In My Kitchen: February 2025

January was a really tough month for us - G got sick with what we think was influenza and was super sick for almost two weeks, and the wait for the specialist exam results was getting to us all... 

The last days in Italy...

We had these absolutely delicious biscuits from Belgium that my sister in law brought from Brussels 

I was inspired to make this lasagne from our visit to the farm La Rocchia in the hills above Padova. A vegetarian lasagne that's even better than the meat version if I may say so myself! It was a hit with the whole family and I hope it becomes our annual tradition... 

I made my own bechamel sauce with local Asiago cheese, the star was zucca (a green-ish Italian pumpkin), cavolo nero, peas and buffalo mozzarella. The fresh lasagne sheets really made a difference - did you know they come in two thicknesses in Italy?  

We spent a day in Venice, and visited the bridge where we got engaged in December 2022. How much has changed in the space of two years! These were some delicious cannolis we ate along the way...

A pizza "degustation" from our local pizzeria, we are lucky to have a very good one! That puffy crust is incredible and the left lower corner is the deep fried pizza.. not good for the coronary arteries but to die for!

Our last meal in Italy this trip - I made the tigelle, a traditional kind of flat bread from the Emilia-Romagna region, with my MIL's sourdough. The recipe came from the monastery cooking show, adapted for sourdough, and I replaced the lard with olive oil. They were kind of like English muffins with a softer texture, quite delicious with fresh prosciutto and cheese

Back in France..

My dear friend that I used to play piano duets with in Newcastle is quite obsessed with maple twists from Coles (or is it Woolies? only one of them carry them) and I was shocked that they sold one that looks identical in my local LIDL, so we had a maple twist video party. 

A pesto star I made for a party, I adapted the recipe to be vegan due to friends' dietary allergies but finally the dough didn't quite have the right texture ... have to try it again!

We continue with our Fancy Friday project where I make a 3 course meal themed on a vegetable every Friday. This was the broccoli dinner and given January is the month of galette des rois, I made my own savoury galette with a lentil broccoli filling. 

Picard sponsored one of our Fancy Fridays because G was sick and I didn't have the time or energy to cook... Picard is a lifesaver, the most incredible frozen food supermarket, apparently one of the most popular stores in France!

His illness was pretty tough, and I finally cracked open the Singaporean salted egg fish skin that Stefano brought back from his trip to Vietnam in July. I'm good at hoarding snacks like that! Funnily enough even when G refused to eat anything (even his favourites like banana or avocado) he wanted salted egg fish skin. 

For Chinese New Year I made this snake shaped cucumber salad using the viral tiktok way to cut cucumber, it was easy and really cool!

Our CNY spread: pink sea bream, pork & aneth dumplings, the cucumber snake and a cabbage/capsicum side. We were all sick and not feeling it, but we did our best to make it a special evening!

Curveball time.. 

I haven't yet found out how much S spent on this bottle of very special champagne but I suspect I may have a stroke when I find out - I've never had one with a handwritten label before! He ran out to buy it after we received the good news that I passed the specialist requalification competition and can now proceed to the next stage (finding a hospital to sponsor me for the two year transition period). It was a huge step in our lives, who would have thought that we would be here!

This is how we should all live, just do whatever you want. Want to sleep because lunch is boring? Just do it. 

Sending this to Sherry who hosts the monthly IMK series, thanks Sherry and have a great February everyone!

In My Kitchen: January 2025

We just got back from three glorious weeks in Italy, so here is the first IMK of the year - reviewing my Italian kitchen in December

Gorgeous produce..

Fresh artichoke hearts

These radicchio look like flowers to me - intricate little fingers 

We often had this salad - radicchio, orange and fresh walnuts cracked just before the meal, such a fresh combination

Yellow datterini tomatoes  

So... much... pasta... 

Spaghetti with clams

This was my breakfast every time we ran out of bread - spaghetti with parmesan, olive oil and fresh ground chilli pepper, so delicious and so simple! 

Risotto with radicchio, with a huge new grana padano that we just opened. Did you know there are even ads for grana on TV in Italy! 

This was the best gnocchi I've ever had - so soft and pillowy, they melted in your mouth in literally one second!

Just a bit of baking...

My MIL has one of the sons of my original sourdough so I baked with him over the break. 

I became a bit obsessed with baking high hydration focaccia, I had a good crowd to feed it to and lots of italians to give me feedback!

This was the best one with fresh rosemary from my MIL's garden - 100% hydration is the best ratio

I made a gnome for our Christmas dinner, we ate him warm with baccala mantecato, a traditional smoked fish dip/spread from the Veneto region

Here he is watching us while we ate our dinner!

Other random things we ate..

Gelato... so much glorious gelato! Too bad the weather was cold and I only made it to the gelateria a handful of times, but I was delighted that they had seasonal Christmas flavours like panettone and nougat

This arancini place was doing a roaring business near the Christmas markets. We got some for lunch one day and they were really good, like having a really flavoursome risotto but deep fried 

Our favourite shop to buy panettone from is Pasticcheria Giotto, a strange idea sort of - here the chefs train prisoners to make the panettone! This one was peach, apricot and lavender. 

We ran out of panettone so we had to get some more - one was pear & chocolate and the other orange & chocolate

Soft shell crabs from the Venetian lagoon that we ate on a daytrip to Pellestrina

A tiramisu S' sister made 

Curveball time...

Our little monster turned one on New Year's Eve and we had a little party for him with S' family. I made him a sugar free cake that was pretty gross - it was basically like a banana pancake texture/flavour, that I layered with mascarpone. The poor adults that had to eat it.. He enjoyed it though and picked all the blueberries off his part before he demolished the cake. This time in Italy has made us reflect a lot on how much our lives have changed - in the space of just over five years we have gone from two single people to a couple and now the three of us. 

And a bonus curveball, where else would you see Santa on gondolas but in Veneto? 

Sending this to Sherry for our monthly IMK series - thanks for hosting Sherry and happy 2025 everyone!

The library

 A few images of the library where I studied in 2024 for the specialist qualification examination. I originally went to the medical library near our place but was told unceremoniously that I could not enter because I was not a medical student. Like many things in France, one needs to know where/how/who to complain and finally I was given access to the main medical school library. The library has origins dating back to the 13th century and has gone through a lot of evolution through the centuries.  

Walking down Rue de l'ecole de médecine towards the library

A statue of Vulpian, the French neurologist who discovered adrenaline and first described fibrillation of the heart. Imagine in those days medicine was a lot less subspecialised! 

Exterior view of the library

Once inside, there is a hall full of statues that I somehow never took a photo of. There is this huge plaque under the stairs commemorating the doctors and students lost during the first world war. 

There is a grand staircase replete with chandeliers leading up to the first floor 

The entrance to the library 

I always adored the railings, especially the shadows cast by the light in the evenings 

The library hall is huge but there are only 100 allocated study spaces. One studies under these modern retro style green lamps!

There is also a small chamber downstairs where the precious sun casts its rays on sunny days. Always packed to the brim when the weather is nice! 

One can also choose to sit next to any number of macabre old school posters. I love that there are signs everywhere forbidding smoking. 

The ornate ceiling 

The coffee machine downstairs where one can play games while waiting for the coffee. I do love a good game of snake (the snake eats croissants) but I never managed to solve these slidey puzzles in 40 seconds, like seriously how would anyone manage to do that? 

Another beautiful sunny day at the library

During the months I was there, I explored all the surrounding areas while on break. Photos of those streetscapes could make another post but I thought I'd just share one - the fountain of Medici in the Luxembourg gardens on an autumn day. 

And that concludes our little photo journal of the library. It's also in the same building as the museum of medicine, which I plan to visit one day when I've passed the exam. I hope it's full of gruesome bits.