Archive for September, 2010
Restaurants I have loved (or liked)
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010Salut, mes amis! Despite a recent spate of homecooking and baking (muffins, tart, and cake in the past three weeks — are hens sprouting teeth?!), I have been fulfilling my responbilities as your faithful Paris blogger. Here’s a little roundup of restaurant discoveries to prove it. Where: Spring (6 rue Bailleul, 1er) With: Adventurous gastronomes: Anna, Serge [...]
Cooking with Dad
Friday, September 24th, 2010When Mom and Dad come to town, what do you do? If you’re in the Mah family, you cook a huge Chinese dinner. Twelve people. Fourteen dishes. One day of shopping and cooking. It was a marathon, let me tell you. My father is a Chinese food guru, so I was delighted to pick up a [...]
Before and after
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010Mirabelle is the cutest name ever for a fruit, and when the tiny plums started appearing on menus and in the market, I wanted to experiment with them, too. And thus, this rustic mirabelle tart was born. It has a crunchy whole wheat olive oil crust and walnut filling, and a wholesome sweetness (though it could have [...]
Love and comfort food in Odessa (and giveaway)
Friday, September 17th, 2010Odessa has been on my mind recently, and not just because I miss the perogies at the New York City diner of the same name. First, my parents went on a 14-day Black Sea cruise, only to come home raving about the port city so avidly, I was convinced they’d discovered an ancient Ukrainian branch [...]
Birthday baking
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010I don’t bake very often, but homemade treats do make birthdays sweeter, n’est-ce pas? I just spent the morning making a batch of donut muffins for my husband to share with his colleagues for his birthday. What’s a donut muffin? Think of a buttery muffin dipped in melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Yes, butter + [...]
Michel Bras, marvelous
Friday, September 10th, 2010In the rough and ready region of Aveyron, a remote area of south-central France, stands a modern glass house with clean lines and a sweeping view of the bucolic landscape. It’s Michel Bras, the eponymous three-star Michelin restaurant, owned by the man that Food & Wine dubbed “arguably France’s most revered chef.” On a recent late summer [...]
Cat nap
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010Visiting friends in Aveyron this weekend, I snapped this sleeping kitty, who evidently felt a lot like I did after eating nine courses at the three Michelin-starred Michel Bras. (Detailed post coming soon!) Add to this bites of the region’s saucisson sec, fromage de Laguiole, Roquefort, and aligot (cheesy potatoes)…. Hello, food coma! If you’re in Paris and are [...]
Fire in the oven!
Friday, September 3rd, 2010That is, the PIZZA oven. But let me explain. For five years, we’ve rented the same house in Provence, a house with a remarkable garden, a beautiful swimming pool — and a pizza oven. For four years, we’ve attempted to make our own pizzas in the wood-burning oven, only to face uncooked dough, ash-covered cheese, [...]