Saint-Malo et Cancale, yet again…

Posted on January 9, 2012 by caelycate

At this point I’m averaging a trip to Saint-Malo and Cancale once every quarter. While it’s difficult to face the fact that I may not live in Brittany for the rest of my life, I seem to have accepted the fact on some level as I’m constantly trying to make the most of my time here, and this means making frequent trips to the coast where I can enjoy the bountiful little gems which come from the sea: fruits de mer. And the ocean views too, of course. Being from the seaside coast of Southern California, I feel claustrophobic if I go to long without seeing the vast expanse of ocean horizon sprawling out before me, reminding me that I small and life is too short to worry about all of the small things which are even smaller than myself.

This latest trip to the coast was taken last minute in an attempt to show an aquaintance for California what Brittany is all about. I think I succeeded, this is what we ate at a wonderful restaurant in Cancale called La Mère Champlain:

Entrée: Maquereau Grillé (Grilled Mackerel)

Entrée #2: Des huitres (Oysters)

Plat principal: Nage des poissons (3 types of fish swimming in beurre blanc)

 And later tonight, to warm our chilled bones after a day being blown about by the wintery Atlantic winds, we warmed up with tartiflette.

Tartiflette: When you mix together cream, bacon, cheese, white wine, onions and potatoes in a casserole dish you really can't go wrong

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New York, The End

Posted on January 3, 2012 by caelycate

Happy New Year from Rennes, where it’s been in the high 50’s to low 60’s since I returned on New Year’s Eve. Don’t be too jealous, it’s also been raining nonstop. However, the sun did come out long enough to allow for a stroll through the nearby park.

It was with an anxious stomach (albeit one full of delicious sushi), a heavy heart and quite a few tears that I said “au revoir” to New York and my family. Voici, some snapshots from my 2 week trip.

        

And this little guy…

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New York, Tome 3: The Christmas Chronicles

Posted on December 27, 2011 by caelycate

The holidays always lead to over-indulgence, but I think that around here we’ve gone a little bit overboard. 16 people leads to a lot of different ideas about what food the holidays should include. Check out what we’ve eaten the last couple days:

Christmas Eve Dinner: Country ham served with grits, smoked salmon, saucisson sec, cheese, broccoli, green beans and brussels sprouts. Phew...

Christmas Day Dinner: Seafood Gumbo, Louisiana style. Cooked by my brother-in-law's mother. Made with oysters, crab, scallops and shrimp.

And for dessert, Yogurt Cake with Apples...

...and a gluten free version of the Yogurt Cake with Apples. For some reason the apples sunk into this cake, even though they were arranged lovingly on top. I don't think that's a good sign, though I was assured the cake tasted fine.

Another Yogurt Cake, this one with cranberry.

And of course, we’ve also been over-indulging on this little guy…he’s so cute we can’t get enough.

Hoping everyone has had as brilliant a holiday as I’ve had. I can’t believe my time in New York is almost finished!

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New York, Tome 2: The Cooking Chronicles

Posted on December 24, 2011 by caelycate

Since I last wrote there has been another trip into the city to see a close friend and visit another museum, the MoMA. There has also been the arrival of my brother, as well as my brother-in-law’s entire family, making our grand total 13 adults, 3 young children and the newborn baby. Oh, and there’s also been a fire in the oven and a mishap with the fire extinguisher: it wouldn’t be the holidays without some drama. There has been a lot of wine consumed (and spilt) and a lot of meals devoured. I find that I’m most comfortable in the kitchen in times like this (as long as it isn’t on fire), so I’ve been cooking up a storm, earning me the nickname “cookie” from my brother-in-law’s father. Here are a few recipes that make a lot of people happy and are easy to bang out quickly.

Sardine Tapenade

Ingredients

  • 1 3.75 ounce pack of sardines and their oil
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon capers and their juice
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 green olives
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  • Add all the ingredients together in a food processor or a mortar and pestle.
  • Mix until a paste is formed.
  • Serve with crudités or toasted bread smeared with olive oil.

Homemade Caesar Salad With a Kick

For the crutons:

Ingredients

  • 1/2 a loaf of stale bread, cut into 2 inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • the zest of 2 lemons
  • 1 generous pinch of cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit,
  • Place the bread cubes on a baking tray. Toss them with the remaining ingredients.
  • Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cubes are browned and crisp.

For the salad and the dressing:

Ingredients
  • 8 anchovy  fillets, with their oil (or 2 packs of 2 ounces)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 lemons, juiced
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 heads romaine lettuce, washed cut and patted dry or spun
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

  • In a food processor or a blender add the first 6 ingredients. Mix until smooth.
  • While continuously blending the mixture, slowly stream in the olive oil. The resulting mixture should be thick and smooth.
  • Add in the parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste.
  • Top the romaine with the crutons and the dressing. Garnish with parmesan, cracked black pepper and red chili flakes.

Whole Wheat Pizza

Some people are intimidated by the thought of making pizza dough, but the dough really does most of the work itself. The one exception is the kneading, which is a bit of a bicep workout, but I find it to be very meditative. If you’re not into making dough, it’s pretty easy to pick up pre-made dough at a grocery store such as Trader Joe’s, or from your local pizza shop. If you would like to take a stab at it, here’s the recipe I used. I substituted the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour. A great idea is to add a bit of ground flax seed to the dough for more texture and earthiness. I also always sprinkle corn meal underneath the pizza to keep it from sticking and to add a bit more crunch.

As for toppings, anything goes. The pizzas pictured are pesto with potato, rosemary and carmalized onions and tomato sauce with spinach, mushroom and carmalized onions. Pizzas are a great way to use up leftover sauces, tapenades and veggies. Have fun with it!

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New York, Tome 1: The Baby Chronicles

Posted on December 19, 2011 by caelycate

New York by night

New York by day

I arrived in New York a few nights ago, feeling rather cracked out. It wasn’t the smoothest nor the shortest travel experience, and it definitely was not an experience which involved any sort of sleep. But after seeing my family and meeting my week old nephew I felt wide awake and ready to start my trip…

The first few days have involved mostly sitting inside in the warm, just being with my family and staring at little Rowan, my new nephew. Also, there’s been a lot of cooking. In the first 24 hours after my arrival I made tartines (made with bread smuggled in my suitcase from Apple Pie), tacos, homemade caesar salad, brownies and cookies. After a couple of days mostly staying inside cooking, taking it easy with my family and staring at my nephew I felt the need to get out and explore the city a bit. My dad was feeling the same way so yesterday we headed across the river to Manhattan to take a walk in central park and check out the Guggenheim museum. The museum itself is amazing: it looks like a giant white snail snuggling up to central park. It’s designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, one of my architectural heroes. Once inside the museum you slowly wind your way up the spiraling ramp walkway, usually admiring the artworks on the wall. This time however, the impeccably white walls were bare and instead the main exhibit was dangling in the center of the spiraled ramp. Strung up and hanging from the ceiling was Maurizio Cattelan: All, the life works of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Countless sculptures and images were dangling, seemingly haphazardly in a chaotic cluster. It’s without a doubt the most ambitious and awe-inspring work of art I’ve ever seen.

*The man in black is not the artist; it’s my father Mac!

Afterwards we headed donwtown to one of my dad’s favorite watering holes, the Blind Tiger. It’s in the West Village, right around the corner from my brother’s old apartment, so we’ve all been there quite a few times. We stepped out of the bitter cold and into the warmth of a cozy bar which is full of delicious beer, happy people and a roaring fireplace. We settled down to nosh on some pickled vegetables and a mediterranean platter and sip on a couple of delicious beers.

Ale and snacks at the Blind Tiger

Tomorrow, my brother-in-law’s family begins to arrive and the holiday festivities will really kick-off. The house will be full, the wine will flow, food will be destroyed and the baby will be passed from person to person. Until then, we have one more tranquil day of hanging out, cooking and snuggling with the little one.

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Paris metro brilliance

Posted on December 19, 2011 by caelycate

Check out this series of literal translations of Paris metro stop names by photographer Janol Apin.

*First update on New York to come soon…

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Winter wonderland

Posted on December 13, 2011 by caelycate

How is it already the middle of December!? It feels as if Thanksgiving was yesterday (oh wait, no, that was just my post about it) and already Christmas is upon us. My last day of work until the New Year rushed by today in a whirl of evaluations and holiday cheer, and before I knew it I found myself around a dinner table at one of my favorite restaurants with some of my favorite people, enjoying each other’s company before we all head off to celebrate the holidays in different corners of the world.

L'Epicerie, the tartine shop around the corner from my apartment

Les filles a l'Epicerie

The restaurant is called L’Epicerie. It is a place that is at once lively and fast-paced but also cozy, warm and inviting. It is chock-full of vintage tins, boxes and art and the paint is literally peeling off the walls (in a charming way). The servers are straight-forward and harried, but all seems to have a similarly kind sense of humor. Their speciality is tartines, and they do it well. A tartine is a thick slice of toasted bread, usually topped with varying cheeses, vegetables, fruits and jams. How can you go wrong with that?

Tartine with pumpkin purée, gorgonzola cheese, ham and tomato. Delicious!

My street, all lit up.

After dinner I took a little walk to enjoy the cool, refreshing air and soaked up some of Rennes’ bountiful holiday cheer before I leave for New York on Thursday to see my family (old and new!). Rennes is a great city for uplifting the holiday spirit. The shops are all promoting holiday goodies such as the Bûche de Noël and the streets are strewn with lights of varying shapes, sizes and colors.  The streets all seem to smell of some pastry which is begging you to devour it, and the holiday excitement in the air is tangible. Families rush from shop to shop in preparation of Santa’s arrival and everyone seems to be content. The streets are simply dancing with the energy of it all, making it hard to stay inside despite the cold.

There have also been several visits to the Marché de Noël for a warming cup of vin chaud (mulled wine) and a cornet de chi chi (churros, often served with nutella or melted chocolate). Though most of the vendors at this market are seriously overpriced, it’s nice to be able to just mosey around and soak in all of the bright colors and delicious smells.

My next post will be from New York. I may be a little less food-obsessed than usual and a little more baby obsessed (I’m going to meet my new nephew!).Until then…..Joyeuses Fêtes! Happy Holidays!

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A belated post about a belated Thanksgiving

Posted on December 12, 2011 by caelycate

This post should have been done about 2 weeks ago. There’s been a lot of excitement around here lately, and I’ve found that when I’m in my tiny little apartment I am prone to veg out in either my bathtub or bed with a book as opposed to doing anything even semi-productive such as writing a blog entry. This excitement has included weekend trips to the countryside, friends coming to visit and of course, the inevitable end of term rush. There’ve been so many papers and notebooks to mark, evaluations to prepare and lessons to plan. Outside of my work at the elementary school I’ve had more tutoring gigs than usual and have generally been rushing around. And the most exciting thing of all is that my nephew was born last week. He’s the first baby on our side of the family, so it’s been a big to-do. I arrive in New York on Thursday to meet the lil’ guy in person.

Welcome to the world beautiful, beautiful Rowan

So, with the mantra “better late than never” repeating in my mind, I will describe last months’ Thanksgiving festivities. Similar to last year, Thanksgiving this year was an international affair. There were 12 of us all together, representing several states in the US, England, Ireland, Uruguay and France. Everyone was charged with bringing a different dish and I am happy to report that each and every dish was a réussite (success). We had all the traditional trappings of Thanksgiving: roasted root vegetables, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, sweet and mashed potatoes, stuffing and last but not least, a gigantic, succulent turkey. While we’re on the subject of the turkey…when I was at the market this Saturday I went to my usual vendor to get my eggs, the same vendor who sold me the turkey the last 2 years, and his assistant whom I’ve never really spoken to before asked me “Et Thanksgiving, ça a été? (How was Thanksgiving?)” I left thinking that maybe I go there too often…Living in France is a constant reminder that I am nothing if not gourmande.

But back to the meal. Once again, I was in charge of the turkey and once again I solicited the wisdom of Lynne Rossetto Kasper, my favorite foodie. Her turkey recipe is foolproof, and delicious. Anything with white wine and a hoard of herbs is good in my opinion. Frighteningly, I was also in charge of carving the turkey, and miraculously I did a decent job of it! I don’t say miraculously lightly…there were 14 bottles of wine consumed that night and only 11 of us drinking it.

For dessert we had pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie and ice cream, but by that point I was too warm and fuzzy and full to document it (I dropped my poor camera in the sweet potatoes earlier, hence the lack of photos). All in all it was another very successful International Franglish Thanksgiving!

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The Thanksgiving Savior

Posted on November 24, 2011 by caelycate

You may remember that I’ve written about Apple Pie before, an organic bilingual tea salon/restaurant owned by Rennes’ resident Irish lass Lisa. Apple Pie came to my rescue once again today by giving me my American fix of Thanksgiving’s greatest gift: pie! Despite living in a country where people are generally unaware that Thanksgiving exists, I was able to get into the holiday spirit today because of the traditional Thanksgiving treats that Lisa whips up each year around this time.

This morning saw me sitting at a cozy table with my best friend and fellow American Emma, sharing Thanksgiving cheer and two pieces of absurdly delicious pie. I have to say, Lisa’s pecan pie put to shame any American counterpart I’ve ever tried.

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Thanks Lisa and Emma for making my Thanksgiving meaningful! And thanks to Emma for the photos, comme d’hab. For someone who claims to be a blogger I’m really am too apt to leave my camera at home. Maybe that will be one of my New Year’s resolutions…among many. The man that I tutored today told me that my eating habits are “unreasonable”. Looks like I have a few things to work on…

But, one thing is for sure – there will be no reasonable eating habits this weekend. It’s Thanksgiving in France Part II. Maybe you remember Part 1? This Saturday a group of Americans and I (and some honorary international guests as well) will do the whole Thanksgiving spread, and we’re doin’ it right! Check in next week to read all about our food babies and what caused them.

Until then…Happy Thanksgiving!!! Et bon appétit!

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A few dinners…

Posted on November 14, 2011 by caelycate

Dinner 1

Entrecote Steak with Garlic Sauce served with Pan Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Romanesco

Dinner 2

Traditional English Roast Chicken Dinner: Served with Peas, Mashed Carrots and Turnips, Roasted Potatoes and Gravy

 Dinner 3

Bubble and Squeak: An English recipe that calls for mashing up leftovers (from the roast the night before) and serving it with a fried egg. BRILLIANT! As with everything British, served with peas...

Posted in A few dinners..., Food | 4 Comments