bleudauvergne

Welcome to egullet, sarge. Don't worry, you'll eventually succeed once you find a way to do it that you can live with. Hmmm, when I mentioned the French barbeque, it was neither derogatory nor complimentary, since barbeque is defined differently everywhere we go. The French, although they do like to fire up the grill from time to time, rarely have grills much larger than hibachis, and there is no barbeque culture here, they think of barbeque as something like we do fondue, something that we'll do every so often on a special occasion, but it won't pop into the typical French mind on a beautiful summer evening to fire up the barbeque. In fact, I'm not sure I could buy a gas grill or a backyard smoker here in France, there simply is no demand for it. The other night, the grill was set up far away from the guests. At the very back of the garden, seen from a distance from the house, the fire was tended to by the host only. The children present were warned to stay well away, and shushed away even if they paused to look in the direction of the barbeque. There was no discussion of what was to be grilled among the guests' conversation, nor did any of the guests approach the barbeque (except me, but I'm a weirdo). Once we had been ushered to the house and seated on the terrace, the host dissapeared and tended to the meat from time to time, which was cooked all at once. We were seated on a terrace attached to the house, far away from the activity, in fact in the dimming twighlight, the grill was not visible from where we were finally seated for dinner. Not once did we catch the odor of grilling meat. The meat was brought all at once on a plattter, having already cooled to nearly ambient temperature. No vegetables were grilled. What we saw from the grill were sausages - merguez, which are spiced beef links with owe their origin to North African cuisine, but now sold in the hypermarches and by the halal butchers. They are the sausages that you find on a couscous. This barbeque also featured pork chops. Other barbecuse that we have attended have only been merguez. I have had some input in the barbeque culture of my in-laws these past few summers, by suggesting sauces, marinades, and vegetables suitable for grilling, and we have enjoyed grilled fish with them. The fine art of cooking the meat to grilled perfection seems to be difficult to accomplish here, most likely due to the charcoal, which is light and puffy, heats up very hot, and then quickly snuffs out. The custom of serving the meat all at once to a seated table that has already enjoyed a first course could also have an influence on the final product. I speak only from experience and cannot say that it is this way in every French household with a bbq grill, there are exceptions to every rule. Whenever I am invited to a French barbeque, I do look forward to it, because it means a less formal atmosphere than your average dinner party, dining usually outdoors or on a terrace, lots of very good rose wine (of which I had to pass up this last time), and wonderful salads.

Last night we went to a friend's house in Condrieu, home of the Cote Roti, where we had a barbeque. It was a French Barbeque. We brought a Montignac salad. (We didn't mention at all my regime.) There was plenty to eat, this salad was brought by another friend, delicious with mozzarella, tomatos, avocados, and fresh basil. Two things off limits for me were the gratin dauphinous and the tarte au rhubarb. The meats weren't ready until it was dark, so I'm not posting any pictures of the meat. After the meal, they brought out digestifs, eau de vie maison. I had to have one little taste. It was wonderful. We have to go to another party today....

I would say that anything I use to "garnish" is actually a functional part of the dish. Do I decoratively use herbs, a sprinkling of fleur de sel, place parts of a dish in such a way that they are emphasized, etc.? Yes, but they are functional, does that discount them as garnishes? I rarely carve radishes or make tomato flowers for effect but I do arrange to some extent for visual effect on some occasions. I think attention to detail is important. example, a mushroom on the market potager with quail : Would that be a garnish? Not sure.

My fruit this morning was an orange. After the walk, it was more of that lovely cherry compote on toast and a bowl of fromage frais 0%. Today was one of those days. Upcoming deadlines, incoming calls, things to take care of, people to meet, etc. have necessitated my keeping my mind solidly planted in the office. The executive staff where I work has been through a bit of an upset. At times like these, people have a need to congregate, even if we don't talk about it. I drank 2 cups of coffee, both offered by colleagues. The habit of not taking coffee has not been broken. I'll go back to not having it tomorrow. Lunch was with an Italian co-worker who loves to cook, and she gave me her recipe for eggplant parmesean. It sounds heavenly and I can't wait to try it. I had a salad plate, with grated cerleriac (celery root) with mayo, tomatoes, fresh good lettuce, asparagus, and a plate with slices of brie and blue de gex. I met my husband at the Opera, and we enjoyed a cool drink at the cafe out front, we listened to music and stared into space. Absolutely no planning went into dinner. Dinner was going to be a spinach salad with bacon. I added a red bell pepper to the bacon, and then tomatoes. Then I decided to wilt the spinach, but not before sauteeing some courgettes. The result: After the "salad", we had some smoked tuna with pickles from Turkey and preserved lemons. (citron confit) Then came the cheese plate, we opened a new bottle of wine, a St. Epine 1999 St. Joseph Delas. It's almost as good as the Cote Roti was.

Thanks, Torakris, that was a really interesting essay!

All of the dishes you've posted look so delicious I don't know where to begin. I am paralyzed with indecision. Are you going to tell us the good news?

Lisa, fromage blanc is curds in their whey, which are quickly drained before serving. They take the form of the mould, and the whole cake is rather light and crumbly. In France, anyway, you pull it right out of the whey, and serve it direct. Fromage frais comes from draining the fromage blanc for hours in a cloth until only the solids remain. Once it reaches that state it's no longer called fromage blanc, it's fromage frais. What I had a la creme at the restaurant was a fromage blanc, rather light and has got curds like the one above. The only difference is the one at the restaurant was full fat and the one from this morning was skim. If the fromage blanc is described as velouté it's been whipped until the curds don't seperate, but it won't hold it's shape like the fromage blancs above do. There is a fromage frais fermier that I can get at the market that resembles cream cheese... But if you tried asking for fromage blanc and expected something like cream cheese, you'd be dissapointed. Best to just come and visit me and I'll take you to my supplier. Montignac mentions that you should be careful when choosing fromage blanc and fromage frais, because the velouté versions sometimes contain stabilizers that include starches that could hijack your good intentions. - best to read the ingredients to make sure that it contains milk, and fermenting agent only. The fromage blanc comes like this in a cup with holes in it. Be sure to drink the whey afterwards!

Balmagowry lost a day. It's alright. This happens to her all the time.

Foodie52, I can only speak for myself but 6 pounds is actually a lot of weight, taking that off feels pretty darn good, doesn't it? What a relief! That's what it feels like to me, I feel a lot better already but it's going to get better and better. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This morning I had the opportunity to enjoy more of the cherry compote with a 0% faiselle. I would be interested to know Lisa's method of making fromage frais, since I have never made it at home before. I know it tastes completely different than yougurt, less tang and more salt... Lisa, can you give us a description of the process?

kali urad! kali urad!

Would this explain why someone swooned up-thread about mongo being "so dreamy"? The person who said it was under the influence of the Foodblog Oracle, they were predicting the future, it's obvious. edited for clarity

No, no, no. It's such a simple thing to prepare your own spices for each dish, and the outcome is far superior. Think of it like the difference between buying bouquet garni already assembled (how would you know the herbs used were right for the dish you're using?) versus tying up your own to suit the flavors of the food being prepared. My problem is that I blew the budget on these "mixes" already! I would come to an even better appreciation of mixing my own curries after having been down that "mix" road. I repent. But I also can't throw them away. Do the names mean anything, I mean to they indicate what they might be good in? Or are they just cutsey names... Damn. I should have waited until Mongo started his blog before I went out buying all these spices.

Hey Mongo, I notice that you don't use "curry powder" in your curry. Revelation. Of course being a total curry moron that I am, I went out on Sunday and bought three different curry "mixes" from a spice vendor at the market: curry "madras", curry "colombo", and curry "masal". I don't know what's in them because we buy them by the scoop - and I was too stupid to ask what's in them. Can I use one to make the chicken liver curry?

Yes, Raisab. I completely understand, everyone is different. I was basing my original goal on what I weighed the last time I felt great, and I have come to accept that after all, it has been at least 8 years since that time, and perhaps I felt great because I was 28 years old, and not because I weighed what I did. Doucement, doucement. We must remain raisonable, after all. I have always held the expression "big boned" rather dear to my heart.

These are very interesting. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it has helped me most of all in some reflections about what my realistic goals are in this endeavor, and most of all about how I plan to keep the weight off.

This is a long one. Sorry. You can just skip over it if it seems boring... All of this talk is thought provoking, because I come from a family where one side has been historically morbidly obese. My grandfather was an enormously fat man, one of those people who easily took up the space for 2 or 3 people and never traveled anywhere, and my aunts and uncles have struggled with this in one way or another with this problem, ranging from eating disorders to just accepting their situation with resigned determination. My father worked all of his adult life to avoid it, constantly weighing in and charting his progress on a graph in the kitchen on the refrigerator for as long as I can remember. We almost lost my eldest sister to bulimia and anorexia. My other siblings have tried to stem the tide in their own ways, one brother taking up running marathons (gee I wonder why), and another brother always on the latest fad diet with his wife. But the truth looms with each yearly cycle that swings by and we settle into middle adulthood. I have nieces and nephews now who are fed healthy food, i.e. never McDo and always balanced and nutritious meals, and yet they still are significantly heftier than the children around them. It pains me to see the older ones struggling (both mentally and physically) with what seems to be inevitable even in their active teen years. Their parents care. There are control issues involved at the younger ages, and a tremendous amount of mental pressure all around stemming from this situation, and it has to be handled carefully. The children are learning in school and on television, like I did, the classic American rudiments of good nutrition that everyone was taught - low fat, regular strenuous exercise, small portions, stoic self deprivation; these are the keys to a healthy beautiful virtuous life. The kids are high achievers academically, the stars of their class, they are active in sports. But they are also learning some cruel facts, one being that they will inevitably be judged harshly for this. It is a fact of life. A rather veiled demand is placed furthermore on the children to keep a harsh view of themselves in light of this reality, and set themselves to “higher standards” in order to "maintain control". It is a sad and paradoxical situation that reaches into many life areas that I see no easy solution to. The paradox is ever so clear here in France, where you see anorexically thin women shoveling down enormous quantities of what I have been conditioned to believe was actually morally wrong to eat, and then half of the strangers I encounter judging me, "the fat American", even though for many years I kept stoically in control, for being naturally larger in the chest, for having "curves", for what looked to them to be the beginnings of "letting myself go". Immediately upon my arrival to this country several years ago, to a family of thin people, was rather shocking to me, first because I noticed that even though I was not FAT, I was not bony and THIN like they were, and they attributed it to lack of control, somehow intricately intertwined in their minds with my nationality. I was thus incredulous when served smaller portions at the family dinner table when staying with my in-laws. "The bride is watching her weight, yes?" was the comment, as I found my plate coming back with but several bites of food compared to large hefty servings piled on the plates of the others. It seems that their education of the rudiments of nutrition were based in the same misconceptions that mine were. The opposite has applied when it comes to my family's view of the people on this side of the pond. My mother came to visit, and participated in a family meal where my sister in law was invited. The next day, when we had some moments together over coffee, she asked in dead seriousness how long my sister in law had been anorexic, and did the family have plans to intervene. I could only laugh. Watching her devour enormous servings of cake, cheese, wine, etc. without a single ill effect, and knowing from family photo albums and the rest of her family that she and her sister have been like this since the beginning, is a bittersweet reality, and I choose to thank my lucky stars that at least someone in my entourage has been so lucky. Do I feel sorry for myself? No. Am I trying to convince the world against the stem of the hollywood "never too rich or too thin" mentality, that fat is beautiful, one person at a time? No. One must choose their battles. Am I going to try and accept the stark harsh reality that I am treated differently by strangers now that I weigh more, no matter how unjust it may seem? Yes, because if I don’t, I’m destined to become unhappy and bitter. I have to accept this gracefully, and do what I can to better my lot no matter how unfair it may seem. Throughout my life, I carried the burden that if I was not careful, this problem would definitely get the best of me, and I took up sports early, following the example of my older siblings, carefully putting a check on my natural tendency to bulk up. I was successful and managed to stay within our harshly judgemental society's view of what is "normal" in size until I hit my 30s. I was proud of that fact, in fact I was one of the people who blamed people for “letting themselves go”, or faulting some mysterious lack of control over their “lifestyle”. But it’s not as simple as that, because all that I was taught about how to control my “lifestyle” actually worked until my body began to change when I reached my 30s. Suddenly at age 32, every trick in the book seemed to backfire on me. The pounds came quickly, and would not come off. At first I grudgingly accepted it as the family curse, and then as the pounds came on and I saw people's attitudes towards me in public begin to change (it is a rude awakening), I began to wonder if I actually better do something about it. The recent last straw was when I began to feel like my health was failing, like my energy was beginning to wane, that I was in actual pain and fatigue from the weight, that I decided, in order to get to the bottom of it, I personally will have to educate myself, re-learn some rules, and get to the task of feeling better again. I do have a unique understanding of the lifelong paradoxes and problems that face someone who has a predisposition to weigh more, and I refuse to believe that this means I am destined to grow fatter and fatter like a spiralling yoyo into morbid obesity, mainly because I have chosen this critical time of my life to do something about it. I have decided, by following the Montignac plan, to unlearn some of the gross misconceptions that coming of age in the 1980s has instilled in me. Jackal10: About my goal weight: In the book, Montignac says that many people set unrealistic goals, i.e. they remember back to the days when they were sexy virile adolescents, and think that like machines, we’ll be able to systematically take off all the weight we want. This is not true – on the Montignac plan, we will condition our bodies to function properly and return to a natural healthy weight. I have no doubt that mine will be somewhat higher than the norm. My goal is not to become a twiggy style model. I already know that’s impossible. In fact, I think that perhaps the goal I have set is too low. We will never be able to go back in time. In a discussion of troubleshooting problems and stalls on the plan, Dr. Montignac mentions that if we are having trouble reaching our goal, then perhaps the answer is that we have already indeed reached our ideal weight. I have posted my goal BMI. I think, though, that after this bit of introspection, I should face facts. I’ve always been one to shoot rather high in my expectations. Therefore, I will add a category to my weigh-in reports. Realistic expectation BMI: 24.1 edited to say this was entirely too long and I won't be doing that again!

drooling...

NeroW, it was Fulrtenberg. FIrst time I've tried it, it had a really nice depth to it. A Pilsner. Thanks Reese! Hey Raisab, so nice to hear you only gained 2 pounds in the 4 days you were here! Your question about andouiette is completely on topic since we had little andouilettes just the other night for dinner - The flavor is an acquired one, it tastes a little different under normal conditions. It's local to Lyon, so all of the butchers always have it, and each one makes his own fresh, so you can choose one who makes it the way you like it. The flavors vary, but they are all andouiette, I guess you know what I mean. Sorry you didn't like it, did your husband like it? The cheeses last a long time, and the plate kind of revolves. If you look over the last two weeks, you'll see some cheeses stay on the plate and some are used or eaten. When people come over to eat (as we have had Loic's sister a few times this week), it helps to clear the plate and keep things moving. I swtich the plate every few days (same cheeses) to keep things clean. We just finished the St. Nectaire that was on the plate at the beginning. We eat a little bit every day and add new ones as the others are finished off. I also often take a cheese that is ready to eat and use it in a recipe, like in the stuffed mushrooms, where I used the rest of the Charollais. I take bits and pieces with me for lunch, too. I'll be sure to post photos of how much cheese I actually eat so you can get an idea. Thanks for asking.

Yes, we were all off searching through the India Forum, trying to figure out what happens between the cutting board and the dinner plate at Mongo's house, and then getting sidetracked as we read all of the interesting conversations. That explains it.

Please, Doctor M, include all the steps in the liver curry, if you do one dish like that, because I want to make that one at home. I want to add that you don't have to, because I know you are very busy and everything. But if I could make one request that's what it would be.

Thanks NeroW, I'm glad you're enjoying the thread. Just want to stress that on this plan I am eating plenty of carbs and plenty of proteins... No ketosis happening here and the weights coming off - slowly but it is coming off.

Albie, This looks like a recipe to try. A few questions. 1) Theres a first simmer, the whole piece, for one hour, after which you slice it. Yes? 2) When you're talking about bay leaves, what kind do you use? 3) Canellini beans are little white beans? Thank you. -Lucy

BMI day 1 : 29.1 BMI today : 28 Goal BMI: 22.5 Pounds lost so far: 8

Yesterday I took the day off from work. I have to take time off every once in a while because if I don’t I build up too much time in my account and then I lose it. I recently got a call from someone in accounts to let me know that I was going to have to take some time off or lose it. Yesterday was better than other days, work schedule wise, so I took it. I picked up a kilo of cherries at the market from the same man who sold me the strawberries two weeks ago, and decided to make my compote as the first activity on my relaxing day off. Pitting those things was like a slaughter, even with the cherry pitting device! Never have I ever been tainted and stained with so much splattering juice that stains! One tee shirt, down the drain! After the battle was over, I carefully scrubbed my fingers with a brush, all of which had turned a deep purplish shade of red, getting it all out except on the sides of my fingernails. The coffee mug where I put the pits and stems had juice dribbling down the side of it and I didn’t see it as I placed it on my countertop. 5 minutes later, voila, a round stain. This juice must not drip on the floors, or else someone might conclude that my home is the scene of a crime. Once safely on the burner, I added the fructose. The cherries were sweet, but not as sweet as the strawberries had been, so I used the same amount of fructose as last time, 4 T. / 50 grams. I turned on the heat and the cherries began to release their juice and after a about 4 minutes I felt ok leaving them to stew a bit. I left them to happily bubble as I did a few things around the house. When I returned to check on them, I realized that the fruits weren’t breaking down as quickly as the strawberries had when I made the first batch of compote, so I decided to cover the pot to avoid too much of the juice evaporating. I left them to simmer - until a strange alarm which I have never heard went off, and ran to the kitchen to find that the pot had boiled over! It had splattered all over the wall, dripped down onto the countertop, over the counter, and onto the floor. I could not figure out how to turn off the alarm. All over - a very sticky deep red syrup that did not absorb into a wet cloth, and just spread out further as I struggled to clean it up. It was everywhere. I had to throw away the cloth I used to clean up the mess because if I put it in the wash with the rest, it would have definitely turned everything pink. This time I used 12 grams of gelatine powder instead of 6, melting the powder in cool water and letting it sit for a few minutes, then adding it to the hot but not boiling fruits and their juice. The yield seemed somewhat more than the strawberries (for the same amount of fruit) – indeed it was – the 1 kilo of cherries yielded 3 times what the same volume of strawberries had! Safely cooling on newspaper. I plan to give away some of this because I don’t think we’ll be able to finish all of this off in time. I hadn’t prepared to put any of these up for long time storage, so I’ve got some ready to eat compote to give to friends. I went out to lunch and had a salad on a nice cool terrace. At the end of the afternoon, while cleaning the house, I took a few minutes to mix up some pasta dough, and used a different proportion of the semolina to whole grain (type 150) flour. This time the proportion was as follows: 80g. whole grain semolina 45g. T150 wheat flour 1/3 cup water This time, the dough came together quite rapidly and on its own, I did not have to stop it and gather it into a ball. When it was finished kneading, (3 minutes in the moulinex with the paddle on low), it was much more moist and had much more give than the pasta of a couple of days ago (125g flour total to 1/3 cup water). My thought on this is that the semolina is much more dense than the flour, and changing the proportions (even by 10 grams) changed the nature of the resulting dough significantly. When Loic came home I mixed together a bowl of stuffing for the pasta, and put on a pot of water. When it had come to a boil, the pasta was stuffed and ready to go into the water. Stuffing: About 200g. non fat cheese kind of like a ricotta but without any sweetness to it and slightly harder. (this is a special product sold by my fromagier that we never buy but she gave me a taste of it and I immediately thought of using it as a medium for pasta stuffing.) Salt and pepper Assorted herbs A little bit of the 0% cervelles des canuts About 2 T. grated aged parmesan The dough rolled out like a dream, I was able to get much thinner this time. It pinched together and cooked extremely well, maintaining its density and form, not puffing or disintegrating in any way, and producing a pasta with a nice “bite” to it, al dente. A pleasure to eat, as good as any pasta we've ever had at home. My husband was wary of a cheese containing no fat, but he gave in and then exclaimed that my seasoning had made it rather nice. I liked the smaller ones better than the bigger ones, the balance between the pasta and the stuffing was better. The meal was finished with a salad, and we split a beer. (16.5 cl each) It was a German pilsner with a lovely depth to the flavour. I stepped on the scales this morning : I have lost 2 more pounds since last weighing in about a week ago. Making progress. edit to add photos

Making my shopping list...