Fig Jam
I planted my fig tree about seven years ago, to replace an ancient apple tree which was the “apple of my eye”. She (or he?) was such a lovely part of the garden, planted at least eighty years ago by the nuns who once occupied On Rue Tatin. She was just the perfect sort of […]
A Special Marmalade From a Special Fruit – The Bergamot
The temperatures have turned wintery here in northern France. I’m between Louviers and Paris, between my wonderful house and my teeny apartment and while I feel the cold, both are equally cozy. But what this cold weather means, aside from a good and true winter, is that it’s finally bergamot season!! You’re not cheering the […]
Orange Marmalade
Winter is the season of oranges and I don’t think they’ve ever been better. Their juice is like sweet liquid sun, giving energy from the second it begins its slide across the palate. I’m guessing bitter oranges will be as good and flavorful – they certainly smelled like heaven as I squeezed them for their […]
Salt Cod Goes Uptown
Salt cod. It’s not your every day ingredient, I know. But you can find it in most fish markets, often in neat little wood boxes labeled “Salt Cod – Skinless and Boneless fillets”.* The History of Salt Cod Cod has a fascinating, lucrative history. Much of it has to do with its salted version. Cod […]
Eight Minute Salmon
I eat salmon very occasionally because I’m a salmon snob. Anyone from the Pacific Northwest is because to us, our wild Pacific salmon is mother’s milk, the essence of life. From the noble Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) to the humble humpie (Oncorhynchus gorbuschaa) we grow up eating it the way other people eat chicken, fiercely loyal to its […]
Optimism and Lemon Meringue Pie
Since the election I’ve been searching for optimism. I’ve found some. There is optimism in people gathering round. At the market yesterday, it was a flurry of friendship as people came to me to ask questions, express their feelings and opinions. There is optimism in a woman standing for president, and knowing more people voted […]
VOTE
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! And then go home and make some….quince paste!
Pasta with Lemon and Parsley
Long ago in Tuscany, lemons hung heavy from the trees, parsley sprouted up from the ground green and meaty, and pines nuts blanketed the ground The olive trees that cover the landscape provided oil which, right after pressing, burned the throat as it went down. These ingredients, along with simple pasta, combined in a dish […]
Roast Chicken Antidote
Back from California to a gorgeous, cold, sunny Parisian day then Boom! Awash with rain. So, I’m doing what any sane person would, and filling the house with the glorious scent of roasting chicken. It’s one of the best tonics I know to scare away the post-California sun doldrums! Here is how I do it. […]
A Fig Year
Oh, ye faithless. I was considering uprooting my fig tree because it has only eked out a handful of tiny figs during it’s five year life when, Eureka! It redeemed itself in my faithless eyes, producing a bumper crop. Its place in my garden, in the shadow of Notre Dame de Louviers, is assured. Bumper crop is a […]
