Franci

Thanks, Nikkib! I'm exactly half way between Nice and Ventimiglia. Although it's only 16 miles, Monaco is nestled by the sea surrounded by rocky mountains and there are some curvy roads to go up to the highway, so it takes about 30 minutes to Nice, 30-40 minutes to Ventimiglia. Before my daughter was born I used to go to Ventimiglia shopping every Wednesday but now not anymore. She really doesn't like travelling by car, so I wait for my husband to be home and we do some shopping on Saturday and not always. Because otherwise the all day is dedicated to shopping and we get home exausted. I do prefer to shop for food on Ventimiglia and, just like me, a lot of people from this side of the border. The all economy of the town is based on selling to French shoppers and commuting to work in Monaco . You'll see Saturday morning the difference in variety and prices at the Italian market. I could use the train, 10 minutes to go to the station, 20 minutes ride plus waiting times, with two small children...Forget! For me it's a big trip. So, although it is more expensive here and is more limited, I spare myself some pain. Also buying food online in Monaco is not very easy. By most sellers it is very expensive to ship to Monaco because it's outside European Union and it is not considered "France Metropolitane". I used to shop in London at Natoora (it's a French/Italian business), I cannot do it anymore.

This morning when I got up, I mixed a spaetzle batter, covered and left to rest in the fridge. I had the usual breakfast and left for the Condamine market with the little one. There is a nice arcade with a butcher and cafes The open air market is not very big Finally I see the little tomberry tomatoes from Ottolenghi's book! I stop at this stall and get a basket of strawberries from Pigna (a little town on the italian side, not too far away), a bunch of white asparagus, a trombetta and cucumbers for my son. Saturday morning we are going to Ventimiglia's market. I need to make mental notice of prices to compare: 70 euros for porcini, 8 euros for the long trombetta

Coming from you dcarch, I take it as a huge compliment. Thanks also to Zeemanb. This is funny, because, as Heidi knows, my new camera -received as gift- had an accident...luckily I also got a new Ipad. I'm a very mediocre photographer but the new Ipad rocks! Thanks Haresfur! I can also add that a good flexible spatula is of great help.

Good Thursday, everybody. After two days of so and so weather it seems is going to be a sunny day. Good to take some pictures! Just had my first coffee. Thanks for asking Kim. I'm feeling a little better, I didn't know I was suffering from seasonal allergies... There rice cakes can be a little tricky. I can spare some of tricks learnt over time. The traditional ones are made with no eggs, the starch from risotto and cheese should be enough to bind the cake. Sometimes I add one egg per cup of uncooked rice, more or less. They tend to fall apart, so to prevent it, I help myself with a ring. I used the ring to form the cakes and immediatly shake it a little, the bottom gets loose straight away, remove the ring and use it again when flipping the cakes. Otherwise, wait untill it's nice and crispy and flip with a ring in place. I like also a bigger version where I use a 14 cm ring and my small lyonnese. they can also be stuffed, traditionally with mushrooms, frog legs or snails. Good catch on the peeler. It is a tomato peeler. My son always loved raw peppers with no skin and I spent almost 3 years painfully peeling peppers with a regular peeler, wow, what a difference a good tomato peeler! It is great also for cucumbers or fruit because removes just the peel. I love it also for lemons, peels off just the right amount. Franci, Thank you for the extra piece of information. Using it and a little google work I found the following: "As the story goes, on the first of May 1561, King Charles of France—who was ten at the time—was presented with a fragrant bunch of muguet: the delicate green sprigs capped with tiny white bells that we know as lily of the valley. It was a gesture signifying luck and prosperity, which so touched the king, he continued the tradition by giving the sweet-smelling blossoms to the ladies of his court each year on the same day. La Fête du Muguet continues in France today, and though men, who wear a few stems in their lapel, still present women with fresh bouquets...' It is always amazing what you can learn on egullet. Thanks for all your work blogging with two little ones. Kay Well, thank you Kay, I didn't know it

Hello Kay. I do not know much, just that besides being Labor Day it is "Muguet" Lily of the Valley Day, so the two are associated. I thought they were more sugar work but maybe I didn't pay enough attention! I was concentrating trying to take a picture with my daughter in the carrier Before I go to sleep, I'm coming back to post about dinner. Not bad. We barely tried the cucumber because my son ate the whole plate (he likes the rice vinegar plus sugar combination ). The guo tie were approved by the husband and the little girl was ok with almost everything. Riso al salto, rice cakes. This is a staple I always make after risotto. The small pieces of rice that fall on the pan and get very crunchy are reward for the chef Pot stickers, served with chinese vinegar/soy sauce/spicy oil Quick pickle of cucumber Cold asparagus salad and Kimchi bought from the little Russian deli (not pictured) Time to sleep. Tomorrow mornig I'll go to the Condamine market by the port.

Ok, so tonight dinner is almost ready. I made the pot stickers skins And closed the pot stickers or as the other members of the house call them: guo tie. I also quickly pickled some cucumbers and blanched the asparagus. I have left over risotto to make some rice cakes.

Yes, Darienne, I used silicone cases, you can see them in the last picture of previous page. They are not difficult to clean, I just don't like to clean molds of small size...I just dump them in a bowl of soapy water, rinse and dry. For whatever it's worth, there have been quite a few studies suggesting that there may be very solid evolutionary reasons for pickiness (food neophobias) that often appear suddenly, even in children who once ate pretty much everything. Thanks Michaela. My husband is a very particular eater as well, he doesn't lilke his food to be mixed, in some ways, he is very simple in his taste. So he doesn't eat lasagne, or mapo doufu or even stir-fries, he is not particularly interested in Indian or Mexican food just because looks too messy for him, he prefers a piece of meat over a meatball and really doesn't understand the necessity of stuffing food. But he still grew up with respect for food, the effort to bring it to your table. And that is important to us. So I really try to be understanding but I want to instill some ethics, I'd like to cook one meal rather than multiples meals. KennethT, thanks, so maybe he is still too young and he is going to be allright As I just mentioned my husband doesn't really like stuffed food but he loves zucchini flowers, so I usually fry them.

I don't have any outing planned for the afternoon. I think I'll go to the Condamine tomorrow morning. I've defrosted some filling for Chinese dumplings and thinking of making pot stickers. I also need to use the asparagus I bought yesterday. So, while my daughter is sleeping I'm going to take the opportunity to make the dough.

Lunch was fairly simple as usual. I made a risotto "giallo", yellow. That's how is called often in the North of Italy. Although many Italians really horrify at the idea, I use a pressure cooker, which gives me a more consisten result and I use less precious stock. For this rice you really need a beef stock but for some reasons my son is so accustumed to chicken stock that I've been using that. To make it richer, at the end of cooking, with the "mantecatura" with butter, I also add a little bit of veal glaze I have in the freezer. This is my dish. Maybe it is the Chinese genes but both the children don't like cheese. I also made a little beef fillet on the grill for the children and I had some zucchini and peas to cook from yesterday The boy can be really frustrating for me. Of course, my husdand and I, before having children didn't really think we were going to have picky eaters...The boy would have been happy just with the jam cookie and didn't eat any of the rice and only a couple bites of meat and zucchini. I hope that, like for Bourdain, he is going to have the revelation or I should move to China for a couple months to challenge him a bit...

Although in Prince's Tea shop everything looks so beautiful, so far I've alway been disappointed with their pastries. Also today. We got this cookie. I just wanted to try a little piece and while cutting it, the jam was oozing everywhere and the shortbread was not memorable at all. At Riviera Patisserie I've only bought brioches or croissants, always very nice and light with a good butter taste, although their display looks less impressive

We left for my appointment and since Prasantrin wished for some pastries, on the way back home, we stopped in two places. Prince's Tea first stop An employee was suspiciously looking at me... We got in to bring something home Then we stopped at Riviera Patisserie in Boulevard des Moulins I went inside but they didn't let me take pictures, only this.

This morning I got up slightly later, still in time to bake some muffins I had my coffee while preparing the ingredients I tell you. I don't like to bake sweets. Also in cooking school, while most of my female class mates really enjoyed pastry, it was the only station that really irritated me. In fact this muffis turned so so. I was mixing up recipes and I think I really got the amount of baking powder and baking soda wrong. My son said they are ok I had a couple muffins with my son and shared salmon with my daughter.

Morning everybody! Today it's Wednesday, so, no school for the boy. But I need to go out for an appointment and have only 10 minutes before I need to wake up the sleeping family. Yes, they are in French style. I'll see what I can do on the way back home, there are a couple nearby. In bakeries you find the already mentioned barbajuans, little calzones with a chard filling and deep fried, the chard tart, the pissaladiere, really no different than the other versions on the riviera. I am not too particular for pasta. As I mention earlier I could skip it no problem, I do more out of convinience factor. But I have a minimum standard. I prefer De Cecco over Barilla but I prefer Cocco, over De Cecco. Also Latini for some kind of shapes. I definitely want spaghetti De Cecco and not Barilla. Almost. If it is not pasta is rice or potatoes. Ilike to make other grains: spelt, quinoa, barley but the answer I get from my son is at the moment: bleah!

Yes, Anna. It is induction and, in fact, the moka pot is aluminum. I use the interface disk just for coffe making. Tonight, as I told you, we had sweetbreads. I soaked them 3 hours in salted water, quickly blanched and cooked in salted butter. I served them on a bed of peas and favas. Now, it's time for me to go to sleep. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Maybe the tags are a little small to read but the poulet de Bresse is sold at 21.90 euros a kg. So, a chicken of about 4 pounds is going to cost roughly 50 dollars. My Chinese parents in law, used to shop for live chickens in chinese establishments, couldn't believe their eyes.

Sorry, I missed this. It is calf's liver. Theirs is expensive because they only carry the best meat around, all AOC, Label rouges. At marche U the liver sells at 31 Euros. Sometimes I order all the lamb offals (lung, liver and heart) and that is much cheaper, 11 or 14 a kg if I recall. So, yes, demand surely influences the price. I get a whole veal's heart for 4-5 Euros.

Everything new is intimidating even when it is simple, right? Happy you are enjoying it. I cannot answer precisely, I'm not overall strict of buying in season but I generally don't buy tomatoes in winter. It has been only a couple weeks I've been buying cherry tomatoes. If I recall correctly around February... the black ones where the first I've seen. Sanremo that is only 40 minutes away by car provides most of the Italian flower market. The hills around Sanremo/Bordighera and Ventimiglia are full of greenhouses. The climate is very gentle here and in Monaco is even milder than Ventimiglia, which is only 10 miles away. Back to lunch. I usually add asparagus tips to that sauce with rabbit but my son doesn't like them anymore. I bought the first trombetta of the season and added to the sauce. For the gardeners out there, if you have the chance to plant it, it is really a nice variety. I usually use this sauce to dress tagliatelle but I didn't have time to make them and didn't have any dry tagliatelle in the house. So mezze penne it was. The children ate it with gusto.

Next stop is Formia, I need to pick up my order and quickly took some pictures They carry mostly poultry from Bresse. I don't buy a lot of chicken, only carcasses or wings for soup. My husband doesn't appreciate much chicken meat. This is the only place I can order carcasses. Pork and lamb. My only complain is that I cannot buy here pork belly with skin on, unless I order the whole piece (4 kg) veal and beef. Their liver is sold at 48 euros a kg. Not cheap. But after having spent 10 days in Venice, I must say their liver is vastly superior. And this is going to be dinner. Riz de veau, sweetbreads

I went back to the Beausoleil market. Just outside there is a newly opened Russian Gastronomie. There is a huge number of Russians around, so I'm surprised there are no more stores like this. I got in to get some kefir to drink. Finally I have a place to explore more some smoked fishes, where I lack experience. I got inside the market to Manuela stall to get some cherry tomatoes, asparagus, cucumbers and few other items Besides French, in Beausoleil you hear also a lot of Portoguese and Tagalog. All work force for Monaco. I'm surprised, given the huge Filipino population, it's very hard to shop for Asian ingredients. There are only a few little stores run by not sure if Bengali or Bangladeshi People. Sometimes I go to Nice where there are a few more options. I bet some of the men at the cafe' in the picture are Portoguese or Italians.

Since I got up so early, I had the time to make a sauce for pasta. I defrosted some rabbit pieces I saved from legs and loins. Made the usual soffritto (brunoise of onion, carrot, celery), saute the meat, little white wine, some chopped tinned tomatoes and left to simmer slowly. I decided to skip the Condamine market this morning. I headed to the Casino to take some pictures of caffes nearby. I took a picture of the cafe' the Paris, in front of the Hotel the Paris. But the wheater was not nice, not much people around so I decided to go to the Metropole shopping center instead. You can see they are building the fences for the Grand Prix. At the ground floor of the Metropole there is a Fnac cafe' Next to it the very fancy Hediard teas coffees foie gras and preserves jellies There is also a Fauchon At the ground floor there is FNAC. So I decided to get in and see some book on Monegasque cooking There is a nice book from Ducasse with many addresses. First pages dedicated to Formia... I quickly flipped through another small book. Some barbagiuan, torte de blette, some stockfish recipes Inside the shopping center there is also a Laduree and a Comtesse du Barry if you are interested in some caviar or foie gras. I wanted to take some pictures but I was left with 30 minutes...

That sounds familiar, my mother went through that when I was small (I'd been wondering whether you shopped every day, and how you managed it). Since your son's morning school is relatively brief, does it mean you don't need to make something like a merenda for him to take with him? Sometimes I really struggle to fit everything...I do not shop everyday, more every other day. I like the idea of having very fresh ingredients but for my mental health I know I need a little planning. When I'm very short of time or energy I call Manuela at the vegetable stall in Beausoleil and see if she delivers. For my son I have to provide two snacks: one for the morning, one for the afternoon. Mornings I'm giving him only some vegetables: some cherry tomatoes, few slices of cucumber, because otherwise he is not hungry enough to have a regular meal at lunch. For afternoons I give him a small muffin or a cookie. I wanted to give fruit but from morning to afternoon most fruits do not keep well, specially when gets warmer, and the picky one doesn't like peel, doesn't like seeds etc. I'd like to cut sweets all together but with other children in school it's almost impossible. At least he is eating homemade sweets with the ingredients I'm fine with. So, this morning, when the children woke up, after days, I had a fried egg. My dauther spits out scones, muffins or cookies. But she LOVES smoked salmon, so I had a slice of salmon myself. I only buy Alaskan wild.

Morning! Also this morning I got up at 6 o'clock. First thing, I put my coffe on. We also have a Nespresso machine but I do prefer my old bialetti and leave the Nespresso for a midmorning and afternoon coffee. To answer also to Annabelle, if the parents are both working than the children can eat at school. Since I stay at home my son comes home. Also Wednesdays are optional days of school. And yes, the school is in French If you noticed Heidi, the potatoes for the children look nicer...I attended to them, while for us, I left for the doctor. They are oven roasted in duck fat. My son doesn't like the duck skin, he used to love fish skin but he is getting pickier by the day. I've seen a couple books at the local bookstore. It is a mix between Ligurian food and Nicoise. Some specialties are Barbagiuan, some little calzones stuffed with chards...but I do not know much.

The children's plate and then ours In the morning my son starts school by 8:45 and I pick him up for lunch at 11:20. He goes back to school at 1:30 pm and comes back at 4:30. This leaves me with very little time to prepare lunch and to shop. I do need to go to butcher and I would like to go to the market de La Condamine, another district in Monaco by the port, I'll see at what time I manage to leave the house. It's 11 pm at my time, so time to sleep.

Thanks Kim. No borders, Darienne. Sorry it is taking me so long to get back to blogging but between making dinner, going to the doctor and putting the children to sleep, the time just went too quickly. I love this statement. Hello Melissa. Maybe from the outside this seems glamouros but foodwise I don't think this is the place I've enjoyed most. I'm sure there are things I'll miss from here (the offals, good butchers, lemons from Menton, some variety of vegetables, fruit de mer) but reality is that I do not care about the glamour, I preferred the practicality I had in London: Bourogh Market was a couple stops from home, London's fish market in front of my house and Waitrose has better produce than Marche U. So, to tell the truth I'm impatient to move on. We do not go out very often to eat. My husband prefers what we eat at home, maybe simple style but good ingredients. I'm sure in London or NY we would go out more often just to experience cuisines we don't know enough or food that is too troublesome to cook at home. Tonight we had duck for dinner. A staple in the house because everybody likes it and it is simple to make A small one for the children and a big breast for us

I went to my local supermarket: Marche U. It is very tiny. My other option would be to go to Carrefour but I truly hate the place. I go there just for fish (it's the only option unless I go to Italy) and some other items that are hard to find elsewhere. Marche U often sells local producers vegetables. Although I found a little expensive to buy a tiny basket of strawberries 6-7 euros Here I bought the black crimea tomatoes the other day! And as well the zucchini blossoms. There is a small prepackaged meat section but not much, some more not on picture. The meat at the butcher counter is not as good as Formia but when I want to stop only once I don't have much to complain. Worth noticing the offals displayed.