lundi 21 décembre 2009
cultural differences in food packaging
samedi 24 octobre 2009
garden update
** right right, i should get this window problem fixed. that takes effort though. and i'm a bit lazy.
dimanche 11 octobre 2009
queso de cabra con miel
dimanche 4 octobre 2009
mozzarella di bufala
lundi 15 juin 2009
le fromage qui pue
1.anything with bubbles (beer or sparkling wine) goes great with very soft creamy cheese.
2.you can and should usually eat the rind unless it's really hard.
3.goat cheese loves white wine.
4.cheese goes best with white wine, so if you have a red, it's good with really strong cheese (the acidity balances the strong flavor, such as garlic)
most importantly, THE CHEESES.
best cheese EVER EVER EVER: Ossau Iraty. It's made in the Basque Pyrenees of southwestern France-- that's right by you right Alki? You should stop reading this immediately and go get some. It's a sheep's milk cheese and is magically creamy and delicious.
Our other favorite was Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, which was cheddar but was crumbly like parm. And there was a pretty good goat cheese called st maure.
jeudi 11 juin 2009
le relieur
Graphic Art, Sado Masochist, Snoopy, American Satanism, Freak Designers, Japanese Bondage, Pop art, Extreme Performances, everything you may like or dislike is available at "Un regard Moderne" a tiny bookseller situated near Saint Michel boulevard. The first time you come into the shop you feel scared by the silence and the huge piles of book that create kind of temple columns. Then you quickly learn how to find the different thematic piles: A pile of books stands for Erotic fetishist photographies, another one for eccentric cartoons (Pierre Lapolice, Stéphane Blanquet), experimental movies, beatnik literature. If you're lucky enough you'll discover original William Burroughs recordings declaiming his "cut up poems".
"Un Regard Moderne" owns a modest gallery and organize previews and exihibitions to support the launch of limited edition books. Pierre Molinier and Gilles Berquet two famous erotic french photographers has elected this amazing bookseller whenever they need to present their new creations. Be aware of the price because most of the books sold there are unique and cost sometimes a lot.
awesome, huh?
the second place i discovered was "le relieur" what is a relieur ? yea, i had no clue either. a relieur constructs, assembles, and/or restores books -- a "bookbinder". there isn't a wiki page in english. probably because it doesn't exist as a profession in culture-less anglophone countries! hehe.
anyway, andre MINOS is .. amazing ! (and his father is greek !) i spent about 1/2 hour talking with him about what he does. he literally uses a sewing machine to bind pages together !! (ok, maybe this doesn't seem shocking for some of you, but to me, it was completely foreign !)
he also told me about his surprisingly many japanese apprentices (the french and the japanese are quite similar when it comes to.. what is the word i'm looking for? taste ? meticulous ? refined ? detail ?), his international clients, our neighbhorhood.... anyway, he lives right next to his workshop so he invited me over for lunch on his terrasse sometime. i'm stoked.
yup, that's all. tasty sandwiches and the coolest street ever.
i'm waiting to hear back from amy and aron about their wine and cheese class (sue's and my wedding present!) for my next post........ :-)
samedi 6 juin 2009
flavored coffee
http://lafleurdeparis.blogspot.com/2006/02/snack-chic.html
lundi 1 juin 2009
eggplant : a meat substitute?
mercredi 13 mai 2009
l'aventure culinaire à new york
QUELLE SEMAINE INCROYABLE....
mainly due to the most beautiful, loving, sincere, and just ridiculously fun wedding ever (i decided that even if i don't marry a jewish man, i want klezmer music and dancing at my wedding).
i heart the mednicks.
it's also just been a whirlwind of hilarious experiences- from karaoke to nail spas (yea, i went twice in one week - they are surprisingly very affordable in nyc), from the bolt bus to dc to one of matty's shows in a yoga studio, from skeeball at the crocodile lounge to brent the bartender at welcome to the johnsons shotgunning $2 PBRs in less than 3 seconds, from the impressively efficient checkout system at whole foods to sexy shops in the west village, from hanging out in the mount sinai hospital library with beth to being blown away by heather christian at the rockwood.
only in new york. and all that is nothing compared to what i'm about to talk about next: the food.
my nyc culinary adventure kicked off with a 3-hour food tour in the west village (part of amy's bachelorette party). the gastronomic personality of the west village, mainly due to its immigrant history, is predominantly italian, sprinkled with spices from other latin cultures including france, cuba, and mexico (they're all considered latin, right?). some highlights were the fresh rice balls from Faicco's, the fusion mushroom and rice dish from Centro Vinoteca (where we met Leah from Top Chef, yoohoo!), the chorizo from Little Havana, and the warm cookies from Milk and Cookies. i was in food heaven. we also got to visit this amazing authentic barnhouse in the back of the restaurant Palma (and though we didn't do a tasting there, the food looked incredible). if you want to do a fun activity in nyc and you love food, go here.
the food tour was rich and euphoric but l'aventure culinaire did not end there. something i crave a lot in paris is good, affordable mexican food. so nothing could beat Burrito Loco at 1am on cinco de mayo where we feasted on scrumptious nachos and margaritas. and then one night, in search of "salads" to appease our guilt of gluttony, sue and i along with with josh, stumbled upon at Galanga for some delicious mango and sticky rice (shall we say, the opposite of salads?).
the free pizza with beer at Crocodile Lounge deserves a mention, because they do in fact make the pizza fresh on-site, creating a delicious complement to my magic hat, and ya know, it's free.
we went to Bistro Jules (i was having a bit of paris nostalgia), where i got to speak french with the waiter and listen to fantastic music by this hot asian chick with hair down to her bum rocking it out on the violin- we only drank wine but the food looked pretty good too.
i had a delicious lunch with shin-jung at Penelope's for a simple but incredibly tasty and healthy sandwich- brie, apple, honey, and fakin' bakin' on multigrain bread (though i recommend staying away from the "fakin' bacon" - just go for the real deal).
and finally, upon a sudden burrito craving, erica and i found the Rocking Horse Cafe whose theme seemed to be 'conscious mexican eating' (ya know, brown rice, free-range chicken, ....) where not only was my burrito absolutely succulent (i'm running out of adjectives here...), but i also felt like i was doing something good to my body (and the food was really pretty too - see below!).
the list goes on and on, but i can honestly say that i did not have one single culinary disappointment this past week.
how is your palate doing? wipe that drool off your shirt!! are ready for more?
so in reverse order of my top 5 favorite food experiences of the past week (apart from the massive kick-off food tour).......
5. Bruno's - for anyone living in new york, this sandwich and salad joint will probably seem extremely mundane, but for me, it was so .. comforting? one thing i've realized i've missed in paris is a good turkey sub, like the ones i used to eat at laverde's. ok, now imagine laverde's, but with extremely fresh ingredients and twice the amount of scrumptious turkey cold-cut slices compressed into the sub. i went to bruno's twice and my only regret is that the second time, i only got a half-sandwich instead of a whole one. ** if you get a sandwich or sub, make sure to have it made fresh, instead of just asking for one that is pre-made.
4. Vanessa's Dumplings - so this was a complete happenstance visit. i admit it. i was instantly drawn to the recession price sign (see below). and man, that steamed bun way surpassed my expectations. and it seems that if ever you are in new york and are experiencing the dumpling effect, vanessa's is the solution (confirmed by sue).
3. The Kati Roll Company - i was pretty exhausted after the pbr shotgun challenges at welcome to the johnsons, but sue and thomas insisted that we make a kati roll run before heading home. and boy am i glad that we did! we got the unda aloo roll (spicy mix of egg and potato rolled into a flatbread) which was absolutely divine. even better than pruthvi's cooking in india. hehe. and ya know what? the place ... HAD A BOUNCER! yea, that's how intensely delicious it was. if you are in new york, you definitely have to stop and have a kati roll.
2. 16 Handles - after a somewhat disappointing frozen yogurt experience in the mount sinai hospital cafeteria, beth wanted to make it up to me and take me to one of the new generation frozen yogurt spots where they put together two enticing-looking words together (redberry, plumplime, purplejuicy, iwantyourmama....). so we went to 16 handles (whose sign looks like 16 hindles - so yea, we didn't get it at first either). which was possibly quite literally... A DREAM COME TRUE. 16 handles of different flavors of frozen yogurt (including "tart"- that sort of sour actimel flavor). and then an extremely diverse and unlimited selection of toppings. and basically, you pay by the pound so you can load on as many different toppings as you want.
my advice to you: stay light on the yogurt so you can have more liberty with the toppings. in the words of beth, "ice cream is just an excuse to eat oreos with a spoon".
drumroll please..... and in first place for my top food experience in nyc over the past week........
1. the cocktail hour at amy and aron's wedding **
** technically New Jersey but ya know, i bet the caterer was from New York. ;-) just kidding i love new jersey
hands down no question whatsoever.
the room was DECORATED with cocktails. pretty red, green, and pink ones. cocktails with apples in them. cocktails with gummy bears in them. cocktails ready at the bar. cocktails being passed around by servers. and then there were the FOOD cocktails. the mashed potato cocktails. the steak-tinis. there was a meat grill. and a fish grill. sushi boats. a variety dumpling bar. a middle eastern buffet section. bellinis. a fancy veggie buffet section. people walking around with sweet potato pancakes. and fancy and delicious hotdogs. duck cigars. chicken teriyaki. i was blown. a. way.
photos courtesy of Sue Young
oh yeah. and then there was dinner. which was delicious. and beautiful. but i was in a food coma at that point and didn't appreciate it as much as i should have.
so. if we go back to the new york versus paris culinary challenge, there is no question that (for me), new york comes out on top. and on top of new york is amy and aron's cocktail hour. which is going to be damn hard to beat.
now that i'm back in paris, it's back to soup and veggies. ya know, so that my jeans can fit again.
bon appetit.......
dimanche 8 mars 2009
move over soup, it's time for sushi
dimanche 11 janvier 2009
soup craze
mardi 6 janvier 2009
the "things i pretend to like but if i actually listen a bit more closely to my mind, spirit, and/or body, HATE" phenomenon
- it's cold. really cold.
- it's dark. when you wake up. when you leave the office.
- snow. yea, it's pretty when you look out the window and it's fun to have snowball fights and build snowmen, but it stops about there. you can drive to a ski station to do that. living in an urban area, snow just sucks. you can't go places. it gets slushy and gross. it ruins plans. you have to shovel. (fine, snow days counteract one of those many negative points about snow).
- you can't wear "summer dresses" in the winter. i love bright colorful and barely there dresses and it's just annoying that you're "not allowed" to wear those on days when the sun sets before 7pm. grr. (ok, your counter argument would be to say, "alki just wear them anyway". but i don't feel right doing it! it's ingrained in me!)
- people are lazy, so you don't see them as much.
- also, due to the lazy factor, you usually gain a lot of weight and feel bad about it.
- the holiday season. ok, i adore thanksgiving. i'll give you that. but the whole month of december just kind of depresses me. yes, there's always chocolates and lots of good food around, but then, i overeat and feel bad about it. and i always have a weird sensation about the changing of one year to the next, because it feels out of place and forced (september should be the new january, thank you northern hemisphere school systems).
- not being able to hang out outside. to picnic. take long walks. exercise. i like working out in a gym but sometimes, the feeling of working out indoors... is just depressing.
- the beer garden is closed. ok, i've only been there once and i live nowhere near the astoria beer garden, but it just makes me sad thinking that it is closed.
- your electricity bill is multiplied by about 10! (you could argue that air-conditioning is more costly, but living in france, most apartments don't have aircon. they don't really know what that is. re. 2003).
- i always get dizzy and feel like i'm about to pass out
- the next day, i am in so much pain, not the good kind of soreness -- because when you're in the class, you're like, yea woohoo, i'm so flexible but then you end up doing things that you really shouldn't do and definitely can not do at a normal temperature (unless you're doing hot yoga on a very regular basis)