Abra

The prices of some foods have gone up about 30% here in the past 6 months. Here's the link to the Carrefour store online. Their prices are very representative of what you'll find in the big stores, small stores will probably be a bit more.

Rabbit in Gingerbread and Beer Sauce. If you enjoy rabbit, this recipe might rock your world like it did mine.

Thanks for a wonderful blog. Although I have to admit that now that I've seen your Whampoa lunch I'm a bit depressed. Inspired by your pictures yesterday, we went out to dinner last night to the Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in town. A small bowl of dumpling soup, two spring rolls, a little dish of green curry shrimp, a little dish of lemongrass chicken, and a small bowl of stir-fried vegetables cost the equivalent of $65!

I've finally had time to catch up on your blog - it's really interesting! That lamb meal would have to be my favorite, but the noodle shop photos are right up there too. Would you say more about wine pairings with Chinese food? I'm taking a wine pairing class here in France, where it's generally thought that wine and Chinese food are really hard to pair. The "fake food" thing scares me. Do you just ignore it, after taking reasonable precautions, or do you stress over it?

French Easter pastries. Not homemade, but beautiful and delicious. On Easter Sunday the pastry shops were packed with pastry buyers.

I just have one thing to add about the shrimp and salmon terrine, now that I've made it again. This time I used the mushrooms the recipe calls for, which made a world of difference. Whereas it was excellent before, it's sublime with the mushrooms. I still added a bit of spice, this time a mixture made for Moroccan fish tajine, but just a hint, unidentifiable. I served it to a group of French people who are accustomed to fish terrines, and it got rave reviews. Since the group was my wine tasting class, I'll add that if you make it, find a dry Vouvray to serve it with - it's an exceptional pairing.

I have a friend who totally lost her sense of smell, and thus much of her sense of taste, as a result of using nasal decongestant sprays. Her doctor agrees that's what caused it, and now, several years later, he agrees that she'll probably never recover. I think that if one can avoid them, one should. She's really thin (and doesn't care about food), because she can't really taste it, but hey, it's not a worthwhile tradeoff.

Ernie is way too cute! But instead, I want to talk about black cake. I started my fruits about a year ago, so they'd be ready for last Christmas. But by last Christmas I'd moved to France for a while, so I gave one big jar to Chefpeon to try out, and saved one big jar for when I get home. So it'll be almost two years old by the time I finally bake with it. Do you think it will still be good? Better than ever?

I've used mole sauce (homemade) in sausage and thought it was delicious. I'd be careful to crack or grind pumpkin seeds, though, if you decide to use them, to avoid having the points pierce the casing.

Holy smokes, a winner in only 17 minutes! An American recipe sent by someone in Australia to someone in France in a quarter of an hour. Totally awesome. And now that Stuckey has done me this really nice favor, if you haven't yet made this terrine do yourself a favor and try it. It's gorgeous, easy, and perfect for warm weather.

Could someone do me a huge favor? I'm in France without my book, and I need to make a fish terrine for next week. The shrimp terrine with salmon inlay would be perfect. I've made it before, way back on page 62 of this thread, and I'd love to be able to make it again and amaze the French. Does anyone have a spare 15 minutes to type up and PM me the recipe? A free dinner in France awaits whoever is kind enough to help me out!

No, Yoplait makes a fleurette in the white bottle that has added stabilizers, but also a "crème fraîche liquide" in the same bottle, just a different label, that's just plain whole cream. I'm not confusing cultures with additives, but my request was probably badly written. I can find a nice cultured crème fraîche from Isigny that is cultured (of course) and has no additives, although other crème fraîche products do have additives (as well as cultures). That's why I think the "crème fraîche liquide" appelation of Yoplait is so peculiar.

I'll add to this discussion that I'm having a really hard time finding either crème entière or fleurette without added thickeners and stabilizers. So far here the only thing I an find that claims to be 100% non-cultured cream is in a white plastic bottle, from Yoplait. Since we only have Carrefour and Intermarché, is there some other product at either of those two stores that I'm missing?

Now that this thread is merged, let me add that I made my vin d'orange today. I used 3 bitter oranges 3 liters rosé 600 gms sugar 700 cl eau de vie de marc 2/3 vanilla bean 1 clove It's macerating for two weeks, and then I'll report back.

Search as I might, I can't find a thread on making vin d'orange, although I'm pretty sure I've seen it discussed here some years ago. But in any case, I want to make some this weekend. I have bitter oranges, Provencal rosé, and eau de vie de marc. Now all I need are the right proportions. I have several recipes, gleaned from books and the web, but if someone has a tried and true recipe I'd be really grateful. And if you happen to be interested in wines in the south of France, my recent visit to ViniSud is chronicled here.

And on the "looking nasty" front, the rendang that I had in Indonesia was virtually black by the time it came to the table. I don't know if those two recipes tell you to cook it that far, but that's how I had it served to me.

I have to confess that I quail at the thought of black cow stomachs. I might be a total wuss, but I like my tripe pre-beautified!

Sadly, I missed a lot of your blog as it unfolded in real time, but I've really enjoyed catching up. Your cooking is truly awe-inspiring!

I did end up making the tarte aux rillettes, using rillettes du Mans from the deli, and it's actually very good. Our Sarthoise guest said that eating warm rillettes was unusual enough to transport her instantly back to her childhood where she and the other kids stood around a huge pot over an open outdoor fire helping her grandmother stir a giant pot of rillettes, an all-day project. The kids were rewarded with bites of steaming pork, and thus the tarte made her feel like a good helpful kid all over again. For that reason alone I'd say that it was a success, but it's worth making even if you grew up in town. And it's very easy to prepare, so if you like rillettes you might want to give it a try.

Tripe lovers who are short on time might do well to look for canned tripe. The stuff I had today was shockingly ok.

The common thread, and I think the main thing, is that you do need something made from blood. No meat sausage will bring the same quality to the dish.

How does this tarte aux rillettes look? I'm afraid that due to being in Lyon until just a few hours before this lunch I won't be able to make the rillettes myself. This would seem like one way to make the best of a commercial rillette product, assuming that I can find some here. If not, I'll schlep them on the train from Lyon.

I'm having a lunch guest who's originally from la Sarthe, Le Mans more specifically. Google isn't turning up much at all inthe way of typical regional dishes that I could surprise her with. Can anyone help?

Your dinner last night is absolutely gorgeous and delectable, just the kind of dinner I wish I could have! Tell us more about telephone lessons? As a person who's struggling constantly to live in a foreign language, I'm very interested in how other people manage. And I totally relate to being able to perfectly read recipes in another language, because I can too. After all, there are only so many ways to say "bring water to a boil and simmer until tender."

The Japanese blogs are always among the most interesting, so I'm really looking forward to yours. I'm feeling very Japanese food-deprived (it's just about non-existent in small-town France) and so I know I'll be eating with my eyes this week.