The sweet scent of spring

A selection of photos of springtime in France, at home. The weather is fantastic and the lilacs are in bloom. First the light purple ones, and now the bright fuschia ones (photos to come of these hot pink ones later). Whenever I'm outside and I pass the lilacs, I smell a sweet scent. I can't help but smile. What a simple pleasure it is to be where I am right now. Enjoying the smells and sights of spring. Besides the lilacs, the irises are starting to bloom and the strawberries and groseilles look promising with tons of flowers on them. Unfortunately I have not found any more morilles even though I'm searching around the strawberry patch every day.

Lilacs, the sweetest scent of spring

We've started barbecuing in the garden, and Poubelle (who joined our family last summer) is always nearby whenever we're grilling. Just the other day, when my back was turned, he jumped onto the picnic table and made off with a chipolata sausage. I wish I had a photo of him running away with the long sausage flapping against his face. He was so happy with joy eating it in a corner of a garden...that we couldn't stay angry at him for long. Not knowing right from wrong, he came back within minutes after his large lunch and sat on the bench next to me, looking cute and probably hoping for more.

Baguette à l'ancienne

After returning from Paris, I got excited about learning how to make a good baguette. My first foray into bread was more than a year ago, when I tried to make bread from scratch using the original NYT's article on No Knead Bread. The bread came out fine but it wasn't what I was looking for...not like the ones I've eaten at my local boulangerie.

There are so many recipes online and I had a difficult time deciding on one, but Appie Pie Patis and Pate's baguettes à l'ancienne looks like the elusive recipe I've been searching for.

I gave it a try and it came out great! Crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. Complex tasting. Next time I will underbake a little since my oven gets so hot so fast.

Paris: I walk for pâtisseries

Paris is a sprawling modern city, divided into 20 arrondisements or districts. Starting from the city center le 1er arrondisement, the city spirals out like an escargot to le 20eme arrondisement. Lined with many tree shaded boulevards, wide trottoirs, or sidewalks, it's a perfect city for strolling during the day or night. For R and I, it's one of our favorite things to do when we arrive in a new location. To take a long walk, visit the local grocery stores and farmers' markets. And since we're in Paris, to people watch and visit Paris' many green parks and public spaces. I feel that I get a really good feeling for a city when I walk through it.

Paris, je t'aime

Having lived in France for almost a year, I still hadn't yet been to Paris, the epicenter of the French state and the capital of all things delicious...croissants, macarons, and chocolate. Pourqoi pas? I don't know...but who doesn't love Paris, especially in spring when the city is just waking up from winter, and it's about a month away until the start of the tourist season. After some planning (and reading articles to get me excited for Paris. Scroll to the bottom for my complete list of articles), R and I chose the first weekend in April just because...the weather forecast looked promising and we hoped to find the flowers in bloom in Paris' many green spaces.

Nous avons arrivés à Paris après a quick 2.5 hour train ride via the TGV, or le train de grande vitesse. R and I brought reading materials, breakfast, and my knitting, but we ended up watching the show out our window. This is no Acela train. The TGV is quick (understatement), and we sped by quaint villages with big churches, stately châteaux, meadows with sheep, cows, and old stone farmhouses. To me, this is France..the beautiful flowing countryside. I sighed appreciatively as R and I pointed out different things to each other as we sped by them. Before we knew it, 2.5 hours had passed and our train was approaching Gare de Lyon, our destination.

Swiss knoepfli in a herb butter sauce

Sorry I haven't posted any stories or photos of Paris yet. Since returning from Paris last Monday night, R and I have been quite busy, doing daytrips to Geneva then Lyon. And on top of that, we've had brilliant weather. Warm enough that I'm wearing skirts, shorts, and my Tevas everyday.

On Friday I spent many hours shaping the garden, planting seeds and transplanting some of the seedlings that had been germinating in the serre, including tomatoes, leeks, salad greens, courgettes, kales and kohlrabis. After a long day of gardening and on my knees, a good warm shower never felt better. As the sage, chives and thyme plants are growing strong, I decided to make something using fresh herbs. And what better then a big plate of Swiss knoepfli or spätzli which is sort of like German spätzle.

Cookies and travels tomorrow

Day 1 Arts Expo: Success! Many people enjoyed my photography and took my business cards. And I sold over 60 euros worth of cookies to benefit Japan. Surprisingly the oatmeal raisin cookies were a bigger hit than the chocolate chunk ones. All the apple spiced ones got bought up quickly as well. 

The cookies sold so well that I ended up baking two more batches late into the night tonight. My Japanese friend M will be selling the cookies while R and I are away this weekend. 

Some hints of where we're going: Canal St Martin. Shakespeare and Company bookstore. Mark Bittman article from today's NYTimes.com about Four Restaurants Worth a Metro Ride. Le Seine. Notre Dame. Champs-Elysees. Galleries in the Marais. Pierre Herme. Lenotre. Tour Eiffel.

We're heading to Paris, the city of lights, and love. Weather is expected to be sunny and in the 70s. 

I'll be back online on Tuesday with tales from Paris. Bon week-end à tous.

Japan and Arts Expo

This weekend my town is putting on its annual arts exposition, and I'm going to be part of it. The past few days I've been working on a Keynote slideshow, highlighting some of my photography of food, landscapes, and portraits. I've selected the photos, the music, and have the transitions all done, and have spent an entire day trying to get an exported QuickTime version of the slideshow to play on an ancient circa 2002 Windows laptop. It has been frustrating times, but I think R and I've finally got it playing now. R stepped in after I declared I was ready to throw the dinosaur out the window, which I may well do after this expo. Just in case the old thing chokes during QuickTime playback, I have a PDF backup that visitors can manually click through.

In addition to showing my photography, I'll be busy baking a ton of cookies to sell, with all proceeds to benefit the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. My friend S has said that Western media has chosen to report on the nuclear reactors, but there are hundreds of thousands of people who have lost everything and they need all the help you can give. I see this on the Dutch and French news every night, and I have many great Japanese friends, so I'm doing my own small part to help.

Please donate at Global Giving or at your local chapter of the Red Cross. Thank you.

 

Daytrips to Ambronay, Meximieux and Pérouges

This week really flew by for me. Did it for you? I've been busy lately—for times like these I stick to simple dishes that take less than 30 minutes to make but deliver on taste. Lately I've been making simple couscous or pasta dishes. Try this and let me know what you think. Take simple spaghetti and toss it with caramelized shallots, shiitake mushrooms, petit pois, and soy sauce. For a bit of heat, I add hot pepper flakes. Why is this dish so good? It must be all that umami flavor from the shiitakes and soy sauce.

So what have I been up to this week? Travels, baking, and more. On Thursday R and I celebrated a friend's birthday in Geneva at her photo studio. For that I baked chocolate chip cookies and a bacon mushroom leek quiche. Why chocolate chip cookies? Because my friend is American, and if there's one comfort food I missed when I first moved here, it was an honest to goodness American cookie, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Over the past year I've experimented with different recipes and ingredients. After many tests, I finally have a few cookie recipes made using local ingredients. The results? A crispy crust leading to a chewy interior. And the French like it because it's something new and "foreign".

A-gardening

As the weather gets warmer, I've been spending more and more time outdoors, working the garden. You know, preparing the ground for planting, turning the compost, and nurturing seedlings in the new serre that R built last Tuesday. This is the first year I'm germinating most of my plants from seed—so far, I have two kind of tomatoes, two kinds of basil, coriander, mesclun salad mix, two kinds of kale, kohlrabi, and scallions. The kohlrabi and kales are about an inch tall and the rest are just starting to emerge. The broccoli, chives, and mint I potted last year have survived the winter, mostly outside. I've been on broccoli watch the past two weeks—a tiny baby broccoli head sprouted and is getting bigger by the day. Just the other day the plant grew another teeny head below the main head. Exciting!

Au Jardin Botanique

While R attended to some business in Geneva, I spent the afternoon strolling through the Jardin Botanique, situated near the United Nations and Lake Geneva. In the sun, it felt like 70 and my sweater and spring down jacket quickly got tossed in my backpack.

By the time winter rolls into spring, I'm not as excited anymore about fall and winter fashion, and I long to forsake winter's heavy layers and accessories for t-shirts, shorts, skirts, and sandals. Yesterday was definitely a t-shirt and jeans kind of day. I hope that before long, I'll be wearing sandals again.

If it's been a particularly bleak winter (as it's been for my friends and family in Boston), there is no better cure for the winter blahs than a burst of spring color.