bleudauvergne

I respectfully disagree. I LOVE the coffee in France. ...But the "café" at the Cafés, whether straight, or as a "crème" I have always found to be wonderful. ← I fall in the love French coffee camp. We also found that there is a certain way of roasting coffees that's done in the alpine region, that makes an excellent very refined coffee and it has to be very finely ground. I don't know the name of it though.

Malawry - great that you're taking advantage of the sales. It is rather bothersome to see a big sale sign on a kitchen supply place and then find out they're willing to give you 5% off. But there are many excellent finds especially as the sales continue, especially at the stores that rotate their inventory because they keep marking down until the end. Gosh I wonder how Owen's doing. No news is good news I assume.

That would be on the Rhone, near Pont Lafayette. We have never eaten there because we just found the menu too expensive, can anyone comment on the dining experience on the River Boat?

Warning all of the best restaurants are going to be completely booked this weekend due to the Salon International de la Restauration, de l’Hôtellerie et de l’Alimentation. I recommend you make your bookings nice and early. I highly recommend both Gourmet de Seze for a excellently prepared FD menus and Chez Pierre for falling in the not so fancy unknown to the common tourist category but still well prepared seasonal delicacies, in November it was a menagerie of lovely game, although that might have changed since them.

We go to the Beaujolais often to walk. It is beautiful country. You know the old joke about Lyon, there are three rivers running through it... Ah, so you were in Paris when you first noticed signs in the bars. Were they mass produced signs or hand written ones? How old were you at that time? What did you and your wife do about it when you went back to Paris later and were keeping an eye out for the blitz? Did you participate in the hoopla like tourists? My first experience with the Beaujolais Nouveau was a few months after we arrived in France. It was at a fromagerie at Croix Rousse, where I used to do all of my shopping because the Thursday market there was the best value for the money, we were really struggling at the time. So the woman fromager told me that I must get a Pierre d'Oré , because it was a special occasion. I blushed, thinking she thought it was Thanksgiving (I am generally obscessed with Thanksgiving during the second half of November). And she then said - "This cheese comes from the region of the Beaujolais" with a patient smile on her face, as if I was supposed to understand something. I didn't get what she was saying but bought one anyway, because it seemed quite important to her. It was a lovely cheese, hard and tangy. That afternoon, I had to get something from the butcher in my neighborhood, and they invited me to have a glass of wine. Oh how nice. I felt very special being offered this wine. It was my first taste of the Beaujolais Nouveau. I then discovered it was from his brother's production. It was the hard sell. Of course I bought some. My kitchen at the time had one very small window in a very thick stone wall that the sun used to shine into for a very short time in the afternoon. I remember the pink sun shining in a beam into the kitchen as I poured myself a glass of the wine. It was only after that that I noticed the signs in the windows.

peppyre and I do the same thing. I always figured people trimmed for aesthetic reasons since I've never had a problem with mess with my roasted garlic and I don't trim. Since I usually save my roasted garlic for flavoring various soups and sauces and I don't present it in its jacket, it doesn't matter to me. Perhaps when roasting fresh garlic, the trimming would be helpful.

Tom, I have merged your question with this recent thread, please keep us updated on your experiences. Your feedback after going through the class would be wonderful!

This is an excellent opportunity to sit down and think about what really happened as you were growing up in the Beaujolais. Where did you live, can you remember autumn days and what you felt, the images you have in your memories of the end of the month of November as you came into being there? What was your view of the landscape at the time? What did you think the first time you saw the marketing campaign appear in France? Where were you at the time?

If I had my choice of fish to serve whole it would be a fresh line-fished seabass. The flavor of that fish is excellent and it is a handsome fish to serve whole. No need to bone, just have the fishmonger scale and gut it, and serve it whole. The fillets come off easily during serving. Inside the cavity, for a nice large fish, evenly distribute 125 grams (a stick) of butter that you have salted and in which you have incorporated various herbs to your liking, parsley, chives, sorrel etc. On the ouside, gently rub the skin with oil, (olive oil is fine) crushed garlic, and sprinkle with sea salt. Top it off with grapefruit slices along the outside of the seasoned fish and wrap it in parchment. In a hot oven, bake the fish for 5 minutes, plus 5 minutes per cm thickness of the fish at its fattest. Serve it on a platter surrounded by new potatoes. Here is a link to another whole fish thread where people had lots of ideas. Good luck with your dinner!

Yes, in any reputable cheese shop they are going to ask you how you want it and have a variety to choose from in various stages of affinage.

I completely agree with Robert, that the work of the fromager has everything to do with the quality of the product that is sold.

For me, the first cure when I'm sad or in a bad mood is to cook for others. Then suddenly it all turns around about halfway through the sauteeing of an onion - I'm in my element. For me, when I'm feeling uninspired the best thing for me to do is invite people to dinner.

It's good to hear someone French explain the horrid condition of French coffee and confirm why I always note which restos serve Illy. Luckily my Monoprix has Illy and I don't need to go farther. ← Hmmm, Illy. This is a brand? What does the package look like? We must try it. Sigh. I'm clearly at the height of my francophilia. I think it generally can be quite good in a cafe. Some are better than others, yes, but I certainly don't go into a cafe thinking, oh darn, I have to drink this stinking French cafe coffee again. I would certainly not claim French coffee to be the best overall in Europe in formal terms of taste, but I won't dismiss it, because it is a different animal. I am interested to see how Owen fares in Paris and what he thinks about the overall comparison once his notes are in.

For someone like myself who likes his coffee, preferably Illy which available in some places, strong as in Naples (eg in Italian ristretto) ask for serré (that is dense). ← Serré - this will get you 10 droplets of pure caffeine which you have to lick out of the bottom of the little cup.

Andy, that home made flapjack does look absolutely delicious. I had to google flapjack as I too have a different mental reference for flapjacks. Here's a recipe

Owen, I'll add my two cents about ordering coffee to drink. The coffee you order in cafes is good most everywhere. People who live or spend a lot of time in Paris may have suggestions about the best places to go for a good cup of coffee. There are a few ways you can order it. Cafe - This will get you a little cup of strong coffee. Cafe au lait - This will get you a little cup of strong coffee lengthened with hot milk in a bigger cup. "Americano"- This will get you the strong coffee lengthened with hot water in the bigger cup. Double (doo-ble)- This will get you a double shot of the little one in a bigger cup. Cappuccino - Not a French specialty but they do it, quality varies, again I leave this to the Parisians to recommend a place that serves a good one. I hope you have a wonderful time in Paris.

To Heinz (legourmet): Where are you? That's a super enormous eclectic and interesting project of a meal. Tell me something about your monkfish, is it expensive where you live? Show me how you cut that shrimp to make it sit up like that. Second course, what is that in the middle between the fish/shrimp and the vegetables? Tell me how long you sat at the table, and how many guests you had.

Wow Naguere are you in Munich? Ah yes now I know you are in England. I was thinking you had to be in Munich because of the blonde wood table. Anyway it looks scrumptious. Especially the beer. Question about the sausage. How does it differ from the sausage you get at home? Seasonings, etc?

We normally sit across from one another and if one is facing into the restaurant it's me. At home we sit on a corner (at a right angle), rarely ever across from one another or next to each other. I like corner seating best, it's closer. Strange. Never thought about it.

hi i'm new to te site. well i think that when it comes to pasta i think people are very inside the box thinkers. flour and egg is the staple. basically i simplify it down to this. if it has guten and you add liquid to it and make a dough... you can make a pasta. in your kitchen aid have you flour, durum flour, durum wheat, or whatever. and add you liquid, wether it be egg, water milk, juice, veggie puree of some sort and mix it. if it's too loose and wet add more flour, if it's too dry and more liquid. edit: of course there are steps you can take to truly perfect it but for everyday consumption this is unnecesary. ← Chef koo, It's so nice to see you here! You're right, it's so true that your ingredients can vary a whole lot and that different things are going to give you different results. Some want to master pasta making in order to recreate a wonderful pasta experience they had once. Others want to understand the nuances of the various pasta making traditions by region or all over the world (the northern Chinese do some wonderful things with pasta...), others want to make their own pasta to control the ingredients for dietary reasons (for example I was making home made whole hard wheat pasta without oil or egg while following the Montignac plan), or simply to understand the ingredients they've got in the cabinet. Still others want to get pasta quick and easy on the table! Oh you'll find all types here. We would love to hear any ideas or recipes you found particularly interesting.

I want to get my cassoulet going and then think about it... I didn't share this with anyone but my beloved butcher up and closed his doors for good about 5 weeks ago without one word of warning. It was freaky and scary. He covered his name on the store front so we know he's gone for good. In any case, I am taking this opportunity to interview the butchers in the neighborhood and see if they're up to snuff. I'm figuring out that I may end up looking all over town because one does this and another does that. Its really a rather good test. I tell them I am going an authentic cassoulet and get the non-commital "so what" look. Then I explain that I plan to confit the canard, eyes widen. They all can get me the duck legs. When I ask about the casings for the sausages, the answers vary. It's going to be very hard to find me a new butcher. These guys don't want to source anything like my old butcher used to do. I wish I knew what happened to him. My husband spotted him out walking (alone) in the week after they closed and since that time we haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them in the neighborhood.

They've seen this often enough in the movies to know it's breakfast where I come from, didn't fool the hubby for a second...

M. Lucia, how did you mix the dough? describe the process. How long did you knead it?

Chufi - WOW! Gorgeoous and delicious too I'm sure!

Classic.