Duvel

A little further south, near Arenys de Mar. We are at my in-laws, but I am sure we‘ll be daytripping to Girona as well one of these days …

If you would follow my posts on a map you‘d see we are closing in oun Catalonia. Tonight last dinner in France, specifically in the beautiful town of Carcassonne … There are two things to be had here: snails & cassoulet. We went to a restaurant aptly called Escargot and had the former, while I purchased ingredients for the latter on the market for further installments … Ricard, for aperitif … Snails in herb butter - very good … Paté and pan-fried foie gras … Skewered duck with a cherry-vinegar reduction … Swordfish. This was fantastic 🤗 For dessert: salted caramel pain perdu … And probably the biggest profiterole I‘ve ever had … Happy and full we went back, got some dried beans, confit de canard & Toulouse sausage on the market. Next to the carparl we passed a Brazilian restaurant and I admired the sense of marketing genius at work …

After visiting the black Madonna of Rocamadour … … we were on our way back to the hotel when we passed what looked like a makeshift parking lot with a huge sign saying „woodfire-grilled meats“. Of course we stopped, got a table and ordered. They recommended two menus for the three of us, and they were righ about the portion sizest. Wine, wster & bread arrived … DWs choice: salad with country paté, semidried duck and cured duck ham … And for me salad with roasted bread and house-made foie gras mi-cuit - it was fantastic. Mains were grilled trout with bacon stuffing for DW … … while little one and me demolished the grilled lamb. So juicy 🤗 Dessers were a lavender infused pannacotta … And the local specialty: warm nut cake (very moist) with vanilla sauce. Very full we drove home and enjoyed the sunset from the hotels porch while sipping some whiskey I just happen to have in the car 🤭

Dinner in a small mom & pop type place next to our hotel in the village of Alvignac, close to Rocamadour, after some cave marathon … Some local wine to start with … Mixed salad with - of course - gratinated Rocamadour cheese to share … Pork ribs for little one … The „Alvignac“ plate with duck confit and more Rocamadour for DW … And roasted veal for me … Crepe with salted butter caramel … And the apple/vanilla rendition 🤗 No complaints 🥳

What happens when you travel on the day the whole of France gets school holidays ? We left the highway (and the traffic jams), stopped at a supermarket and got some baguette, cheeses* (Rocamadour, Bleu de Auvergne, Crottin lookalike), ham and a duck terrine. Plus some crisps with goat cheese and piment ‘d’Espelette (that we demolished while I moved the car in the shadow) … Some interesting rock formations were admired before heading back to the highway … * all local, so you may guess where we were …

I think it refers to the ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 14th dynasty. He was stuck with so many slaves after finishing his pyramid prematurely, that he invented the first bucket brigade, transporting hand formed ice cubes from the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro to his summer residence in Luxor.

Stopover on our way down to Spain in Lyon, and what would be a visit to Lyon without a proper dinner ..? La Mère Maquerelle, one of the Bouchon Lyonnaise. Beaujolais & Orangina … For starters shaved fennel salad with octopus and oranges … Beef carpaccio with a deep fried soft boiled egg … Little one opted for the burger with Ossau-Iraty cheese … DW had house made ravioli with local soft cheese and roasted pepper coulis … I enjoyed the rump steak with pepper sauce and pistou … Little one took a cheesecake for dessert .. DW had a verbena cream with meringue and lemon coulis. This was exceptional. I had cheese: a Tomme, Crottin and St. Marcellin … And for yours truly, a Chartreuse Vert … After a leisurely walk back to the hotel we slept very well that night 🤗

There were a couple of leftovers from the veal shank. I took them out, chopped them up finely (including all the glorious congealed juices) and tuned them into the most wonderful, rich and flavorful Bolognese ragu … Served (mostly) with De Cecco spaghetti and grated Parmigiano … No complaints 🤗

Hah - and I always thought, the US is ahead of us (and the Swedish, as usually Germans encounter hot dogs at IKEA) … Upper left, then clockwise: pickles cucumbers, deep-fried crispy onions, spicy Bolognese sauce (see next post), grated cheese. Sauces: ketchup, kewpie mayo, green tabasco, Develey hot dogs sauce (mix of mayo, yellow mustard and sugar) and Joppie sauce. “Classic“ refers to bun, sausage, mayo plus mustard, pickles and fired onions. The IKEA dog, basically …

Lazy dinner: DIY hot dogs (please disregard the chaos behind) … For me: “classic” … … and “chili cheese”.

When I went to my butcher this morning to get my weekend fill of Mett, he had three veal shanks on display. Of course I had to get one, gave it a Marcella Hazan-ish treatment (EVO & butter, onion, garlic, anchovy, white wine) and braised it for around 4.5h … Cooks treat: bone marrow on toast with a sprinkle of salt & parsley - just sooo good 🤗 Great texture on the shank - tender, with just the slightest resistance to the bite. Served with creamy polenta and wilted spinach with almonds and raisins. And the strained braising juices, reduced and finished with a touch of butter. No complaints indeed 🥳

Hey, I cite that guy frequently, too 🥳

Okonomiyaki, edamame, pickled daikon and yakitori …

Hurra (hooray) for leftovers 🥳

Thanks - it’s actually a rather calm affair (and a lot less coordinated or graceful than a ballet 🤭). The cold dished were prepared over the course of the weekend, whenever I felt like it. The hot stuff plus the plating happened in half an hour, so when DW left & returned from picking up little one from his playdate everything was ready …

That would be simply Marillenkuchen. A Marillenknödel is a quark-dough based dumpling with a small apricot inside.

Family requested karaage … and I am more than happy to augment the fried chicken to make it a full Japanese dinner: Some pork loins turned into tonkatsu … And plated: Tonkatsu with sweet onion, tsuyu and egg (the classic Katsudon topping), fresh peas intheir pods (a seasonal substitute for edamame), (commercial) gyoza, and the karaage … Tuna tataki with yuzu ponzu … Homemade sides: Silken tofu with spicy meat topping, agedashi masu (fried eggplant in dashi), salt-pickled cucumber with kombu, soy sauce-pickled radish, menma, grated radish with yuzu ponzu, (commercial) Calbee potato sticks. Some sake from the mancave … And - to conclude the meal - a matcha flavored crema catalana … No complaints 🤗

The guy is topping a sweet yeast dough base with (deseeded and halfed/quartered) Marillen (apricots). They are hugely popular in the Alps region. After baking it will likely be glazed with slightly diluted apricot jam.

Still blurry on magnification, but based on color of the round objects layered onto what looks like a pastry base, their uneven size distribution and what looks like tiny dot on the surface I stick with Erdbeer Tartelette (or strawberry tartlet), a popular Austrian (and German) dessert. Shortcrust shell, filled with vanilla cream or pudding, topped with (sometimes macerated) strawberries and glazed with a bit of strawberry juice mixed with gelatine (cf. above posted link).

Bit blurry, but maybe an Erdbeer Tartelette ...? https://oberlaa-wien.at/produkt/erdbeer-tartelette/

Nice ! It does sound like a classic winning combo. I could imagine some leek oil in there, too. With the cracker-like crust it sounds a bit like an (unleavened) Flammkuchen, and potato & leek fits right into this. For white pizza’s I fell a more sturdy, sourdough bread type base is better suited, especially with potatoes. But then the appetizer idea is gone, of course …

Ok … that was a snippy reply. And I would normally leave it at that, especially given the OPs reputation of asking a plethora of questions without ever taking the conclusion of the discussion into any meaningful implementation. But … there have been serious contributions to this topic and I come from a poor area in Germany with an economy solely relying on potatoes and sugar beets, so I feel qualified to give a more or less definitive answer: Yes: the perfect conditions for storing potatoes are >= 90% humidity, very small, yet constant air exchange, the absence of sunlight, and just above 4 oC. They won’t shrivel (humidity), they won’t sprout or turn green (no light) and they won’t convert starches into sugars (min. 4 oC), leading to off taste and bad cooking/frying properties. This is (and has been) common knowledge for industrial storage (e.g. 6 months+ and large scale operations). In a home setup, a well ventilated cellar does provide good conditions to keep potatoes in a palatable state for 3-4 months (e.g. over winter). Yes, my grandparents did that, and my parents are still doing this: Temperature is ~10-12 oC, no light, and humidity is ~60%. No mold, no sprouting, no greening and only very slow dehydration. Best option in a household. You think you know better than a Lower Saxony family with literally dozens of potato varieties at hand … think again ✊

I don’t store my potatoes, I eat them …

Delicious - but that apple looks undercooked 😝

Pizza & movie (or series) night: Hawaii (pineapple & cured pork loin) … Tuna, marinated oniond & capers … Artichokes, homemade Italian sausage (very fennel forward) & chili oil … And some beer for yours truly 🥳 ! All enjoyed while watching “Asterix - the big fight” … a new series on Netflix. No complaints whatsoever 🤗