Unfortunately, we lost all of our souvenirs and Steve’s camera (pictured above) on the Paris metro.
7. That didn’t change the fact that we were staying at the amazing Trianon Palace (they double booked us the first night and put us up in another nice hotel and then upgraded us to an amaaaaazing room for our second night) and were already stuffed with delicious food (although I am not a big fan of escargot).
8. Our next stop was Rouen, which happens to be where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Rouen is incredibly charming as well, and we had the good fortune of meeting the owners of a vintage clothing store who recommended a restaurant for dinner. I’ll probably write a whole post about it… it was perfect.
9. The next morning we were up bright and early and drove to the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy. The American memorial at Omaha Beach is the most amazing memorial I have seen.
10. After Normandy, we drove down to Brittany to see Mont St. Michel.
Tonight we drove most of the way to Bordeaux, where we will spend the next few days. We stopped in a random city called Niantes and plan to eat an early lunch in Cognac tomorrow before heading south again.
That’s all for now!
Dinner Is Better Shared
May 23rd, 2011 | Rachel
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my alone time. In fact, if I don’t have regular interludes of solitude, I will either lose my mind or become very, very grumpy.
Still, cooking for and eating with another person is a heightened experience.
First of all, cooking for someone else is like giving them a present — only it is cheaper, and it doesn’t add to the ever-growing pile of crap that we all have in our homes. If you do it right, they’ll probably enjoy your home-cooked dinner more than that lotion set anyway.
Second, cooking for someone else just feels good. Perhaps it is a recessive southern gene I inherited from my grandmother, but ever since I discovered in law school that I can cook a decent meal and people like eating my food, I have felt a need to make people eat. I’m totally going to be like the mother in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
The other useful thing about making food is its bargaining power. People are more likely to do you favors — or to not mind doing them — if there is homemade food involved. Throw in a bottle of wine, and they might even spend a whole evening clearing out your closet.
My friend Carey was sweet enough to come over and help me pack up my apartment for the summer. Carey doesn’t always wear big straw hats, btw, although I think she should consider adding one to her own wardrobe. :-)
I cooked us a dinner of chicken with a white wine sauce, green beans, and, of course, French onion soup. With our dinner (and while we sorted, folded, and packed) we drank a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. A little heavy for our dinner, but it was all deeelicious.
Carey also patiently waited while I fretted about what to take with me this summer (the dress made the cut, while the Mui Muis did not).
I think this will be my last blog entry state-side. Next time you hear from me I’ll be over in my adopted motherland.
Au revior!
The Miraculous Versatility (And Simplicity) Of Pate a Choux
May 18th, 2011 | Rachel
You’ve probably experienced the beloved pastry puff in the form of a profiterole filled with cream and covered with chocolate. Or maybe it was filled with ice cream. Mmmm…..
The possibilities are endless, as demonstrated by this drool-worthy photo gallery.
Fortunately for all of us, they are so easy to make! Check out the recipe here and scroll down for photographic proof of how easy it actually is.
All you need are five simple ingredients… if you count water as an ingredient and lump sugar, salt and nutmeg together.
Melt butter, add spices, add water, add flour, add eggs, and you’re done!
Pate a Choux
A little word of warning… don’t put hot fillings in ziplock bags. It’ll burn your hands and then explode.
Being the perfectionist that I am (news to all of you, I’m sure), I prefer neat coils of pate a choux piped with a pastry bag. However, after my ziplock bag of pastry dough exploded, I learned these puffs will also come out just fine if you spoon out the dough.
And just like that you have hollow pastry puffs eagerly awaiting your choice of filling. You’ll want to cut a steam vent and stick them back in the oven so the inside cooks completely. If you make larger puffs, you’ll have to scoop out whatever is left inside before you return them to the oven. Otherwise, they will collapse.
I made a cheese filling because these puffs accompanied my onion quiche as appetizers at the potluck dinner.
Oh, and that caveat I wrote about hot fillings and ziplock bags? It applies to cheese sauce as well.
Take my word: be patient and let it cool first.
I only filled a third of my pastry puffs before my very last ziplock bag exploded. The rest I reheated in the oven and drizzled with honey-butter and ate for breakfast a week later. These things freeze exceptionally well, btw, so if you every have some free time, stock up on some pastry puffs so you can pull them out on short notice and impress your friends.
Potluck Dinner With The Ladies
May 17th, 2011 | Rachel
The next time you are invited to a weeknight potluck dinner with your friends and have appetizer duty, consider making an onion quiche. In fact, because you love your friends so much, why not make it shaped like a heart?
Dicing piles of onions is a little easier with a Coronita on hand.
The beauty of quiche is it requires a limited number of ingredients and doesn’t need the incessant hovering that so many other French dishes mandate. Here, I simply sauteed the onions.
I prepared the quiche dough in a food processor (as with my last attempt at Julia Child’s quiche crust I wasn’t totally pleased with the result — it is officially time to find a better recipe). For a mold, I used a heart-shaped springform pan.
Then I mixed in a simple mixture of egg, milk, and spices.
Once the crust was pre-baked, I removed the outside of the pan and poured in the filling and covered with a light layer of cheese.
Then it was just a matter of patiently waiting until the cheese and crust were lightly toasted.
Julia Child’s Onion Quiche
The harder part was figuring out how to get my fresh-baked creation to the Upper East Side in one piece.
Gotta love New York City public transit!
Nothing brings people together like food.
I love these ladies!
