Tag: oysters

La Conner, Mukilteo, and Ballard – Our Christmas journey continues

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Trips and travel3 Comments

On Tuesday of last week we picked up a rental car and headed north to La Conner, WA. It is a picturesque town at the mouth of the Swinomish River. A perfect place to spend our 36th anniversary.

We have been to La Conner many times over the years so it holds a lot of good memories. Some of the best memories are of when we took my mother there almost every year for her birthday, she loved it there.

We ate lunch at Nell Thorn Waterfont Bistro & Bar since our favorite place, The Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive was closed that day. It was a good time for sure. We stayed at the Channel Lodge in a room with overstuffed chairs, a gas fireplace and a view of the channel.

Wednesday we headed south toward Mukilteo, stopping first in Mount Vernon for a nice lunch with my sister and brother-in-law. It was good to get caught up.

Two of our best friends live in Mukilteo, if you follow my blog you have met them already since we joined them in October in Provence. Shirley goes all out on Christmas decorations. We were greeted with this amazing tree, which Tricia, of course, took a photo of. (Her last blog was all about trees, including this one.) They think it has 1200 lights, I can’t even imagine doing that, but it sure is beautiful.

If I had a patron of my art it would be Jim and Shirley, they have so many framed pieces of my art, even postcards that I have sent. Their home has hundreds of wonderful pieces of artwork, some quite interesting. I am not sure I want to know the story behind this one, but am honored to have my art shown in such a creative space.

They invited friends over for a couple of holiday get-togethers, Shirley put out quite a spread. Since they love France there was of course croissant.

Saturday we drove back up north for our postponed anniversary lunch at The Oyster Bar, and it did not disappoint, bien sûr. After a few oysters we shared an entree of smoked sablefish (black cod) on marinated beet with pumpkin seeds. It reminded me that the reason I detested beets for most of my life was not the fault of God creating them, nor of the poor beet itself, it was just poor preparation. This was so good.

I had the plat du jour, petrel sole roasted on a cedar plank.

After our leisurely repast we drove south to Ballard where we are staying with Tricia’s sister. Yesterday we helped out with our nephew’s birthday party at the Lynnwood Swimming pool. Oh my! A room full of eight year old boys sure do have a lot of energy.

Thanks Tricia for the photos

We have had a great time so far. We are so grateful for the folks that have taken us in and put us up. But most of all we have relished the conversations. Tomorrow we are off to San Diego for a couple of days, we have a new, well new to us, grandnephew to meet, should be fun.

Tartar, grilled fish, and oysters, oh my!

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Food and drink, France4 Comments

In the movie The Big Chill, Jeff Goldblum’s character says: “Don’t knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations.” Thankfully when it comes to food I excel at rationalization.

Beef would be far easier for me to give up than fish and seafood. Well of course “meat in tube form” (a nod to Anthony Bourdain) and steak tartar are completely rational exceptions.

Steak tartar is one of the foods that I eat more frequently than I did in pre-France days. Steak tartar is made of finely chopped raw beef, often seasoned with herbs, or in France mustard. Apparently Brits are not big fans of steak tartar since I have often had servers, assuming I am a Brit, ask me if I know what steak tartar is, but this expat does like steak tartar.

One of the best steak tartars I have ever had was at Restaurant le Cerasus in Saint Savin in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. It had a lot of mustard, which in France is always Dijon, and it was served with frites, bien sûr.

Thanks Tricia for the photo.

Here are a few others, some better than others.

Another best – Basel, Switzerland
OK, not great
Good one, can’t remember where
Not great

Grilled fish, often whole, are another of my new favorites. This Flounder in Bergen was the first time I had flounder, I am now watching for it on menues.

A waiter in Quarteira, Portugal gave me some lessons on using the fish knives they provide and showed me the technique of separating the flesh from the bones after I ordered these grilled sardines. For those in the US who only think of canned sardines, these will make you reconsider. Grilled sardines are another of my favorites.

There are plenty of other options when it comes to grilled seafood.

Octopus in Honfleur
Trout in Bergen
In Alta, Norway

Coming from Puget Sound we are of course familiar with oysters, but for some reason since moving to France, and all of the traveling we do, oysters are on our table far more often, and they are far more affordable here.

I have heard the term “pescatarian” used to describe someone who eats seafood and an otherwise vegetarian diet. It describes me pretty well as long as you can accept my occasional rationalizations. Let’s not talk about shortbread cookies and Scotch, OK.

An Appetite for Arles

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Food and drink, Restaurants4 Comments

After five days in Arles I can confidently say that the food here does not disappoint. Well, except for the one time I ordered a small steak cooked saignant, which in the US would be considered bloody rare, thus the name. As is common here, once they hear my accent, she said, in English, “medium”, I replied, “non, saignant”. It came with just a touch of pink, medium-rare at best by US standards. Thanks to the multitude of folks here from the UK, who tend to like their meat cooked well done, the restaurants often try to compensate, c’est la France.

Our first meal was at Bistrot de Pitchounet, located in a restaurant filled square in the heart of old town.

I chatted with the lady in the photo, not only does she work there, but her father is the owner. All of the staff were wonderful, and the food was just as good. I started with a bit of smoked herring, so different than the smoked herring in Norway. This had a much stronger smoke flavor and I liked it better than what I had in Tromsø a few months ago.

My main was tuna steak, just lightly seared, bien sûr.

Saturday we ate at Gaudina, a small place on a narrow street with service and amazing food. For my entree I had roasted eggplant with olive oil, almonds, tomatoes, and parsley.

My main was grilled octopus. As I have said before octopus must be prepared perfectly or it ends up rubbery, when done right the outside is charred a bit and the inside is moist, this was perfect. The sauce had a bit of spice and it was served on the black rice that is ubiquitous to this region. I have no idea what the crispy, golden accompaniment was, but it was delightful.

Yesterday I had a wonderful wood fired pizza at Bistro Arlésien. How can you go wrong with a wood fired pizza? They are one of my all time favorites. This one had ham, anchovies, olives, onions, and cheese with a light tomato sauce. I don’t think anyplace in Naples could do better.

Today, we went back to Le Pitchounet, this time I was able to chat a bit with Nikola, the lady in the photo. We started with oysters, the third time this week we have had them. One of the servers told us about the part of the oyster that they call “the foot”. It is the dime-sized, round disk that is usually left connected to the shell after the rest of the oyster is eaten. I have never thought about eating it. He cut it out with a knife so I could taste it. His description was that it was like a sea scallop, and he was right. Why have I never heard of this? We lived and ate oysters for years in one of the top oyster regions of the world, Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Well now we know.

For my main I had a tartare of tuna and salmon. It was interesting that they brought me a bottle of Tabasco, which did in fact work quite well.

Eating is one of the main reasons we travel. This week the food in Arles has resulted in a totally enjoyable time. The Roman remains, sights of Vincent Van Gogh, and a huge market day are just icing on the cake – well, ok, the olive oil on everything, we don’t eat much cake.

Some Foods You Surprisingly Might Like

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Food and drink8 Comments

If you follow this blog, you know that my taste in food is pretty broad and some would say adventurous. Most things are not out-of-bounds to me for at least a try. This morning I found this article about the least liked foods in America. It is based on frequency of orders at Instacart. This research would not qualify in a peer based scientific paper, but it is interesting nonetheless. I put the link to their article below the graph, it has some interesting information.

Thanks to Instacart

The first thing to know is that I like all fourteen of these, some more than others for sure, but none of these would be in any “hate” list I would make. Reading through this list I come to the conclusion that it may not be the foods themselves, but how they are prepared, or it might be which kind of the given item you have tried.

In the era that I grew up in, the 50s and 60s, cooking was pretty basic. As a general rule meat was cooked until it was well done, dry and stringy – any pink in the roast was considered life threatening. That style did get me to eat a lot of mashed potatoes, as it was all that would work to get a bite swallowed. Anything in the poultry category terrified moms and dads in those days, so it was likewise cooked to near destruction.

Vegetables were categorically boiled, turning a wonderful stalk of broccoli into some obscene gray paste – I have a friend who is scared for life and cannot be in the same room as broccoli to this day. I would recommend psychological counseling, but I doubt it would help.

So let me shed light on the first five of the items on their list. My conclusions are based on extensive research, well five minutes of internet searching and a lot of years of just eating, so this is iron-clad.

Anchovies

For most Americans their exposure to anchovies is from a flat can. These are packed in oil and quite salty. They are also the basis of Caesar salad dressing, and some use them on pizzas.

Though I enjoy them straight on a cracker or in a salad, I do get why the strong salty-fishy flavor puts some off. Thankfully for the poor anchovy fish there is more to them than this. Here is what the fish looks like – cute little things. They range from 2 to 40cm, and there are more than 140 species.

It is common here in Europe to see them fried or grilled as in the photo. White anchovies are common around the Mediterranean, none of the salty fish flavor of the canned. They make a wonderful appetizer.

Black Licorice

In my childhood red or black rope licorice was sold from a jar by the stick, usually for a penny, which made it a popular item, even though it was usually pretty dried out. Today, moister ropes are available, and Australian licorice is a treat – it is soft and chewy. According to Livestrong.com licorice in moderation is a good sweet snack, far superior to most other candies.

Oysters

Of the top five on the list I can see this as the challenge for many people. For me, the best way to eat an oyster is raw on the shell, but I understand the squeamishness of some people – live, raw, and the texture. But that is not the only way to eat an oyster. Roasted in breadcrumbs as in Oyster Rockefeller, or in a chowder are quite different experiences. Even raw there are a variety of flavors, from mild to quite metallic. In Louisiana an oyster po’boy is a real treat.

Beets

There was a time in my life when I said that the only mistake God ever made was inventing beets. Over time I have learned that was based on my exposure to over-boiled muck.

First off learning that there are more than just red beets was an eye opener. Golden beets are quite a different taste, and roasted they are one of my favorites these days. Pickled red beets are pretty good in a salad; of course pickeling most anything makes it better. Mama Melina’s in Seattle makes a beet, walnut, and gorganzola salad that is quite good.

In addition to some actually great flavors, beets are anti-inflammatory, build up your immune system, good for your complexion, and boost energy, just to name a few of the benefits.

So like all of the others so far, our reaction is often tied to childhood experiences, and to a limited experience with varieties or preparations. Maybe you should do what I have done and give beets a second chance.

Blue Cheese

This would include Roquefort, the king of blue cheeses, gorgonzola, and a plethora of other cheeses with the distinctive blue mold. Only cheese from the region of Roquefort in France can use the name, all others are a form of blue cheese.

Blue cheeses vary in taste from very mild to strong, and from slightly sweet to salty or sharp; in colour from pale to dark; and in consistency from liquid or very soft to firm or hard.

Wikipedia

I love most any blue cheese, but if you aren’t a fan, maybe it is because you havent found the one you do like. The best salads have blue cheese crumbles sprinkled in, with a nice red-wine vinaigrette.

The rest of the items on the list might just surprise some people. Roasted Brussels sprouts are quite different from boiled, fried okra is not stringy, It is rare that Tricia and I boil anything, it takes out the flavors. Try steaming, or roasting instead, the results will be quite different and always better for you than boing out all the nutrition and flavor.

It is 11.00am as I write this, I am so glad it is getting close to lunchtime, all this thinking about food makes me hungry.