Second day in a row of sun! With temps in the mid 60s (felt like 70), I was in a good mood despite a horrible night's rest. R and I camped out on the sectional couch again. The window frames and windows we had stained and lacquered in the master bedroom upstairs were still not dry yet.
Busy busy day. R and I volunteered at the local chapter of Croix Rouge Francais (Red Cross). We met the branch President Janine a few weeks ago through Helene, sister of one of our neighbors. Today R and I helped stock the branch's epicerie, a little grocery store where clients can buy groceries at a huge discount.
The food had just been delivered by other volunteers from Bourg-en-Bresse where the Red Cross' food bank is located. Janine and the delivery guys had already unloaded items for the refrigerated and freezer sections. There were hundreds of boxes of milk, zucchini, turnips, celeraic, croissants, cheese, quiche, yogurt!! So what was left? We helped her stock the shelves (and I say so myself, we left that epicerie looking awesome!) I unpacked "Holland Style" rice and potatoes, chocolate dessert while R stocked the shelves with canned peas, green beans, sauerkraut, carrots, baby food, etc, etc. Due to the large Muslim clientele, he had to organize the items so as to separate items containing pork from other items. Then Janine and I unpacked huge sacks of carrots and potatoes and repackaged them into 1kg bags of each while another older sweet man repackaged bananas into 1kg bags. It was fun...and I felt good and useful, even if for 2 hours. Tomorrow, we've been invited to help out at Resto du Coeur (restaurant of the heart).
Most things are priced/valued at 1 or 2 Euros. But that isn't the price that the client pays. E.g., if something is priced at 1Euro, the client pays 10%, or .10 Euro cents. Depending on family size and circumstances, a family of 2 may be able to purchase up to 50 Euro of food, but in the end they will only pay 5 Euros. There were some French clients, but most were spoke little French (and were Muslim). I felt for them..as I too am a foreigner and it's hard learning a new language as an adult.
Made 2 discoveries today:
1. Found Farine de ble - type 65 at Leader Price (a discount grocery store..think small Costco)! David Lebowitz (Chez Panisse's patisserie chef who now resides in Paris) says this is as close as you can get to All Purpose Flour. I hope to make chocolate chunk cookies tomorrow..and I hope to have a better result than the last batch I made using Type 45 flour.
2. As it was a gorgeous warm day, I drove up Le Plateau du Retord for a hike and maybe to find some mushrooms. We had a great view of the valley basin..but the cold windy weather up there chased us away. Seeking warmer pastures, we descended to Billiat and found a nice country road with absolutely gorgeous views of the Juras, the Vuache, the Parmelan mountain, and a crystal clear view of the Alps and the Mont Blanc. But the best part? After a bit of walking, while I was busy looking for mushrooms, we happened upon a field of white looking root vegetable resembling a carrot. It smelled like a radish, so I took a small bite and it tasted like a daikon, but as I've never seen a daikon with its greens on, I wasn't 100% sure. I picked a young one and HUGE one - I just Googled it now and it's confirmed. They are daikons! I knew you could eat the roots (my mom uses it a lot in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking), but I learned today you can also eat the greens. What shall I do with the daikons? I fancy some daikon radish cakes.
A photo of the daikon "cake" I made using above recipe and served with spicy hoisin sauce. So yum.
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