Month: February 2024

La cuisine chez nous

On By Terry ChristophersonIn cooking, Food and drink, Trips and travel4 Comments

We got back home on Tuesday, 6 February, which means for us it is time for cuisiner chez nous, cooking at our place. We love restaurants yet we miss cooking ourselves so we don’t eat out a lot between voyages. Here are a few of the highlights from the last two weeks.

Tricia started notre aventure culinaire with vegetarian shepherds pie. I love that you can have something so hearty without meat, which I eat plenty of when we travel. Watch her blog in the upcoming weeks as she assures me she will be posting her recipe soon.

We have a few favorites that are quick and easy. The pre-made pizza dough here in France is so good and so quick that it makes a regular appearance on the menu. Since confession is good for the soul I will also admit that we love the frozen fish and chips that we can bake in the oven; I of course make the mayonnaise myself which is better than store bought, and so easy to make. Some other favorites are Tricia’s pasta, and we both like paninis.

For our first Sunday lunch, our regular tradition, I made grilled salmon with braised lentils. The dish was inspired by something we had in Paris, and it turned out quite well. It was accompanied by grilled vegetables in the style of Peñiscola. I may post the salmon and lentils recipe in the future.

Here are the veggies, served on the tres cool slate plater from Mukilteo, a gift from our friends Claudine and JJ.

Yesterday we had nachos, which are a bit of a challenge here in France, at least rural France – you just don’t find refried beans here, so I tried making them. All I can do is quote Ina, “How good is that!” Refried beans are now added to mayonnaise as something I will never buy again as they are too easy to make and so much better than any pre-made.

Saturday I made cauliflower soup, another of our favorites and so easy. Topped off with Parmesan cheese toasts and a Roquefort salad, with a glass of Cotes de Rhône it was perfect.

We do like food, so I better finish this up as we are heading to The Citadel in Granville, one of our favorite restaurants. It is just 90 minutes away near Le Mont-Saint-Michel, so we have views of that to add to our trip on this sunny day.

I hope you are eating well and following Tricia’s maxim of cooking good food for the people you love.

Horses and food in Peñiscola

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Trips and travel3 Comments

We are back in wet Normandie, thankfully, the cold snap we escaped a few weeks ago is over and temps are in the 50sF (10sC), so, other than the rain, it is feeling a bit like spring – Snowdrop flowers have even come up. In some cultures February is considered the first month of Spring, I agree.

We were in Peñiscola during the Festival of St. Anthony. On the closing weekend of the festival they spread sand on the main route through the castle area where we were staying. Then on Saturday there was a procession of horses and horse-drawn carts. Sunday morning we went to church at Santa Maria de Peñiscola. We exited the church and discovered a crowed lined up for a second procession of horses and carts. I am not sure of the significance of the horses but it was quite a thing to see.

We discovered that most all of the restaurants are quite similar in their offerings: paella, grilled fish, shellfish, etc. There was though quite a variety in quality, seasoning, service, and ambience. Towards the end of our stay we discovered a place so good, and a bit different, that we went there twice: Porto Rico. On our first visit we ordered too much, but we ate it all, I was sated, and then some.

On our second visit we shared croquets again as an entree, then for my main I had grilled Iberian pork marinated in spiced red wine, c’était superbe.

We only had one meal that was disappointing, and it was all our own fault for picking the place. The host was working too hard to fill the tables and the menues were quite tattered, which should always be a dead giveaway to avoid a place. Other than that the food, service, and amazing views made Peñiscola dinning a pleasure.