Most recipes on this blog come with a little story on the side. It simply helps me to introduce a dish when I have some kind of anecdote to tell, something funny, exiting, or even better something heartwarming about a recipe or its prominent ingredient, a feeling linked, a special moment attached, coming to mind […]
Hard to believe an entire summer, autumn and half a winter went by since my last post flew out into that thing called blogosphere. But here I am, sitting in my rocking chair, a wintery garden with a half melted snowman at my feet, thinking of a way to take up the thread again. Maybe […]
The landscapes of Southern Normandy, about halfway between Paris and the seaside, never fail to please with lushly greens and small ancient villages, occasional châteaux and friendly horses grazing peacefully under the early summer sun. When we go there, and lately we do that quite often on a Sunday afternoon, we usually stop here and […]
Every child in France loves chouquettes, those golden little puffs topped with sugar grains. They´re sold at every bakery, the perfect little treat between lunchtime and dinner, or when forces are about to swoon on the playground. I adore them, too, especially when sliced and filled with whipped cream, then reminding of their larger German cousin, the `wind bag` (Windbeutel). […]
A bustling marché is one of my favorite places to be on a sunday morning. Aside from getting a sense of what´s local and in season, the best part of a good market trip is that you can discover something new every time, especially on weekends, when there´s just more of anything: More stands, more produce, the selection even […]
One might think the recent overdose of Easter eggs & chocolate bunnies would have satisfied even the sweetest tooth, at least for a while. But no. The daily supply of summer fruit, prematurely delicious one might say, has only managed to fuel a certain craving for summer sweets rather than pacify it. So I keep buying, we keep eating. Whenever I´m […]
We are a family of meat lovers. But as much as we all agree on a beautiful steak, opinions are somewhat divided when it comes to the sides. For my kids, the emphasis of “steak frites” lies on the latter part anyway, my husband is fine as long a the wine is, while I usually need a little sidekick, a simple dollop of grainy […]
Apple season – I don´t know about you, but for me, it starts in September and lasts more or less until the end of August. Except for a few weeks in midsummer, when peaches and apricots, nectarines and cherries step in, you´ll always find a pile of apples in my kitchen. But it´s now, this time of year, that […]
Since I saw the walnut trees in the Southwest of France last summer, I wanted to return later in the year for walnut saison. Now in early October an abundance of noix is about to fall from the trees all over the Périgord region, ready to be turned into local delicacies like precious oils, traditional walnut cakes, […]
Blackberries have put their spell on me lately. It started a few weeks ago while I was taking a walk on the Normandy shore, not far from the famous white cliffs of Etretât. A blackberry thicket seamed our path, thorny yet inviting. I would have loved to indulge on a handful or two, but that day it was too early for picking, so I contented myself […]
There is a moment each summer, right at the height of it, when you first realize it won´t last forever. When it comes to food, at least to me, that moment is marked by the appearance of the plum. For someone who grew up in Germany, plum cakes belong to late summer days like thunderstorms, […]
Leave Paris by car and it won´t take long until you´ll find yourself in the middle of the French countryside and eventually, after an hour or so, reach the small village of Giverny, home to the painter Claude Monet for well over four decades. Until his death in 1926, here he found inspiration and calm to consecrate himself […]
“Gathering the golden harvest through long summer days leaves a lasting sweetness to ripen in a man’s soul. The smell of newly carted hay can be a lasting memory even in strange cities.” Margaret Campbell Barnes When I was a child, the season of red currants would mark one of the highlights of summer. In a […]
Yesterday, after weeks of perfect summer weather, it suddenly started to rain cats and dogs here in the city. It´s cooled down a bit, and the breeze was so refreshing; a summer rain, you may say, the long awaited arrosage (watering) for all the plants at risk of drying out. And you´d be so right. But […]
“A cooked tomato is like a cooked oyster: ruined.” Andre Simon (1877-1970), ‘The Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy’ During summer, I never run out of tomatoes. I´ve had a crush on them, a coup de coeur as they say here, ever since I was a little girl. It was a hot summer day in the late […]
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