eG Foodblog: bleudauvergne

[kitwilliams]

Awesome, Lucy. Thanks for opening this window into your kitchen and life. Something to aspire to -- especially your menu organizational chart!

[Swisskaese]

I wish I could get my other half as organised as you. I am a Virgo and I like to organise everything. Well....I shouldn't have moved to a Middle Eastern country.

[rjwong]

Lucy, la poète, merci beaucoups!

I really enjoyed reading your foodblog. It's as though you have that gift of "mise."

[bleudauvergne]

All of this also makes it much easier to let other people help you in the kitchen impropmtu.  If someone walks in at 4pm with willing hands, you glance at the chart to see what needs doing that's not too specialized, and then ask them to prepare the beans for steaming while you focus on the raviolis

←

Exactly, Eden. It is important to give people jobs to do.

[bleudauvergne]

Half of me does not want to say this for fear of messing it up. But here goes.

About my vocation.

For a long time I took what work I could to survive. These jobs ranged from soldier to trader. I've traveled for much of my adult life, living in foreign countries. The work I’ve found easiest to find is assist CEO level executives in running their lives, which is a lot more than being an assistant, more like someone on call 24 hours a day for some of the most demanding executives on earth. A job like that takes complete dedication and it goes without saying that one cannot have a life outside of that work. It is very satisfying but at the same time it just - sucks you in. I have been in France now for 5 years, the longest I have ever been in one place since I finished school. We plan to stay here and I plan to have children now. This means looking down the road. I want to find my place and I want to serve my future children. This means to create self-sustaining means of garnering my contribution to the home with something good to pass on to them. I have recently made a career change. The decision was agonizing, more difficult than any I have ever made. Every ghost and skeleton rattled their chains and the structure groaned in protest as I carefully went about setting new sights. But I am strong enough.

I have decided to look for stories around me and to earn my living by translating, transcribing, and transmitting them. There are lots of places I can do this, working on a project basis. It requires me to do a series of administrative things here in France in order to be legit. I have had to create a micro-enterprise to serve as my base and count my profit and loss. This must be claimed and portions must go to the state. I get out among the people every single day and spend a good deal of my waking hours exercising and keeping aware of the collective buzz so that I can catch the best stories. I must stick to my method and look into the public records, go to the library, find the lore and the traditions, and give them a voice. I’ve always been pretty good at that. Corporate communication and translation work is also lined up to keep things afloat.

There. It's done. Thank you for asking, Lori.

[bleudauvergne]

Dinner last night - followed by a simple green salad (Loic had a slice of terrine with his).

(those are little glasses, folks. )

I did not photograph breakfast today. It was the last piece of pumpkin pie, coffee, and yougert. I was up before dawn because I have got two important appointments this morning. Someone please say 'merde'! I am leaving the house and won't be back until this afternoon. I just want to say that doing the food blog this week has been wonderful, thank you for your encouragment. Every word.

[bleudauvergne]

How unusual (or not!) is it to serve fresh-from-the-oven bread with the cheese?

Your special-occasion china is lovely.  What maker/pattern?

And, in your proprietary Creole spice mix, about those dried shallots.  I assume I could use the dried shallots from the spice section of Middle Eastern markets....  (Is this the only application garlic powder finds in your kitchen?  I have 1 single garlic powder secret.)

Merci Madame!

←

Priscilla, At the better places you'll get warm bread with your cheese.

China: Haviland Vieux Paris.

The spice mix is the only garlic powder use in my kitchen.

I have GOT to go! Bye!

[IrishCream]

I think that your transition to being a writer will be quite smooth. You are already there in my opinion.

Thank you for sharing your life...and best wishes.

[Lori in PA]

"There. It's done. Thank you for asking, Lori."

And here is a perfect example of the way one person's offhand question can cause an emotional upheaval in another. I expected you to say you worked in school administration and my query turned out to be the nudge for you to reveal something "huge." If, in your heart of hearts, this was the right time to do it, then I'm pleased to have been the means. Just call me Mrs. Catalyst.

[Safran]

Dear bleu,

Merde!!! This is said with enthusiasm and respect!

Safran

[Susan in FL]

Lucy, once again... This blog was awesome, as you are! It was so well written and photographed -- truly reflective of your talent, skills, passion, and your dedication to good work. Thank you very much!

Congratulations on the decision, and the process of becoming a professional writer of stories. You do it so well.

[Chufi]

I want to add another Thank You.

I have enjoyed this week so very much. Thank you for your stories, for letting us share this special week with you and your family, and for all the beautiful things you've shown us.

[handmc]

Thank you for another exceptional week

[Megan Blocker]

I'll add my voice to the chorus - thank you so much for this wonderful blog, Lucy! I'm already eager for the next...

[SobaAddict70]

I'll add my voice to the chorus - thank you so much for this wonderful blog, Lucy!  I'm already eager for the next...

←

Heheheh.

Just a peek at the behind-the-scenes planning --

The first time I had asked her to blog was in April 2004. For some reason -- perhaps it was scheduling or maybe it was a slow period for the Foodblogs, Lucy's second blog took place in March 2005. As the person who organizes these things and arranges the schedule, I thought that wasn't a particularly interesting difference (early spring as opposed to late spring; March as opposed to April, whereas say a contrast between a spring Foodblog and an autumn Foodblog might be), and thus this Foodblog was born. (We were also discussing a potential Tag Team between Lucy and a UK-based blogger, but that didn't pan out unfortunately.)

However, since committing to a Foodblog -- for those of you who have done one, and for those of you who are about to find out over the coming weeks -- takes on a life of its own, I promised not to ask her for at least nine months down the line. If there is a fourth Foodblog from Lyon, it probably won't appear until late summer 2006.

Come to think of it, August in France sounds interesting already.

Thank you once again, Lucy, for having us as your guests this week. It was a pleasure as always.

Soba

[bleudauvergne]

I'll add my voice to the chorus - thank you so much for this wonderful blog, Lucy!  I'm already eager for the next...

←

Come to think of it, August in France sounds interesting already.

←

Sorry Stash, the French don't blog in August. You may come and blog in my place. How's that?

Thanks all for your kind comments and coming along with me during this past week. It has really been a lot of fun.

[bleudauvergne]

next year instead of beurre echire in the stuffing I will use a a beurre cru d'Insigny which I can get by weight at the fromagerie.

I would like to know what the difference is.

←

BarbaraY, Soba pointed out that I'd neglected to answer your question! I'm so sorry about that! (Thank you Stash!)

The difference between the two butters. Beurre échiré and the beurre cru d'Insigny is that the beurre cru is a butter made from unpasturized milk. The flavor is more pronounced, it's what I call farm butter. I used it last year for the corn bread and I think the result was better for that particular recipe. It is nice for rustic things like corn bread where a more prominent flavor is important. The beurre échiré is a great butter for pastry crust and also for just plain eating, since it has a really light, slightly tangy but delicate flavor, coming from it being a cultured butter - the flavor is very delicate an it is just divine melted onto hot toast. It didn't come through the way I'd like in the cornbread, it was a waste of money to use a butter like that in the cornbread. It costs on the whole about 50 cents more for a plaquette of 250 grams, or the equivalent of about two sticks of butter.