bleudauvergne

Only once was it bad enough to keep me from going back. A Taiwanese place in the 6eme Lyon. We were seated at the table in a very dimly lit dining room. Once my eyes adjusted, I could see them everywhere. They were oozing along the corners, from under the carpet, on the walls, one was actually on the next table (which was not occupied). The false ceiling was vibrating ever so slightly and they were partially slipping out from behind it, always in motion, it was horrifying, not just because of the ones I could see, but the thought of the thousands I could not see. Every couple of minutes my eye would catch another one. We just stood up and left. I was afraid one would get into my purse or the cuff of my pants and infest our home. It was so icky. We inspected each other before going into our apartment.

I don't know about a chef. But I have been reading something that has me wishing I could have spent an autumn at Jane Grigson's house when she was alive. It seems like she really cared about the food. There were some things she knew very well. I would like to have walked through an herb garden with her, and prepared fresh game with her at her hearth.

The checkout here in France was the last straw that made us give up supermarket shopping here forever. Where can I begin? There are 5 categories of checkouts. 1) Normal. On weekends, this line always has a wait of approximately 15-20 minutes. The concept of opening new lanes once they get longer than a certain number of people is unknown here. In most cases, access to the front asiles of the store is physcially restricted by people waiting for checkout. 2) A lane reserved for "invalids and pregnant women". 3) No bags provided, this is to attract people who want to do their shoppin in an ecofriendly way. The wait is just as long. This one is a rather new concept, so there are usually misunderstandings and long drawn out situations where someone did not understand and does not want to pay for the bags they have for sale there. 4) The Pass line. This is not your average frequent customer pass. This pass requires you to pay for your purchases with a card issued by the store which has a direct line on your bank account. To get one, you have to make an appointment, go to a special office, open a dossier, and undergo a complete review of your financial records, including last three pay statements, a copy of your marriage certificate, carte de sejour or identity card, and involves a yearly fee. The Pass line is always shorter then the others. I find it scandalous because it relegates people who don't wish to provide all of their personal and financial information, pay a fee, or people the supermarket deems unworthy or too poor to longer waits, not to mention foreign visitors who are completely barred from using this service. 5) The express line, which is policed with authority by the checkout person. If the sign says 10 and you have 11, the checkout person refuses to ring the person up, and makes a scene about it in the process. Sometimes this entails tantrums or obstructive long arguments. The checkout people are given no decision making powers whatsoever, which fuels their general frustration in life and makes them on the whole a rather unpleasant lot. The store has no trust in the customer. So if an item fails to scan or does not have a label, your reminder that the item indeed cost €3,29 is ignored, and the checkout person picks up a phone, which proceeds to ring for 2 or 3 minutes, and is finally picked up by someone who sends a price checker. This person arrives from a distant location in the store on rollerblades. They take the item, return to the asile with it (all while you and everyone behind you are waiting at the checkout) and return to tell the cashier that it costs €3,29. The people in line wait patiently. Produce must be individially checked, sealed to avoid you adding vegetables to a sack after it's been weighed, and weighed in the produce section by a person relegated to the task, and that task alone. And last but not least, you are not given your detailed receipt, which almost always contains 2 or three errors in prices programmed into the bar code software (which can be costly - we were once charged 16 euros for an item that actually cost 1.60 for example), until after your card transaction has gone through. You must scan the prices of each item, and take your receipt and wait in line for another 5 to 10 minutes in order for a person to look scrutiniizingly down their nose at you, call another price checker, and go through the price checking process again. They then slap the difference in price down with distain as if you have made an unjust accusation and call - NEXT! We avoid it whenever humanly possible.

Hi artisanbaker - would you mind sharing your experience that gave the impression it was overrated, i.e. have you prepared dishes featuring this bird or were you served it at a restaurant and felt it was not up to your expectation? My poulet de Bresse is the same price as free range. My thought is that maybe I am not preparing it in a way that best suits the bird, and hearing both how people have prepared it and had memorable experiences or how it was served (and enjoyed - or not) in a restaurant would be helpful.

Excellent inspiration has come from you Helen, all week. Yesterday we went to a store that sells only olive oil and vinegar. There must have been about 200 different kinds of vinegar there. I'm getting in the mood to experiment... Thanks!

Damn, Rachel, that sounds fantastic. Brunch is at your house! (I'll bring the coffee and fresh peaches.) Sounds like all you need to do is trust your instincts, gain some confidence and use the Force (forks?.) You are a born culinary Jedi. Yes, I agree, Rachel has created a masterpiece with the french toast. I'll bring the champagne! Did you husband comment on the breakfast?

bleu - do you add those herbs to sour cream? mayo? a combination? (just curious) rachel - as you can see -you really can't go wrong - but i would not break the bank for these people. mixed nuts and veggies and dip is fine... also - i think i read that you were planning to get fresh lasagne sheets. if so - you don't need to boil them. (frankly i never boil them because they stick together and then rip) - if you use dry noodles you just need to compensate by adding more liquid (sauce). Sour cream!

Hi Helen - I too had absolutely no idea about the pickle culture there! Two questions about the bitter gourd pickles and the ricebran pickles: Do you blanche the bitter gourd before pickling or pickle it in it's bitter glory? You rinse those ricebran pickles off, right? Any other uses for the paste? A comment on Pumkin Lovers question about her friend not being able to stay in Japan - In any person who has been transplanted, culture shock is something that generally continues on in different stages for years, more or less evident depending on how quickly a person picks up the language. There's a difficult time that usually falls between the first and second year (for me), when progress in the language has progressed enough to bring on a whole slew of new misunderstandings. It's a trying time but I've found that it eventually gets much better. I would venture to guess too that a person's age and what else they've got going on in their lives may have a lot to do with how resilient a person is to this type of inevitable low level stress over periods of time. But once that's over, things generally smooth out and get a lot better. Loving the blog.

you are a riot! I am having so much fun reading this thread.

I've PMed you a tried and true simple lasagne recipe- Good luck with the hostile inlaws. I'd cut up some vegs and make a simple onion dip by adidng finely minced onion, shallot, chives (optional), and celery salt for before dinner. No one can complain about fresh veggies!

When I was in school, certain grocery stores were meat markets in more ways than one! The most attractive guys had a nice varied selection of fresh fare in their carts, indicating that they actually cooked. I found that extremely attractive.

George Blanc, born and raised in Bourg en Bresse. His recipe - This is the one, yes? Fricassée de poularde de Bresse aux gousses d'ail et au foie gras What's making it different from the regular fricassee in this recipe is that the bird is not fully carved before cooking, only removing the legs. He leaves the breasts on the carcass during the whole cooking process, and carves the bird just before serving. Your comment on being careful not to overcook the bird is noted. He uses a lot less fois gras and butter than you were served , 100 grams of fois gras and 120 grams of butter for the whole bird in the above recipe - could this be the same recipe I wonder? He mentions serving it with potato "crepes" (click), or a fresh vegetable in season. FG, do you remember what your dish was served with? Hi John, I hope you have a memorable experience. Boris, I'm not sure supply lines have everything to do with it, I'm buying direct from the supplier who comes down from Bourg en Bresse (It's about an hour drive from here) to sell them at the producers' market... And I also get mixed results, i.e. poulet de bresse on the roti's nothing to write home about. However I do accept your point. If you want us to swing through and get a couple direct from the farm on the way up to dinner with you we'll be happy to do it. I'm sorry I'm allergic to Horse but anything else from your illustrious fourneau will be fine, as long as it's accompanied by some of that fabulous wine you've been bragging about. Thank you Boris, I've got the recipe, I'll try it but I'm taking pictures so warn your friend... Please post more memorable experiences with Poulet de Bresse - I am trying to formulate a really strong theory on the best ways to cook this bird, and why - I need more collective experience to draw from...

It's a real pleasure to read about how you cooking has developed over the years and the things you do every year. It's interesting to note the key experiences in learning or taking up habits and how they intertwine with the experiences of others. On another note, imagining pickles from chicken feed puts a wonderful twist in my morning routine!

I buy a Poulet de Bresse every once in a while, I'd say twice a month. The prices the other day were €8.60/kilo (about $4.75/lb.), about the price of the free range chickens I can get from the butcher. I've tried several ways to cook them, from putting them on the spit to slow braising, and I have yet to prepare a Poulet de Bresse that takes me to that higher plane. More often than not, it tastes like - chicken. Plain old normal regular chicken. The skin is pretty, that's about it. Wondering if because I am getting smaller ones (cooking for two) - thus younger, and less flavorful birds? What's the best way to choose a Poulet de Bresse? Can anyone share their memorable experiences being served Poulet de Bresse in a restaurant, and how was it prepared? Is there anything else I should know about them to help me the next time I pick one up? Thanks in advance Lucy

bleachboy - good for you. The feet can be prepared in advance to add to the braise. Defrost and then split the feet lengthwise from the top, and wash off in running water. Blanch them a pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes, rinse in cold water, and you can keep them (refrigerate if keeping for several hours) until you're ready to add them to simmer. Have a nice dinner! -Lucy

Yes I certainly agree. It takes concrete experience to decide what works for you to curb sugar cravings while they are intense. It's a good point, everyone is different.

Today is the one month anniversary of my having started on the Montignac Plan. It’s time to take stock. How much weight have I lost? 10 pounds! The first 4 came off quickly, and the remaining 6 have come off slowly, without fanfare. Weighing from day to day I rarely see any fluctuation, up or down on the scale, it’s been very gradual, something that has been at times trying on my patience, because I want miracles! But in essence it’s working and I plan to continue. How to do I feel? Having lost 10 pounds, I feel much better than I did a month ago, that’s for sure. A few things in my closet that a month ago I could not even button are now at least fitting on my body, although they are still straining here and there (I hate that!). 10 pounds is about the equivalent of 3 large bottles of water. I place this water in a sack and imagine carrying the sack everywhere I go. Unimaginable. The physical relief I feel is real. With the change in eating habits, I find that my general spirit has lifted, my energy levels are better. The cyclical daily mood swings are a thing of the past, and I see that they were food related. Before starting on the plan, I was completely beat at the end of the work day. It was a real effort to keep moving to take care of household tasks at the end of the day and it affected my emotions. Social activities during the week were difficult. It was also hard to get out of bed, and in the afternoon I needed a cup of sweet coffee and some candy to pull me out of a mid-afternoon slump. Now, my energy levels have balanced out to a large degree. I feel, on the whole, in comparison to where I was a month ago, a definite improvement in energy level throughout the day. It’s rare that I’m simply exhausted like I was anymore. I have been confronted recently with finding an equilibrium between how I feel and how I look. I am on the whole enchanted and full of joy with the positive changes in the way that I feel since starting on the Montignac plan. But the truth remains that I still have significant progress to make. Patience is a virtue. I went to the doctor yesterday, and she weighed and we talked. We agree that I have made progress but I should not stop here. I should continue on the plan. Sometimes this is disappointing, because I am still significantly overweight – unhealthily so. It’s been hard to realistically gauge my own progress based on how I feel, because I get very overly excited about the small progress I have made. I thought about buying new outfit to reward each 10 pounds (good excuse to shop). Yesterday I went to the sales which are starting in Lyon. I went to my favorite clothing stores and pulled a couple of nice summery outfits off the rack that seemed like they’d look nice on me. Guess what? They didn’t really look smashing. They didn’t even fall like I thought they would, even in the appropriate sizes. I found that it was less traumatic to buy – shoes (3 pairs). Here’s a good analogy. You know when you have something stuck in your tooth, and you’re feeling it with your tongue, and it feels like it’s huge, and once you’ve finally dislodged it, you realize that it’s an itty bitty little microscopic shard? Well, how I feel after being on Montignac for a month is kind of like that. My soul tongue is feeling around in my inner self, and sensing wonderful huge changes. But when I actually look, they’re not all visible. I might as well face it. 10 lbs. has not made a significant change in the way I look. Most people (except close friends and family) have not noticed. I still have progress to make. It has dawned on me that this whole process will require some meditation and concentration and adjustments to make on more than just my weight – something I am prepared to devote some time to focus on more closely. As you may have noticed, I am not documenting every morsel that goes into my mouth anymore on this thread, because it would be repetitive. Now that one month is over, my posts will focus on quality - they'll come when I’ve got something significant to share, like new cheeses and recipes with photos, progress, etc.

I love this type of asian-fusion preparation--easy and quick and so tasty. I found another great prep in which you wrap a piece of fish (like cod) in a softened Vietnamese rice wrapper. Then it gets crisped in a little oil, part of the time with a lid over to help cook. Then finished by cooking a little more in a sauce of soy or tamari, rice vinegar, shallots, green onions and chile... The wrapper adds an interesting flavor/texture and the sauce adds a bright note. ludja - the wrap is a nice idea. I think I'll try it with lettuce, or see if I can find a mung bean based wrapper at the Asian markets, since I'm restricte don rice intake on the Montignac plan. Thank you for the good idea!

I could not agree with this comment more. Plain peanuts, which have a GI of about 20 and will not cause a spike in insulin, have been very helpful to me in this respect. They appeal to a certain part of my "sweet" sensibility - so many sweets and candies incorporate peanuts, but eating them plain is relatively harmless. Just a handful takes the edge off.

Dinner Sunday was nice and simple, it was hot and we were tired from cleaning the house, and we had a movie to watch. I had washed all of the the windows that afternoon, and the windows in the cases down the hallway, it was a big task. Anyway. We had cold fare for dinner that evening, consisting of Tete de Veau gallatines with pied de veau salad. They went quite well together. I did not have a chance to paint them with gelatin. Next time, we have two left. We had a guest for dinner the other night and I put a chicken on the roti. I was rather dissapointed with it, I don't know. It was a rather boring meal. Along with the roti, I served puree de celeriac, pureed celery root, and garlic sauteed spinach. The meal was alright but not spectacular. I was rushed and unable to take pictures that evening. Today I was home for lunch so I cooked some lingue (ling) fillets. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite inexpensive fish. It's the texture I love so so much. I quickly poached it and poured a soy and sesame vinaigrette over it for the last couple of minutes of cooking. Delicious and satisfying.

Hi Helen. I am really enjoying your blog so far. What an interesting and beautiful way to spend the week! Thank you! Just these past few posts have got me thinking about my own experience cooking in foreign cultures. The process of learning to cook French dishes (for my husband who appreciates it a great deal and also as one of my normal obscessions) has involved a concerted effort to really understand what I'm doing - probably more than regular French people normally invest. I pay a lot of attention about not taking method short cuts, learning the history behind a dish etc. Results have been generally well received. Being in Asia was a little different - when I was in China, and learning to cook from my Ayi, I would prepare a dish, and when serving it to Chinese friends, they'd always respond with a suprised "not bad" or a "very close!" with a smile as if they could not really accept that a westerner could actually master the art of Chinese cooking. I know very well that if I make absolutely no substitutions and no changes to method, you could not tell my results from a Chinese, still it was hard for some people to accept. One discussion at the table between some of my Chinese friends over a dish I prepared really stands out in my mind - most thought it was done just the way they would have done it, and one person said it was still not quite. They chalked it up to family differences, and while it really didn't matter to me, I did realize that being a foreign cook called everything into question there. How do your Japanese friends and family react to the food you prepare or your kitchen methods? You've been in Japan for a long time - have you completely integrated cooking-wise, or do you still hold on to certain habits that are different? Did you take Japanese cooking lessons at any point? It all looks simply fabulous. Lucy

Verjuice, I can't say for every case, but for me it took a few days to work. My cravings eventually subsided. When I was eating sugary stuff, the cravings often came in the afternoon or early evening, when the blood sugar spike caused by what I had at lunch had dipped enough to make me tired. Hang in there, and don't worry about fruit. Try peanuts for a snack too. Good luck! Lucy

Graham Flour description at epicurious. Semolina discription at epicurious. I don't think they are the same thing... But graham flour might be a nice thing to try as a substitution for the regular whole wheat flour.

A thousand thanks for a lovely week, Boris.

Thanks! Dave, You'd be suprised at what a couple of squares of really good dark chocolate can do to curb that craving for a snickers! Give it a try! I know that it's not easy to make sense of ingredients and lists of the nutritional value of foods. Rule no. 1 is if you don't trust something, buy the raw ingredients and make it yourself! Sugar in any form, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, malt, corn syrup, etc. found in many condiments is really common and one thing that's pretty easy to identify. If you can try and make your own condiments, like jams and compotes without sugar, ketchup without sugar, mayo in the blender at home, half the battle is won. (and it tastes better) The next thing is spice and sauce mixes and pre packaged marinades, which contain modified food starch, thickeners, and sugar in many forms. These are to be thrown in the bin straight away. Sausages and sandwich meats often contain dextrose - bad. The deli meats often have sugar or honey based brines. Again, buy the meat from a reliable source where you know the person who actually made it (our butcher does his own sausages), and slice meats directly from the animal for your sandwiches instead of buying it pre-sliced. One major way to really improve your overall healthy eating habits is to cook and prepare vegetables, and lots of them, giving them the same care and attention you would meats, and try to eat more veggies on a regular basis. Soups always taste good and are very healthy too. I hope you give it a try and keep checking back with your progress!