FOOD
Miles Davis and no-knead bread
Hi everyone! Sorry my blog wasn’t accessible almost all afternoon today. The server was down and I had to wait for my provider to fix the problem.
Anyway, I hope you had a great weekend! I did despite the rainy weather.
I went to the Miles Davis exhibition (held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – last day is August 29. More info here). It was great, lots of good stuff, beautifully done. Since it was a rainy Sunday afternoon, the exhibition was packed so I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I wanted, but I had a great time nonetheless.
I also made bread. Yes, real bread. It’s so easy a child could do it. And it’s seriously as good as what you’d buy at an upscale bakery. It took less than 5 mn to prepare the dough (then you’ll need to let it rest for at least 12 hours). I didn’t have wheat bran so I coated the dough with just a bit of flour (which I like better anyway). And I was afraid our Le Creuset French oven would be too small, but it’s actually the perfect size (I’m not sure what size it is… maybe 2L or 3.3L). I love quick, simple recipes that make me feel like I can actually cook!
The whole process is explained in the video: (there’s a slightly different version of the recipe here)
Happy Friday!
Yesterday, I made some chocolate mousse. Quick and easy to make. And so much tastier than store-bought food.
This weekend, let’s do stuff that doesn’t involve going to the mall or organizing a closet, okay?
Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!
Super Epic Rainbow Cake
Ok, I need to learn how to make this cake before the end of the year so that I can make it for my birthday party in January. I can’t think of a more perfect cake (and cake name) for me. I love how she explains the metaphor behind the cake:
« But the most important aspect of this cake, the thing that makes it so her is the fact that it’s frosted in white buttercream. Why? Because the smooth white exterior makes the cake look completely normal, but once you slice into it you realize… OH SNAP! THIS CAKE IS CRAZY! »
Kaitlin, have we met before? Because it sounds like you know me personally. You just described me in a nutshell haha. Anyways, kudos to you!
Recipe here (the picture is from the blog too)
I heart French food
It’s about time I talked about my vacation in France for you guys who would like to know a little bit more about French culture. Let’s start with the food, shall we?
French food is one of the reasons why I love France so much (with the exception of butter escargots and the likes eeew). I guess this post could fall under the category “this is why I’ll never be a size 2″ haha.
Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a seat in Business Class this time (note to self: don’t wait until the last minute to contact your network) and had to content myself with the food they served in coach class. I think the photo speaks for itself:
The first thing we did when we got to Paris-Charles de Gaulle was buy a parisien aka jambon-beurre (ham and butter sandwich – best sandwich ever). I was starving and super tired, and needed to refuel with food before hopping on the plane to Basel (my parents live near the Swiss and the German borders).
During our stay, we ate plenty of sandwiches and other “semi-meals”:
… Like bretzel with lots of cheese (yum)
… Croque-monsieur (topped with béchamel sauce and shredded cheese)
… And moricette (a tiny sandwich made with bretzel dough)
I tried to take a picture at every meal, but forgot to take some when the food was really too mouthwatering – like when we had Flammekueche or tarte flambée in French (“Alsatian dish composed of thin bread dough rolled out in a circle or a rectangle, which is covered by crème fraîche, onions and bacon”, according to Wikipedia) and tourte au riesling. Oh well…
Here’s a picture of an actual Flammekueche:
Source : tourisme-alsace.info
You can see a twist on the Flammekueche/tarte flambée in the following picture. They call it baguette flambée, which is simply a baguette topped with crème fraîche, onions and bacon.
Our first meal at my parents’ house was simple and delicious, just the way I like it. Barbecued Weisswurst (literally “white sausage” in German), fresh veggies and fruits, can’t get any better than that.
Then it was time to visit my younger brother and his wife (and my nephew – hi Maxence!) in Besançon (near Dijon, mostly famous for its mustard). My sister-in-law took us to a renowned local pâtisserie-chocolaterie called Baud. Let’s just say I’m not safe around chocolate – especially dark chocolate.
She got us individual cakes and macarons, and if you read my old French blog, you know how much I love me some macarons.
One of the big differences between French and North American barbecue meals is that in North America, people mostly eat steaks and ribs and chicken drumsticks whereas in France, they mostly eat sausages and whatever the thing in the second picture below is called (it’s like a thick slice of bacon).
While in Besançon, my younger brother also treated us to dinner at a small restaurant called L’Annexe and owned by one of his friends. They serve mostly seafood dishes. The food was amazing, but I especially loved their tarte aux pommes (topped with vanilla icecream yum), which was much tastier than Le Paris-Beurre’s.
We also visited my youngest brother and his wife (and my nephew – hi Anthony!), and they made an excellent fondue bourguignonne (served with a watercress salad, rice, potatoes and tabouleh) :
The following dish is called Fleischnacka. It’s a traditional Alsatian dish “consisting of minced beef (or sometimes other meats) rolled in fresh noodle dough and cut into slices which are then cooked in stock” (according to Wikipedia). It’s really good with just a salad.
The day before we left, we had a big family meal and my mom made a choucroute by popular demand. If I ever get sentenced to death, I think I will request a choucroute as my last meal. Choucroute and lots of chocolate haha.
Of course, we ate a lot of cheese too…
… And I drank way too much wine… I’ll talk about that in a future post. For now, suffice it to say that I miss France already.
I’m going to leave you with this picture of a famous Alsatian restaurant in Mulhouse called Zum Saüwadala, which literally means “The little pig’s tail” in Alsatian. The sign makes me smile every time I see it. It shows 2 happy pigs wearing folk/traditional Alsatian costumes.
Le Paris-Beurre
Yesterday was the boyfriend’s birthday, so I treated him to dinner at a French bistro-style restaurant called Le Paris-Beurre, on Van-Horne. I wanted to invite him to Les Chèvres, but it looks like it closed down. Bummer.
I had already been there once before and my first experience was pretty good. The decor is unpretentious. The food is good, fresh and predictable (in a good way), although a tad overpriced. The waiters are cute AND professional.
The evening started with an apéritif (a 2007 Sylvaner from Alsace, where I grew up). My starter was mousse de foie de volaille et confiture d’oignon, followed by an excellent soup, but I was too busy eating to take a picture ha!
As for the main course, the boyfriend enjoyed a bavette de boeuf…
And I had a tartare aux deux saumons (yummy).
We also ordered a tarte aux pommes, but by the time we finished our main course, I was too full to even think about the dessert so we asked for a doggie bag (the tarte was okay, but spent too much time in the oven). While waiting for the tarte to cook, I enjoyed an espresso.
All in all we had a good time. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.
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* I have this theory that you can tell a lot about a restaurant/bar by the state of its restroom, so I should add that Le Paris-Beurre’s restroom is fairly clean (however, I was expecting something fancier considering the price).
