A year in a French market: Spring
« Previous EntriesStrawberry rhubarb compote
Friday, May 18th, 2012Lately, I’ve been loathe to leave the apartment without two things: my rain gear, and my tape measure. I need the rain gear because Mother Nature continues to pay homage to Glasgow this spring with day after day of wet weather. Sometimes she spices things up with a little hail shower. The tape measure is [...]
Artichokes and observations
Friday, May 11th, 2012We had a holiday last week, one of four that make May in France a very, er, leisurely month. It was a sunny day, and I took advantage of the rare burst of fine weather by browsing the used books at Shakespeare & Company and meeting a friend for afternoon scoops of ice cream. On my way [...]
Strawberries and cream
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012The past few weeks have been a peculiar period, equal parts self-indulgent and diligent. Never have I spent so many hours on end inside my apartment, not even when I had the great gastro of 2009 and could only eat liquids for three weeks. My husband took over the cooking and grocery shopping — turns out [...]
Signs of spring
Thursday, April 19th, 2012The temperatures in Paris ain’t balmy, but it’s spring! Spring! And I’ve seen the vegetables in the market to prove it. There are lovely violet artichokes whose tender little hearts I dream of eating raw with a bright burst of lemon juice. There are fat, juicy, grassy stalks of white asparagus, which I peeled, steamed, [...]
Alphonso mangoes
Monday, May 30th, 2011I have a guilty pleasure, mes amis. I try to buy seasonally and locally, but there is one fruit that tempts me every spring with its sweet, siren call: the alphonso mango. Why the Alphonso? It has everything you’d ever want in a mango: juiciness, sweetness, intense flavor, butter-soft flesh, and a color reminiscent of the [...]
Recent obsessions
Thursday, May 12th, 2011I’m not sure why the heavy, spiky globe artichoke spoke to me in the market a few weeks ago, but it did and I brought it home. I meant to cook and eat it during the Royal Wedding, but who was I kidding? I could scarcely tear myself away from the TV to go to the [...]
Asparagi
Friday, May 6th, 2011We’ve been eating a lot of the fast-growing stalk recently. My preferred method is 1) peel, 2) poach, 3) toss with lemon juice, 4) drizzle with olive oil, 5) sprinkle with parmesan, 6) eat. Mark Bittman had this asparagus flow chart in the NY Times last week with lots of other bright ideas. What’s your favorite way [...]
A delicious week
Friday, April 22nd, 2011What a week, mes amis! In between our trip to Nice and sundry writing projects, I hunted for my byline in the newspaper and managed to sneak in a few delicious bites. Here they are in no particular order: 1. Asparagus — I’m not sure it’s really spring until I eat my first stalks. Luckily, the spears are currently shooting up like [...]
Easter sweets
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011I said recently that I don’t have a sweet tooth. And that’s (more or less) true. In my house, a box of chocolates can go untouched for months, but leave me alone with a block of cheddar and we’ve got Trouble with a capital T, that rhymes with C, and that stands for cheese. There is, [...]
Spring fever
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom Holiday tables under the trees April in Paris, this is a feeling No one can ever reprise… Spring has sprung, mes amis, and I don’t think I’m the only one who was burning up with a fever this past weekend. A spring fever, that is. I took a long [...]
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