eG Foodblog: bleudauvergne

[bleudauvergne]

When StInGeR infomed me that the flame was passed by PM, I was at the office, and my heart was beating, hard. After several minutes of hyperventilating, I came back to reality.

I thought I wan't going to start till Sunday!

Time note: I am located at GMT +1. I am in Lyon, France. 6 hours ahead of the eastern seaboard, 9 hours ahead of the west coast. 1 hour ahead of London. 6 hours behind Hk Dave. Sorry if my posts seemed to be times wierdly.

I am at home in Lyon, I am not traveling. It is my home. We are at the moment doing our best to save money. Therefore just about all of my meals are prepared at home. I think my blog will carry two predominant themes: sourcing and cooking.

Blogging makes you want to take pictures of everything. I wanted to take a picture of people on the metro because they looked tired and hungry. I have no idea what this blog will produce but I hope it entertains some of you.

I want to do justice to the people that make things possible for me. So, here we go.

My first stop after work was to Marechal Center, in the 1eme, where I live. It's a store that also has a caviste, by the name of Nicolas LANGLET. This guy is recognized in the neighborhood. He knows everything about wine. When I arrived tonight he was excited and had a wine to give me a taste of.

My butcher, M. THERMOZ, was kind of mad at me when I arrived because he was in a hurry to close. "You're late!" he said. " have no time to talk, I'm closing this place as soon as possible" he said. He gave me my bacon and said - "a demain!"

When I got home, I realized my house is a mess. That's normal. I usually leave projects halfway done wherever they have begun.

This is my closet. It's all mine. I have built a small bar in it. It's where I try and corral up my cookbooks. They usually are scattered all over the house, and they all don't fit in my closet. It's a good thing I never put everything away at the same time. (my husband's closet is rather orderly and scientific, and contains lots of technologically advanced equipment. It makes for a good balance.)

Dinner tonight:

Started witha small glass of Clairette de Die tradition, which we got at last Octobers foire des vignerons independants:

We ate like pigs yesterday so we're eating very simply tonight.

A little paté, polish dills for me and little corichons for the hubby:

Salad, and cheese.

I will cook over the weekend.

Can anyone tell me: What's this fruit???

It's bedtime here, and I'm off, but tomorrow morning it's the market - quai St. Antoine as usual. Things should be really pretty because Spring is really in full swing here now.

-Lucy

Edited April 17, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[docsconz]

I am very much looking forward to this blog.

[herbacidal]

Moi also.

[Mayhaw Man]

Me too

Thanks for doing this. It's about time the blog left North America for a while.

What are your shopping habits? Do you shop small every day or do you occasionally hit a giant market and load up on staples?

And more importantly-do you like bacon? (I base all personal relationships on the answer to this question )

[Marlene]

This is going to be wonderful. Thanks so much!

I'm with Brooks though, ya gotta like bacon

[Squeat Mungry]

Vive le blog! Can't wait! What the heck... go ahead and post pictures of the hungry people on the metro!

[bleudauvergne]

You all posted while I was adding my photos of the day in edit mode! Bacon was what I was at the butcher for! Dude!

[Mayhaw Man]

Man! Get a load of that cheese!

(as an aside I think that showing off your cheese is tacky as many of us do not have it available at the corner store and get intensely jealous at the sight of such a fine plate of the stuff )

[Squeat Mungry]

Can anyone tell me:  What's this fruit??? 

Those are ground cherries, also known as "cossack pineapples". I love them! Taste like a cross between a tomato and a pineapple. Did you buy them, or just take the photo at the market?

[bloviatrix]

The fruit you ask about are husk cherries. If you go back to Marlena Speiler's blog she mentions them but calls them by a different name.

[docsconz]

I was looking forward to this blog even before those photos Those cheeses are awesome looking and I bet even better tasting.

[bleudauvergne]

Sorry, I forgot to tell you what kind it is. In the center is a munster. 9 oclock is a brin de marquis. 11 oclock: I forgot! But Ill find out tomrorrow. noon to two: Morbier. And the last two, well, they have the labels.

[bleudauvergne]

Can anyone tell me:  What's this fruit??? 

Those are ground cherries, also known as "cossack pineapples". I love them! Taste like a cross between a tomato and a pineapple. Did you buy them, or just take the photo at the market?

I think they taste like a cross between a gooseberry and a lychee. I bought them. And I'm eating them.

[docsconz]

Sorry, I forgot to tell you what kind it is. In the center is a munster. 9 oclock is a brin de marquis. 11 oclock: I forgot! But Ill find out tomrorrow. noon to two: Morbier. And the last two, well, they have the labels.

Starting off on the wrong foot already Keep it coming! This is going to be fun (if I can contain my jealousy).

[Pan]

Geez, pate' and cheese is eating "very simply"?

This is going to be fun!

[hillvalley]

Ohhhhhhhhh.

My mouth is watering. The photos are beautiful. What kind of camera are you using?

I know this is strange, but can I put in a request? I would love to see a real coissant again. It has been way too long and with the euro killing the dollar, it will be a while

[bleudauvergne]

Ohhhhhhhhh.

My mouth is watering. The photos are beautiful. What kind of camera are you using?

I know this is strange, but can I put in a request? I would love to see a real coissant again. It has been way too long and with the euro killing the dollar, it will be a while

Tomorrow AM. Break of dawn. You got it. Goodnight!

[hillvalley]

Ohhhhhhhhh. 

My mouth is watering.  The photos are beautiful.  What kind of camera are you using? 

I know this is strange, but can I put in a request?  I would love to see a real coissant again.  It has been way too long and with the euro killing the dollar, it will be a while

Tomorrow AM. Break of dawn. You got it. Goodnight!

Thank you!!!

Good night

[Carolyn Tillie]

Wow. Wanna adopt me? I'll bring lots more books, can mix a pretty decent cocktail, and will clean up after myself.

I don't speak very good French, though...

[Jensen]

Can anyone tell me:  What's this fruit??? 

Those are ground cherries, also known as "cossack pineapples". I love them! Taste like a cross between a tomato and a pineapple. Did you buy them, or just take the photo at the market?

I think they taste like a cross between a gooseberry and a lychee. I bought them. And I'm eating them.

They are also called "cape gooseberries". I first had them in Germany and loved them so much that I had to ask what they were. No one knew the English name for them though so I went for quite a while just calling them "Physalis".

They are related to the tomatillo.

[Carolyn Tillie]

They are related to the tomatillo.

That's what I thought it was...

[Jake]

Oh, I am so looking forward to the blog! Could we have some pictures of where you live, where you hang out etc. as well please -- vive la France!

Merci en avance,

Jake

[balmagowry]

Wow. Wanna adopt me? I'll bring lots more books, can mix a pretty decent cocktail, and will clean up after myself.

I don't speak very good French, though... 

I do! I do! Adopt me! If I come out there right away I can be there in time for l'Aillee, which has had me drooling almost constantly ever since you posted about it!

(Also, it's perfect: I have an adopted son who is older than I am; I in turn am older than you are; so by adopting me you will acquire a grandson who is nearly twice your age. How can you resist?)

BTW, aren't ground cherries also called tomatillos? I knew someone who used to make jam out of them - very good.

[bleudauvergne]

Wow. Wanna adopt me? I'll bring lots more books, can mix a pretty decent cocktail, and will clean up after myself.

I don't speak very good French, though... 

I do! I do! Adopt me! If I come out there right away I can be there in time for l'Aillee, which has had me drooling almost constantly ever since you posted about it!

(Also, it's perfect: I have an adopted son who is older than I am; I in turn am older than you are; so by adopting me you will acquire a grandson who is nearly twice your age. How can you resist?)

BTW, aren't ground cherries also called tomatillos? I knew someone who used to make jam out of them - very good.

We're really hoping to adopt a baby. But if that falls through I'll keep both of you in mind. Just to get things straight, please PM me with the number of books (that would be cookbooks) you own, and include the number of first editions. Thanks.

edited to ask also for a list of your cocktail repertoires, because that will factor into my decision.

Edited April 17, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[bleudauvergne]

What kind of camera are you using? 

For knocking about town I carry a dog eared Canon Powershot A30. The main problem with this camera is the extremely annoying delay between the time you click the shutter and the time it actually takes the picture. For that reason, I have taken to taking photos of things that do not move with th is camera, and most of the photos I take of people are of people moving, looking away, or blushing. Sorry about that. I also turn off the flash and use the macro setting most of the time.

Thank you for the kind encouragement. I have taken the requests for taking you along in my daily scrounging activities into consideration. I have decided not to change my habits, so what you see is what I normally do.

__________on with the blog!______________

Saturday A.M. - coffee

The photo is dark because it is early in the morning. In the lower left corner of the photo is Sissy, who comes every morning to tell me that Loic (my husband) has given her the wrong flavor cat food for breakfast. Her favorite is Delices de Volailles en Gelee, but somehow Loic always gives her Lapin avec ses petits pois or Agneau! Oh well, she'll get what she wants when it's dinner time, because I'm the one who gives her dinner. Cat food here comes in a variety box containing several flavors, and the cat has to get a different flavor every meal. This is a far cry from what she used to get before we moved to France. Back in the good old days, she could have her favorite flavor every time. But we're not in Kansas anymore, Sissy. She was hooked on fish flavors for awhile (because she ate salmon back stateside), and they came in the most amazing flavors. But then we heard all that news about lead poisoning, and also observed the fact that Sissy will not touch the salmon flavor, even if she's dying of hunger, so we changed to a new menu.

My husband is the coffee master of the house. I cannot move before I've had a few sips in bed. He has really wonderful tastes in coffee, and he is alwasy trying something new. Right now we are enjoying Alpine roast. Have I said he is an angel? This is the coffee we are drinking now:

We had been enjoying a rich course ground and felt there was no other way to do it. When we first got this coffee, Loic (my husband) put the coffee through the grinder as usual and the result was shockingly bad. It took some experiemtation, but once he got to grinding it very fine, the taste was just amazingly wonderful. It's a very refined, rich, but not in your face kind of flavor. Perhaps Owen can shed some insight about what makes this coffee different. Me, I awaken, I take the coffee, my day begins. With a big thanks to Loic.

Our Super High Tech Coffee Machine:

I have to get to the market. It looks like rain. Actually good pictures can be had on rainy days. I also plan to go to an Indian imports shop I've been meaning to check out in vieux Lyon, and also to go to my bookstore and ask about a few orders, plus inquire about balmagowry's magazine.. It would be a shame to have to go to Paris to get it.

Time to get moving! Be back soon!

Edited April 17, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)