Baby artichokes braised in white wine & thyme

At the market this morning there were these gorgeous purple baby artichokes.

Ignoring my promise to not buy much of anything since we are leaving for a vacation later this week, they sang to me so I bought them, happy with the challenge of figuring out how to cook them. I've seen the baby artichokes at the market several times, but never had any idea how to cook (or eat) them.

But I love artichokes and they are among the few veggies that my DH really likes too, so I figured it was worth a try (even though the big globe artichokes are a steady favorite). Turns out they are pretty time-consuming to prepare, but the result was indeed very good. Next time I need to remove more of the outer leaves and pay more attention to buy really really small ones. I bought two batches of them, and one set was noticeably smaller than the other - and they were MUCH easier to eat.

My recipe, from the San Francisco Farmer's Market Cookbook, was pretty easy and turned out quite well, although next time I'll try to cut down on the olive oil and add lemon.

Ocean's 12 & Ocean's 13

We watched these Hollywood movies back to back last night. We'd seen Ocean's 11 back in January I think, and E picked up 12 & 13 recently.

We were in the mood for something easy and this was definitely easy. Ocean's 12 was really bad in my opinion (although E thought it was okay) but Ocean's 13 was amusing and fast-paced, although not as much so as the original Ocean's 11.

In both there are plenty of people quite easy on the eyes, and the all-star cast is clearly why these movies have worked at the box office.

La Mosquée

Tonight we went to La Mosquee for dinner. We were already walking around not too far away and it's been a long time since we've been here (and never for dinner). Couscous is one of those local cuisines that the French take for granted - it's very exotic for an American, and as I don't eat it often it's something I am still discovering. It's also kind of like pizza places or Mexican food in the US - there are a lot that are mediocre, but not many that are really good.

I made the same mistake I've made several times at a couscous restaurant - I ordered a tagine (like a stew) instead of just sticking with the basics of couscous. Luckily my DH & I had agreed to share, and luckily couscous is always quite generous - the couscous was much better than the tagine, as was the case the last time I had couscous too (which was probably about 2 years).

Walking around the Latin Quarter

We had a lovely day today - first really nice weekend of the Spring, full of sunshine.

We walked around a bunch of lovely places - rue Mouffetard, the Pantheon, La Sorbonne, the Jardin des Plantes, and a bunch of shops that make up the outdoor-and-sports stores of Le Vieux Camper.

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and evening - and makes me fall in love with Paris all over again (and maybe a little bit more in love with my husband too!)

Guy Savoy

I'd been wondering whether I should add a category of "restaurants" here and last night tipped my decision.

On a Friday night where we had nothing in particular planned, my DH suggested we go to a nice restaurant. We really enjoy the fine dining experience, and tend to hit 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants a few times a year. I suspected it wouldn't work out - seeing as he made the suggestion at 6pm for that same night and we had nothing reserved. But, it is a vacation period in Paris, and after 20 calls he found a table at Guy Savoy at 10pm.

It was excellent. We took the "menu prestige" option which is a tasting menu of many courses to give us a taste of several of Guy Savoy's most famous dishes, and we were not disappointed. This is a chef who really knows how to ge the most out of each ingredient and taste. There were many courses but my favorites were :

Myriad of Young Peas - the essence of the fresh baby pea, in gelee, in the peas themselves, and the play of textures from peas to gelee to poached quail's egg to the little sprouts on top. Divine.

Cold steamed land and sea assortment - amazingly good fresh steamed veggies presented very dramatically over steaming dry ice. By far the best simple vegetable dish I've ever had. The "sea" mention came by way of a very original oyster vinaigrette which was deep and oceany and amazing (and I don't like oysters).

Soup of artichoke heart and black truffle - very good, one of his famous signature dishes, but I found it less amazing than some of the other things. The mushroom and truffle brioche that was served with it was out of this world however.

Crispy sea bass in vanilla spice - was probably the best fish dish I've ever had. The fish was perfectly cooked, extremely flavorful, and the sauce was absolutely out of this world. Vanilla but the flavor was only complex and savory, no hint of sweetness.

There was also a half rock lobster (very good, but nothing particularly surprising about it) and duck magret with foie gras (the foie gras of course I didn't eat but as usual my DH doesn't complain to have a second portion of foie gras).

The cheeses were really good - I particularly liked a fresh goat cheese, a Corsican sheep's milk cheese that was covered in spices, but the knockout was a 2004 cantal.

The desserts just kept coming - but I'd seen that from tables around us (one of the advantages of a late seating is seeing the end of the meal of earlier tables) so I'd done my best to save room. The desserts from the menu were a "Strawberry Textures w granny smith apples" and it was another fabulous example of Guy Savoy's ability to highlight and magnify the essence of an ingredient - it was fabulous. Less surprising was the chocolate fondant layered w praline, but then again I'm never a big fan of praline. On the sweets cart - this is in addition to the two small desserts served in the Prestige tasting menu, mind you - there were many things to tempt us. I tasted the sorbet au petit suisse (a yogurt sorbet) and raspberry cheesecake and a nut cookie and had a few bites of my DH's fabulous choice of rose rice pudding.

In all, a great experience. Restaurant was very good, not stuffy, service excellent. We had a great champagne upon arrival and the white wine was outstanding. I really liked the red demi that we had as well, but it was mainly well-adapted to the duck - on it's own it didn't have the complexity of the white.

Sabotage - Alfred Hitchcock

One of Hitchcock's early war films, last night we watched Sabotage. this film was a nice change from our TV episode habit on evenings where we are too lazy to read... As it's pretty short (90 min) it's do-able at night.

Not a great film, but amusing. I really liked the "commie" rich bad guy character - a tell-it-like-it-is attitude that was funny and well-played. Not that much suspense, as it was very much a wartime morality play, but a nice break and a decent part of the Hitchcock development. We didn't identify the Hitchcock self-placement in the movie, but we didn't start looking for him until relatively late... he was probably there somewhere.

Cafe Delmas

I was with a colleague today and we were looking for a quick lunch before an appointment and walked a few minutes to this small square in the 5th district where there were a bunch of cafes facing a fountain. It was one of the first sunny and warm days and a place in the sun was our mission, and we found it at the Cafe Delmas.

The cafe was a great choice - we took a Chinese Chicken Salad which was really, really good, but saw several very pretty dishes served to those around us.

I'd definitely come back and try other things, and it's nice to know a good cafe in this part of town

Asparagus, scallion & chicken stir-fry

I made a veggie-filled stir fry for dinner tonight. I used to make these all the time for myself, and took profit of the fact that Eric was "being good" because he had a cholesterol test in the morning, so I thought I'd give it a go. I bought a bunch of veggies at the market this weekend w this in mind, and cut them all up carefully, even through in some green beans and topped it with fresh parsley. It turned out less flavorful than the ones I used to make - in part because I didn't want to do a Chinese-soy sauce thing, and in part because I'm just completely out of practice with how to do these. Eric liked it (although his comment was that it was "girl food") but I think in the future I can make it better and more as a side dish of a mixed fresh veggie thing than the main course w chicken in it. I'd also be well-served to look through several cookbooks for some ideas...

Barry Lyndon

We started watching Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon on Sunday night and finished the second half tonight. Big, sumptuous period piece, full of gorgeous cinematography and tragic characters.

It was a really nice movie - very well acted & enjoyable. The pace was slow-ish but not troubling - it just made you adjust to the speed of the film for a few hours. Which created a great escape.

Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

I have been working on Tender is the Night for over a month, and it's finally been completed. As is often the case when I can't get through a book - I didn't find it very good. I stopped reading for several weeks, but the book I read a few days back made me decide to push forward w Tender is the Night and it worked - once I got a bit further I was able to finish it.

I researched several reviews to see what other people thought since I really thought it was lousy, and found out that I am not alone. A lof of people besides me found the characters flat and lifeless. I didn't really care what happened to these people, so obviously I didn't want to read the rest of their stories. And in the end nothing ends well it all kind of ends sadly and in a slow mess- which might be the most realistic thing about the book.

Be Kind Rewind

E & I had a "date" last night. We went for a quick dinner (Japanese, Aki, where he introduced me to okonomiya) and then went to the movies last night. It was supposed to be the theatre but E was talking to a client on the phone as we drove in circles looking for a parking space and wouldn't be distracted by me during the process, even though I kept trying to ask him if he was SURE we were in the right neighborhood... bottom line - we weren't. And the theatre was starting at that minute and we still had a good distance to go and parking to find... in short, it wasn't going to happen. (I confess, we've had this scenario play out a few other times...). I smiled sweetly and said it wasn't a big deal, we can just go to the movies.

We showed up at MK2Bibilotheque where there are tons of choices, good parking, and shops to pass the time. We chose to see Be Kind Rewind which I was happy about because it was a comedy and in English - so easy fun for me! It was quite funny, and we laughed a lot (even though we didn't know a lot of the movies they "sweded"). Enjoyable fun film, reminded me a bit of High Fidelity in terms of emotional tone, etc.

A very nice date night, we both enjoyed the restaurant and the unexpected film. One of those outings we don't do often enough... but it worked because it was spontaneous and not forced.

Aki

E and I went here for a quick dinner before the theatre (which became the movies). It's not too far from his office, in the Rue Saint Anne which is the small Japanese district. I've tried several of the restaurants in the area, having lived in the neighborhood for 2 years when I first arrived in Paris, but this one was recommended to us by a friend of ours, and for one particular reason - they are specialized in Okonomiyaki, a type of Japanese crepe-pancake. I had the menu with the okonomiyaki with porc, my DH had it with porc and kimchee, and clearly the kimchee was the winner. Aki : 11 bis, rue Sainte Anne - 75001 Paris. Tel. + 33.1.42.97.54.27. Delicious !!!!

Cellar Door - Loris Gréaud

I also stopped by the Palais de Tokyo (on the left side) the contemporary art museum. I've had some bad memories of previous exhibits here (although one or two that I liked a long while back). But for the first time they are running a one-man show by a 'young genius' Loris Greaud. I don't think I'd call it genius (although most of it was clearly above my head) but it was interesting and new, and gave me back some confidence in contemporary art. I doubt I'll be rushing out to every new contemporary show, but at least I've ended the Nivea-inspired boycott in place for over 2 years now... I looked for an image of these really cool black trees w a red sun/moon to no success - no images easily findable so I put a photo of the artist...

Here's a video on youtube that shows the forest

A. R. Penck - expo

Today I went to the Palais de Tokyo to visit both sides. On the left is the Musee de l'art moderne de la ville de Paris, which has an incredible exhibition space. I've loved just about everything I've seen there, largely because the space is so amazing. I can't wait for Bridget Riley later this summer, but decided to check out the current offering, as a way for me to explore an artist I didn't know at all.

AR Penck was interesting - I suspect his work shows better grouped like this instead of mixed w other artists. I can't say I love it, but I did enjoy the expo.

Pico de gallo

I've been making pico de gallo pretty regularly. Every week I buy cilantro and "piments" and we almost always have tomato and onion on hand. I've learned to add lots of lime juice, to cut into itsy-bitsy pieces and it's become an appreciated staple. It seems to hold up about 5 days in the fridge and we throw it on a bunch of stuff. Yum.

Applesauce

I've made a lot of applesauce in the past few weeks. Plain normal applesauce, apple-pear applesauce, cranberry applesauce. I almost made strawberry applesauce but ended up just eating the strawberries on their own. It's a big hit and pretty easy.

24

The reason there have been so few updates on movies and books in the past weeks is largely because of 24.

My DH received the Season One DVDs as a gift and once we started we were hooked. We watched 2 a night for a while and one weekend I think we saw 6 episodes.

Luckily the fury died down and we actually went over 10 days without an episode, but finally watched the last 3 during the last 3 nights.

The series was really good, but I'm really done w TV series for a long time. I miss reading at night or things that don't have me anxious to know the next step...

Alternatives to Sex

I read this book yesterday. It was an easy read and pretty amusing. The title was great for my agenda for the day too.

I thought the ending was pretty weak but otherwise I enjoyed it. It wasn't great literature but it was better than average junk.

I was mainly happy to be reading again - I have not been reading much this month, largely because the last book I chose (Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald) has been really hard for me to get into. I'm about a third of the way in, but considering how much I've lugged it around and the opportunities I've had to read that's pretty lame. I'm going to give it one more try, and then abandon it...