October 2007 archives

Parisians don’t celebrate Halloween.

There’s no trick-or-treating, no garish displays at le pharmacie, no need for mothers to warn their kids about razor blades in les pommes, no teenagers tp-ing the trees by the Seine. And there’s no candy corn.

But we do have pumpkins. Lots of them.
And that’s how I’m celebrating Halloween this year.

I love roasting and eating pumpkin, and I don’t miss stepping over all the smashed ones in the street the following morning.

But candy corn?

I love candy corn (preferably stale) and I really do miss it.

Now that’s kinda scary…

During my interview at Chez Panisse, as I sat across the table from Alice Waters in the main dining room at the restaurant, she asked me, “What do you eat at home?”

Since I’m not exactly convincing when lying, I told her.

“I eat popcorn, mostly.” And continued, “I’m a restaurant cook. I don’t have time to eat at home.”

(Although I did conveniently omit the fact that it was microwave popcorn…)

In spite of that, or because of my chutzpah, I got hired and worked at Chez Panisse for a long time. What nailed it for me and endeared me to Alice, years later, wasn’t her politics or her philosophy on cooking. It was when I told her, “I really like to drink coffee leftover from the morning, with milk in it, that’s been sitting on the counter all day.”

And she said, “Me too.”

Continue Reading Chez Panisse Gingersnap Recipe…

A reader recently inquired that her and her husband were planning to visit France and since he couldn’t tolerate any gluten, is there anything that I could recommend? She had attached a list of words in French for acceptable grains, like oatmeal and barley,

So I flipped through my French dictionary and looked under Special Dietary Needs, but there was a blank space. I didn’t know what to tell them. I was (almost) defeated. I finally recommended that they rent an apartment so they could do much of their own cooking and more importantly, they should frequent the same restaurants over and over so that staff got to know them.

Not many people, no matter where they’re from, are aware of which products have gluten. Even me.

For example, I didn’t know that most soy sauces had gluten, as well as many bottled salad dressings, malt vinegar, various mustards, processed meats, and even some toothpastes and lipstick. (I could certainly give up one, but not the other.) And apparently I’m not the only one unaware gluten-free lifestyles: Even my local health food store stocks their gluten-free bread, unwrapped, on the same shelves with the regular bread, crumbs mingling and all.

Continue Reading Socca, v1.0…v1.6…v1.9……

For those who need to avoid gluten, France may present more of a challenge than other countries, which was confirmed when I tried to find some tips online for gluten-free dining in France and turned up little information.

So here are a few helpful hints that will help you navigate French restaurants and dining, how to deal with waiters, and where you can find gluten-free products and foods in Paris, including a gluten-free restaurant and take-away shop.

Back online!
And catching up on my reading…

Chefs vs Bloggers: Shuna’s letter to Michael Ruhlman

Going cold-turkey for a day.

Scary!

Write your own cookbook.
(But why no help offered to work on mine?…)

Strike Two!—I guess Sarkozy doesn’t have quite the mandate he thinks he does…

Where to take a good pounding.

Blast off!…those wacky Americans…
(via Kate)

Name that restaurant!

Food Photography Video Tutorials (Real and imagined)

Where are the wine bars of Paris?

Visit the Salon du Chocolat à Paris.

Street Scam

Turkey-Time Tutorial

Taste Paris Pastry History

While I wait for my life (ie, my television and internet) to return to normal….(although I’d be happy if they’d just return. period)…I left my perch in the Wi-Fi equipped Place des Vosges long enough to have a really nice dinner at Mon Vieil Ami, that I thought I’d recount. I was going stir-crazy sitting at home and was so bored that I almost had to work. Imagine that!

But since I procrastinated enough, which included scrubbing the knobs on my washing machine (yes, really…) and the ones on the oven too, then tackling a batch of ice cream using some leftover mascarpone in my fridge that had one day left on it, I am back in the Place des Vosges once again, sans chocolat chaud, but connected.

What more could a guy want? Yikes…now that’s a loaded question.
I couldn’t wait for my internet connection to return to normal, so I thought I’d offer forth a short, quick write-up of a great dinner I had last night. And judging from your very kind comments, I know 98% of you are sympathetic to my situation—and perhaps the other 2% are meanies, content to laugh at others’ misfortune. So excuse any errors, mis-whatevers, and typos while the chill slowly creeps into my fingers here on this cold park bench. And since I’m sitting, need I say where else the cold is creeping into? Perhaps when I get home I’ll take a chocolat chaud sitz-bath.
With marshmallows, thank you ver much.

(ha!…my first typo…)

My dining companion hier soir from Los Angeles was missing vegetables after eating too many rich meals while in Paris, so she was thrilled with the menu offered at Mon Vieil Ami. My first course was roasted beets from the gardens of Joël Thiebaut (sp?…I’ll correct the spelling later.) In the huge terrine buried amongst the ruby-red and golden beets were four well-caramelized, succulent, sweet-sour chicken wings, as well as some raw beets that had been shaved into ribbons, added for good measure. Why not?

We both ordered the same entrée, which I love, since I hate to share.

Continue Reading Mon Vieil Ami…

Just a note that my internet and cable everything has been down for the past week. And because that’s not enough, my some messages from certain servers are being blocked and/or returned for whatever reason.

But rest assured, there’s no one here taking care of the problem.

After calling several times at 8€, or $11 a pop, and getting disconnected in lieu of speaking to someone, I’ve given up. So I’m now adopting a wait-and-see attitude since I just can’t unshake from my brain the belief says that if I pay for something, I should (feasibly) get something in return. Which ain’t happening.

(Although the recording says if I sign up for their new telephone service, I’ll no longer have to pay to wait on hold. But honestly, I don’t think pitching their services to customers while they’re irate is wise marketing.)

So if you’ve sent me a message and haven’t gotten a response, or it’s been returned—c’est comme ça…which basically means ‘too bad’.

C’est ma vie…

(And if you see a guy in the Places des Vosges bundled up in a winter coat, typing with blue, frozen fingers, that would be me. Please buy me a chocolat chaud….it’s cold out here!)

After dinner at a friend’s apartment this weekend, they rolled out a sizable wheel of cheese to eat before dessert…which since moving to France, has become my favorite course of the meal. But usually you present one or a few selected cheeses, not a big round.

Nevertheless, they slapped it down in the middle for the table where the host took a hunting-type knife, started hacking off shards of it, and passing them around the table. As we started eating, all of the sudden the whole table went completely quiet. (Which is a real rarity in Paris.)

We all looked around the table, and everyone’s eyes lit up; “C’est incroyable!”

Continue Reading Boat Cheese…