Margaret Pilgrim
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Posts posted by Margaret Pilgrim
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Would the cheese service at Astier suit?
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Unless accompanied with text, it is often difficult to get any sense of a plate.
Picture this: a deep pink thick fluid in a soupplate with a white island in it. Tell me, is it sweet or savory? Is it a puree of beets or of red fruits? Have herbs or spices played a role? Is the island creme fraiche or sour cream or mascarpone or whipped cheese or gelato or sorbet? Are there any intreguing buried treasures under the surface?
With all of the "fun" and "faux" food presentations that are the vogue, one could carry this to all kinds of extremes.
IMHO, verbal descriptions of food are far more seductive than photos.
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Okay, here's another question? Breakfast (25€ per person) in your room at a three star restaurant/hotel includes cheese. Lots and lots and lots of cheese. Several small goats, maybe 1/4 pound each of several aged cheeses. More cheese than you (or at least I) would eat in a week, and remember that this is after an extraordinary dinner the night before.
. How tacky is it to take (in ziplocs) what you can't consume? It might begin to look good around 4pm on the train. They couldn't possibly introduce any remaining pieces back into the kitchen, could they?
Thoughts?
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Okay. I see the confusion. You're talking about Vivande Porta Via.
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?????Vivande de Portola -
Welcome, ajdnet, and do take heed of the excellent advice offered so far.
I, personally, agree with Dave completely. (Disclaimer/admission: I do not photograph food in restaurants.) I have never needed photographs to remind me of the great restaurant meals I have enjoyed, and don't want reminders of poor ones. However, I love photographs that evoke the people, the markets, the produce both living and dead, steps in preparing a dish, special shops and shopkeepers, all those vignettes that reflect the richness of a culture, and, yes, its food. You would do well to chronicle all of these during your extraordinary year.
To test this premise, you might pull up Dave's blog and see the photographs he has included. They imbue one with his extraordinary passion for and sensitivity of French country life. And, yes, they make me hungry!
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I'm as inexperienced as the previous posters. But thought I'd note that we will be staying at this chambre d'hote en route to Bras. Their Gold Book indicates that other visiters have enjoyed a great regional table. Maybe you could persuade them to make you lunch?
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And here's to your perspicacious young wife.
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I agree, Vinotas, this is a lovely address.I might also add l'Auberge du Cedre...For the uninitiated, this auberge offers several levels of room and meals. Most rooms are very simple; the Garden Room, however, is enormous and comparitively sumptuous. Demi-pension is available, and these guests have a seperate dining room in which a very simple set menu is served. Those guests who opt for a la carte can select from a full menu of much more sophisticated plates. The Auberge's excellent list of local wines is available in either room. And enormous breakfasts (assortment of juices, several breads, rolls, cakes, yogurt, fresh and aged cheeses, boiled eggs) are served to everyone in the main dining room.
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There is a French phrase that escapes me now but that I hope Pti will supply. Essentially, it means to eat with one's eyes closed. I would add that sometimes it's a good idea to eat with one's ears covered, also.
So many truly delicious dishes have evolved from the economic necessitity of "nose to tail" consumption of food sources. And while Grand Masters, the French don't have a monopoly on it.
(A woman from whom I took Greek lessons told of how snails were a main source of protein for her family during the Nazi occupation of Crete.)
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Thank you, Abra, for this first hand info. Le Bastide de Mamette was one of two contenders for a spring '08 visit to the area. Unfortunately, I now see, I have reserved at another chambre d'hote in the area, La Bruguierre to the west in Durfort. We will probably, over time, visit both. I would, however, be interested to know if you have visited La Bruguierre and what your experience was. It was my sense that Mamette was more commercial, but from your report I think that it is not.
Again, thanks for the report and for the link to your good blog.
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Salade de Museau is readily available and, I think, accessible to the meekest palate. It is, very simply, what we know as 'head cheese'. If that is off-putting, think of it as a cousin of ham in aspic. It is usually sliced thin and tossed with vinaigrette. It is really very user-friendly. Just call it something else, if you must.
Edited to add that you will find it at just about any traiteur and as a cheap starter in the simplest bistrots. In Paris, the Machon d'Henri on rue Guisarde serves up a lovely plate.
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While, to the best of my knowledge/memory, no maggots or mites were involved, I do remember with some pleasure a bemused country hostess, surprised by our ethnicity, who told me, "No, that proves it. You are not American. Americans do not eat the rind."
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Dave H and Ptipois, why do I love you? It's obvious. Thanks once again for your sane thoughts.
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Your problem: you should have married an engineer. My husband installed our Asko dishwasher in '91. He has made several minor repairs since then, and it hums merrily today. I should add that I essentially prewash everything. However, it is a lovely, compact and out of sight drying and storage rack!
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Does Avenue Rapp work?
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Please know, John, that we are never, ever attacking the messenger.... I was reporting/digesting the article, warts and all.
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re the August 27 edition: John reports that "Philippe Toinard is quite critical of the food served, e.g., scallops in June and its preparation – chicken with butter-drenched frites but likes the prices, the wine list and the pleasant service."
When I read this kind of evaluation, I have to ask, "What is the rationale behind patronizing a restaurant whose food is known to be wrong?" Certainly someone offers proper food of some genre, decent wine and sympa service for the same price. Am I just too critical?
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Like you, I usually buy at FNAC or order from Amazon.fr.
It should be noted that while it may feel cheaper to buy books and magazines in France, it is becoming more and more difficult to beat the cost of exchange. And at the end of every trip, my husband rags about the weight of the magazines and books that I regularly collect. Subscriptions to magazines and ordering books from amazon and others may not net out to be such an extravagance.
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About half an hour southeast of the pont is Le Bistrot du Paradou in, well, Paradou. This is the bistrot that Peter Mayle did his best to ruin in his first book. However, the groupies and most tourists have moved on to hipper places, and the bistrot once more belongs mainly to locals. The format is simple: a set meal offering a choice of two entrees (starters), one main plate, extensive cheese plateau, choice of some half dozen desserts, coffee, choice of red or white 750ml bottle of house wine = 49 euros. The food is well sourced, simply and correctly prepared. This sweet little bistrot vies for my husband's favorite restaurant in France.
If you do decide to go, do reserve, because they cook for the reservations booked.
57 Ave. de la Vallée des Baux (D17)
04-90-54-32-70
closed Sunday and Monday.
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Hardly.
People wander into this shop thinking that it is a second-hand or thrift shop. Or simply a cookware store. It is actually neither. It is a specialty shop that offers cookware from previous eras, most often pre-owned but occasionally what is termed "new old stock", or new merchandise that has been rat-holed in storage for some reason. She is not "mean" to anyone, although I'm sure that it gets tedious when people stumble in in search of something that is easily found new and cheaper elsewhere and then question the fact that something is "used" and that it is priced more than new. This is the nature of the antique and collectable market, but explaining this repeatedly gets old after a few years.
Is she expensive? Yes. But the fact that she has been in business for so long, and that well known food personalities regularly buy (and request) interesting pieces from her tends to support her prices. To be honest, she and I frequent the same marketplaces, and I most often refuse to pay prices that she will. But her eye and knowledge of her potential customers are keen and she buys accordingly. As I wrote, her customers include well known local and visiting chefs as well as cookbook and food writers and simply people who are stocking a fabulous kitchen and love beautiful things. Well, yes, and seasoned cooks who enjoy using traditional or historical cookware.
A tip for people looking for good, serviceable and cheap used kitchen ware: garage sales and estate sales. I have bought extraordinary and brand new things that were put away decades ago and never used because they were "too good to use", or were more in tune with the owner's imagined lifestyle than her reality.
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The owner of Cookin'/lady refered to in a previous post.So, who is Judy? -
FWIW, I've known Judy for more than 20 years and have watched her shop grow. She makes multiple trips to France every year, works the Paris antique markets as well as visits some of the biggest antique and flea markets in France from which she hauls home very singular and no longer made pieces. She has a knack and the contacts for ferreting out deascensions from top restaurant kitchens and dining rooms. It sounds like fun, but, trust me, it's a lot of hard work. It costs money to have someone do this kind of legwork.
If you want readily available, current styles and colors, use Amazon or Macy's Cellar sales. If you want really cool stuff, Judy has some.
Fromage Blanc
in France: Cooking & Baking
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