Indian Spiced Eggplant with Peas

Yesterday was official "back to school day" or la rentrée here in France. I've blogged about this phenomenon before. For the past week or so people have been little by little coming back from August vacations and getting back to work routine. Businesses have been opening again, neighborhoods have been filling back up with Parisians and people have been getting together with friends they missed over the summer. Although I hit the ground running with last week's 14-hour-days full of theater rehearsals, this week marks a return to the usual routine: some babysitting, teaching a few theater classes and continuing rehearsals for this year's plays.

It's also back to making delicious food from whatever the CSA throws our way week to week. Recently, I got a bunch of eggplants, both the classic purple kind and the white kind - I can only assume this is how the veggie got its name because they actually do resemble eggs. I'm not a big fan of eggplant and neither is D. (Send your delicious recipes my way, please.) My usual response when I don't like a vegetable is to put Indian spices on it. I mean, I'll eat pretty much anything once you add cumin, turmeric and eggplant is no exception. I discovered this recipe four or five years ago on the blog Orangette and it's been my go-to eggplant recipe ever since! And to top it off, it has peas in it and I LOVE peas.

(makes about 4 servings)

2 large eggplants (or 3-4 small)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds or ground cumin
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 small jalapeño, seeded (or not depending on how spicy you want it) and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 ½ Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
4 or 5 curry leaves (optional)
3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped (out of season, canned tomatoes work too)
½ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. turmeric
1 cup frozen peas
 ¾ cup chopped cilantro (I leave this out and sometimes garnish w/ chopped scallions at the end, but if you like cilantro, go for it)
1/3 - ½ cup whole-milk plain yogurt (if you're feeling fancy, you can also use cream or coconut milk. I've tried both and they're delicious variations)
Salt, to taste
Garam masala, for serving

Preheat the oven to 500° F (250ºC). Put the eggplants on in a baking dish, and pierce them all over with a fork or knife. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the skins are blackened and the eggplant is soft when pressed. Set aside to cool slightly. Then slice open lengthwise, scrape the flesh from the skin and mash coarsely. (You can do this part a day or two ahead and refrigerate it.)

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the cumin seeds (or ground cumin) and cook until they begin to sizzle and pop, about 10 seconds. Add the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is soft and beginning to brown, about 5-10 minutes. Add the jalapeño, garlic, ginger, cayenne and curry leaves (if using) and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add the paprika and turmeric, and cook, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes. Add the eggplant and peas and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, and stir in the cilantro (if using), yogurt (or cream or coconut milk), and salt.

Serve sprinkled with garam masala.

Home from Vacation and Homemade Vanilla Extract

Unlike last year when my US Road Trip made the blog nearly every day, this year's vacation was shorter, much more family-filled (think fourteen people to organize for dinner every night) and involved much less culinary creativity. Then again, why get creative when you can grill every night to this sort of view.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. However, as someone who doesn't have a grill for most of the year, I always find recipes where you need one frustrating, so I will spare you the (amazingly yummy) details and head back to recipes you can make with little or no special equipment.

I had marked this recipe on the defunct blog Antics of A Cycling Cook a few years ago (yes that's how long the turnover is in my bookmarked recipes file) and finally got sick of paying lots of money for tiny tiny bottles of vanilla extract and decided to give it a try. Hands down the easiest recipe in the world, cheap in the long run, and made my baked goods so much better. I topped it off and gave it a good shake before vacation and came back to amazing vanilla extract. I highly recommend doing it yourself!

One small bottle of alcohol 

(I used a 20cl bottle of cheap Armagnac from the supermarket. Sam used cheap vodka. Anything will do - brandy, light rum, etc - but you don't want the alcohol flavor to overpower the vanilla so I would avoid dark rum and stuff like that.)

5 vanilla beans 

(This is the expensive part but worth the investment because you can use the same beans to make lots of vanilla. Sam suggests buying vanilla beans online because it's much cheaper.)

Split the vanilla beans almost all the way down lengthwise, leaving the base intact. Put them in your chosen bottle of alcohol. Shake well and let sit in a cool, dark place for 8 weeks. Shake every once in a while. 

I just top off the Armagnac every so often and give it a shake. You can replace an old bean with a fresh one every once in a while to keep the vanilla flavor strong. Et voilà!

Split Pea Soup with Cumin Seeds

The common cold: exciting side effect of temperatures changes, bane of modern medicine, butt of this telling joke...

A man went to see his doctor because he was suffering from a miserable cold. His doctor prescribed some pills, but they didn't help. On his next visit the doctor gave him a shot, but that didn't do any good. On his third visit the doctor told the man to go home and take a hot bath. As soon as he was finished bathing he was to throw open all the windows and stands in the draft. "But doc," protested the patient, "if I do that, I'll get pneumonia." "I know," said his physician. "I can cure pneumonia."

Luckily my doctor prescribed rest and supplements for my immune system rather than pneumonia, so I immediately came home and made chicken soup. I made the stock directly with a whole chicken so the meat would get falling-off-the-bone-tender, then made the soup with onions, carrots, celery, and lots of garlic, parsley and some fresh ginger added near the end for the maximum in vitamin strength. I definitely recommend it if you're under the weather (even better if you can get someone else to make it for you)!

Only in France would a baker sign his bread like a Picasso!

I've been trying a new kind of soup pretty much every week these days. Latest in this delicious craze has been Heidi's amazing Vegetarian Split Pea Soup. This is one of those recipes that's insanely cheap, insanely easy to make and insanely delicious. (Check out 101 Cookbooks in general for more of those kinds of recipes. Heidi's good at them!) I added cumin seeds to this soup and I think the flavor worked well.

serves 2-3 people

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of cumin seeds
1 cup dried split peas
3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1-2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (you can reserve the zest for garnish if you love lemon)
a few pinches of paprika
more olive oil to drizzle

Heat olive oil in a pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook a couple minutes, until the onions are soft but not brown. Add the split peas and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the peas are cooked through but not mushy (about 20 minutes).

Using a cup measure, put about 1/2 cup of the soup aside. Puree the rest of the soup. Stir the reserved soup back into the puree. This technique gives the soup a little bit of texture. Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste.

Serve in bowls drizzled with olive oil and topped with paprika and a bit of lemon zest.

Tomato Red-Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk

Look at me! Finally a free moment for blogging!
Traveling over Christmas break and then hitting the ground running in January with a new show going up next week has turned me into a terrible delinquent blogger. I haven't been reading blogs or responding to comments or posting new recipes. All I can say is thank you for your forbearance and I look forward to doing some catching up.



Winter is in full swing in Paris and my rain boots are getting lots of wear. I swear, if I had known cute rain boots were the secret to avoiding seasonal depression here, I would have bought them years ago (I'm telling you, fellow Parisians, get cute rain boots)! Weather was similar over Christmas in the US, but there were long walks in nature to counter any doldrums. Back in the city, a heavy work schedule hasn't really left time for doldrums either, but on those days when even my rain boots or my new blue and pink wool cape can't perk up the grey weather, there's always food!!



I don't know about you, but after the excesses of Christmas with the family (I'm not going to even think about the quantity of wine and cheese ingested, but man was it good), I've been going for warm, light meals this past month. Soups like classic Potato-Leek and Hearty Quinoa Stew have been favorites on the table, but I also love trying new soups in winter and this one, based on this recipe from the wonderful Art, Food and Travel Chronicles is definitely a winner.

3 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

About 5 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup red lentils

1 Tbsp cumin

2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup coconut milk

salt, pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the shallots, garlic and red pepper flakes.

Saute it for a few minutes, until soft and then add the tomatoes. Let it simmer for 5-8 minutes.
Add the lentils, cumin and vegetable stock. Bring to boil and then let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

Putting aside maybe 1 cup of the soup, purée the remaining and then put back on the stove along with the cup of soup you put aside. Add the coconut milk and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Fall in Paris: a Study in Yellow and Brown (with Roast Chicken and Squash)

At a party a couple weeks ago, our hosts, who had invited a group of people who didn't all know each other, made us play a getting-to-know-you game, which involved writing answers to questions like "If you were a planet (adjective, famous person, book, etc), which one would you be?" A person's answers were read out anonymously and everyone had to guess who it was. To the question "If you were a season, which one would you be?" I was the only person who answered "autumn". When the host read it out, he said "oooh, this person is depressed!" Wide of the mark. I'm not depressed. Where I come from, autumn is a season of abundance, of bright colors, of beautiful light and crisp air.


But having lived in Paris for five years now, I can see why the French find fall depressing. The days get short so quickly, and gray and rainy. Even on the few sunny days, the fall colors are somewhat limited: yellow and brown pretty much cover it. For the past couple of years, I've tried to take myself out of my apartment to enjoy what fall has to offer here.


Montmartre with its colorful climbing vines is actually one of the prettiest places around. Last year at the jardins de Luxembourg, my sister and I appreciated the yellow and brown there, followed by warming homemade Chai. This year, I headed down the the Canal St. Martin to see the yellows reflected in the water.


As the weather gets colder and the leaves (whatever their colors) fall off the trees for the winter, it's important to have warming food to come home to. This roast chicken with squash is simple to make and perfect for the season. You can make it with chicken breasts or thighs or a whole chicken. Whatever fits your tastes and budget. And to top it all off, it matches the colors of fall in Paris - which are not depressing at all if you only you look at them the right way.


(serves 4)
1 whole chicken (or 4 chicken breasts, or 4 chicken thighs)
1 squash (i used a potimarron, but butternut squash or pumpkin would work well too)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp dried sage (or 2 Tbsps fresh)
large pinch of sea salt
punch of black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp brown sugar


Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC.

Mix together the olive oil with the sage, salt, pepper and cayenne. Rub this mixture into the chicken on all sides and place chicken in the center of a baking pan. Add the brown sugar to the remaining oil mixture.

Peel and cut the squash into cubes. (Ok, this is the evil part of the recipe. Squash is hard to cut and peel. I suggest cutting it in half, scooping out the seeds - you can save them and roast them - putting the squash half cut side down so it is stable and using a sharp knife to peel it, cutting down towards the cutting board so as not to slice your fingers. Then cut it into cubes.) Place the squash around the chicken in the baking pan and drizzle the rest of the olive oil mixture evenly on top of it.

Bake for about 1 hour (or until the chicken is cooked), mixing the squash once or twice to keep it coated with the juices. Serve hot and enjoy!

The Search for Perfect Gazpacho / A la recherche d'un gaspacho parfait

Nothing is perfect. People always say that, and then they go ahead and demand perfection anyway. What's up with that? I say you do your best with the tools you've got and if that's not good enough then you need to review your expectations.

La perfection n'existe pas. C'est quelque chose que l'on entend souvent, mais cela n'empêche pas nos amis, nos employeurs, nos fans et nos critiques d'attendre la perfection. Moi je dis, on fait de notre mieux avec les outils à notre disposition et, si cela n'est pas assez, il faut peut-être modifier ses attentes.


Usually cooking is a stress reliever for me, but even in the kitchen, I have to watch out for the perfectionism monster. It's the reason I haven't ever posted a recipe for classic gazpacho. I did post a recipe for green gazpacho a while ago, which is really quite yummy (a bit like guacamole in a soup), but I never dared post a recipe for red gazpacho, thinking, well, it's not perfect. I'm sure someone has a better one. Well, that may be, but I've had a serious overflow of organic tomatoes in my CSA and I've been making this recipe every couple of days for the past week and you know what? It's delicious! Do any of you have recipes you hold off posting because they're not "good enough"?

D'habitude cuisiner est une activité qui me détend, mais même dans la cuisine, il faut que je fasse attention au monstre du perfectionisme. C'est à cause de lui que je n'ai jamais posté ma recette de gaspacho rouge. J'ai partagé ma recette de gaspacho vert (un peu comme un gaucamole version soupe), mais je n'osais pas poster une gaspacho classique en me disant qu'il y avait forcément quelqu'un avec une meilleure recette que moi. C'est sûrement vrai, mais avec l'explosion de tomates dans mon panier bio la semaine dernière, j'ai fait trois fois cette recette et je dois avouer que c'est quand même délicieux. Et vous ? Avez-vous des recettes que vous n'osez pas poster en vous disant qu'elles ne sont pas parfaites ?

Demain, je pars cinq semaines faire la traversée des Etats-Unis en voiture. Je ne vais probablement pas beaucoup cuisiner, mais suivez quand même et vous verrez ce que je mange en route et où !

Tomorrow, I'm off for five weeks of roadtripping it in the US! I probably won't be cooking much, but keep following because I plan to share with you all what I eat and where during my travels!


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Red Gazpacho / Gaspacho Rouge
(Serves 4)

600g tomatoes (about 6) / 600g de tomates (environ 6)
1 cucumber (or 2 small cucumbers)/1 concombre (ou 2 petits concombres)
1 yellow pepper / 1 poivron jaune
1 small white onion / 1 petit oignon blanc
1 clove garlic / 1 gousse d'ail
2 slices bread / 2 tranches de pain de mie

4 Tbsp olive oil / 4 c à s d'huile d'olive
3 Tbsp Xeres vinegar / 3 c à s de vinaigre de Xérès

salt / sel
pepper / poivre
dash of Tabasco / quelques gouttes de sauce Tabasco


Wash the tomatoes, cut into quarters and seed. Peel and seed the cucumber and yellow pepper and cut into large pieces (you just need them to fit into the blender). Peel the onion and garlic and cut into quarters. Put tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion and garlic into a blender or cuisinart and mix.

Add the slice of bread cut into pieces. Let soak in a few minutes. Pour in the oil and vinegar and blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Salt, pepper and add Tabasco (or not) to taste. Serve chilled.

Laver les tomates, couper en quartiers en épépiner. Peler et épépiner le concombre et poivron et couper en dès. Peler l'oignon et l'ail et couper les en quartiers. Mettre tomates, concombre, poivron, oignon et ail dans un mixeur et mélanger.

Ajouter le pain émietté et laisser imbiber quelques minutes. Verser l'huile et le vinaigre et mixer. Couvrir et garder au frais au moins 1 heure. Saler, poivrer et ajouter quelques gouttes de Tabasco (ou pas) à votre goût. Servir frais.

Playing House and Herb and Chocolate Cheese Balls

As children pretty much everyone plays house - or some version of it. In France, kids call it "playing Daddy and Mommy" (jouer au papa et à la maman), but it's the same idea: re-creating the domestic environment and trying out new roles or old roles with new names and new personalities. The funny thing is, as we get older, we may stop playing pretend but we still try on new roles and discard old ones as we go through different phases of life: student/adventurer/apprentice/first apartment/first serious relationship/mom/dad/mentor/etc. The list goes on and is different for each of us.


Still, I think our childhood fantasies come along with us. The excitement of little things, of shiny objects, of new toys. For me, that comes out in the kitchen. I was fluttering like a 5-year-old when I unwrapped my new fancy milk and sugar bowls and these romantic cognac glasses bought with the last of our wedding money (which went quite a bit further than it was supposed to because there was a sale when we went to first pick our gifts up and we got them all for a lot less than we thought, so we had money let over to spoil ourselves with both useful and pretty things).


And speaking of childhood delights, in my last post, I made Olive Oil and Parmesan Mashed Potatoes with Parma Ham from this recipe book: Des recettes régressives pour gourmets notstalgiques (Regressive Recipes for Nostalgic Gourmets) and I've continued to experiment, with a culminating trial last week when we invited a friend over for an all-chocolate dinner! It started because I knew I wanted to make a chicken mole inspired recipe from the book and D. wanted to make a white chocolate mousse. It was clear that the theme was chocolate, but now how could I incorporate it into the appetizer?



I'd been wanting to try these herbed cheese ball appetizers and I thought, "why not try them with chocolate!" It was a resounding success.

For 24 balls

240g (about 8.5oz) cream cheese (The recipe calls for Kiri and that's what I used. In the US cream cheese would be perfect.)
24 raisins

Whatever toppings you want; I used:

chives
sesame seeds
curry powder
paprika
cumin
unsweetened cocoa

Form 24 balls of cheese around the 24 raisins. Roll in the toppings of your choice and serve!
Our favorite toppings were (in order) chives, cocoa, sesame, cumin. The curry powder and paprika were both a bit overpowering, but if you like strong/spicy tastes then you could give them a try. Next time I'd try more fresh herbs and sweet spices (ie coriander or garam masala).

Falafel Lettuce Wraps

When I write in my blog these days I feel like the kid who hasn't done his homework but always has a "really good excuse!" Um, my dog ate it. Um, the assignment fell in the lake. Um, I DID do it but then my little sister tore it up. Um, I was abducted by aliens and I just got back.

But, I do have good excuses, plenty of them. I've been onstage all this month in two different shows and preparing the residency in the center of France for this summer. Also I'm trying to lose some weight, which often means making dishes that are yummy but not particularly inventive or blog-worthy.


That said, I still can't resist a good recipe and my sister (Future Master Baker), who this year has been one of the head cooks in her co-op and learning all sorts of new vegetarian and vegan recipes, keeps sending me emails to make my mouth water. Recently she sent me this recipe for tahini oat cookies, which sound delicious except that I can't find any of the ingredients required in France. So... I had to go for her falafel recipe instead. Because fried falafel are not exactly diet-friendly, I made them into lettuce wraps to make myself feel good about them - and hey, it works! You can even add a little feta cheese (low fat or not) in the wraps for moisture and taste.

You may have to juggle a bit with the ingredients to see what proportions keep the falafel from falling apart, but this is the basic idea.


1 can chickpeas (15.5 oz)
1 medium onion
1 cup parsley
cumin
turmeric
salt & pepper
5 Tbsp. flour
cooking oil

Mash chickpeas (I use a potato masher, but you can probably do it with a fork, you'd just have to be more patient than I am). Chop the onion and parsley finely and add them to the chickpeas. Stir in spices and flour. Pour about half an inch of oil into a saucepan and put it on the stove to heat. Form chickpea mixture into patties. When the oil begins to dimple on the surface, drop the patties in. Turn them regularly until thoroughly brown.

Serve in lettuce wraps, or pita, with hummus, feta, tomatoes, whatever you like!

Invite A Blogger to Your Table - Poor Man's Soup

I know I've said it before, but community is one of my favorite things about having a cooking blog and events like Val's Invite a Blogger to Your Table are what it's all about. The idea is to invite another blogger, someone you've been following for years, or someone you don't know (yet!) to make a recipe with you (virtually or in person) and both blog about it on the same day. The rules are simple:

1) Choose a dish to prepare and invite one blogger to create that dish with you. You can source your recipe from a cookbook, magazine, blog or any other source. Your dish can be sweet or savory; easy or complicated.
2) Decide upon a date that you can both mutually post your recipe within a 4 week time frame.
3) Link back to More Than Burnt Toast somewhere in your post.
4) Please feel free to use the Avatar/Badge above "Invite a Blogger to Your Table".
5) Once you have made your dish with your blogging friend or friends and posted it, you can choose to STOP or CONTINUE on and invite another blogger to your table to make something DIFFERENT on a mutually agreeable date within the next 4 week time frame.
6) If you would like to, please e-mail Val at bloggerstable(AT)gmail(DOT)com for no other reason than to let her know you have participated. She would love to see what you have accomplished.
7) Cut and paste these instructions into your post and contact a friend. Let magic happen and let's get cooking!!!


When Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen invited me to make this old country recipe with her - one that her mom recently gave her (thanks Baba!) - I was delighted. There's something so seductive about simple recipes. There seems to be a higher degree of magic involved. When you look at some recipe lists with their exotic spices and fresh herbs and the like, you think "well of course that's going to be good!" But the bare culinary truth is that sometimes with 5 ingredients or less you can make the magic happen.

I also like the idea of a country recipe that's actually perfect for the season. Back in the days before fruits and vegetables were available year round in supermarkets, I think by the end of the winter, the only vegetables left in places like here were those that had survived in root cellars, like potatoes. It's not like potatoes never go bad, but if you keep them cool dry, it takes a very long time! Hence the ubiquitous potato (and other root vegetables) in my winter CSA. I used up the last few that were starting to sprout in this recipe and now I'm looking forward to spring veggies, like the spinach I got last week!

So if you're looking to use up the last potatoes, or combat the spring sniffles, I highly recommend this recipe!

Burnt Soup or Poor Man's Soup

1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp oil (I used olive)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
5-6 cups water, boiled
4-5 medium potatoes diced
salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry onion in oil until it's brown but not burned
2. Add flour and make a roux
3. Add water, stir to incorporate the flour and add the potatoes
4. Cook over medium heat until potatoes get soft
5. Add salt and pepper to taste

I executed this recipe exactly as written (you other foodies will recognize the self-control that takes) because I wanted to taste it the way it's written. This simple soup is surprisingly delicious. In the end, I added 2 large garlic cloves, minced and half a bunch of parsley, chopped, for the flavor and the immune system booster. I cooked it another 10 minutes with those ingredients and served with whole grain brain.

Even D. who "doesn't like soup", said "mmmm, your potatoes with sauce are delicious!"
Now head on over and check out Giz's version!

Squash-Leek Soup with Coconut Milk and How to Survive Spring

Some people call the season that starts on March 20th Spring, but I prefer to call it "be prepared for anything." We are now in the transition space, the exciting first warm days space, the back to cold snaps space, the first few flowers space and the everybody gets a cold space.

How is it that we blog all winter long (and thank goodness we do) about how to survive the cold and the dreariness, but nobody blogs about how to survive the coming of spring?


I would suggest that the way to do so it is two-fold:

1. Go outside and enjoy the flowers - or early bird songs, or first snow melts, or the visibly longer days. Get some sun on your face. Take some pictures. Sit in the park and watch the kids play (can you believe people pay me to do that? I love it.). Look for the little changes every day.


And...

2. Have some good soup on hand. The nights are still cold. April showers are on their way, and if you come down with a cold (as I did this week), you'll be happy to have some homemade soup waiting to be heated up and make you feel better.

Happy spring everybody!!



1 Tbsp ghee (or butter)
1 onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp curry powder
1 small piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 pinch cayenne
1 winter squash
chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk

Melt the ghee in a large pot on low heat and add the onions and leeks. Leave to caramelize slowly. In the meantime, peel the squash and chop into cubes. Turn up the stove to medium heat and add the garlic and spices. Cook 1 or 2 minutes, stirring. Add the squash and enough broth to just cover it. Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until the squash is tender (about 20 minutes). Add the rest of the coconut milk and puree the soup (in batches in a mixer, or with an immersion blender). Serve hot.

November in Paris and Thanksgiving Cheer

Big happy plate of Thanksgiving leftovers.

I have long thought that France had more federal holidays than the US. It seems the French are always having days off, especially in the spring. In May it feels like every week there's a bank holiday. (Actually, this is not just an impression, there are French federal holidays on May 1, May 8, and this year May 13 and May 24.) However, contrary to what I thought, France only has one more holiday per year than the US. The major difference is that half the French holidays are Catholic ones (and you can bring that up next time one of your French friends mentions the proliferation of the phrase "God bless America" and how secular France is). In case you're curious (I know I was), the bank holidays in France are:

New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Labor Day (not the same day as the US, but the same idea), V Day (aka "the allies beat the Nazis day"), Ascension Thursday, Pentecost, Bastille Day, Assumption Day (yes, the day the Virgin Mary rose into heaven), All Saints Day, Armistice, and Christmas

For you non-Americans, US National holidays are:

New Year's, Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (aka July 4), Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The epitome of Paris in November.

Besides the religious quality of French national holidays, the other main difference is the time of year. France has the most holidays in the spring, which is nice because it's starting to warm up and everyone wants to play hooky anyway and lie around in the sun. The US has the most holidays in the fall and winter, which is even nicer, perhaps, because it's a time of year when it gets dark early and everything is black and white and gray, and everyone needs a little cheer.


That is what I love about Thanksgiving. Less pressure than Christmas because there are no presents to buy, Thanksgiving is just about sharing a good meal with family and/or friends. When the sky is low and drab as it has been for weeks here in Paris, that is exactly what I need! This year, we had Thanksgiving with Nick and Camille and a friend of theirs. It was a no stress, low key event (we all had to work thurs. and fri.) but like all meals with foodies, it was very yummy!

A ray of sun, quick, take a picture!

I made a version of this blue cheese potatoes au gratin that included the celeriac I got in my CSA and a chocolate pecan pie (basically my original recipe, but with less corn syrup and chopped chocolate added). We combined our CSA spinach into creamed spinach. Camille made her signature wild mushroom bread pudding, sweet potato/yam purée and delicious gravy, and Nick made turkey roast. We topped it all off with some good wine for a perfect November-blues-beating evening!

It's Okay Not to be Perfect Grape Syrup

This morning, I did something I'd never done before: I left my apartment in my college sweatshirt (complete with holes I cut in the bottom of the sleeves for my thumbs to make half-mittens - winters are COLD where I went to school) and walked out onto the streets of Paris in it. Okay, so I went to the ATM machine and put my sister in a taxi for the airport, but still. This in a country where people put on their makeup to go to the boulangerie (the distance equivalent of going to the end of the driveway to get the paper in America). I thought "what was I so worried about before? That people would think I was American? I AM American." See, I've been so worried about fitting in for the past few years that I sometimes forget that it's okay to be me. Not perfect, not French, not a morning a person, and all that jazz.


So, in my new-found free to be me-ness, I'm going to admit that this grape syrup wasn't supposed to be grape syrup at all. It was supposed to be grape jelly. After getting grapes in my CSA, I was inspired by Camille's idea on Seasonal Market Menus 10/13. I looked up some jelly recipes and, frankly, it didn't look that hard. I've never made grape jelly before, but there's a first time for everything. (Maybe there still will be a first time for grape jelly, who knows.)


Here's what I did. I washed almost 3 lbs of grapes and boiled them in a pot until they were soft (about 15 minutes). I didn't have a jelly bag, or cheesecloth, so I let the grape pulp strain through a coffee filter for a few hours until the liquid had collected. I measure out the juice (I had 2 1/2 cups), put it in a pot and brought it to a boil. I slowly stirred in 2 1/2 cups white sugar and stirred constantly without letting it boil until the syrup had thickened (again about 15 minutes, maybe a bit less). Then I poured it into clean jars and set aside to cool.


If you try this recipe and get grape jelly from it, tell me how you did it! Also if you've successfully made grape jelly, I want to hear about it.

For now, I'm perfectly happy being me with my fresh grape syrup, which I've been eating on pancakes, over ice cream, in fruit salad... any way I can!

Summer Salads and Two Week Workshop

For the next couple of weeks I will be in the beautiful village of St. Benoit du Sault in the center of France with no internet. I went on this workshop last year (you may remember me complaining about the food), but this year is going to be even more interesting because the director received financing from the region and we will be touring in a number of small villages doing medieval farce.

So while I'm busy singing, acting and directing (I feel a bit over my head on that one, but the director insists it will be alright), here are some summer salads to help keep you cool!

Feta and Caramelized Onion Pasta Salad

Gotta start with pasta salad. It's classic but oh-so-delicious. Perfect for anytime of year really, but one of the stars of summer barbecues and picnics. And of course anything with caramelized onions is on my list of favorites!

Curry Potato Salad

What picnic would be complete without a potato salad? Here, it is definitely picnic weather (dinner picnics mind you - too hot midday)!

Red and White Quinoa Salad with Fresh Basil

Add fresh herbs to pretty much anything in the summer and you're good. This salad is a nice change, lighter than pasta, but a bit more hearty than lettuce-based salads.

Cucumber Salad with Feta and Pine Nuts

This is one of the most cooling salads I know. Perfect for those days when you feel just too hot to eat anything. Also, fancy enough to serve to guests if you're looking for a light appetizer.

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Last, but not least, you can serve this salad warm or cold so it's perfect for all seasons, but with fresh tomato and cucumber, it's definitely delicious in the summer.

I could go on and on about salads but I think this post is long enough and I need to go sit in front of a fan somewhere instead of in front of a hot computer! How about you guys? What are your favorite summer salads?