My NYC kitchen and pantry

I don't know about you, but it's definitely hot enough for me this summer. Last year we didn't need air conditioning because mountains and trees cooled us. Here in the city, even with the plethora of trees in Jackson Heights, the heat and humidity have been stifling.

When the heat's on, I usually don't feel like turning on the stove, and absolutely not the oven! Do you feel the same way? But recently I started stocking my pantry and added essentials like good sea salt, light soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, distilled vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, vegetable oil, and fish sauce. And for any good pantry, you must have garlic, shallots, onions, lemons, limes, cilantro, scallions, couscous, and jasmine rice. And oatmeal and prunes too. Not to mention butter.

With this and all the good stuff I picked up at this weekend's farmer's market, I've started cooking in my small NYC kitchen and I can't stop! A quarter the size of my French kitchen, it's much smaller and the layout is not great but it'll do for now. There's a full size fridge, stove with microwave on top, and a half size dishwasher. I lament the fact that there's not enough storage or counter space. And no disposal but that's ok. I'm collecting fruit and vegetable scraps for composting which I can donate on Sundays to the farmer's market. Even though I'm back in the States I still would like to hold on to several things I started doing while in France like composting, living simply and as close to nature as possible.

At the farmer's market, I was enticed by the many offerings. Without any recipes in mind, I picked what was visually pleasing. Vivid yellow summer squash, bright red onions, tiny MacIntosh and green pears, and some cucumbers. We couldn't pass the Red Jacket Orchards stall without taking home their delicious all natural rhubarb juice and plum stomp made in Geneva, NY.  On our way out, we stopped to purchase Ronnybrook Farms' all natural yogurt drinks and a bottle of milk. Buying the milk in a glass bottle reminds me of the times R and I bought fresh fromage blanc, bleu de Gex, crème fraîche, and raw milk from our local fromagerie. If you bring back your bottle, you get your bottle deposit back. We still have our milk bottles in my kitchen in France, which means we have to visit le fromagerie when we next visit!

With my bounty, I've made lots of salads and eaten a mostly vegetarian menu this week including an easy salad of cucumbers, red onions, and tomatoes. I dressed it with some extra virgin olive oil, pink salt, a little twist of pepper, and lemon rinds, left over from making strawberry lemonade. For R, I made a no-mayo potato salad using baby red potatoes dressed with a vinaigrette with herbs de Provence, olive oil, a drop or two of distilled vinegar, and two big heaping tablespoons of whole grain French mustard. I also braised some romaine lettuce with garlic, shallots, and the leafy greens from the farmer's market red onions. I used the yellow summer squash in a quick ratatouille cooked in my favorite pot, a 5.5 quart cherry red Le Crueset which my sister gave me one year for Christmas.

To beat the heat and humidity, I pureed the remaining strawberries in a blender, tossed in a bit of sugar, and then added some rhubarb/apple juice. Then I poured this mixture (seeds and all) into some popsicle molds. Voila! Six hours later, R and I enjoyed our strawberry/rhubarb pops! Sweet, tart, and cold enough to cool us down in this city heat.

Vietnamese green mango salad

The market square was busy and colorful today. I strolled past all the tables, looking at the beautiful greens, reds, purples, oranges..and every hue in between. One of my favorite experiences is walking through the entire farmer's market first, to survey what is available and fresh. Then I will circle around a second time, this time stopping at the stands I am interested in. Today was no different than other days...I love the happy commotion that is the French farmer's market. Whenever I'm buying food, there is no real recipe I have in mind. Instead my purchases are based on color, smell, and shape, and what's in season (if possible). I often pick ingredients that look pretty and/or interesting..or vegetables that I don't ordinarily buy. Like le citrouille (pumpkin) and les navets, or purplish-white turnips I bought last week. Once home with my goodies I'll look through cookbooks and websites for inspiration.

Today when I saw green mangoes at one stand, I couldn't resist buying two large green ones. To that I added four bright yellow lemons, and three heads of broccoli. At the supermarket I purchased jambon cru, des fraises (strawberries), du pain, and concombre.

Meat vocabulaire & cow's feet spotted

Give a French, American, Chinese, or Japanese butcher a cow or a pig, and you'll end up with very different cuts of beef. Why? Because it's inherent in the cuisine and culture, or is it culture before cuisine? Which came first?

I found a great wiki page deciphering different cuts of French, American and Dutch beef. With this in mind, I'm hoping to be better informed the next time I'm at la boucherie. For further reading you can also consult Posted in Paris. To find out more about the food you are eating read The Omnivore's Dilemma, or check out The Meatrix (which my friend R tuned me into years ago).

As a primer for my future market outings, I compiled this list so I could be a more informed buyer. That gorgeous round of fromage de brebis? It's from an ewe, a female sheep. My friend M's sister is a large animal veterinarian who specializes in cows (but she also knows a thing or two about sheep having participated in the 4H circles). Hoping you can correct me if I got any of the terms wrong. Thanks in advance!

Tuesday in Geneva and a selection of photos

R and I decided to start our exercise regimen this week. It's hot and dry in the afternoons with the hottest period between 13:00h and 16:00h. As a result, we start our days early with a morning hillside walk and then end the day with an evening walk after dinner. Besides fresh air, the walks up and down are good for digestion and toning up the legs and thighs.

TUESDAY
While R visited with former colleagues in Geneva, I took a guided tour at Palais des Nations. The tour was excellent—our tour guide holds a Master's in international relations from Tufts. What a small world! He led us through as much of the tour as he could...though many conference rooms were off limits because the UN was hosting labor conferences over the next three weeks. We visited the General Assembly Hall (see photo with flags) and another conference room where a meeting on labor issues was taking place. We observed/listened to the conference proceedings from atop the public observation deck. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned a few things too.

• The UN has six distinct bodies
• UN has 72,000 civil servants worldwide. That number only accounts for the people who are responsible for getting things done and for carrying out its duties...it doesn't include diplomats or delegates.
• Six official languages are used at the UN for its intergovernmental meetings and documents: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. If a delegate does not speak/understand any of these languages, they may bring their own interpreter who will interpret from that delegate's language (let's say Portuguese to English). Then the UN interpreters will translate from the standard, which is English to each of the other 5 languages. Although there is sometimes a lag, the interpretation is pretty much simultaneous. Our tour guide explained that there are three Chinese interpreters..and they each take turns speaking and writing down what is said
• Taiwan and Palestine are treated as special entities (with Taiwan officially being treated as a province of China) by the UN, although certain member countries do recognize Taiwan as its own sovereign country
• Each member state has special missions to the UN which is separate than each member states' embassies and consulates
• Peacocks roam about Parc Ariana at Palais des Nations

WEDNESDAY
The horse farmer erected electric wiring around the parameters of our garden to fence in the areas we don't want the horses to eat. Les chevaux are partial to the bark from our poplar trees as well as to old, stale bread..the harder the bread, the better. It'll take the horses three weeks to mow the tall grass in the front yard. I'll post some pictures of the horses soon.

THURSDAY
I feel lazy today but still went for our morning walk. For lunch, we had grape leaves, marinated olives from the market, and leftover galettes noires. Snacking on cherries from our neighbors right now and contemplating spending some time working the garden. Maybe.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

1 - R at Fort l'Ecluse, after we climbed 1,165 steps
2 - Fort l'Ecluse
3 - Me, trying archery for the first time
4 - Le chapeau de gendarme
5 - R sitting down for cafe au lait at Le Tram Bar in a village nearby. Good coffee, cute dog, great day
6 - Fat content cat sitting on a music box in Geneva, at Rue de la confederation
7 - General Assembly Hall at Palais des Nations, in Geneva
8 - Tree-ripened cherries from neighbors down the street. Everyday, we pass by their house and two days ago, we introduced ourselves and got a gift of cherries
9 - Weekly farmer's market. Today we got 2kg of apricots, 3 kinds of cheeses (goat and cow), and 10€ worth of olives)

Freiburg, Bern, and Bears

Currywurst sandwich

En route home from our friends' wedding in Germany, R and I made stops in Freiburg and Bern. So I could see Germany and the German part of Switzerland. Freiburg, the southernmost German city, borders the Black Forest where I imagined "Hansel and Gretal" was set. Freiburg is charming—I loved the Munsterplatz, the farmer's market, and the "Bächle" that run through the city center. 

I love good good, I'm not a snob when it comes to eating well. I love fine dining at the best restaurants as much as the next girl, but I'm also really happy eating lovingly cooked meals at home, and more so when it's prepared by some of my favorite foodie friends. Sometimes on the street is where you find the best local food.

Take this simple currywurst sandwich at Freiburg's daily farmer's market in Munsterplatz. The pork sausage was perfectly sauced with a tomato sauce with a good dose of curry in it. Even though it seemed early for strawberries—I couldn't resist buying a quart of little strawberries for 2€. These strawberries tasted they were picked straight off the plant on a hot summer's day. I should have bought at least four more quarts.

Crazy French drivers and market day

Thursdays are Market days in our little valley. Yesterday R and I hiked down to town and then back up home after our errands. It was a 2 hour roundtrip. We made two stops, first at La Poste for stamps. It costs .58€ to send domestic mail up to 20 grams and .87€ for international mail up to the same amount. Then a quick stop at the Turkish bakery for baklava and sweets shaped like a mini-eggroll. At the bakery, the daughter of the shopkeeper served us—she was quite young (maybe 9 years old) and barely reached over the tall counter. She was adorably pudgy and super polite. We'll be returning soon because the baklava was great.

This morning R and I planned to walk down again and take the market bus back up to our house, but we were too late. The market bus picks up the residents in our little village at 9am and drives them back up around 12pm. We drove down instead and it was an adventure—luckily we and the car made it down (and up) in 1 piece.

The roads in our area are narrow and seriously hilly with some blind spots where the road curves sharply. From what I've experienced so far, the French drivers here are seriously crazy drivers!! They claim their side of the road as well as part of ours, and they do not yield, instead continue doing what they're doing and hope you move out of their way.

As we were driving down to the farmer's market today, a car came flying up the hill, narrowly missing us by inches. Then the market bus (the one we had planned on taking earlier) drove up at top speed even though he saw us and should have seen that there was not enough room for him to pass us. The bus driver continued ahead anyways, and R had to quickly drive over the curb to avert a collision. Then bus driver just continued, not stopping to see if we were okay. I was pissed—and tomorrow, we're going to stop by the Mairie to lodge a complaint because this has happened way too many times and it's just not safe.

Anyway, we and the car are ok—so we head to the market which is already in full swing with many more vendors this week than the past month. R says it gets bigger in the warmer months as farmers bring more vegetables to sell. Today we spent 20€ for 2 pineapples, 2 kgs of tomatoes, whole wheat baguette, 2 fresh garlic heads (purple in color with tops on them), 5 apples, 2 pears, 4 peaches, 4 nectarines, 5 kinds of cheese (total price 7€), 4 avocados, and a dozen free-range chicken eggs.

Back at home, we had a nice lunch: salad with beets and tomatoes, cow's cheese with nectarines, peaches, and pear. And on the side, some pork terrine, smoked sausage, and pâté de canard.

For dinner I made a Vietnamese tamarind fish soup with prawns (heads still on). My mother makes a great version, and I tried to recreate hers tonight using jumbo prawns (which I purchased earlier today, 3€ for 300 grams which seemed like a great deal to me). I briefly looked at the recipe here and then used what was available in my fridge and pantry. I only used half of the prawns tonight, so maybe prawns for lunch tomorrow.

Last thing, the tail pipe is now fixed. Today I did much better driving the car, only stalling twice. R says I need to shift more smoothly and quicker. Still driving on an empty road, but hey, I am driving and on my way to mastering the clutch and gearbox!