Beautiful Lunch

On Saturday John and I headed to Antibes for their market. We both love Antibes and tend to escape there on the weekends. This time we picked up a wonderful baguette, fresh Camembert cheese, a goat cheese, basil, sundried tomato and garlic spread, and some peach preserves. Then, came home and had a wonderful lunch of all our finds. YUM!

Happy Epiphany... a little late..

I made something yummy this weekend. ( I think all blogs should start with "I made something yummy". Wouldn't that be wonderful?) Like I said before, John and I are trying our hand at as many french dishes as possible while we are here. We are also trying our hand at as many stinky cheeses and wine as we can while we are here as well.. but that is for another day.

The recipe I tried this weekend is a very classic french dessert made in January of every year called a galette des rois. It is very time consuming, very rich, and very worth every bite. I will try to give a little bit of background. The translated name is a king cake. I am sure most of you have heard of this around carnival time in New Orleans. Here, it is used to celebrate Epiphany- when the wise men (or three kings) came to see Jesus. A favor is baked into the cake and whomever eats the piece with the favor is the King or Queen of the day. (They also have to buy a cake for the next day. Whomever receives the favor that day is the King of the day and must buy the next cake. And so it continues for the rest of the month. The French know how to celebrate) To make sure that all is fair, the youngest in the family will hide under a table while it is being sliced and decide who gets each piece. It is all very exciting I'm sure- John and I just ate cake.

Here is a photo spread of the whole process- it took about 2 days.

This is what the filling looks like right after you make it! Full of butter, ground almonds, vanilla, sugar- yum! It is refrigerated for several hours before you move on to the next step... which is....


Filling up the puff pastry! Then of course you have to add the top layer of pastry, make it pretty, add an egg wash and it turns out looking a little like this:


It was recommended with the recipe I used to freeze the whole thing overnight because it makes the puff pastry "puff" more. So, the next afternoon I took it out of the freezer and baked it. This is the finished product.



Tadaa! Beautiful huh? I had to try a piece. And I kind of forgot to take a picture before. oh well!

This is a great example of french food and the celebrations that go with it. Very, Very fun. Hope you all enjoyed looking at the pics.. now.. I think I will go have a piece!

Recipe taken from here. I did make a few small changes to the filling- if you actually want to try your hand at it, just ask!

I had a dream

I always have some interesting dreams. One day last week I had a dream that we adopted two more dogs while we were in France. But my dream last night might just be one of the most comical, interesting dreams that I have ever had.
I dreamed that we were staying in a hotel and the concierge told me about a place that sold doughnuts. This, for whatever reason, sounded like the BEST breakfast ever so I went to the doughnut shop. They proceeded to give me the tastiest, still warm, gooiest doughnut I have ever had. I am pretty sure I can still taste it this morning. Too bad it wasn't real. It was so incredible that I had to find John so he could try this doughnut. He, of course, thought that it was the best he had ever had as well. We had explained to the owner of the store that we were living in France and didn't have such wonderful-ness there. John and I had oohed and ahhed over the doughnut so much that they wouldn't even let us pay.
I am beginning to think that I might be having cravings for American food. If I have a dream about bagels, P.F. Chang's, Chik-fil-a, or white chocolate mochas.. we may have a problem..

Happy Weekend everyone! I am baking something fantastic (hopefully) this weekend! Look for pics on Monday!

Change direction?

I feel as though lately my blog is less about traveling and more about food. Maybe that is because we haven't traveled much lately... or maybe it is because I love to cook. More than likely it is a little bit of both. I do really love to cook, find new recipes, and experiment with new ingredients. This is one of the reasons that I really enjoy France. It is a challenge. There are no shortcuts here- no boxed dinners, no cans of condensed soup, no cake mixes, no muffin mixes. Everything is from scratch. It is definitely a learning process and a lesson in patience. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not patient at all. I hate to wait and I am not a fan of delayed gratification. (Which is probably why my cookie dough is always short a few cookies before they even make it to the oven.)

One of the foods that I really miss from the states is muffins. There is something about a warm, straight from the oven muffin that just wakes me up and makes me wish for a good cappuccino. Mom has been kind enough to ship over a few muffin mixes and we always use them within 2 weeks of arrival. Because of this, I am always on the lookout for muffin recipes. I have tried several... most do not turn out. My blueberry muffins don't have enough sugar.. or they turn out purple (Really, they looked like something from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).. or they just aren't "right". But finally, I have found a good banana nut muffin! Perfect and brown on top, light and banana-y on the inside. Oh so tasty for breakfast! (Or any other time for that matter.)

The blog/website that I have pulled this from has become a recent favorite. They have a great variety of recipes and anything I have tried has tasted fantastic. Highly recommend it!

Banana Nut Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour ( I used 3/4 cup each plain flour and whole wheat flour)
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw) (I subbed pecans)

Method

No need for a mixer with this recipe.
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.
Makes 12 muffins.

Click here to visit Simply Recipes
and here for a link to the original recipe

Weekend is over.. again..

Does anyone else feel like the weekends are never long enough? I am sure everyone does. They seem like they are going by so slowly but never slowly enough. Ah well, so is life. John is back at work today and I am.. enjoying the sunshine. Once we got through those 3 weeks of rain the "winter" has been very mild. Our average daytime temperature is around 55. Amazing. Especially after last winter in Lexington. Ice storms, snow every week, cold cold cold temps. Pretty sure we will both freeze to death in the US unless we are living in Florida.

This weekend we took a trip to Cannes. You know.. where they have the film festival. We had never been and really just needed something to do. Really pretty city. Real expensive too. I have never seen so many high end designer stores. Everything from Prada to Gucci to Pucci.. crazy! There is a huge convention center where hold the film festival and outside are hand prints of quite a few actors and actresses. And.. guess what... I put my hand in Julie Andrews' hand print. Yeh, that's right. Mary Poppins. Oh- and my hand is the same size as Jean Claude Van Damme. He is evidently a peanut of a man that packs a mean punch. Who knew? Well, walking was all that we did in Cannes because everything was wayyy out of our price range. Hope you all had a really great weekend!

Here is a pic of the cork tree that I talked about in the last blog. So unusual. The bark feels really light to the touch and almost spongey. Much like a cork feels in your hand.


John and Chewie. Along the seaside in Cannes they had quite a few of these cut out characters. Everything from Shrek to Harry Potter to Brad Pitt. Sadie actually growled at Chewie.. evidently she feels she should be the only furry beast in John's life.


Just a spoon full of sugar..... Ah, love her! And, she has itty bitty hands. Or, I have really large ones.. Still made my week though!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I hate Mondays. Ok, hate is a strong word. I do get to volunteer at the Library on Mondays but that's all it has going for it. It means that John has to go back to work, that our weekend of exploring is over, and today it means rain. Boo. Boo on Mondays.

That being said, I'll tell you about the weekend! Saturday was spent at the vet's. Sadie was due for a check up and booster shots. Not so fun for her, but John and I got to look at a very very cute French bulldog puppy so it was fun for us! I think, if they were swimmers, we would have one. Oh, and if they didn't cost a million dollars.That's the real deciding factor.

To make up for her torturous Saturday, Sunday we went to a parc. Let me just say, I was not expecting much. French parcs are usually small and don't allow dogs. (Really? Makes no sense to me. Although, considering the fact that most dogs here are mean.. maybe it does make sense.) This parc was evidently an exception- or we just need to find more like this. It was HUGE- complete with a large walking path that went through a wooded area, fields, beside a marsh, over a couple of creeks, and had a few real roman ruins. (These are quickly becoming old news. Roman ruins are everywhere.) Sadie loved it and sniffed to her little heart's content. John and I loved it because it was a HUGE, OPEN space that is about 15 minutes from home. Open space is a very very valuable commodity here and you really learn to appreciate it. Oh, and did I mention that it was covered in cork trees? I don't have a picture, but when we go back, I will take some. Amazing looking trees.

I hope you all had just as awesome a weekend! And, here is a recipe that I tried out Saturday. Incredible.

Baked Shrimp in Tomato Feta Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 to 1 1/4 pounds medium sized raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can leave tails on), thaw if frozen
• Pinch of salt, more to taste
• Pinch black pepper, more to taste
• 3 ounces feta cheese (about 2/3 cup, crumbled)

Method

1 Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat oil in a large, oven-proof skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.

2 Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, reduce heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the juices thicken a bit.

3 Remove from heat. Stir in the herbs, shrimp, feta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Place pan in oven and bake, uncovered, until shrimp are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serve with crusty French or Italian loaf bread, pasta, or rice.

Recipe taken from here

6th post of the Month! Yeh Me!!

I am really a horrible blogger.. and it's not because I don't enjoy it, I do. Really. I just have such a hard time making myself sit down and write. This month, I am on a ROLL! 6 posts! I think that might be the most completed blogs in a 4 week span for me.
I have reached the end of my french recipe collection. If anyone has any suggestions, I am more than willing to try them out. The next project could possibly be creme brulee or a fondant cake. (Fondant as in the chocolate volcano cake, not the nasty cake icing.) As I have a major sweet tooth, I was trying to avoid the dessert recipes for as long as possible. Alas, they are calling my name. Yum!
There has been very little happening this week.. other than the wonderful weather. Oh, and the fact they are STILL working on our elevator. Buns of steel.. that's what you will all be calling me in March when we come home after walking up and down 5 flights of stairs everyday 4 or 5 times. I have to work off the creme brulee somehow, right?

I wish everyone a very happy weekend! May it be warm, sunny, and spent doing something fun!
5 weeks until we are in the land of Target, Mexican food, and people we love! Yeh!