Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
(read this) Back in France...
My husband and I just flew back to France after a very brief on business visit in Rochester, New York, arriving yesterday, October 21, 2009. Rochester is where our permanent residence has been since September of 2000 when my husband started working for a high-tech corporation. Within the last few years, this company has expanded its business globally, with offices in UK, France, Holland, Italy, India, South Africa and Japan where major sales force teams work within determined zones. Earlier this year, my husband, who was very involved in the incredible expansion of the company, was given a new assignment: to move to France for a year and focus on all European and Middle East sales.
So, I, being his wife, came along with the package...!!
We have a house in the US, (plus a small A-frame cabin on a mountain), a house in Athens, Greece, as I am originally from there, and now a rented house in Alsace, in the north eastern part of France, in the provence of Haut Rhin. This is where some of the really great French wine comes from...and aside from that, the Alsatian cuisine has inspired much of what we think of as French cuisine.
As I inherited a love of cooking, France has become my new inspiration as well. Our house is situated on the foot of a mountain with mature grapevines covering its slope. It grants us with views of the valley spreading widely below our kitchen balcony, which hosts ever-grazing cows, sheep and graceful horses. In the distance, we are exposed to incredible views of the Schwartz Wald (Black Forest) Mountains in Germany, and to the South, the Swiss mountains. Further behind them we have seen on exceptionally clear days, eight (I counted them once) sprouting snow-capped peaks of the Alpes. From the other side of our house, we are cupped by the Vosges Mountains, standing up heavily wooded and steep, at different heights and altitudes. We are 1/2 an hour away from the German boarder, 40 minutes from Basel, Switzerland, 1 and 1/2 hours from Zurich, 1 hour from Strasbourgh, the so called (Le Petit Paris).
Five times, so far, my husband and I have had one of those rare opportunities to catch a very close and clear sight of the complete arch of a rainbow in a six week period.
The first class dairy, meats and fresh vegetable ingredients available in the markets inspire me to cook even more at home and "excavate" different local recipes. The butter and the broad selection of cheeses are so tasty and also relatively inexpensive. Sometimes, a loaf of fresh baguette bought at our local boulangerie or super marche, a variety of cheeses and a glass or two of a superb local Riesling wine constitute our dinner. And you can imagine how delicious that can be! How wrong can you go with "such ingredients"? To our surprise though, and, I guess yours as well, it didn't take us long to realize that in this plentiful selection of dairy pproducts, there is no fresh milk on the cooler shelf...in other words, you can only find, at least in this area, Long Life Milk in biogradable bottles or cartons, available in full or 1,5% of fat content. Still, it's milkly delicious!
I usually ride or walk around our area here, and I could say, 75% of the houses have their own home grown vegetable gardens. It's such a unique sight. We have a single person farmers's market on Tuesdays in our Jungholtz main square located very close to our house. I could probably say that he is blessed to have me as one of his few "good fortune bringing" customers. I shop a lot from him. Last time I went to shop, I was carried away, and bought so much that it took me 4 trips to carry the goods home.
Having seen that bicycle riding, (aside from horseback riding), is not at all a rare thing to do in this country, I myself decided to get a bike, since I don't have a car in France, and later on, I convinced my husband that he needed to get one also, so we could both ride exploring the area around in Jungholtz (our residence village) and Soultz, a mediaeval town next to us. And so we did.
And now, time for the RECIPE OF THE DAY:
NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER:
I made it back in Rochester, NY, for my daughters who were visiting from Connecticut on that brisk Fall Sunday. I had reserved some fat left from that morning's cooked bacon for breakfast. So, I used that fat to saute in, 1 LARGE DICED ONION, 1 PRESSED CLOVE OF GARLIC, 4 STALKS OF FINELY SLICED CELERY and 3 LARGE SKINNED AND CUBED POTATOES, in a medium size saucepan, for 10 minutes (I didn't want to overcook the celery and potatoes). To that, I added a 28 oz CAN OF CLAMS (from a cash and carry store or anywhere commercial size cans are available - much more economical), drained, a store bought BOTTLE OF CLAM JUICE, 2 BAY LEAVES, and, as I had ran out of thyme, I used some of my ROSEMARY fine powder(not available everywhere, but a great addition to your kitchen spices. try your local bulk spice store). SALT and preferably WHITE PEPPER to taste (if you have, otherwise black pepper will be good, as well). I let it simmer for 5-7 minutes, and then I added a PINT OF HEAVY CREAM. I slightly thickened the soup by making a roux with 2 Tablespoons of FLOUR and melted 1/2 stick of butter, some COLD MILK which I diluted with some of the liquid of the soup, and lastly I added THE ROUX into the soup while stirring it constantly (the flour will thicken just below boiling temp). I covered the pan, and let the soup simmer at a low temperature for about 45 minutes. Soup should be thicker and hearty. Remember, recipes are suggested guidlines - experiment!
We had the soup for lunch with fresh baguette, and it was just delicious and the perfect meal for a cold Fall day.
I hope you enjoy it, too. Just, trust your instincts, if you try and make it.
Bon Appetite!
So, I, being his wife, came along with the package...!!
We have a house in the US, (plus a small A-frame cabin on a mountain), a house in Athens, Greece, as I am originally from there, and now a rented house in Alsace, in the north eastern part of France, in the provence of Haut Rhin. This is where some of the really great French wine comes from...and aside from that, the Alsatian cuisine has inspired much of what we think of as French cuisine.
As I inherited a love of cooking, France has become my new inspiration as well. Our house is situated on the foot of a mountain with mature grapevines covering its slope. It grants us with views of the valley spreading widely below our kitchen balcony, which hosts ever-grazing cows, sheep and graceful horses. In the distance, we are exposed to incredible views of the Schwartz Wald (Black Forest) Mountains in Germany, and to the South, the Swiss mountains. Further behind them we have seen on exceptionally clear days, eight (I counted them once) sprouting snow-capped peaks of the Alpes. From the other side of our house, we are cupped by the Vosges Mountains, standing up heavily wooded and steep, at different heights and altitudes. We are 1/2 an hour away from the German boarder, 40 minutes from Basel, Switzerland, 1 and 1/2 hours from Zurich, 1 hour from Strasbourgh, the so called (Le Petit Paris).
Five times, so far, my husband and I have had one of those rare opportunities to catch a very close and clear sight of the complete arch of a rainbow in a six week period.
The first class dairy, meats and fresh vegetable ingredients available in the markets inspire me to cook even more at home and "excavate" different local recipes. The butter and the broad selection of cheeses are so tasty and also relatively inexpensive. Sometimes, a loaf of fresh baguette bought at our local boulangerie or super marche, a variety of cheeses and a glass or two of a superb local Riesling wine constitute our dinner. And you can imagine how delicious that can be! How wrong can you go with "such ingredients"? To our surprise though, and, I guess yours as well, it didn't take us long to realize that in this plentiful selection of dairy pproducts, there is no fresh milk on the cooler shelf...in other words, you can only find, at least in this area, Long Life Milk in biogradable bottles or cartons, available in full or 1,5% of fat content. Still, it's milkly delicious!
I usually ride or walk around our area here, and I could say, 75% of the houses have their own home grown vegetable gardens. It's such a unique sight. We have a single person farmers's market on Tuesdays in our Jungholtz main square located very close to our house. I could probably say that he is blessed to have me as one of his few "good fortune bringing" customers. I shop a lot from him. Last time I went to shop, I was carried away, and bought so much that it took me 4 trips to carry the goods home.
Having seen that bicycle riding, (aside from horseback riding), is not at all a rare thing to do in this country, I myself decided to get a bike, since I don't have a car in France, and later on, I convinced my husband that he needed to get one also, so we could both ride exploring the area around in Jungholtz (our residence village) and Soultz, a mediaeval town next to us. And so we did.
And now, time for the RECIPE OF THE DAY:
NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER:
I made it back in Rochester, NY, for my daughters who were visiting from Connecticut on that brisk Fall Sunday. I had reserved some fat left from that morning's cooked bacon for breakfast. So, I used that fat to saute in, 1 LARGE DICED ONION, 1 PRESSED CLOVE OF GARLIC, 4 STALKS OF FINELY SLICED CELERY and 3 LARGE SKINNED AND CUBED POTATOES, in a medium size saucepan, for 10 minutes (I didn't want to overcook the celery and potatoes). To that, I added a 28 oz CAN OF CLAMS (from a cash and carry store or anywhere commercial size cans are available - much more economical), drained, a store bought BOTTLE OF CLAM JUICE, 2 BAY LEAVES, and, as I had ran out of thyme, I used some of my ROSEMARY fine powder(not available everywhere, but a great addition to your kitchen spices. try your local bulk spice store). SALT and preferably WHITE PEPPER to taste (if you have, otherwise black pepper will be good, as well). I let it simmer for 5-7 minutes, and then I added a PINT OF HEAVY CREAM. I slightly thickened the soup by making a roux with 2 Tablespoons of FLOUR and melted 1/2 stick of butter, some COLD MILK which I diluted with some of the liquid of the soup, and lastly I added THE ROUX into the soup while stirring it constantly (the flour will thicken just below boiling temp). I covered the pan, and let the soup simmer at a low temperature for about 45 minutes. Soup should be thicker and hearty. Remember, recipes are suggested guidlines - experiment!
We had the soup for lunch with fresh baguette, and it was just delicious and the perfect meal for a cold Fall day.
I hope you enjoy it, too. Just, trust your instincts, if you try and make it.
Bon Appetite!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
My First Blog Posting
Today is one of our last days back in the States until we head back to our new, little home away from home in the Alsace region of France. Our girls were up from CT visiting us for a short weekend -- made an incredible homemade clam chowder to go with the Fall salad and freshly baked french baguette. On a beautiful Fall day like today, Rania and Tracy, my daughters along with their Akita dog, Parker, and I went for a 3 1/4 mile walk in one of the parks in the neighborhood.
Well, both, my husband and I, are already packed for our trip. This time, our suitcases are full with our winter clothing and other miscellaneous stuff.
We are so excited about our girls' visiting with us in France during the Christmas and New Year's Holidays. For Rania, it's going to be first time in France..Tracy has already been in Paris.
I can't wait to take them and show them around the area. Going around tasting the Alsatian foods and wines.
Rania and Tracy are about to depart and I will go an see them off.
Well, both, my husband and I, are already packed for our trip. This time, our suitcases are full with our winter clothing and other miscellaneous stuff.
We are so excited about our girls' visiting with us in France during the Christmas and New Year's Holidays. For Rania, it's going to be first time in France..Tracy has already been in Paris.
I can't wait to take them and show them around the area. Going around tasting the Alsatian foods and wines.
Rania and Tracy are about to depart and I will go an see them off.
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