Four Tiny French Cookbooks

Aren't these little cookbooks from Marabout just adorable? And they are indeed little--the pages measure about 3" x 3". There are many more in the series, and I've decided to try to pick one up each time we visit the French hypermarché Carrefour.

Each book is centered around the use of one whole food, such as bell peppers, or a branded convenience item popular with French and Belgians. As you can imagine, a number of cheeses are well-represented (note the topic of three out of the four books I've bought thus far). I like that each recipe has an accompanying photo, and the styling is lovely. 

Though I don't bake a lot of sweets these days, I'd like to have the book about Nutella (which comes in a set with silicone molds), as I tend to end up with a lot of half-eaten jars of Nutella due to The Boy's insistence that it gets "old" after being open for just a few days.

In case you're wondering, I've looked through all four of these books and been inspired, but I haven't actually made any of the recipes yet. For one thing, my once-quite-good French is a bit rusty now, so I know I'll have to translate certain things. All of the recipes are uncomplicated, though.

By the way, Marabout has some fun Pinterest boards. And if you're a cheese-freak, you might like to visit my Fondue and Raclette board as well. Bon appétit!

Two Women Cooking, in France

It's possible that I am ever-so-slightly just a tiny bit obsessed with Paris-based chef Rachel Khoo. This is a trailer for her second cookbook, My Little French Kitchen. Ever since I spotted her first cookbook, The Little Paris Kitchen, in a shop window in Ireland last year, I knew I'd have to buy it and also find out more about this chef, who is clearly vintage-quirky adorable and also really good at making the preparation of French food seem quite accessible, even in the tiniest of kitchens.

Elle a Table, March 2013

 I somehow missed her BBC series named after that first book (sheesh, the names of the two books are awfully similar!), but I was able to catch a couple of episodes during a flight last summer. For twelve video clips from this series, visit YouTube.

Then there's Mimi Thorisson, who writes the blog Manger.

Glow Magazine/ Greece December 2012

She's all glamorous and Gypset, but she lives in the French countryside with a bunch of kids and animals (oh, and her photographer husband). She cooks and eats great food and throws fantastic parties.

Just look at her, making that tarte tatin in those heels! These two women live very different lives, but I'm thinking they both rock the Fairytale lifestyle. I know, I'm sounding all girl-crushy--but these women are just cool! Don't you think so?

**Update: you can now preorder Mimi Thorisson's cookbook A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse!

5 Senses Tour, #1

watching: this episode of Wallander (from the subtitled Swedish version, not the Kenneth Branagh series, which I haven't seen yet). Perfectly atmospheric on a foggy, chilly day.

tasting: the hint of balsamic vinegar, which makes such a difference in this wonderful lentil soup.

listening to: Stan Getz and Bill Evans, on Verve in the '60s. Ideal in the evenings.

touching: the silky hair of my adorable canine companion, who loves sitting in my lap when I turn on (and sit under) our Japanese heater table (kotatsu).

smelling: rosemary I dried for a week or so and then stripped off the branches and placed in a small jar. Such an energizing aroma!

Yes, I've finally remembered to participate in Monica's 5 Senses Tour this week!

Eatrip

Some beautiful musings on good food:



I'd love to see the entire movie sometime.

Travel and Food Memory

I was browsing over at anthropologie yesterday when I happened upon the book Bought, Borrowed, and Stolen: Recipes and Knives from a Travelling Chef.



I was immediately intrigued, so I went and found this video (enjoy it--it's short and sweet). I love how British chef Allegra McEvedy pores over her well-used travel journals and comes up with her own recipes based on wonderful things she's eaten on her travels.

I was reminded of how great a role meals have played in my family's travels (as if I could ever forget--we practically plan vacations around food).

There was dessert after my 2008 birthday meal in Hong Kong.

There were many instances of amazing ramen and gyoza in Japan.

There was this canal-side omelet in Amsterdam,

roasted chicken in Bruges,

and fanciness-aplenty in Provence.

That's only scratching the surface, of course. I hope you all have some wonderful travel-related food memories, as well. Oh, and I'll be buying Allegra's book and sharing in her "borrowings." Maybe I'll try some re-creations of my own--just not the fried crickets and ants we had in Hanoi...

Soup Like Baxters

I've never eaten Baxters Soups before, but their latest TV advert really speaks to me. Last-minute company coming for dinner at your isolated stone cottage in the beautiful, windblown countryside? Just drag out an old wooden table and chairs and an armload of candles, get a small bonfire going, and head outside with wool-sweater-clad family and friends and, of course, your adorable dog, to dine upon warming soups and crusty bread amidst laughter and reminiscences. Sunset over the lake makes it just that much better.

Nettles Aplenty

One of the most ab-fab things about our village is that we have these wonderful paths for walking and biking (well, they're pretty nice for farmers and all of their equipment, too). This one runs behind our house.

Remember how I was talking about borage recently? Another wild plant growing in insane abundance around here is stinging nettles, and I found a perfect patch flourishing alongside this path.

As you can see, I had thought to bring my colander, scissors, and the all-important gloves. I'm new to using nettles, but I've been doing some research, and with the new fall crop so handy, I thought it was a great time to do some harvesting.

I'd been out solo that day, but a couple of days later, The Husband and I headed by bike into the forest that begins just down our street.

Of course, we spotted loads of nettles, and I (necessary supplies in tow again) had to stop for more. This patch wasn't as fresh-looking--I can afford to be picky--but I still snagged enough for two nice cups of tea that evening. The Husband is usually willing to try my foraged concoctions as long as he feels certain I'm not trying to poison him; The Boy, who needed the tea due to a cough, is a tougher sell. After repeated urging, though, I think he drank most of his. He hadn't keeled over from the potato and nettle soup I'd served the night before...

For a fantastic array of info on using nettles, go here.

Borage Aplenty

Before moving to Germany, I knew next to nothing about the herb borage. Even after moving into our house and finding a bunch of furry, blue-flowered plants out back, The Husband and I didn't know what they were (nor, oddly, did our garden-happy neighbor, who is older and has lived in this area all her life--turns out she's more of a Flower Person). After asking another German friend, we learned that our plants were, in fact, the edible herb borage. I really wasn't sure how to use them, especially since the leaves and stems are fairly spiky, so I didn't bother with them for a long time. 

Though we got rid of most of what we had while putting in two raised beds, a couple of the plants came back heartily this summer (apparently they pretty much grow like weeds in our area and are sometimes used in a well-known Frankfurter "green sauce" eaten with potatoes at certain times). I decided it was time to learn more about this free food growing next to our strawberries and tomatoes. According to some of my research, borage is a good anti-anxiety/stress, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diarrheal herb that can also help with hormone regulation, fevers, skin ailments, and coughs. Flavor is cucumber-like, and in fact, borage is often paired with cucumbers in recipes.

We've started using the leaves to make tea--a good way to avoid/diminish the spikiness of the leaves. To infuse, pour a cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup bruised fresh leaves. Steep five minutes. The flowers can also be used in teas or in drinks or atop salads or desserts. Since our own plants aren't supplying us with as many leaves as we've been wanting lately, we did a bit of--um, foraging during our bike ride the other day. Don't worry, our neighbor has plenty to spare!

Here's a good link about using borage, and here's another one, with recipes. 

Autumn Haus

I peeled and sliced over fifty apples yesterday. Yeah, that's what I said. Mmmmm, applesauce...

Apples Threaten Takeover

I've been picking up quite a few of these guys on a daily basis for the past few weeks. At first, I'd retrieve six or seven keepers and maybe twenty for the compost, but now that many apples are ripe, I'm getting perhaps thirty of each. We have no idea of the variety of apple, but the tree is a nice old one, in our large side yard. Our neighbor told us that these apples are "not for keeping very long." Some of his, apparently, are. I saw him out on a ladder doing some harvesting of his own this morning. Let me tell you, there are many kinds of apples growing in these here parts. It's great!

The ones from these trees, behind our house but unfortunately not on our property, are used mostly for schnaps, we've been told. Any opportunity to turn something semi-edible into alcohol is much-appreciated and admired in small-town Germany. Hey, we live in the hometown of the famous, national-football-team-sponsoring Bitburger Beer, after all. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with our imperfect but organic apples, which seem to be somewhat sweet. So far, I've made pie, crumbles, something like a cobbler, and lots of apple bread, from a wonderful recipe in the lovely Apples for Jam. But now I'm getting so many (I just picked up 35 more), I'm really going to have to do some canning, and soon. I'm more than slightly a canning novice, so it should be interesting; wish me luck.

Every time I head outside to pick up apples in the yard, this guy follows me out the door--but he's not so interested in the apples. He's always, always ready to play: he fancies himself something of a star soccer player because he knows how to punch the ball. He's a bit obsessed with any kind of ball he sees, really. Mind you, a soccer ball, even the small one pictured here, is much too large for Yoshi to hold in his mouth, so he mostly barks it into submission. All the neighbors love us, I'm sure.

Fairytale Kitchen Fun

If you ever get a chance to visit a Pylones shop, you're sure to go into candy-coated color-shock right as you enter the door.  I went a bit nuts in the Spring Street shop in NYC a couple of years ago; I really was a bit manic.  I emerged in a daze after an hour or so, with a bagful of things I simply had to have--I tell you, they were calling to me!  Especially one of these little guys:

and one of these:

Here are a few things that didn't end up in my bag :

Call me crazy, but I think it must be significantly harder to have a truly bad day if one is surrounded by such items.  Honestly, how can you keep from smiling?