In My Kitchen: November 2024

I was in intensive study mode for all of October while all of us took turns getting sick - such is la vie collective! Very little cooking and baking this month, as I have been extremely fortunate to have my dad visiting France to help look after G and doing all the shopping / cooking. So here are a few glimpses from my October...  

I'm still baking my sourdough, now two on the weekend to last for the whole week. I give half to my dad, half goes straight in the freezer and the rest we eat for a few days.

Autumn is here and many bakeries are bringing out their seasonal treats. This was from the bakery downstairs where we usually go to bread. Biscuit base, vanilla creme topped with caramelised apples. Simple but delicious!  

On Sundays I have been making crêpes for G and he loves them. I use a recipe given to me by a French mum and it works super super well, I think the key is the blob of butter you put into the crêpe pan! 

Some handmade udon S got for me from the fancy Japanese shop. The texture of the udon was incredible. Here we had it just with some vegetables and edamame for a quick miso udon lunch. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best. 

I have been trying out so many mug cakes because I need calories to study, right? I love burying a blob of peanut butter in it to increase my enjoyment.

All right, not technically in my kitchen, but this was an excellent lunch we had at the Colombian El Pueblito. Funnily enough, living in France and surrounded by French food, sometimes I crave something completely different. This was their vegetarian option with beans that tasted just like my time travelling in Central America.  

A wonderful galette lunch we had all together, mine was mushroom, spinach, cheese and toasted almonds. 

An orange cake complete with bits of candied peel, brought to us by S' aunt who visited us in Paris.

 

We picked up these excellent low GI sweet treats (my dad has diabetes) from the patisserie Oh oui! They had an impressive selection. Here we had the flan and the truffle chocolate hazelnut slice. 

A special treat from the fancy Pierre Hermé entitled "Infinite pistachio". They opened a new café just near us and we were there with our German friend (she lives in Poland but is moving to the UK) who was passing through Paris.   

I never go to McDonald's, but I was enticed by these McPlant nuggets. The inside actually tastes like a piece of tofu and they were surprisingly more-ish, I would totally eat them again! It was my first time in McDo in France and I was amused one could choose a sauce called "Chinese sauce" which has apricot jam as the first ingredient! 

In October I also spent two weeks at Hôpital Lariboisière in the north of Paris as an observer in the ICU. It was quite an interesting insight into French workplace culture! There was a lot of time spent drinking coffee and smoking.  

Onto the curveballs.. if you will allow me two, since one of them is vaguely food related!

I love love love this place in Paris - the garden of Albert Kahn. You can read more about his story here. There's something about the place that speaks to me, it's just so peaceful and tranquil on a weekday. Here is one of the gardens, the Japanese garden. It's incredible that in the 19th century, he actually had several Japanese houses dismantled, and brought to Paris and reconstructed here. I remember coming here in this season last year when I was pregnant, and I went again on a sunny day to enjoy the last warm days of autumn. 

Here is my little monster with one of my loaves! He loved patting it through the clingwrap. 

That's it for me this month, the exam is just one week away and I can't wait for all the cooking and baking and eating I will do afterwards. Sharing this with Sherry, who hosts the monthly IMK series. Have a great month everyone! 

Dream: a giant Chinese supermarket and the wrong Champ de mars

The dream starts on a busy road that looks distinctly Asian - perhaps Vietnamese? In real life I remember being on a road like this in Ho Chi Minh city - lots of lanes, lots of traffic densely packed in the formation of an endless stream. In order to cross the road, one must take the plunge and just dive in, trusting that the millions of motorcycles and rickshaws will simply go around you and leave you unscathed. 

In the dream I'm with S and G in his pram. We suddenly see a giant Chinese supermarket on the other side of the road. It's huge, taking up most of a block, 3 storeys high, big glass windows and lots of enticing ads in the windows. 

What's that supermarket? I say to S excitedly. We have to go there and pick up snacks!  

But there's no way to cross the road. I try to convince S that we can just dive into the traffic and it'll be fine, but he refuses to cross the road citing concerns for the safety of G in the pram. It's true that it's different with a pram, and I start to doubt my conviction as well. We look around and there is no traffic light or crossing in sight.

Maybe we passed by one just now. S says. 

We walk backwards, the way we came and after a long time we finally see a traffic light where we cross the road uneventfully. We walk quickly back towards the supermarket, but just as we approach it, all the lights suddenly go off and the whole building, previously brightly illuminated, fades to dark. 

Oh no, we just missed it. I said to S, crestfallen that I don't get to have my snacks. We stand on the sidewalk feeling miserable. 

Then S points out a restaurant just after the supermarket. He says it must be good cos people must go shopping at the supermarket and then have something there. 

The restaurant is called "The house of Guo Xin 郭欣” and inside it is cramped with simple wooden tables and small square stools. The counters are sticky and the walls are devoid of decorations. This must be good, I said to S, it looks like we are in China. 

We order wontons and they are brought out quickly by a brusque lady who dumps the big bowls in front of us unceremoniously. At that moment a guy comes into the 

Ça va, S? T'es prêt pour la mission?? He says to us (How's it going? Are you ready for the mission?) 

Oui oui, mais il faut d'abord manger notre wontons (Yes, but we have to eat our wontons first) 

The guy takes a seat at our table and tries to tell the waitress in French that he also wants a bowl of wontons, but she doesn't seem to speak any French. Maybe it's also the way he is pronouncing wontons like how in French the last syllable is always accentuated like won-TON. Finally I tell the lady in Chinese and she brings out another bowl of wontons. 

The wontons are excellent, just like how we eat them in Shanghai. Afterwards S leaves with the guy for "the mission" and he says he'll catch up with us later. 

G & I stay in the restaurant for a while but the lady tells us to leave because our table is needed, and we walk along the super busy main street. Soon I see a small lane on the left and it looks so nice and quiet that I decide to go along it for a bit of rest from the craziness of the main street. 

The lane is deserted and soon leads us to a big open space. When I look up it's the Eiffel Tower and it looks like we are on Champ de Mars, but the grass is all dead and has been replaced by rubble.

Suddenly I see S in the distance with 3 or 4 other guys. Between them they have a number of suitcases and one guy has a trolley like those used for transporting fridges, full of boxes. 

The guy from the wonton restaurant sees me and he's super happy, yelling and waving at us. He says that the mission has gone exceptionally well because S was able to distract the guy at customs. 

Customs?? I think to myself. 

He opens a box and it's full of what appear to be children's books. He takes out a book to show me. When he opens the book, the story inside pops out like a hologramme, but much more real, like it's a real life enactment of the story. Like a 3D real life Youtube video.

He gives us a large blue giftbox which he says is for G. I give the box to G and it's almost as big as him. He holds it curiously in the pram, trying to open the top of it. 

We still have to get some more of the stuff. S says to me. 

No worries, I can just walk home from here. I say to him, since Champ de Mars is not too far from our apartment. 

The guys leave and I start walking away from the Eiffel Tower in the direction of home. But all of a sudden I look up and I realise that the Champ de Mars is not straight anymore. The Eiffel Tower is somehow around the corner, whereas in real life Champ de Mars is a rectangle of park directly in front of it, so there's no way that the Eiffel Tower could be only in partial view. 

But where am I? I think to myself. This is the wrong Champ de Mars. 

And that's how I wake up.   

In My Kitchen: October 2024

Will someone please tell me where September went? It was simply a daze of settling back into life in Paris, the beginning of G going to part time daycare and endless daycare-related illnesses - welcome to the real life G! I haven't been doing much cooking or baking since I have started studying in +++ mode for the specialist requalification exams in November.. 

one of our first breakfasts back in Paris, a pain au chocolat from the boulangerie downstairs (Eric Kayser) with coffee. sometimes simplicity is the best!

one of our first "to do" things back in Paris, a visit to our local Fromagerie Quatrehomme. here was some delicious blue cheese from somewhere that I've forgotten the name of! 

and life is short, why not squeeze in a millefeuille? the raspberry variety is delicious in summer. this was from the boulangerie near Cardinal Lemoine station which also has excellent baguettes

I got my sourdough son up and running (after it went to Australia and back with me in the luggage) to bake this black sesame loaf for my mums group, but we all got sick and couldn't go in the end!

Sourdough back to life for this chocolate babka, I bartered it for a high chair for G 

Another outing for my sourdough son - a jalapeno cheese pull apart bread, I didn't use the right type of cheese (only had emmental at home) and it was too mild, but warm gooey cheesy bread went down well anyway. 

It was for a baby shower for one of the mums in my group who is due very soon - we had a Mexican themed party, tortillas, dips, flan... so much delicious food and look at that pineapple upside down cake!

I thought this fruit platter was too cute with a watermelon "pram"

My dad is visiting us in Paris at the moment and he brought over some snow peas from his garden (illegal, I know, but French customs don't care!)

He arrived just in time for the moon festival, which we celebrated with our annual tradition of making Shanghainese style pork moon cakes. This year's rendition turned out really well even though I bought the wrong butter (reduced fat), the pastry was super flaky. 

I've been studying in the park sometimes, walking around with my flashcards for revision. And to reward my studies (fortunately or unfortunately) I've been visiting the patisseries near the park! 

I have a couple of mum friends who live near the park (looking down to Invalides) and we often go to Mori Yoshida together. This is their seasonal special... 

It's called Sicilia - a pistachio creme with light (as air) sponge base, a heart of cherry cream topped with confit cherries. The whole thing is glazed beautifully in the entremet tradition and dusted with crushed pistachios. And a rose petal on top just to be a bit more OTT. It was delicious!!! 

S' sister and her husband came to visit us from Brussels and brought this giant box of mochi from a special place in Paris. I'm so glad they went because it's hard for us to go to the cool spots in Paris with a baby in tow! These were the best mochis I've ever had, even better than the ones I've had in Japan! The skin was so thin, offering just the pleasure of a slight hint of chewy resistance before you hit the ethereal filling. The flavours were also incredible - matcha chocolate, yuzu, black sesame with blackcurrant... 

Now onto the curveballs.. Please if you will allow me two (because they are both a little bit food related!)

I thought you might be interested to see what French babies eat at daycare, the board is handwritten by the staff every week! If you zoom in, you see that they have the same structure for every lunch: entrée - plat - vegetable - cheese - dessert. I think this is how they train the kids to eat these elaborate multi course meals!  

and here is our little monster, who has discovered that the Recipetineats Dinner cookbook has pictures of dogs in it. He loves dogs, why do children love dogs so much? 

Sending this to Sherry who hosts the monthly IMK series - thanks for visiting and have a great month everyone! 

In My Kitchen: September 2024

We had a wonderful August, split across several cities and catching up with lots of friends. I had written a wishlist before we went to Australia and I think we got to all of them!

Adventures in Darwin...

Saturdays are laksa at the Parap markets, I'm still a big fan of the original Mary's laksa... 

Afternoon tea treats (love a vanilla slice!) with members of my original string quartet - both the cellist and violist have family in Darwin so they organised a trip up to visit us. We organised some music sessions as well and got to play some Beethoven string quartets, the Schumann piano quintet and the Mozart clarinet quintet!

A market haul from Rapid Creek markets, my Sunday morning ritual. Lots of fresh veggies, the first mangoes of the season, tiny local bananas that G loved, and fresh rice noodles!

We were given this bottle of wine on the flight up to Darwin by a stewardess who just adored G and our crazy love story. She took it out of business class, wrapped it up in a plastic bag and slipped it to us! Also loved the mangoes in the NT 

Spicy charcoal chicken from Laksa House - an old Darwin favourite available only on Friday/Saturday nights. You can smell the chicken as you drive past on the highway!

A dumpling dinner we had, with a side of snake beans and some seaweed salad 

Back in NSW...

We had such a lovely time in Darwin, I just loved the lifestyle there and going to the beach for sunset - we made it for almost every sunset that I wasn't working, which was quite a lot! We finished our Australian trip with 10 days in Sydney/Newcastle visiting family and friends.

Hotpot at my dad's home - what a spread!

Fresh lettuce from my dad's garden

Snow peas from seeds that I saved from my garden several years ago - I quite enjoyed picking them off the vine and feeding them to the baby! 

A lovely takeaway lunch I had with a friend - japchae, kimchi, fish tofu, fresh corn and fresh salmon sashimi (the fish fingers and chips were for the kids) 

We went to Newcastle for a few days to visit my elderly music friend with whom I used to play piano duets and piano/violin duets often. We kept each other going during COVID when things were tough. She was delighted to meet my son and it was lovely to play together again! Here was a dinner she put on for us, lots of meat and potatoes and a cauliflower gratin. 

Fish and chips at the beach!

We also got together with some other music friends to play the Schumann piano quintet, and this was a vegan potluck dinner we had together afterwards - two types of salad, falafel and tabouli, a stirfry and some roasted cauliflower and pumpkin. Music and food go well together!

We finished our Australian trip with a monster 33 hour trip home to Paris - note to self, babies don't travel well! On the first leg to Guangzhou he didn't sleep at all and when he finally fell asleep at the airport, I ducked off to Family Mart to get this sushi "burger". That was the culinary highlight of our trip home... we are still recovering from the jetlag.

Curveball time

Simply, baby discovers mango at the beach. Not sure if he ate more mango or sand! He got his first two teeth in Darwin and started to practise walking - he's growing up fast! 

Sending this to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings who hosts the monthly IMK series - thanks Sherry and have a great month everyone!

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In My Kitchen: August 2024

Someone once told me that once you have a baby, time just flies - I confirm this is true!!

In France...

We started July in Paris where we were madly eating the remnants of our fridge before our big trip...

A maple shaped pancake with maple syrup to celebrate Canada day 

Lunch with the mums - burrata with tomatoes, couscous, tabouli and roast chicken (still in the kitchen at time of photo), olive bread, a giant potato and edamame salad from my fridge and banana cake. My mums group knows how to eat... 

A super delicious quick meal from our favourite frozen supermarket Picard - simply defrosted this makes a super more-ish salad with wild rice and quinoa, red lentils, smoked salmon, broad beans, cucumber and soft cheese. I know it sounds weird to defrost a salad but it's delicious!

A beer left over from before I was pregnant.. I didn't even know there was much French beer!

A giant pot of Korean style rice cake with tofu and veggies 

 

In Australia...

There's a bit of a gap in my photos for July where we were flying from Paris to Sydney (29 hours door to door... of which G was sleeping for a grand total of 3 hours) and then battling jetlag & hysterical baby. It was a quick stopover in Sydney and we came up to Darwin. We all got some pretty bad respiratory infection on the plane. Oh it was not fun. It was only after 3 days on the Australian continent that the hysterics started to calm... the tropical balmy weather helped too. 

Our first Saturday in Darwin we headed down to Parap markets for my weekly ritual of getting a laksa. I've forever been debating between Yati's and Mary's - this one was from Yati's... 

And the following week had this one from Mary's - can confirm Mary's is still the winner for me! Broth so much more flavoursome and more generous with the toppings as well. 

Also been stuffing in all the Asian food possible - here, kaya toast with eggs from the excellent Kopi Stop in town 

My regular papaya salad lady from Rapid Creek markets on Sundays is still thriving, when I told her she looked exactly the same as in 2018 she said I looked the same too! 

I made the Cyril Lignac invisible apple cake for my birthday, and decorated the outside with purple dragonfruit from the market. 

S went to Vietnam for 10 days and stopped by Singapore on the way back, bringing me these special Singaporean treats. I haven't opened it yet but maybe I will take it back to France!

I'm back at work and on a particularly depressing day I raided the cupboard for emergency chocolates..

The curveballs...

I have to have two curveballs this month because I just can't decide. We are in Australia for the European summer - I decided to come back to work so I can keep my Australian medical registration for now.. who knows it might come in handy if we decide to move back one day! Anyhow I love Darwin - it's my recurrent go-to place, also how this blog started in 2011. The top picture is from Berry Springs - what a lush tropical paradise, a warm 29 degree crystal clear spring to swim in.  And the bottom is little G, now 7 months old, having his first taste of sand on Lee Point beach at sunset. 

I'm sending this to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings who hosts the monthly IMK series. Thanks for hosting Sherry and have a great month everyone!