French Holidays and Weird Season
Aperitif / Appetizers
Eggplant Caviar
Go to Recipe Go to Video Unhealthy? In Italian, the eggplant is called “melanzana,” which was incorrectly translated in France on its arrival from the Middle East as early as the 8th century to “mal saine” which means, literally, “unhealthy”. This evoked suspicion in the French cook and eater, which wasn’t helped by the eggplant’s …
The Apéritif Hour
The apéritif hour is one of the best, the transition from whatever the day has entailed to whatever the evening will bring. Glasses are raised, snacks are nibbled, cares are washed away, and a fine meal begins. To Open This wasn’t always the case. Apéritif, which comes from the Latin “aperitivus,” to open, referred to …
Pink Martini in our paris kitchen
Go to Recipe Go to Video Because I live under a lucky star, I’ve been to more Pink Martini concerts than I can count. I’ve loved them all, though one that sticks with me was in Portland, Oregon (the bands’ home town) in an outdoor park, with bald eagles flying low over the crowd. Anticipation …
French Cake, A Surprise!
Go to Recipe Go to Video The notion of “cake” (pronounced “kek”) in France is a many splendored thing. It can as easily refer to a savory bread like the one here, or a sweet confection studded with candied fruits, drowned in sugar syrup, injected with rum. The word itself simply refers to whatever is …
Methadone for the avocado addict
Go to Recipe Go to Video The avocado. Is there another fruit so versatile it shines as a spread on a newly toasted slice of bread, smashed up with big, bold flavors like cayenne, lime juice, cilantro and garlic, puréed with sugar and vanilla and turned into ice cream or, even better, pie filling? As …
The Best Appetizer You Can Make, with Piment d’Espelette
Go to Recipe Go to Video I love appetizers, …because I love the moment of the day they fit into. For me, that is evening before dinner, long after the sun has set in the winter; as shadows lengthen in the summer. The workday is done, I’ve been preparing a meal and all the while …
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The Best Eggnog Ever
Go to Recipe Go to Video Eggnog, that beloved holiday beverage that signifies parties and fetes, warm gatherings and fragrant moments, may seem innocent but it can pack a powerful wallop, as evidenced in the Egg Nog Riot of 1826 among cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Supposedly barred from drinking …
Some Do Like It Hot – Everyone’s Favorite Amuse-Bouche
Go to Recipe Go to Video It’s olive season!! Not here north of the Rhône, but south, YES! There, the olive oil mills are creaking open, those with olive trees are sitting at the edge of their chairs. Just waiting for the word. For it’s the mills that determine the appropriate moment to get out …
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Corn Has Arrived
Go to Video When I moved to France to really settle here thirty years ago, I lived in Louviers, a bustling town an hour outside Paris, in Normandy. I reveled in the discoveries we made, the adventures we had, the joys and frustrations of adapting to a culture that wasn’t our own. Lush Ingredients Five …
