Craving French Cheese

Been away from home for three weeks now.

As I sit here cramming bottles of Crystal hot sauce, Community coffee with chicory, comfortable pj's from Target, cookbooks, DVD's and new shoes into my bags I can feel the excitement building.
After the boring, 20 hour journey back to France I will be happily greeted by my little family of five and plan on getting either a button of chèvre or a wedge of Comté in my hands as soon as possible.

In a perfect world I would be able to get one of these in France...I guess life is all about trade offs.


For now I'm happy with French cheese. And a glass of wine.
Of course. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Comfort

Comfort Food. Sometimes you just crave it.

Macaroni & Cheese is way up there on my Favorite Comfort Food of All Time list.
I use the recipe from Horn & Hardart's, with a few revisions; no cheddar cheese around here so I use Gruyère or another good melting cheese, I add a couple of dashes of Crystal Hot Sauce to the mix and put fine breadcrumbs on the top before it goes in the oven. Pin It

Things I'm Taking Back to France

Before each trip to the States we have a look around the house and (mainly) the kitchen to make The List.

Last trip it included;
tofu for making Szechuan mapo tofu
Reese's Pieces for our young, English neighbors
tea for Riana
Crystal Hot Sauce-I have a love affair with this stuff
hominy for making posole, a Mexican soup that includes pork, avocado, lime and cilantro
clothes and shoes I'd ordered with a gift card
and not on the list-a virus I caught on the airplane

This trip I have a lot more space in my luggage;
Airborne to keep me from getting sick again when I fly home!
Emergen C-same as above
bagels for my husband-his great love
chili powder for it's obvious use
dried chili peppers to use in recipes from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen
Reese's Pieces (the girls ate the last bag in three days!)
Karo Syrup because I sometimes need it
assorted birthday cards as they are difficult to come by in our little corner of France and usually really expensive
peanut brittle from the Davenport Hotel here in Spokane, Washington-addictive and divine
rewritable DVD's as they cost a fortune in France
M A C lipstick in Odyssey
cans of chipotles in adobo sauce for use in dozens of recipes
Snoqualmie Falls Lodge oatmeal-never mushy

As soon as I have a chance to get to the grocery store I know I'll find many more items and end up with a suitcase that I can barely zip shut. It happens every time.


Update
My mom is doing much better and should be going home from the hospital today. She'll be so happy to be home and her cat will be very happy to have her there! Pin It

Chez Loulou's Top 100 List

Saveur Magazine releases a Top 100 list every year in their January issue. I've decided to make a list of my own.
I'm not going to do write the entire list in one post, but will add at least 10 a day for the next week or so. I'm starting with only 5 tonight because I need to get off the computer and go make some dinner!

1. Fran's Chocolate GoldBar. A Seattle based chocolate maker.

2. Muscat St. Jean de Minervois. Can be served as an aperitif wine, is a perfect accompaniment for foie gras or as a dessert wine.

3. Crystal Hot Sauce. A favorite since 1923. Their plant was destroyed in hurricane Katrina but they plan to open another, although not in New Orleans.

4. Manny & Isa's Kitchen, Islamorada, Florida. Haven't eaten there in a few years, but I still can taste their amazing Shrimp Enchilado.

Manny & Isa's Kitchen
US Highway 1
Islamorada, FL
(305) 664-5019

5. OXO's Good Grip Citrus Zester. Every kitchen needs one.

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