all the recipes
. . . the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month : Remembrance Day - Armistice Day (symbolized by a red poppy in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while in France, it’s the blue cornflower). The First World War means so much for so many countries that participated, whether directly in their own...
This CHILLY-COLD-COLDER weather needs a WARM-HOTTER-SPICY soup . . . and in my part of the world, the cold is just beginning . . . (and I’m not quite ready to deal with it yet) ! It’s quite surprising when we realize the importance and/or obsession most of us have with weather. It obviously affects our mood but...
THIS WEEKEND (my darlings), YOU ARE CLEANING OUT YOUR FRIDGE . . . otherwise, just keep on walking, nothing GLAMOROUS to see here ! Cooking a lot means a lot of leftovers tucked away in your refrigerator : half-used opened tins, bits & pieces of smaller stuff and of course larger partly-used stuff, not to mention the fresh herbs slowly...
SEPTEMBER isn’t all that BAD ! One week ago, I sincerely thought I was going to write up a kicking-and-screaming back to work September article. I changed my mind . . . It only seems painful in that way, not because everybody’s getting back to work or school or both and vacationing is over but because the weather changes. No...
Like eating a "ray of warm SUNSHINE", whipped up with the damp earthy cool of a mountainside village and its pastures grazed by sheep. KTIPITI means ‘whipped’ or ‘beaten’ in greek . . . It’s a summer dip (or spread) with only 2 basic ingredients, roasted red peppers and feta cheese (let’s save...
*My building caretaker or ‘concierge’ (as we say here in France) and also my dear gardening buddy (Mr. M.O.) came back from a short trip to Algeria 1 month ago with a suitcase stuffed with fruits & vegetables (it’s not the first time nor the last time, he always does that) . . . I think you’ve seen many of the...
The 'timing' for this recipe is just ‘right’ . . . The 1st reason is that it’s getting so much colder so it’s time for some homey-hot-heavy comfort food. The 2nd reason is that the culinary mind that imagined and transformed this initial recipe and presented it in the 90’s to the American public is...
Once upon a time (a few days ago), a few fresh PLUMS (the ones that turn into dried prunes later on) decided to have some fun and live it up before they lost their ‘freshness’ and dried up. They wanted to go on “dates” before their time would come. It just so happened that a few fresh DATES (the ones that turn into sweet...
"CURIOSITY is my prime motivator. MEMORY is my second. EVENTS are my third. It seems that the past 20 months have been punctuated by more events than I care to admit to, mostly tragic and man-made, sometimes naturally catastrophic . . ." My cooking inspirations are sensitive to these events and launch a tumult and churning in my mind,...
Dried "VEGETABLE FLAKES" are nothing to “snicker” at . . . (I can almost picture your mocking grins and my hand slowly raising itself and getting ready to give you a little slap) … HOW DARE I ?! It’s that stuff you’ve noticed when face-to-face with a vegetable soup that you add boiling water...
APPLE PIE : American, European, French, British, German, Austrian, Scandinavian ? ALL of the ABOVE my friends, and many more . . . (and I know this too well because I've prepared at least a dozen pies in the last 2 months). Each continent and country has its own versions. Some with top and bottom crusts, Others only with a bottom...
NO PEPPER, NO GARLIC, NO ONION, NO LEMON, NO SPICES, NO DRIED HERBS, NO NOTHING (or almost) . . . but why ? Because it’s easy to appreciate and be grateful & thankful for fancy & wonderful & complex things, but how about the simpler things, or even the SIMPLEST THINGS ?! It all began with HERBS, many, many, many...
The BIG RETURN … By now, you’ve already accepted it or have been forced to accept it because you no longer have the choice. Back to school for the younger ones (kindergarten, elementary, high school, university) and back to work for us older ones (office work, house work or taking care of your crazy family) . ....
A SERIES OF SCORCHINGLY HOT DAYS !!! . . . and this is one of Angel’s hot weather / summer holiday / childhood memory / favorite REFRESHING tapas dishes : extra large cooked Spanish mussels, served on the half-shell and covered with a cool ‘a la vinagreta’ mixture which is a combination of very finely diced...
“AS PURE AS THE SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS” . . . I’m half-Olympian from my mother’s side. Not an Olympian like a citizen of the city of Olympia in the Peloponnese region of Greece, where the Olympic Games first took place. Nor Olympian like the athletes in the Olympic Games. But rather a half-Olympian (in the...