Techniques and Vikings – Just another Week at On Rue Tatin

Plums with custard

Bonjour from the warmest French October since 1878, so say the meteorologists.  it’s lovely waking up to blue skies every day, watching as the leaves turn slowly from green to all colors, to ride a bicycle wearing shirt sleeves.  It’s also ominous, like Ground Hog Day, simply because it’s abnormal.  At the market a grower lamented […]

Truth in a Tomato

What a week. My eldest, Joseph, was home briefly to accompany my youngest, Fiona, to college. There was packing, unpacking, parties, hellos, goodbyes, car trips and ocean swims. Amidst it all, I was feeding everyone. One night I set a plate of tomatoes on the table, dressed simply, with finely sliced shallots, extra-virgin olive oil, […]

Confit of Peppers

  Every year in early September I do the exact same thing, either because I’m crazy, or because I love the taste of pepper confit.  I’m sure it’s a bit of both, though the crazy part didn’t occur to me until this morning at 6:30 a.m. when I found myself mincing a kilo (2 pounds) […]

Wine Tasting

For the past fifteen years, I’ve hosted a monthly wine tasting on Rue Tatin for a group of about fifteen friends. The group has shifted and changed but one thing has remained constant – everyone who comes for the three hour tasting loves every minute of it. Hervé Lestage, oenologue and caviste, brings the wine.  Together we […]

Spring Buying Tips at the Farmers Market

A walk through the farmers’ market, particularly now when the season is changing and we’re suddenly offered a whole, new array of produce, is magic. It’s one thing to be seduced by the beauty and newness of it all, though, and another to know how to choose the very best, because it all looks fantastic. […]

Scallops are Here

Scallops are here! Scallops are here! They’re early this year and the prediction is there will be few on the market because the price of oil is keeping boats in the dock. I hope this is not true. There was plenty for all at the Le Neubourg market this morning, and I hope it stays […]

Salon d’Agriculture

Today at the market,  farmers told jokes about the cold, grey weather and their static crops, the kind of jokes that hide tears.  And the elders here say they haven’t seen a time without light as long as this in years. Combine that with the world political situation, and the gloom hovering at the edges […]

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