Cheese fondue canicule
By Ann | September 6, 2011
Salut, mes amis! I’m excited today to share part two of our vacation photos: Annecy and the French Alps. Don’t those names conjure up cool air and fresh mountain breezes?
Alas, we arrived in the midst of a canicule — that is, a heat wave — which draped the town in a swathe of stickiness. But not even 90 degree weather could detract from the charms of Annecy, a jewel-like city surrounded by astonishing natural beauty: glorious mountains and a pure Alpine lake.
It was the kind of sensational, heart-stopping, thrilling landscape that transports you away from everyday worries and makes you forget that anything else exists. I couldn’t stop squealing and taking photographs.
Of course, the real reason for my trip was to research cheese and fondue. I’m saving tales of alpine cheese-making chalets and twisty mountain roads for my new book. But I did want to share this photo from the exceptional Fromagerie Gay in Annecy. The owner, Pierre Gay — a newly crowned Meilleur Ouvrier de France — showed me these wheels of mimolette cheese and told me about cirons, tiny cheese-eating mites, scarcely visible to the naked eye, which are used in the affinage process. They pierce and shape the crust, allowing the cheese to breathe and obtain its special flavor and aroma. I found the riddled cheese rinds (photo above) both fascinating and repulsive.
In the name of research, I tucked into a big pot of bubbling cheese fondue on an 85º-evening. Mmm! There’s nothing as cool and refreshing as hot, melted cheese!
Just kidding. But the fondue was still very delicious despite the weather. And we were able to cool our heels in Lac d’Annecy, perching on a rock, and dipping our toes into the clear, blue water. My butt got wet, but it was worth it.
We actually chilled out — literally — in our bright and modern and spotlessly clean chambre d’hote, the Clos du Lac, which featured gorgeous views of the Lac d’Annecy, stylish rooms and air conditioning. (You can take a girl out of the States, but…)
Le Clos du Lac is located in a town called Veyrier du Lac, ten minutes from Annecy by car (also accessible by ferry boat). Some people like being in the heart of the historic center, but I actually preferred being outside of town in a charming, hilly, lakeside village.
Especially given the lake view (!) from the balcony (!) of our room! On our last evening, Chris and I drank glasses of local wine, a crisp and refreshing white called Apremont, ate Beaufort cheese, and watched the sun set. It was a fitting end to a splendid vacation/research trip.
Fromagerie Gay
47 rue Carnot
74000 Annecy
tel: 04 50 45 07 29
Le Clos du Lac
50 route de la Corniche
Veyrier du Lac 74290
tel: 06 20 60 04 58
Topics: Mastering the Art of French Eating, Voyages | 13 Comments »
Food and passion (and a giveaway)
By Ann | September 1, 2011
Are you as fascinated as I am by the heat, drama and pressure of a professional kitchen? Today I’m delighted to welcome Meredith Mileti, author of the debut novel, Aftertaste. The book tells the story of Mira: wife, mother and passionate chef/owner of a chic New York City trattoria. When Mira’s fiery nature lands her in a tangle of legal and personal predicaments, she falls back on family and friends in Pittsburgh as she battles to save her restaurant. But will she be able to find the right ingredients to create a recipe for happiness? I chatted with Meredith about food and emotions, and the differences between cooking and writing.
As a lover of food and food writing, I enjoyed your book so much! What inspired you to write the story?
I’ve long been interested in how food, and by extension, cooking, represents emotion. What an intense and complicated relationship it is! Writing about a chef seemed an interesting way to explore this relationship further. The idea for the story came to me several years ago when I was writing my doctoral dissertation in Developmental Psychology. It was a heavy statistical analysis and I was totally consumed by it. I’d accepted an academic position that was dependent upon my finishing it, so I had a major, looming deadline. We had three young kids at home at the time and my husband, champ that he is, told me I could have the summer off from cooking—he would handle feeding the family so I could finish. I was grouchy and miserable and not just because I was subsisting on a diet of take-out food and hamburger helper. I was missing the only creative outlet I had at the time—cooking. Mira interrupted me one day and wouldn’t leave me alone, so I wrote the first chapter of her story. Then I stuck it in a drawer and it sat there for a couple of years while I was busy doing other things, but I never stopped thinking about her. Eventually, I picked it back up and Aftertaste is the result!
You really capture the intense pace and long hours of working as a professional chef in a restaurant. How did you research the book?
I am not a professionally trained chef—just an incredibly enthusiastic home cook and all-around good eater. By interviewing several professional chefs and reading several non-fiction books—including Heat by Bill Buford and Michael Rhulman’s wonderful series of books The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, etc.)— I gained some understanding about what kind of person is driven to become a chef, and what kinds of demands—physical, as well as emotional and intellectual–the work entails. And the demands are many.
I took a cooking class with my father in Florence. The teacher, Sharon Oddson, was very helpful in teaching me about what in particular in takes to be a successful woman chef. I also visited some restaurant kitchens and had the good fortune to have some friends who have business experience with restaurants read and comment on the book. And I cooked—even more than usual. In fact, I found that cooking helped get me in the mood to write. It became a very reflective and creative process. My husband jokes that he gained twenty pounds during the writing of this book!
Anger plays a large role in the life of your main character, Mira; passion, too. Do you think emotions can be expressed via food?
Absolutely! Most of us have a complicated and emotional relationship with food. We often act out our internal struggles with food. We celebrate with food; we often eat (or sometimes don’t eat) when we are angry or sad. We use food to soothe or punish ourselves. Similarly, the cook has the power to nurture, or placate, or punish. Cooking is also a way to for me share something of myself with others. I learned this from my dad, to whom I’ve dedicated Aftertaste. He’s a fairly reticent man, but his cooking speaks volumes about love.
I loved reading the descriptions of “cucina poverta,” or Italian peasant cuisine. Why did you choose this cuisine for Mira’s specialty?
It is a cuisine I thoroughly enjoy and am intimately familiar with, but it also seemed a fitting metaphor for telling Mira’s story. One of the hallmarks of cucina poverta is the notion that you make something delicious out of what you have. Take bread for example. Two of Italy’s greatest soups, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro make spectacular use of stale bread. Nothing is wasted in peasant cooking. That is really what Mira has to deal with—not just salvaging what has turned stale or is left over, but turning it into something wonderful.
How does cooking differ from writing?
For me, both cooking and writing are creative processes. Both are big jobs with lots of moving parts and in order to keep things flowing in the kitchen and on the page you have to be organized. That said, I think there can also be a lot of spontaneity in both writing and cooking. Give it a taste and see what it needs. Throw in something unexpected.
Honest, hearty and as deeply satisfying as Italian peasant fare, Aftertaste is about the important things in life: food, family, and love. Curious? Thanks to Meredith’s publisher, Kensington, I’m giving away two signed copies! To win a book, leave a comment by Thursday, September 8, 2011, answering these two questions…
1) Can you find shell beans like the ones pictured above? 2) Where do you live? (I’m trying to write a recipe and need your help!)
UPDATE: Anne and Marie are the winners! Thank you so much for your responses to the bean question — tremendously helpful!
Topics: Q&A | 28 Comments »
Provence and the Basses-Alpes
By Ann | August 29, 2011
Bonjour, mes amis! We got back from our vacation a few days ago and I’m still glowing from the Provence sun and scratching my mosquito bites. It was a bright and busy two weeks, filled with lovely friends, delicious food (including homemade melon ice cream — yum!), and a couple of road trips in our rented Smart car. I’m so excited to share these photos from the first part of our summer holiday in Provence and the Basses-Alpes.
In Provence, we stayed again in Bonnieux, an adorable village in the Luberon, and revisited all our favorite spots.
I sank my teeth in a fluffy mushroom omelette and herb-flecked frites at one of my favorite restaurants, Etape du Promeneur in Buoux.
One morning, I rose before the sun to help prepare soupe au pistou for 200 people. I’m saving the full report on my cooking adventures for my new book, but I will say that peeling and chopping over 50 kg of vegetables at the crack of dawn with a group of formidable Provençale women was an unforgettable, wonderful, and only marginally terrifying, experience.
We bought rosé at Château de Canorgue, and drank it chilled with olive tapenade.
Leaving the Luberon, we drove northeast to the Basses-Alpes, or the Alpes de Haute Provence.
It’s a mountainous region that’s ruggedly beautiful, sparsely populated and almost half wild.
I loved the herbs that grow here in rocky crevices, including thyme, sarriette (used by shepherds to perfume goat cheese), and, most precious of all, génépi, or mountain wormwood, which is used to make a liqueur similar to absinthe.
We left Provence and her Alps clutching crumbling bouquets of lavender, thyme, sarriette, génépi – and a recipe for the liqueur, which I’m delighted to share with you below.
It was a beautiful, sunny trip — sauvage in the best sense of the word. Thank you for letting me share my vacation photos with you, mes amis. What have you been up to this month? Summer holidays? Preparing for Irene? I’d love to hear — and I hope you’re all safe and warm as a buttermilk biscuit.
P.S. Coming soon: Part two of my vacation photos — Annecy, the French Alps, and cheese fondue in a heat wave!
P.P.S. My génépi is brewing!
Génépi
20 sprigs (approx) génépi
1 liter grain alcohol, 90º proof
Simple sugar syrup (made by heating 35-40 sugar cubes with 1 liter of water)
Soak the branches of génépi in the alcohol for at least 40 days. Filter the herbs from the alcohol and mix with the sugar syrup.
Topics: A year in a French market: Summer, Mastering the Art of French Eating, Recettes, Voyages | 8 Comments »
Summer holidays
By Ann | August 11, 2011
It has been my favorite kind of summer this year in Paris — cool and grey and drizzly with flashes of warmth and bright sun. Even though I love it (I know, I’m weird) I’m ready for a blast of dry heat, lazy afternoons by the pool, and the juice of a nectarine trickling down my chin.
For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be away in Provence and Haute-Savoie. I’m so excited to explore and do a bit of research for my new book (that’s code for eating). This blog will be on hiatus, but I’ll be back at the end of August to tell you all about my adventures and to hear all about yours. I can’t wait!
Happy vacation!
Topics: A year in a French market: Summer, Uncategorized, Voyages | 7 Comments »
Tiny houses
By Ann | August 8, 2011
Reading the New Yorker last week, I became fascinated by the idea of tiny houses. Have you heard of this phenomenon, mes amis? Only about 120 square feet, these small structures look like playhouses — but they’re actually full-functioning dwellings complete with running water, bathrooms and kitchens.
Tiny houses are built on trailer platforms, so they’re completely mobile. But because their small size usually violates building codes, it’s often illegal to live in one. This doesn’t seem to detract “clausterphiles,” as one tiny house aficionado described himself in the article. In recent years, perhaps because of the economic downtown, tiny houses have become extremely popular — spawning fascinating websites like the Tiny House Blog or the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. (The two photos above picture a Tumbleweed tiny house.)
As much as I love airy rooms and gigantic kitchens, I have to admit there’s something appealing about the idea of a tiny, cozy, portable house. What do you think, mes amis? Would you live in one?
The fascinating New Yorker article is available here for subscribers (with an abstract for non-subscribers, who could also check out the issue at the library.)
(Top photos from lisajerrilyn, bottom photo from the lulubird.)
Topics: Home, In the news | 10 Comments »
Eggs in a nest
By Ann | August 4, 2011
My dad is an excellent cook. He can make anything taste delicious. He’s also taught me some very important cooking lessons, such as: Just because you want to get rid of that last bit of cilantro before if turns brown and slimy, doesn’t mean you should throw all of it into your guacamole. Together, we’ve been known to throw a Chinese dinner party or two, as this here blog has documented.
On a trip to London last month, I learned how to make one of my Pops’s favorite fusion starters — tea eggs in a nest of julienned vegetables. I’m delighted to share it with you now, mes amis!
Start with a bevy of speckled quail’s eggs — aren’t they pretty? — about 30 of them. After you’ve hard-boil-cooked the eggs, crack the shells and then simmer them again, this time with a handful of loose black tea, a few star anise pods and a dash of dark soy sauce.
Here’s what the eggs look like once they’ve been cooked in tea. Allow them to sit in this liquid overnight, or, if stored in the fridge, for a few days. This step is important because it allows the dark cooking liquid to seep across the surface of the egg, creating a lovely marbled effect.
When you’re ready to serve the eggs, gently peel them. Toss a salad of finely julienned daikon radish and carrot with a sesame vinaigrette. Create a nest of vegetable salad on each plate and nestle the eggs — we served three to a person — on top before adding a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Pops has been making this entrée for years, but because he’s an inventive cook, it keeps evolving. I really love this latest incarnation, a plated first course, with the nest surrounded by cool cubes of tofu salad (which is another recipe for another day).
Quail tea eggs
Serves 10
30 tea eggs
3 tablespoons loose black tea
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
8-10 star anise pods, either whole or the equivalent in bits
2 cups water
Place quail eggs gently in pot with two cups water or enough to cover eggs. Bring to boil, lower heat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until eggs are good and hard. Rinse under cold water to cool. Crack each egg by tapping all around with a teaspoon or rapping on its sides as you turn it. Return the eggs to the pot.
Add 2 cups water again. Then, add rest of ingredients — tea, soy, anise — and bring to boil. Lower heat, and simmer for a good hour or more with lid on. Turn off heat and let stand overnight or transfer everything (eggs, liquid, tea, anise, etc.) to a small container and refrigerate. May keep this way for at least three or four days in fridge.
The day of using the eggs, carefully peel off the egg shell. You will find a beautiful marbling effect on the surface of the eggs where it contacts the shell.
The actual work time, not including cooking time is very quick … about ten minutes. The unknown work time is in the peeling of the eggs.
Julienned vegetable nests
1 daikon, peeled
1/4-1/2 carrot, peeled
2-3 green onions
Sesame vinaigrette
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons high quality sesame oil
Salt (if needed)
Finely julienne the daikon for the base, add a bit of julienned carrot for color, and some finely sliced green onions. Toss the vegetables with a few tablespoons of vinaigrette, adding more if needed.
Topics: Recettes, Sur ma table | 6 Comments »
Truth and fiction (and a giveaway)
By Ann | August 1, 2011
Bonjour, mes amis! I’m so delighted to welcome novelist Sheila Kohler whose books include Becoming Jane Eyre, Cracks, and, most recently, Love Child. A professor of writing at Bennington College and Princeton University, Sheila is a needle-sharp observer, the type of writer whose work creeps under your skin long after you’ve put the book down, a novelist who receives five-star Amazon reviews from Amy Tan (“Stunning! A master of suspense”). I was thrilled to talk to Sheila about the connection between human psychology and great writing, and finding answers through fiction.
What inspired your newest novel, Love Child?
Love Child is a very autobiographical novel in the sense that it is based on my mother’s life. When she died, a wealthy woman, she did not leave her fortune to her only remaining daughter — me! When I told people about this they seemed so surprised and shocked that I thought it would be good material for fiction. Of course, I wanted to find out why, too. I think fiction often comes from a question that one tries to answer on the page. And I think I did. By the time I had finished writing the book I felt I understood my mother much better and had much more sympathy for her — though of course much is imagined. My mother was a very mysterious woman.
You have a Masters degree in psychology. How have your studies helped or hindered you as you develop characters and stories?
Oh, I think any knowledge we can acquire about the human mind helps us with fiction. People read, after all, partly at least, to find out about themselves, to find themselves on the page. The great writers are always amazingly perceptive about human nature, it seems to me. My studies have been very helpful and perhaps particularly when describing pathological states of mind as I did in Crossways for example.
You’ve said that your writing took a new turn 25 years ago when your sister died under violent circumstances in apartheid South Africa. How did these events affect your work?
Again, I often write to try to understand something, to find the answer to a question. In the case of my sister, who was, I believe, murdered, I tried again and again in several books to understand how this could have happened to her, someone who seemed so loving, generous, and innocent.
You were born in South Africa, which is also the setting for Love Child. How does your birth country inspire you? What are some of your favorite books about South Africa?
South Africa is such a beautiful country but at the same time a strange one. There was such a contrast between the beauty of the land and the underlying violence of the divided society during the apartheid period. I think this is something that inspired my work: both to try and reproduce in words the brilliance of the light and the beauty of the flora and fauna and also to understand the undercurrants of violence in this society. I’m a great admirer of J.M. Coetzee’s work and particularly of his great book, Disgrace.
J.M. Coetzee has said of Sheila’s work “There is a territory — fictional and psychological — that Sheila Kohler has marked as her own. I am full of admiration.” Are you curious to dip into one of her rich and darkly complex novels? Thanks to Sheila’s publisher, Penguin, I’m thrilled to be giving away a copy of Love Child. To enter, leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen at random Friday, August 5, 2011.
Update: The winner is Nicola! Thanks for playing, tout le monde!
(Bottom images from United Nations Photo and Pinzur.)
Topics: Q&A | 16 Comments »
Guernsey
By Ann | July 28, 2011
I missed a blog post last week, which doesn’t make me happy, but I do have an excuse. See, I was traveling, away on a wild island in the midst of the English Channel. Located about 30 miles off the coast of France, Guernsey is a mix of craggy coastline, green pastures and the quaint cobblestone streets of a Cornish fishing village. I loved every salty, sea-breezy minute.
Traveling to Guernsey from Paris takes several hours and involves a multitude of public transport. First you take a train to St-Malo (three hours), then a taxi to the Gare Maritime, then a two-hour ferry ride through choppy Channel waters to Saint Peter Port, Guernsey’s capital.
But when you arrive, you’re rewarded by the sight of an adorable harbor bobbing with sailboats and the roofs of St Peter Port rising above.
I loved strolling the cobblestone streets of St Peter Port, a town filled with secret staircases and curved Victorian lamp posts and tiny winding streets leading to the sea.
One damp afternoon, I took a walk along the cliff top, hiking through wooded paths with the sound of waves filling my ears. When I turned a corner, glorious Fermain Bay appeared below, shrouded in mist.
Guernsey is famous for its cows, cream, tomatoes, and off-shore banking. But maybe you’ve heard of it because of The Book (as it’s known here), the bestselling novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is takes place on the island just after WWII. Can’t you imagine the heroine, Juliet Ashton, bicycling down this country lane?
Or the group meeting in this old-fashioned farmhouse to discuss The Canterbury Tales?
On my final morning, buttery sunshine flooded the island, making it hard to say goodbye. I’d love to come back to this wild, isolated place.
Topics: Voyages | 13 Comments »
Weddings
By Ann | July 26, 2011
I’ve been thinking about weddings recently, and not just because of all the recent celebrations in New York, which I’ve loved reading about in the paper. You see, eight years ago today, on a sunny, summer afternoon in Southern California, my husband and I joined together in civil matrimony. Yep, we got ourselves hitched.
It was a beautiful day of laughter, sunshine, California sparkling wine, and family and friends who gathered from the world’s four corners to wish us well. Their love transformed the hotel where we got married from a wedding-industrial complex into someplace magical.
One my favorite parts about our wedding were the flowing bottles of Mumm Cuvée Napa Valley, which comes from one of the loveliest wineries I’ve ever visited. But if I could do it all over again, I think I’d also propose a special cocktail to mark the occasion. And I have just the one in mind.
It starts with chili vodka, or chili-infused vodka (recipe below), which packs a deep and gentle burn. Mix it with ice, lemonade and club soda, and you have a tart and refreshing drink, with a persistent, pleasant under note of heat. Kind of like marriage itself? Hm, let’s not read too much into this recipe.
These cocktails, which my husband has named the Calcutter, would be lovely on a summer evening, accompanied by a flip through your wedding photo album.
Chili Vodka
1 700ml bottle of vodka (I used Absolut)
4-5 chilies (depending on their strength)
Slice the peppers lengthwise and pop them in the vodka bottle. Allow to infuse at room temperature for two days, gently agitating the bottle every evening (if you remember). After two days, taste the vodka — it should have a deep, gentle burn. If it’s not adequately spicy, allow to infuse for a few another day or so. If it is hot enough, remove the chilies. The heat index will depend on the strength of your peppers. I used 4-5 green finger chilies, but if using habaneros or jalapeños, proceed with caution.
Calcutter cocktail
2/10 chili-infused vodka
3/10 lemonade
club soda
lemon slices
ice
Pour the vodka and lemonade in a tumbler filled with 3 large lumps of ice. Add club soda to almost the brim and garnish with a slice of lemon.
Topics: Recettes, Uncategorized | 19 Comments »
Canine companionship
By Ann | July 18, 2011
Bonjour, mes amis! I’m so excited to welcome author Allie Larkin to chat about her debut novel, Stay. The book is about Van, a lovelorn young woman who, while drowning her sorrows with a few cocktails, accidentally buys a German shepherd puppy off the internet. Mayhem ensues, but in the end, could a dog named Joe possibly be the cure for a broken heart? I sat down with Allie to chat about unconditional dog love, real-life canine inspiration, and her favorite books about dogs.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
Stay started as a writing exercise in my senior creative writing class in college. I sent the story out and got some good feedback, but no bites. A few years later, I went back to it, just intending to polish it up and send it out again. Something wasn’t working, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I decided to write a scene as something of an outtake, in the hopes that it would influence my story if I knew more about my characters. And that’s where Stay starts. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t writing a short story anymore.
How did you create the character of Joe, the book’s 100-pound German shepherd puppy? Is he based on a real dog in your life?
Joe is the only character I’ve ever written that is based on a real being. Our dog, Argo, was the inspiration for Joe (and the cover model for the hardcover). Argo is from the Catskills, not Slovakia, and he wasn’t the result of a drunken buying spree. But he did change my life. Argo has taught me so much about unconditional love and friendship. I laugh every day, and I’m a better person because I get to share my life with him. I wanted that for Van, but I knew she’d never go about getting a dog the right way. She needed one to just kind of appear in her life.
Joe has the same open-heartedness that Argo does, and many of Argo’s mannerisms, but Argo transitioned into living with us very easily. When we adopted Stella, I found the perfect muse to help me create some of Joe’s more difficult moments. She has since settled down and stopped chewing everything in sight, but we had some inspiring incidents before she relaxed. Stella, by the way, is the subject of an essay that will be published this fall in the anthology, I’m Not the Biggest Bitch In This Relationship.
How does Van, your main character, benefit from her canine relationship?
Van was so stuck in her life. She had put herself in a place where she was very alone and wasn’t doing anything to change that. When she orders Joe, he gives her a family. She’s not alone anymore. There’s something amazing about the unconditional love we get from dogs. Joe makes it easier for Van to put herself out there, because no matter what happens, she’ll go home to a dog who loves her and is happy to see her. And, of course, there are those trips to the vet…
What are your favorite books about dogs?
I love Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook and Alison Pace’s books. When I was younger, I loved Call of the Wild and Julie of the Wolves. I had a fascination with the very real relationships people have with animals. Actually, I still do.
Lovely, funny, heartfelt, Stay is a novel about real relationships — male/female, human/canine. Curious? I’m delighted to give away a copy thanks to Allie’s publisher, Dutton! To win, leave a comment below with your favorite pet name (real or imaginary). The winner will be chosen at random next Friday, July 22.
Update: The winner is Lindsey! Thanks for playing, everyone!
(Top photos from Allie Larkin, bottom photo from Alice Jamieson.)
Topics: Q&A, Uncategorized | 12 Comments »