paradox

as i sit here chomping down on a spotty banana i realize that i have yet to solve my conundrum.

"all the baguettes in the world and nothing to eat."

the 3 euro sandwiches in the caf at my school just won't cut it. however, i finally found a normal grocery store so i do believe i'm on the right track. here's a quickie that my good friend taught me back in montreal for when you're stomach is a bottomless pit and you feel like a lazy beached whale. 

sweet carrot "purée" (though, without an immersion blender, magic bullet or the like it was more like chunky boiled carrots) with cumin, goat cheese, and cilantro on pita. the perfect healthy-ish college kid meal.

the other night i went round 2 at cite universitaire aka a ginormous hostel in the 14eme arrondissement that houses a motley crew of undergrads and grad students in residences each designed in accordance with the architectural style of its country. pretty sweet deal. as it was sunday and everything in paris is closed on sundays including any means of normal food consumption, i grabbed some chinese beef on the way to bring as an offering. it worked. 

garlic bread

with an assortment of cutlery and ethnic flavors we put together a most satisfying meal. i took a back seat on this one and let our wonderful hosts Kwaku and Kailin do the dirty work. and it was dirrrrty. 

roasted potatoes with rosemary and onion, scrambled eggs with vegetables, beef and broccoli, egg noodles, mango, avocado, lettuce & tomato salad, and PRAWN CRACKERS! (best thing since sliced bread)

cooking and eating in a communal kitchen atmosphere is pretty great too. in and out walk all sorts of people from everywhere in the world. the houses at "cite u" are by no means segregated by nationality. i must say i saw some envious eyes wandering in and out of the kitchen. 

snazzy eh? i can honestly say i had to unbutton my pants to digest this one---an accomplishment i am proud of! 

of course the company made it taste even better. a little dancing never hurt no one either.

and just last night i made one of my classic dishes for me and a friend seared tuna steak with mango chutney.

she brought the rosé and desserts, equally crucial je pense. ok, now i really need to stop writing before i eat my laptop. 

out with the old, in with the new

after my 4 hour walking tour on sunday, my body said "no more!" and it crashed into a dreadful sniffly ache-y state. but with a little cold-fx, oj, and my comfy bed. i became a new person. i got a new 'doo, a new apartment, new friends, and this new-found feeling of being fully satiated after a meal.

though these classics did the trick for a few hours...

chicken, mushroom, pesto galette (aka savory crepe)

soupe à l'oignon gratinée

the eureka moment came last night when i went to a highly recommended moroccan restaurant with a friend. tucked into a side street of the marais (obviously, i haven't had the desire to leave my neighborhood yet), is this vibrantly ethnic restaurant with decorative tea lights, communal tables, silk covered chairs, and tapestry-laden walls.

of course i tried not looking as a complete tourist with my broken french and my camera out, so i only got a quick shot of these delectable spiced chicken-stuffed filo pockets, with cilantro dipping sauce. this was followed by a steaming hot lamb tagine with artichokes and peas, with a side of couscous with a vegetable soup-like broth, and un verre du vin blanc. we were so perfectly full that we didn't even feel the need to gorge ourselves on the leftover couscous and the complementary moroccan bread basket. 

last night i saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and i'm not going back to growling stomach pains. 


bring it on paris.

a bit(e) of ny in paris

things i've learned so far:

1. bread is not filling. okay, maybe it's filling for an hour...tops. my stomach has become a bottomless pit. i think the excess of yeast is expanding my gastrointestinal tract to accommodate the extreme amount of bread i've been consuming.

2.  the french are skinny because there is not much of a late night food scene and by observing them in their natural habitat i have concluded that they only consume café allongé (i.e. espresso) and cigarette smoke.

3. blogger, Vahram Muratyan, author of parisvsnyc.blogspot.com draws many adept comparisons between these two glorious cities. In his own witty way he whittles down these two worlds into expressive pieces of pop art that sometimes make you cringe at how accurate they are. However, what he may not realize is that some of the gems of ny don't just resemble paris, they exist in paris.

Take for example "Merce & the Muse"http://merceandthemuse.com/, "an East Village-hip coffee shop run by a young American expat in the upper Marais" http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/may/06/top-10-cafes-paris. This establishment made me feel at home this morning when I was greeted by an American and served earl grey tea and a real true brunch of arugala salad, radish & sesame salad, a soft boiled egg, and smoked salmon and 'ol style philadelphia cream cheese on some (healthy!) whole wheat bread. But alas...there was an added bread basket with butter and cranberry coulis. sigh.

 

neat fact no. 1: 75003 is the zip code for the 3rd arrondissement aka "le marais" and I know this how? well, you can tell by the last number(s) of the zip code which correspond to the number of the arrondissement, so the 5th would be 75005

 
and in true french fashion i spent the afternoon digesting by walking around and shopping my heart out (mostly with my eyes).

for good measure, here is another blatant example of how a bit ny exists within paris...

à la prochaine

la douceur de vivre

bread.cheese.wine.sugar. is there anything else that you need in life? je ne pense pas. however, though i have a deep deep love for these four essential ingredients i am trying to pace myself. 6 months to go and there is only so much bread and wine that stomach acid can digest. have i seen the eiffel tower yet? only the top...twice. have i seen the louvre? no, i've passed the metro a few times. have i been to marche des enfants rouge (the oldest covered food market in paris)?...duh! 5 baguettes? 4 croissants? 3 cheeses? cheap wine? of course. as sundays are generally lazy days in paris i decided to stay in "le marais" the 3eme & 4eme arrondisements (neighborhoods) to explore my foodie passions. on the good advice from my fellow foodies i hit up the famous juice bar called "Bob's Kitchen," and "Rose Bakery" (again...twice). as it was packed to the brim i grabbed brunch to go.

read: the extent of my vegetable intake over the course of 3 days...a delicious mini tartine of sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. topped off with:

their famous carrot cake. best i've ever had. i enjoyed this petit dejeuner at place des vosges, an old royal stomping ground, renowned for its exceptional people watching. however, i'm pretty sure most of the people were watching me as i chased after my paper bag in the wind and shooed away the pigeons. i did manage to snap a couple photos of the natives in their natural habitat.

peculiar creatures they are.

it hurts my eyes.

for all you gluten-free vegetarians out there

what is rich, creamy, filling, and does not involve excessive meat, cream, or bread? mushroom risotto. my dad's classic recipe (most likely lifted out of "The New York Times" 15 years ago) is hard to beat. the hour-long effort in front of the stove is surely worth this indulgent meal, plus stirring doesn't require much skill...what's great about this recipe is that it's packed with flavor without being (too) bad for you. the whole recipe only calls for 2 tbsp. of olive oil and 3 tbsp. of butter. the cheese is added to suit your taste. it must be a function of the Arborio Italian rice. now we know how they manage to stay relatively skinny with all that gelato...a tip though: i used half dried porcini mushrooms and half fresh shitake mushrooms which gave it all the flavor without too much effort.

stick gooey goodness.

the one productive thing i did all weekend

is make this delightful galette. "galette" is a general term used in French to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes aka a huge ass cookie. gentle flaky crust topped with roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, sage, and swiss cheese. it is a great potluck dish because it is the right amount of complex savory flavors and can easily be transported in one piece. tonight i had my martlet girls over for a potluck, but the ante was upped this time as one of them said "everything she makes tastes like rainbows"-- well i'm flattered but i'm not quite sure what rainbows taste like so i hope this fit the bill.

to achieve a truly flaky crust, all of the ingredients have to be cold, especially the butter. my friend gave me this AWESOME tip: if you have to freeze the butter only to eventually cut it up into smaller pieces and mix it with a flour mixture, it is easiest to freeze the stick whole then use the larger holes of a grater to get the butter into pieces. yes, the picture above is butter, not popcorn. sweet eh? 

roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions-- the two stars of this recipe.

it's like a pocket of goodness.

i think they liked it too. what a wonderful starch, cheese, and carb filled meal :)


For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash (about one pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons butter (if you have only non-stick, the smaller amount will do)
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
3/4 cup fontina cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces), grated or cut into small bits
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

the "how-to":

1. Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Prepare squash: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a 1/2-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined (for neatness sake) sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender, turning it midway if your oven bakes unevenly. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Caramelize onions: While squash is roasting, melt butter in a heavy skillet and cook onion over low heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

4. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, cheese and herbs together in a bowl.

5. Assemble galette: On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the border over the squash, onion and cheese mixture, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

6. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Serves 6.

source: www.SmittenKitchen.com 

thank goodness my bubbe doesn't use the internet...

or else she'd blush at the fact that there are shrimp tails sticking out of the bowl below. oh well, it was too delicious to forgo! i would say this is the first real dinner that I've cooked for myself in quite a while. i feel like food never tasted this good! sometimes there just is a limit to take-out, frozen dinners, and even fancy restaurants. there is almost no other activity that i get as much enjoyment out of as cooking a one-pot meal then settling into an episode of "The West Wing," grinning with satisfaction at having created a tasty meal. one of my roommates mentioned that i put so much effort into cooking as if it was a burden, but the truth is that the effort makes the outcome so much more enjoyable.

 

so what it took me 15 minutes to grate and squeeze limes...

the rest was a breeze. sauté , simmer, and serve--

this thai shrimp curry hails from my holy grail: Bon Appétit

ingredients:

• 3 large limes
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped shallots
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch dice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (such as Thai Kitchen brand)
• 1 13 1/2- to 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
• 8 peeled deveined uncooked large shrimp (8 to 10 ounces)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

 the "how-to":

• finely grate enough peel from 2 limes to measure 11/2 teaspoons. Squeeze enough juice from 2 limes to measure 2 tablespoons. Cut third lime into wedges.
• heat vegetable oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chopped shallots, diced red bell pepper, and minced ginger; sauté until shallots are tender and peppers soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, 11/2 teaspoons lime peel, and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Simmer gently, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle fish and shrimp with salt and pepper. Add shrimp to curry sauce. Return to very gentle simmer and cook just until fish and shrimp are opaque in center, 5 to 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently stir in cilantro and basil; serve with lime wedges.

בתאבון