Return from France

I insisted we spend the day in the supermarket. Not in France, but in a French supermarket. The goal was to get some wine, and maybe the odd pack of oysters or something. We did our regular shopping (wine and oysters and herbes de provence) and made haste towards the border. But wait! Can't we still have lunch in France? Lunch is a bit difficult in small towns at 5pm. We went window shopping in a border town before we sat down to our French Meal.

French Meals consist of French components that you would never find in one particular region, often not the region you are currently in. Paris may be the great exception because you can get everything there, but that would have been another blog entry that I was too engrossed with food to actually write. We did however find a leitmotif to carry us through our meal: garlic. Ail may be the only word the Workaholic knows in French, it is certainly very relevant to him.



The Amuse-bouche may have even set other people off. It was a terrine. It was a fantastic terrine but it was, well, bits of meat packed into jello.


The frog's legs could have been my thing but they were joined at the hip and looked like mangled barbie dolls. The Workaholic claims they are "like chicken wings" which confuses me because every time we go to his home town, we get chicken wings covered in hot sauce. These were covered in garlic. I am confused by the legs, joined at the hip, claiming to taste like wings. I am fairly certain that these wings have never seen a bottle of Frank's Red Hot in their day.

You may have already heard of escargot. We call them: the ultimate garlic delivery method. The crevices in snails enabled an extremely effective delivery of garlic, parsley, and butter to my mouth.



The truely Alsacian specialty was certainly the light as air tarte flambee. It's a French pizza, minus the tomato sauce, lessen the cheese, crust is paper-thin and ideally imparted with a kiss of a charcoal oven. This particular model was topped with topped with lardons (like bacon minus the cult surrounding it) and garlic. Lots of garlic. I may be able to fend off the Twilight movies for a few more years, thanks to the amount of garlic on this tarte flambee.

There we are, full of food, following our GPS. It tells us to cross the Rhine. We don't realize that we have to take the ferry at this particular juncture. So we pay the ferryman (in coins, no less) and cross the river. Our adventure in decadence behind us, our adventure with new wines about to start.

Wine Week in France

There are many things to look forward to in the fall - the changing of the colours, the rain and rainbows, the crisp air, and the wine harvest.

In Germany, there are wine fests in nearly every wine-growing town. These fests are a wonderful thing, they are full of local flair and local pride. German wine fests are something I try to ignore each year but simply cannot. Skipping across the border to France, there is a different tradition, which I am happy to drive 2 hours to be a part of.

Le Foire aux Vins - I have no idea what this translates to other than: WINE WEEK! In the fall, most major (think Wal-mart sized) supermarkets have some sort of specials on in which you go, try some wines and get a decent deal on a case. There were even cases on a buy 1, get 1free offer. Take a moment to consider we are talking about French Bordeaux. Absorb this: buy 6 bottles of Bordeaux, get 6 bottles free. This is amazing. I will drive for 2 hours; I might even drive longer if I needed to.

Not all Bordeaux are created equal mind you. This is where the Animateur comes in. Either this is a seasonal sommelier, in which case they are trying to engage in conversation with you, or this is the regular sommelier, in which case, he knows you and leaves you alone with a plastic cup to sample. I prefer the regulars.

The appeal in these wine weeks is apparently not only the great value but the distance. You are not a part of the vineyard. You are trying wines in a parking lot, in which your senses are not altered by the decor of the cellar of a particular Domaine. I like it because I can sample from all over France, in little tiny barrels, and my decisions are not so blind. Of course, the sales don't hurt either.

Bask in Chicken

A few weeks ago, I visited my first cooking class and promised to try out a recipe and blog about it. Because Santa is just a few hours away, I have to make good on my promises now. Otherwise, I'm afraid of getting a shot glass like I did last year. Granted, I did get some liquor to put into the shot glass, but still.

The first time I had Poulet Basquaise was in Nice. My wonderful host made it with olives. The recipe I kinda followed did not have olives, and frankly, in the cooking class, it wasn't all that much to write home about. I think the olives are a good touch. As well as bay leaves. Lots of bay leaves. I used 3 for 2 chicken thighs, but this could easily be doubled. I used dark meat, but breast meat is also possible, which reduces cooking time.

Poulet Basquaise (Basque-style Chicken)
2 chicken legs, cut into drumsticks & legs
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, seeded & diced
1 can tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 c black olives
salt, pepper
thyme, bay leaves

In 1 Tbsp olive oil, sautee onion, garlic, pepper until soft. Remove from heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and brown chicken.
Return onions, garlic & pepper to the pot, add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
Serve with rice or quinoa.

My result was certainly better that the original recipe I got in my cooking class, but not as good as the one in Nice. Another reason to go back, I guess. Now that I've officially been a good girl, maybe Santa will even take me to the Atlantic coast of France.

Tour de France - in the Kitchen

Yesterday, I attended my first cooking class. It wasn't so much a cooking class as a cooking club. 14 people met in the local community college to cook 6 dishes from various regions of France. On the menu:

Onion Soup - Paris
Endive Salad - Picardy (North East)
Quiche Lorraine - Lorraine (Mid-East)
Basque Chicken - Basque country (South West)
Gratin Dauphinoise - Dauphiné (South East)
Norman Apple Tart - Normandy (North West)


My "team" was responsible for the Endive Salad with Roquefort and Walnuts, as well as the Apple Tart for dessert. While I can't really say I learnt all that much about the secrets of French Cuisine, I certainly had an entertaining Sunday morning. And I got to eat 6 dishes from 6 different regions.

While I'm not a dessert person, and I wasn't blown away by the Gratin (it's scalloped potatoes without the cheese), there were some dishes that I enjoyed. I may have discovered a way to eat endives (I normally hate them). In the next few weeks, I have a feeling I will be making the Onion Soup, and maybe the Basque Chicken. I'll post recipes as well, so everyone can have their own culinary Tour de France.

This event was co-hosted by the Volkshochschule Heidelberg, and the 4th annual Französiche Woche (French Week).

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé!

Every year on the third Thursday of November, people gather to drink the first wine of the season. This year, I joined a few friends, stood outside in the cold and drank Beaujolais out of tiny glasses.

Beaujolais Nouveau is not for everyone. Some people say it's fantastic and goes well with turkey. (This works well if celebrate Thanksgiving in the USA, as you have 1 week to get the stuff.) Some people, myself included, think it's terrible. One friend tried his first Beaujolais Nouveau last night & made the same face that people make when they bite into a lemon. The wine is not sour, but, it's not that refined. It's young. Very young. A few weeks old. It is also usually made from lesser-quality grapes, while the good grapes age for many more months.

So, why go stand in the cold with a bottle of bad wine? Because it's fun. The wines arrival is scheduled, so you can schedule an event out of it. You and your friends can block your calendars, the importer can arrange a party. All you need is a few cases of Beaujolais Nouveau.

Last night, a group of us met at the market square, drank a few glasses and enjoyed an otherwise drab November day. We stayed until they closed the stand, and were offered the sandwiches which hadn't been sold. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways for dinner. I completed the evening with a leg of goose from the French restaurant around the corner, and then a Kir Royale in the French bar a few streets down - it was an evening in Petit France. Hopefully next year will be just as special - I'll try to ensure it is by not touching Beaujolais until then.

Tete De Moine - More Monk's Head Cheese

The local Brunch place has an amazing buffet - including Tete De Moine cheese. Because I had recently posted about this cheese variety, I thought it proper to post a photo of what this cheese looks like before it is shaved into little florets.

Because I am not an expert, my floret is a little thick. Still - it was some pretty good cheese.

Shopping in Strasbourg - II

A while back, I had the pleasure of spending a day in Strasbourg looking for food. While I find that my local vegetables from my farm guy are better, it's just fun to shop in France. Of course, Germany isn't cut off from the rest of the world and you can get things here, but the variety in France makes things fun. Like chickens with heads & feathers. Fun. A mountain full of avocodoes. Fun. Wine barrels from the 15th century. Fun (although I'll pass on the wine).

Here a few samples of what I saw:

A wine vat dating back to 1472. The wine in it has only been served 3 times - the last time being as General De Gaulle visited Strasbourg, and the city just returned to France immediately after the Second World War. The vat is located in the Cave Historique des Hospices de Strasbourg. That's right - the city hospital has it's own wine cellar. It dates back to 1395 and was an effort for poorer people to have health care. They couldn't pay with money, but they paid with wine. If you can read French and are interested, you can find more info here.

View of the Strasbourg Catherdral on the way to the market. The second tower was never completed.

Fresh chicken at the market. Note the yellow skin. While I didn't buy these birds, the ones I bought were equally yellow (but headless) & absolutely fantastic.

Time for a break with the Salad Gourmande. Shrimp in cocktail sauce, tomato with shallots, an oyster, crudites, a salad of celeriac? in a creamy sauce, a thick slice of bayonne ham, melon, smoked salmon and foie gras. Under all of this, there is in fact lettuce.

The grocery store where I do my shopping. I go there for the food, not for the carousel. Honest.

I heard that there is an avocodo shortage in North America this year. I'm not too sure whether or not this is true, but I didn't see any signs of a shortage in the supermarket.

When I'm driving over the border with a cooler, I always pick up some oysters. Bear in mind that Strasbourg is still 8 hours away from the sea. The 2 hours seems to make all the difference because they have better seafood than we do in Germany.

I'm not too sure if I actually bought any of this wine, but there was something strangely appealing about the mountain of bordeaux. It was so cheap, I should have bought the whole mountain. Or at least a little rock.

So that's a little bit of what I do & what I buy when I go to France. Reason enough, non?

Excursion to Alsace

It was Canada Day, it is Independance Day. What better way to combine these 2 national holidays than by paying a visit to the country that provided both Quebequois & the Statue of Liberty? OK - I wasn't thinking of any of that when I planned the trip, I just took the day off & I wanted some good food.

Alsace, like the rest of France, is full of good food. Also, I can get there on my commuter ticket. I packed an overnight bag, slapped on some sunscreen & got in the train. It then promptly started to rain. Most of the day was spent running from one cafe to another, sampling local wines along the way. The wines were Rieslings & Edelzwicker, and we ate a cheese platter, a Tarte Flambée, and some Escargot. They actually had frog legs available, but I wasn't that adventurous.

The cheese platter had a regular hard cheese, a camembert, chevre, butter and a softened buttery-like cheese with herbs. Much better than the stale crackers on the table. I have to figure out what the softest cheese was - I think it was like a cheese ball, but in slices.

The escargot was good, but the tarte flambée was fantastic. We ordered the traditional tarte, which is topped with creme fraiche, onions & lardons - something akin to cubes or slices of ham. The tarte itself was very thin, crispy & in spite of the toppings, it was a light snack.

After having slept back into sobriety (it was really rainy), I went out for dinner & was dazzled. The French have this way with the fixed course menus. I opted for the 3 course dinner & a bottle of 1998 Bordeaux, plus an Auxerrois as an apperetif.

As a starter: a skewer of shrimp and prawn, on a bed of spaghetti a olio. The oil was lightly peppery and garlick-y, and the shrimp were good.

Main course: Duck breast, cooked a la point (they even asked how I wanted it done), in a cherry sauce, with a chili polenta. It was matched well with the 1998 Bordeaux.

For desert, there was a trio of mousse au chocolat, served in layers, as a little cake. From the bottom, there was dark, milk & finally white chocolate. On the side was whipped cream and a vanilla sauce with stawberry sauce swilled in.

After sleeping in this morning, we went to a local bakery for breakfast. French breakfasts aren't all that substantial, but they have fantastic baked goods. We ordered the "full" breakfast, which included cooked ham, cheese (including camembert), butter and jam. The 1/2 bagutte per person reminded me of why France is so good. I don't know if I've had a baguette like this outside of France, and while I am trying to reduce my empty carbs, I could not resist this freshly baked treat.
Another hour until the next train home meant I had a little more time to oggle patiseries. I really should have bought the Kugelkoepff - the local specialty that looks like a bundt cake, but I was really full. There were also macaroons that looked fantastic, but I was afraid of them getting crushed en route.

The town of Wissembourg isn't that far from here. I think I'll be going there more often to eat, but I'll check the weather reports first.

Shopping in Strasbourg - I

While on a whirlwind shopping tour in Strasbourg this weekend, I managed to swing by the supermarket, and in the 40 minutes before they closed, I got wine, cheese, meat, fish & some veggies. The freezer will be full.

I've eaten baby goat, I've eaten snails, I've had oysters, cockles, lamb, quail, pheasant, ostrich; I'm not afraid of eating animals. Normally the rule is: if I'm not allergic, I'll try it. I know that I'm not allergic to crab; I know that I really like crab meat. As I saw the 3 pre-cooked crabs in the fish section, I selected the one with the least amount of barnacles, with the best colour, in short, the cutest crab available. Tonight, I pulled that crab out of my fridge & prepared to turn him into a seafood quinoa-isotto.

After having done my research on the best way to open a common crab, I set to work. But he looked so darn cute. I like to dive and if I saw this guy underwater, I'd stop for a while and look at him, maybe even have a little chat - he's that cute.Now, I know it's a little silly to be remorseful over the same food I was so excited about while in the supermarket.

1. crab is dead
2. if I didn't buy it, someone else would have - on sale!
3. he's here now and it would be wasteful to not use it

Good. I'll take it apart, make that quinoa-isotto I was planning & be more careful of my purchases in the future.

I took the shell apart, breaking the top off allowing me to get into the inside to pull out the meat & buttery bits. At this point, I realized that I was dealing with a female crab. This is the result of my meticulous meat extraction:

This is the plan for seafood quinoa-isotto:

take 200 g squid & 100g shrimp out of the freezer
sautee 1 onion (chopped) & 2 cloves of garlic (minced) in olive oil over low heat.
Add 1 cup rinsed quinoa & stir around.
Add safron-infused chicken broth (I had some in the fridge) bit by bit, allowing liquid to soak. Maybe about 2 cups.
Throw in cut up squid & allow everything to cook for 30 minutes.
At the last minute add shrimp, & both crab meat & crab red stuff (I think it was roe, but I'm really not sure - I was just squeamish).

The result was decent, my girlfriend came over & said it beat the pants off the salad she was about to make herself.

I still have a bunch of meat (& cheese & wine) from the shopping trip - I'll try to post about that as I slowly extract things from the freezer.