A day in Dieppe

Today we took a day trip to Dieppe, a port city on the English channel in North Normandie, 45 minute train ride from Rouen the capital of Normandie where we have been the past few days. We walked and walked for hours, the streets of the old town where there was a large farmers’ market and the shopping festival, then along the pebbled beach where we had our impromptu picnic lunch, up to the castle, and then up to the viewpoint where there was an old church. The many gorgeous shades of blue green of the ocean were magical. It was very pleasant to walk all these hours and look at the tended flowers and little wild flowers and to explore and to see and to hear the ocean again. The air was similar to that of the West Coast in British Columbia and that reminded me that cool cloudy gloomy summer days could be rather dispiriting and also that I especially didn’t like being surrounded by so many seagulls.

We have been blessed with good weather since arriving here a few days ago. It’s our last day before heading back to Lyon tomorrow. As soon as we got back to our maison d’hôte late this afternoon the rain came down hard with lightening and thunders and all and feeling thoroughly exhausted from so much walking around today it’s so nice to be watching the rain from inside this lovely lovely place and hearing the thunders and the occasional bells of the village’s church and the birds chirping away…

Le Cheesecake

When I was living in Grenoble 10 years ago, the only place to find chocolate chip cookies North American style was this one particular bakery that wasn't doing the usual French patisserie type baked goods. Muffins and donuts were non-existent then. These days you can find these items easily in many chained patisseries.

The French call shortbread type cookies 'les biscuits', and good old American chocolate chip cookies 'ah, les cookies !' (yes, though they love their French pastries, everybody seems to have a soft spot for les cookies). And besides les cookies that are popular everywhere I take them to, 'ah, le cheesecake !' seems to also be another marvelous anglophone invention among the French.

My Francophone friend Mylène from Québec confirmed that in Québec, they call the cheesecake 'gâteau au fromage' (as well as in my French cookbooks), and chocolate chip cookies 'biscuits aux brisures de chocolat'. But each time I introduce my cheesecake as 'gâteau au fromage', the French would invariably say, 'ah, le cheesecake !', and no less with 'ah, les cookies !'

Personally I think cheesecake should have another name altogether. Not so much because creamcheese is not really cheese to me. But with its name with the inconvenient word 'cheese', I can't get Yannick to have a bite, eventhough tiramisù with its Italian creamcheese type cheese in the name of mascarpone, he doesn't seem to mind at all!

The cheesecake I make in France doesn't taste the same as back in Canada because the creamcheese here is different from the usual Philadelphia. But it's delicious nonetheless, in a different way.

I always want to try new recipes, acquire new techniques, learn new things, etc. and today did I ever learn a few things. First I had decided to make my popular French onion tart on a large scale because I needed a lot of it. Instead of making it in a tart pan as usual, I had the bright idea of tripling the recipe and making it in a large cookie sheet. After slicing 4.5 pounds of onions (I bet most people haven't done that!) and tears streaming and eyes and nose burning, and then trying to squeeze all the onions (and that was only twice the amount the recipe) into my largest frying pan and picking up bits and pieces off the floor every time I flipped the spatula (really got a good workout for my biceps by the way), I scaled the tripling to doubling the recipe.

Rolling the pie crust large enough for the cookie sheet wasn't an easy task either. In fact it became an impossible task for me. Now the floor wasn't only littered with onion bits but also flour and pie dough. In the end I abandonned the idea and went back to make the tarts in two regular tart pans. The bright idea wasn't a bright idea after all. Many lessons learned here, but most importantly, I will never make more than one batch of this recipe at a time ever ever again!

And by the way, if I wasn't sure before, cutting onions is now undoubtdedly at the top of my list of least favourite tasks in the kitchen.

I also made a cheesecake, and this too I needed a lot of, and this too, I had some adventure with and learned a lesson or two. I increased the recipe and made it in a regtangular 9*13 inch pan to be cut into squares. I ignored to bake it in bath water which I normally would do. And of course it had too big (really really big) crack to ignore. To repair this, I decided to cover it with mascarpone cream. But I was out of eggs and I remembered seeing eggless tiramisù recipes where whipped cream was used instead of whipped egg whites.

Now I really shouldn't be telling people that I don't know how to make whipped cream, but for once I have a story to tell so here we go. It took a real long while of beating the cream with the electric hand beater before anything started to happen. Slowly the volume started to increase. Now, if I were to keep beating at it, it would eventually turn itself into whipped cream, right? Right! It eventually got a little bigger in volume. And right before my eyes, it escalated into a weirder and weirder state (which I found out later this phenomenon is called curdling). So instead of whipped cream, it looked like I had butter (I was told it was butter) in a puddle of milk. Well, butter is a really really lovely thing. But not when what you need is whipped cream!

I'll skip telling you this next part because it was even more embarassing that what had just happened. Fast forward to the happy ending (after all this babbling, I should have fast forwarded sooner, shouldn't I?), I covered it with some delicious homemade apricot spread that our friend Fabrice and Ania had made and given us. So after all these adventures, I congratulated myself for having made a cracked cheesecake that needed mending that I am sure in the end turned out better than a perfect cheesecake without the topping otherwise.

Here's the original recipe for a 6.5 inch springform pan.

PS. If you know why what was supposed to be whipped cream went weird, please tell me in the comment section.

Le Cheesecake

Ingredients :
Crust :
130 grams speculoos
2 tablespoons butter

Filling :
2 eggs
2 pots yogurt (250 ml)
300 grams St. Moret cheese
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Grind speculoos and mix with melted butter. Press into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
2. Blend the filling ingredients and pour it over the baked crust.
3. Bake in bath water for about 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Bon appetit!

Weekend at La Roque sur Cèze

Late Friday afternoon we headed south to a small medieval village called La Roque sur Cèze to catch the last bit of summer.

We stayed at the cottage of our friend Marie-Claude. Each morning we were greeted by these two goats wandering about.


Some snapshots from around the village from our evening walk.



Some snapshots of other towns we visited not far from La Roque.



And of the historic monastery Chartreuse de Valbonne and Chateau (castle) Grignan.




And of a vineyard.



And of Yannick and Rung.

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Roasted Garlic Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

I love incorporating roasted sweet potatoes (often called incorrectly 'yam') in my dishes. It must be my Thai tongue that loves some sweetness in my savory dishes (yes, there's sugar in every Thai dish). And all that fiber and minerals are good for you. And, as I discovered, they are not well known among, but agreeable to, these sensitive French tongues.

When we have company over, I like to make something special and different than what they would usually eat, but planning a somewhat interesting meal for company in France is a little more complicated for me than back home. And back home, I mean North America where people are used to sushi and Pad Thai, and quesadillas, etc. etc. Our menu planning for the first dinner party (housewarming) got so complicated and daunting that we cancelled it and didn't contemplate another dinner with company at home for a long long while.

Setting aside all things the least bit spicy and exotic ingredients like seaweed or tofu or fennel that mostly now, I don't even think about including, who would think that cinnamon could be an objectionable ingredient? Cinnamon, people! And fish? And spinach? And cheese? And some other ingredients I had to omit just because: sweet peppers, beans, parmesan. Zucchini cake is bizarre but I have learned that they are okay with it if you forget to tell them ahead of time about the zucchini part.

Last week we had two friends over, who according to Yannick, ate EVERYTHING. Well, everything if you don't count seafood. And still I thought to not get too wild. So for apéritif, I made Thai style deep fried sweet potatoes (now, this is one thing that wouldn't go so well back in the West Coast because people there seem terrified by deep fried food), and avocado sushi which didn't go fabulously with the guests.

One item of the main course was chicken satay (marinated chicken on skewer) with satay sauce (Thai peanut butter sauce) of course. One guest plainly refused to have the sauce because "I don't like sauces, they mask the taste of real food". Perhaps it's true for many things, and for good reasons (think vegetable dip), but in the case of satay, I think chicken is one of the vehicles invented for the sauce. Chicken satay without satay sauce would be like eating a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese.

So getting back to our sweet potatoes... I have been experimenting them on my French guests via quesadilla, enchilada and lasagna with good success and I want to try them in some new recipes. So yesterday while shopping for today's lunch, I thought about my friend sweet potato again. I was at a supermarket where one had to weigh the produces herself on an electronic scale and get the correct tickets for the items before going through checkout. So I placed my sweet potatos on the scale and searched the potato category and the root vegetable category (sensible, ain't I?) and summer vegetable category and autumn vegetable category. And I started over again down the obvious categories. And just before I was about the give it up, I spotted a man who was working there. So I told him I couldn't find it in the menu and could you please help and tell me in what category this sweet potato could possible be. 'C'est Fruits Exotiques', without failing to roll his eyes at me as though it was the most obvious thing and how could you miss that, mademoiselle.

And yesterday as I was baking my peach and nectarine tart and chocolate chip cookies, I tossed this piece of sweet potato wrapped up in a piece of aluminum paper along in the hot oven without really knowing what I was to do with it just yet.



I could have gone wild today because the lunch guests were a Canadian woman and an American woman whom I just met. But I wasn't in the mood for wild, but rather something new for me to try. And as with experimentation on guests goes, one needs some backup plans if things don't go so swimmingly. If the foccocia doesn't work out, there's the bakery just around the corner. This was the third time making foccocia and it was a bit undercooked but I liked it all the same.

The big project this morning was making ravioli using fresh lasagna sheets and homemade filling with homemade pesto. I bought gnocchi just in case the ravioli didn't work out. And I would have made smoked salmon in crème fraîche sauce if, though not likely, something went horribly wrong with the pesto.

I had trouble sealing the ravioli and ended up baking it instead of boiling in water. I doubled the ricotta in the filling by mistake but it was still ok altogether.


This was leek fritata. One needs something easy and quick to prepare and that has to work out so she can focus her energy on other more risky experimentations.


Peach and nectarine tart. The crust got a tad soggy from too much juice.


It was the first time I made this, so I also needed a backup dessert.


Which was this almond shortbread. I tried a few recipes from this site Joy of Baking, and I have loved all the results. We always have homemade shortbread around since they keep well, are simple and quick to make, easy to eat and transport, and popular with the French crowd.

Today's leftover was a good occasion also for Yannick because he was getting tired of eating light. But I think it undid the 5 day's effort of dieting in 20 minutes.

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Roasted Garlic Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Recipe

Ingredients :
Ravioli :
1 large sweet potato, approximately 1 pounds, roasted at 350 degrees F for an hour
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup ricotta (I used 1 cup by mistake)
1 lady finger, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
350 grams fresh lasagna sheets

Pesto :
2 bulb garlic, roasted at 350 degrees F for an hour
4 garlic cloves
3/4 cup olive oil
10 large pieces of sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions :
1. Make the pesto by blending the ingredients together in a blender.
2. Sautee the chopped red onion and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
3. Blend together the red onion mixture with the rest of the ingredients except for the sheets.
4. Cut the sheets into rectangles about 6 * 3 inches.
5. Take a cut rectangle, wet the edges with water and drop a tablespoonful of the filling in the middle. Fold to make a square and seal the edges.
6. Cook the ravioli in boiling water until they float, about 3 minutes. (That would have been the version if the ravioli had sealed properly, but I baked them instead).
7. Toss together the ravioli and the pesto.

Bon appetit!

Sunday Afternoon Family BBQ

Yesterday we had a family gathering at Yannick's parents in Barby, about an hour or so from Lyon. Everybody arrived around 1pm. The weather was very agreeable, warm with soft breezes, the sun was shining, and it was a pleasure to be in their beautiful garden and to see everybody again.

I have come to appreciate and love the French custom around the dining table, sharing a meal over leisurely hours through several courses, savoring and extending the simple earthly pleasure of eating to the maximum. The courses typically include apéritif (pre-meal drink), entrée (first course), plat principal (main), fromage (cheese), dessert, café, and sometimes digestive (after meal drink). Each course progresses slowly with a graceful pause between each course.

A traditional family Sunday afternoon get together starts in the early afternoon and goes on for several hours over a long multi-course meal well into the early evening.



We started with the apéritif at 1:35pm. And being with family is special and reason enough to celebrate with a bottle of champagne or two (two in this case). The pre-meal drink is usually accompanied by nibblies such as nuts, crackers, chips, dips, canapés, a charcuterie plate, olives, tapenade, etc. etc.



Chink chink ! Santé ! To your health! Here's Yannick, his father André and his mother Madeleine. If you don't know and wonder why they don't have Asian faces like Yannick, it's because Yannick was adopted. He arrived in France to be a new member of the Bertrand family on November 5th, 1973 when he was around 5 years old.



These are Yannick's niece Émilie and Yannick's sister Marie-Laure. Aren't they beautiful?!



A little over an hour later, around 2:40pm, came the first course. Jambon cru et melon which is raw ham and cantaloupe in English.



André was in charge of the barbeque. Seems universally to be the man of the house's task, doesn't it?



Grillade (colelette du porc), merguez (sausage made with lamb and beef) and godiveau (hot paté made of ground meat).



I meant to note the time of each course specifically to share in this post. But I lost track, which on such a beautiful carefree afternoon, one really really should anyway. And after a few glasses of this and that...



Barbeque meats, green leaves and tomatoes fresh from the garden, tabouleh which was forgotten in the fridge, boiled eggs, ewe-milk feta, pan roasted tomatoes with herbs, and risotto cakes.

And of course delicious bread. There's always bread in every French meal no matter what other starches (potatoes, pasta, rice) you might be having. There's always bread on the table. Literally. No bread plate. And no butter on the bread please.



Grilled Atlantic salmon for me. I think it was around 3:15pm when we started the main course.



Yannick and his brother Julien resting after the main course. But really I think it's Yannick fleeing the cheese course. Not a real French man after all, is he?



I think it must have been around 4:30pm when we started on the dessert. After the barbeque on a hot afternoon, ice cream was not only appropriate, but important. Do you see American food invading the French food culture here? We had Ben & Jerry's cookie dough, Haägen-Dazs caramel biscuit & cream-speculoos, Haägen-Dazs macadamia nut brittle, and Haägen-Dazs caramel brownie (I overdosed...) And do you know that Haägen-Dazs is American, created by Polish immigrants in New York in 1961, and is now owned by General Mill?

The ice creams were accompanied by Scottish shortbread and Canadian chocolate chip cookies, home made by none other than yours truly.



Let the battle begin! Water battle, that is.



Julien's wife Elodie (Yannick's and my sister-in-law).



For some people, the battle is best enjoyed from a distance.





Or not!

A losing battle for Yannick...



Have a wonderful week everybody!

Market Snapshots

In Lyon, you can go to a farmers market everyday of the week, all year round, rain or shine. Our local market which is a block from our apartment happens on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. At this time of year, we get very excited about fruits, and so I go most market days.



Always found in our shopping bag are nectarines, cherries, cantaloupes, and beefsteak tomatoes. They are really very tasty!



Saturday morning is a busy time here, and so this morning it was a good time to snap some pictures discreetly.







With the exception with this jolly fellow who is always cheery, if not flirty. Mademoiselle, come taste my melon!



All kinds of fresh herbs with a pretty smile. And we buy our cherries from this madame.



Les olives et les piments. Ok, I cheated. This photo was taken at another market a couple of years ago.



Les poissons which is French for fish.



Les biscuits et les patisseries. Each time I pass I keep thinking to myself that I would love to do this for a living. Imagine, you get to make all kinds of goodies, and you get money for it too!



And then there's the smelly part of the market, where when we pass, without fail, Yannick would scrunge up his nose and makes some kind of noises. For those who don't know, this one French man detests cheese.









But this he loves. Saucisses. But I pass.





Yannick insisted that I included this monsieur eating cerise in this post.

Bon appetit and happy weekend everybody!