Creole Homes, Scrabble and a King Cake

Monday night is Scrabble Night at Mary and Tomio's amazing home in the Bywater neighborhood, home of the world famous Mirliton Festival.

It is an evening of Mary's wonderful food - to die for kumquat glazed ham, baked Japanese, white-flesh sweet potatoes, skillet cornbread, cheese smothered cauliflower and chocolate pecan King Cake for dessert - fabulous conversation and a Scrabble game or two. (which I always lose)


Mary and Tomio's kitchen



a tableau of turtle shells in dining room
turtle soup anyone?

Mary and Tomio's home, as well as our friend, Peter's, are featured in a recently published, informative and beautifully photographed book, Creole Houses: Traditonal Homes of Old Louisiana. Pin It

Portion Control

Yesterday morning I had the chance to visit one of our favorite, locally owned grocery stores here in New Orleans, Dorignac's.

It was interesting to see one of the food trends that has been embraced in the last couple of years; the portioning of food into little, single-serving containers, creating an obscene amount of packaging waste.

I see wine is no exception.

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Photos du Jour - Krewe of Barkus

A few of the participants in the Krewe of Barkus parade yesterday.
With about 1000 dogs and their owners parading, it was a fun, four hour event! Pin It

My Calender : January 25- February 6

January 25
Wake up at the godforsaken hour of 2:30 a.m. to be out the door by 3:30 a.m. to make it to Toulouse airport by 5 a.m. to board flight to Amsterdam at 6 a.m.
Spend five hours wandering around Amsterdam airport. Lots of shopping and the sushi bar opens at 9:30 a.m.
Board flight for Memphis, land in Memphis and spend 3 ½ hours wandering around Memphis airport. Pulled pork sandwich at Corky's BBQ?
Arrive New Orleans at 9 p.m. Go to my pied-à-terre in New Orleans (Ron and Michael's) and have homemade butternut squash soup that Michael is making. Possible walk to the Quarter to have a drink. Depends upon fatigue level.


January 26
Wake up at 4 a.m. (a normal occurrence after a flight to the States) and sit staring at the computer screen while I wait for the others to wake up so I can go downstairs and make some much needed coffee.
Go help Ron and Jerry pick out tuxedos at the Men's Warehouse for Jerry and Leah's upcoming wedding. Ron is best man so tux's have to match.
See friends in the Quarter.




January 27
Help load throws onto Krewe of King Arthur floats.



Got to the Quarter and watch Krewe of Barkus and wait for call from Michael who is in King Arthur parade to let us know when they're close to Canal Street so we can walk down to see him and several other friends riding on floats and catch some of the throws that we helped to load onto the floats earlier in the day.
Go to King Arthur Post Parade Event.


January 28
Rest. Jet lag should be gone by now.
See friends.
Eat fried shrimp Po' Boy, either at Elizabeth's or Deanie's.



Get Stateside errands done before the city is inundated with visitors.
Possible Scrabble game at Mary's.




January 29
Spend the day with Donna.
Possible trip uptown to the St. James Cheese Company because I'll be needing a cheese fix by then.
See what's new on Magazine Street.
Dinner out with Donna to celebrate our birthdays, which are just 10 days apart.


January 30
Nothing scheduled during the day. How is this possible???
Dinner at Jerry and Leah's.




January 31
Rest, get some work done, rest some more.
Possible lunch at Cochon.
Gather strength for the next five days.
Krewe of Muses parade rolls at 7 p.m.


February 1
Calvin arrives from Rhode Island.
Parades and quality time with Donna and Calvin.



Watch the city fill up with Mardi Gras revelers and Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!




February 2 through 5
Many festivities to attend - too many to list.
Beans and Booze on Bourbon Party.





Societé of St. Anne parade.



Mardi Gras


February 6
Recover. Pin It

Photo du Jour

The snow on the peaks of the Pyrénées was absolutely brilliant the other day. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - From the Minervois and the Corbières

La Fête is a day late...yesterday our friend had a milestone birthday and her four hour lunch turned into an afternoon party. We didn't get home until after 10 p.m.!


Some of our local cheeses are incredible! The flavor of the cheese that comes from small producers surpasses anything you'll ever find at a grocery store, even if it is lait cru and artisanal. There is just something about earthy, farm produced, raw milk cheese that makes all the difference!

The two cheeses we tasted this week were both produced on small farms in the area; Brebis des Corbières and Tomme de Maquis.

This gorgeous, oozing wedge is the Brebis des Corbières, made in the style of Camembert from unpasteurized sheep's milk. The producers, Chantal and Jean-Gabriel Donnet, left their advertising jobs in Montpellier about twenty years ago to make cheese in the rugged, remote and beautiful Corbières. They currently have a herd of about 150 sheep and they produce the famous Tommette des Corbières, a hexagonal cheese with a Grenache (a local, fortified wine) washed rind. I haven't tried it yet, but it is on my list!
The Brebis des Corbières was perfectly ripe and was both creamy and tangy. The flavor was well rounded, smooth and meaty and it had a very pronounced, barnyard aroma. This cheese was pure heaven and we couldn't have been happier as we savored it slowly with a baguette and a glass of red wine from the area.

So, there we were, happily nibbling away on the Brebis des Corbières, thinking it was pretty much the best cheese ever, when we tasted the Tomme de Maquis.
 I had absolutely no expectations for this cheese. It is produced on a small farm about five miles from our house, had a mild aroma, a firm, dense texture and a snowy white interior. It looked nice enough.
But oh! It. Was. Wonderful!
The Tomme de Maquis is made from a combination of unpasteurized sheep and cow's milk and is made on the Cooperative Cravirola, near Minerve. It was creamy, mildly salty and had a delightful tang to its flavor. I poured a Minervois white wine from our local co-op, les Trois Blasons and we sat in amazement that such incredible cheese and wine is produced within a few miles of our home.

It was a fantastic Fête du Fromage!

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Photo du Jour

Beautiful carved flowers. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Certain views here in the Minervois remind me of Tuscany. Pin It

Duck Gigolettes Braised in Red Wine

Lately I've been in an adventurous mood.
If you can call a mood to try new ingredients and recipes, ''adventurous.'' (yes, I lead a quiet life...don't laugh)

When I came across little gigolettes de canard at the market the other day I gave them a good look and thought, what the hell are they, and walked away. About five minutes later I went back, looked again, thought what the hell will I do with them, and bought a half a dozen anyway.

Gigolettes de canard are duck thighs. I'm used to seeing cuisses de canard (duck legs) everywhere and even manchons de canard (drumsticks), but this was my first encounter with gigolettes.

I searched all over for recipes specifically using the gigolettes and found one nice looking recipe, but it looked really heavy with the addition of butter AND oil AND cream on top of the duck fat that I knew would render off these little babies. So I opted for something a bit lighter that I found on good ol' Epicurious. It calls for whole duck legs, but I just cut the recipe in half as the weight of the gigolettes was about 2 pounds. However, I've gone ahead and copied the original recipe.

Red Wine Braised Duck Legs

6 large whole duck legs (about 4 1/2 pounds total), trimmed of excess fat
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
8 fresh thyme sprigs
1 cup mixed dried fruit such as dried sour cherries, chopped dried apricots, chopped pitted prunes, and raisins
5 cups chicken broth

salted and peppered...look at that nice layer of duck fat...a quarter of which ended up all over my hand

Preheat oven to 350°F. and season duck legs with salt and pepper.

In a heavy kettle just large enough to hold legs in one layer, cook legs, skin sides down, over moderately high heat 10 to 15 minutes, or until skin in scrip and mahogany colored, removing fat from kettle as it is rendered with a metal bulb baster (or very carefully tilting the kettle and spooning off). Turn legs over and cook until browned on the other side, about 2 minutes, transferring to a plate.

Pour off fat from kettle and deglaze with wine, scraping up brown bits. Boil wine until reduced to a syrup and add garlic, thyme and 1/2 cup dried fruit. Return duck legs, skin sides up, to kettle and add broth. Bring mixture to a simmer and braise, uncovered, in oven 2 hours, or until legs are very tender. Transfer legs to a platter and keep warm.

Pour braising mixture into a 1-quart measuring cup and let stand until fat rises to the top. Skim off fat and pour liquid through a sieve into a saucepan, pressing hard on solids. Boil liquid until reduced by about one third and slightly thickened and add remaining 1/2 cup dried fruit. Simmer sauce until fruit is softened, about 5 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.

Serve duck legs with sauce and noodles or roasted and mashed potatoes.

yes, there is a little gigolette there under all that luscious sauce

Make sure the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender, even if it takes more than a couple of hours.
This dish, with that tangy, fruity sauce, was divine! Pin It

Photo du Jour

Shadow play. Pin It

Carte de Séjour Watch

Have you ever seen the movie, The Jerk, and there's that scene where Steve Martin is jumping around yelling "The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here!!!"

Well, that was me on Friday, only I was screaming "My new Carte de Séjour is here, my new Carte de Séjour is here!"
And only six months late. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Actual, raw beets!
Beets are usually sold pre-cooked in France. You'll find a crimson stained wooden crate full of wrinkly dark purple-black orbs that are ready to peel and eat. Pin It

How Not To Remove Hot Duck Fat From A Pan...

...with a baster whose suction mechanism isn't functioning, thereby allowing the scalding hot fat that you're saving to sauté potatoes in later, to erupt like molten lava all over the back of your hand.
Causing severe redness and burning.

But those potatoes will be worth it, I'm sure. Pin It

Cheese Shops

I'm considering putting together a list of cheese shops in America, Canada, the U.K. France, Australia...really wherever!

So, I'm asking for your help. I've read about and know of a few, but know that there are so many out there that either don't have websites or aren't easily found when searching the Web.

Please help me acknowledge your local cheese shop (also cheese producer!) and give them the kudos they deserve. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Café

Look at all that crystal clean air in the café.
Not everyone is as happy about this as I am. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Occasionally I deviate from my plain yogurt and honey routine and have sugary, wonderful Nutella on toast for my petit déjeuner.
Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but hey, at least it's whole grain bread.... Pin It

Photo du Jour

Flowering rosemary that grows on one of the roads into our village. Pin It

An Italian Soirée in the South of France

Saturday night we gathered again, this time to celebrate the cuisine of Italy.
It was supposed to be a Japanese evening, but three of the eight of us don't eat sushi and some of the ingredients for Japanese food are understandably difficult to source in the south of France. As much as we like a bit of a challenge, this is also a night for us to enjoy each other's company, so we opted for an easier cuisine.

Frustratingly, the batteries in my camera up and died shortly after snapping what turned out to be a super blurry shot of the Farro and Chickpea soup that I brought. (I'll post the recipe later this week)
Thankfully a borrowed camera saved the day, so I do have a few photos to share of our fantastic meal.

after the soup came a gratin of Belgian endive, Parmesan, garlic and loads of butter with super garlicky garlic bread - just the way I like it!


then steaming, savory prosciutto, wild mushrooms and herbs in parchment paper and grilled cherry tomatoes

The photo of the main course, Pasticcio, was blurry as well. Merde!

dessert of the most amazing, boozy, orange zest infused tiramisu

We love our World Food evenings! Next time...
South Africa! Pin It

Photo du Jour - Marché

A wealth of winter vegetables at the market. I bought Savoy cabbage, a kilo of onions, celery, carrots, a handful of fat green beans, a couple of turnips, garlic and sweet potatoes.
I'm considering making either a big pot of minestrone or garbure. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Tomme de Savoie and Morbier

Tomme de Savoie and Morbier are the two mild, AOC awarded cheeses from the mountainous regions of eastern France that we tasted this week.



There is a saying that there are as many tommes in Savoie as there are mountains and valleys.

The word tomme is a generic term for a round, rustic cheese that is produced in the mountains. As follows, Tomme de Savoie is a round, unpasteurized or pasteurized cow's milk cheese that is produced in the Savoie département in the French Alps.

The salty, nutty flavor was pleasant enough and I enjoyed the smooth, creamy texture. I would call this a "friendly" cheese, meaning that it would please almost anyone with its mild, agreeable flavor. Tomme de Savoie is often lower in fat than most other cheeses, between 20-40% fat, making it a good choice for those who watch their fat intake.

Nothing special here, however, an all around, very nice cheese.

Any white wine from Savoie would be a perfect match to this affable tomme.



Morbier is a reasonably smelly, yet surprisingly mild cow's milk cheese from the Franche-Comté region. This is an easy cheese to recognize due its sticky rind, bulging sides and the dark vein running through its center . That vein used to be soot that the farmers sprinkled over the fresh curd to keep insects away, now it is a vegetable ash that is perfectly edible, though adds no flavor.

Morbier has a nice, buttery, sweet flavor and a supple, silky texture. Again, a friendly, mellow cheese. It is a delicious accompaniment to smoked ham and melts easily, making it perfect for tartines (an open faced, toasted sandwich). I even found a recipe for Morbiflette, a Morbier version of Tartiflette!

Pour a glass of Vin Jaune du Jura or a white such as Chardonnay to enjoy with this cheese.


The photos are a bit blah, sorry about that!

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Photo du Jour

Our village church that often has laundry hanging to dry on clotheslines strung between the buttresses! Pin It

Photo du Jour

Very early signs of spring in our neighbor's window. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Café

Fermé.
Another vintage café with a beautiful, faded sign. Pin It

Gumbo - The Conclusion

Voilà!
The magnificent, steaming bowl of Gumbo. The roux could have been a tad darker, but its rich, toasty aroma was making my stomach growl so I hurried things along!
I know I used the word patience yesterday and how important it is. I thought I had more. Need to work on that....


sautéed chicken and smoked sausage heating up


after 40 minutes of stirring


just after adding the liquid


Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
serves 4 hungry people

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for sautéeing the chicken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil for the roux
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 chicken legs, divided into thigh and drumstick
  
• 1 pound smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups water or chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon Rustic Rub
• 1/3 cup minced parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon filé powder

Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large cast-iron or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat.
Season the chicken with salt, pepper and the Rustic Rub.
Brown the chicken on all sides and remove from the pot.
Add the smoked sausage, cook until browned and remove from the pot.
Wipe the pot clean to remove any caramelized, black bits.
Return the pot to medium heat, combine the oil and flour, grab a beer or pour yourself a glass of wine, find someone to keep you company in the kitchen or put on some good music and settle in to stir!
Stirring slowly and constantly for 25 minutes to an hour, make a brown roux, the color of milk chocolate. All the recipes I find state that the roux will be done after 25-30 minutes, but this is not true for our stove. So, keep your eye on it and don't rush it. (like I did!)
Add the onions, celery, garlic and bell peppers to the roux and cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until wilted.
Put the chicken, sausage, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves back in the pot, stir it all together for a few minutes, then add the water or stock.
Stir until the roux mixture and liquid are well combined.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.
Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, carefully skimming off any fat that rises to the surface.
Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley, green onions, and filé powder.

Remove the bay leaves and serve in deep bowls with steamed rice.


the all important filé powder

So, it should have been a bit darker...but the flavor was super bon! Creamy, velvety, slightly spicy and smoky.
One whiff and a small taste and I was instantly transported back to Liuzza's in New Orleans.


almost finished


My recipe is a mélange of gumbo recipes from Chuck at The Gumbo Pages, Chef Emeril Lagasse and Chef John D. Folse. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Café

Fermé. Pin It

Gumbo Cravings

It was either that recipe for Rabbit Gumbo I looked at last week or the knowledge that I'll be landing in New Orleans a mere two weeks from today that has gotten my gumbo cravings flowing.

Have you ever made a real, honest to god, café au lait colored, rich nutty flavored roux, Gumbo? It is a simple, beautiful thing.
But it takes some patience.

Well, patience I've got. And I'm fortunate to have the time to stand around, performing a seemingly endless job of stirring flour and oil together, until the perfectly colored roux is achieved. It really only takes about an hour on our stove, but that hour moves like molasses. And quel catastrophe if little black specks appear in your roux! That means dumping it in the bin and starting all over again.
That happened to me once and I swear, never again. Patience - there's that word again. Remember, rushing the roux will result in little black specks.

I'm making a classic, Cajun Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo this afternoon. I'll post a full gumbo chronicle, the recipe and photos tomorrow. Maybe I can convince some of you to attempt this memorable, mouthwatering dish that has me under its spell?

Chef John D. Folse has a very informative tutorial on roux. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Who knows what evil lurks...

Could she look any more pissed off? Pin It

A Morning in the South of France

The chill in the air and the smell of wood burning in fireplaces are what first hit me when I step outside to make a quick trip to the épicerie.
Our village lost its boulangerie several years ago, but the owner of the épicerie, Marie Thérèse, has bread delivered every morning. Baguettes, gros pain (a fatter, larger baguette) and croissants. Not the best choice, but perfect when I don't want to get in the car and drive five miles to the nearest bakery. She opens at 9 am and if you're not there by 10, the croissants are all gone.
Needless to say, we don't eat many croissants.


The gros pain has a soft, puffy interior which is much friendlier to the roof of your mouth than the baguettes, which have an ultra crispy, crunchy crust and a far too airy crumb for our taste.
The best thing to do is to be organized, plan ahead and reserve our bread and croissants so they'll be waiting for us when we finally meander down there to pick them up. We just don't plan from day to day if we'll be making the trip into town or not, other than Tuesday which is Market Day. Another good reason to bake my own bread!

Ideally, most of my writing is done in the morning, after a strong cup of coffee and either some plain yogurt drizzled with our local beekeeper's miel de garrigue or a croissant, but as I already said, we don't eat a lot of those!
Around 11 a.m. the dogs get restless and want a walk - I think they keep time by the church bells that chime every hour. If it's raining like it has been the last couple of days, I fake them out by putting on their leashes and opening the door. They put one paw on the damp ground and quickly draw it back, dismayed at the thought of wet paws. It cracks me up. They're such little prima donnas!

Then before I know it, it's time to get some lunch together. Lunch is usually our largest meal of the day and I love looking at recipes in the morning, trying new French dishes, as well as keeping our Indian, Thai, Italian, Chinese and Mexican cravings satisfied.

Life is pretty tranquil in our little French village. But like anywhere, time passes far too quickly!

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