01/02/2015
On my crepe

Tomorrow is Candlemas! And in France, we celebrate it with crepes. Long story short: this Christian holiday is celebrated on February 2nd, 40 days after Christmas, meaning “feist of candles” it honors Jesus as light and the purity of the Virgin Mary. Well you might say, and what about crepes? The tradition dates back to the pilgrims who came from Rome to whom they distributed pancakes.

The Festival of Lights during which we eat a “fat” dessert is also found in Jewish tradition with Hanukah, where you eat donuts.

According to tradition, when cooking the first crepe, we must blow it several times to ward off bad luck for the coming year. The peasants even used to do so by holding a coin in the left hand (a louis d’or for the rich) to bring them happiness and prosperity …

Like Christmas or other holidays, Candlemas has obviously lost its religious character and is just a good excuse to make good food! So if tomorrow you make crepes, here are some great products to enjoy them with…

1. Créme de Salidou – Maison Armorine (4,50 euros)
a creamy caramel manufactured in a traditional house Quiberon created in 1946

2. Almond and rosemary praline – Joël Durand (14 euros)
AOC almonds from Provence and fresh rosemary, original!

3. Chocolate and tonka paste – L’épicurien (6 euros)
the particularity of tonka bean and the power of dark chocolate

4. Lime tree honey – Hedene (37,50 euros for 3 honeys)
harvested in Picardy in the forest of Chantilly, this honey has a mild minty taste

5. Praline 78% – Michel Cluizel (8,30 euros)
a concentrated taste of roasted nuts in caramel sugar and fine cocoas

6. Chocolate and nuts – Alain Ducasse (30 euros)
a grainy texture made of dark and milk chocolate, hazelnut and almonds praline, available in two sizes including a 550g XXL for the food addicts

7. Rhubarb and elderberry jam – La Chambre aux confitures (7,50 euros)
black elderberry and the acidity of rhubarb, all without preservatives

8. Beurre – Bordier (3,10 euros)
a salted butter (less than 3% of salt) by Jean-Yves Bordier, son and grand-son of butter and cheese makers

30/01/2015
New year, new look!

Finally, the new website is finally online! I was so eager to make you discover it! It’s been sooo long since I had in mind, I wanted to give it a fresh look, I began to re-design it a long time ago and I was waiting to find a rare pearl that would help me program it like a real pro. My friend Remi was the chosen one, and he made an incredible work, I can’t thank him enough! Check out his website, he is a geek but also a very talented graphic designer, and he also loves fluorescent green. I will celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog next month (by the way, stay around here because I am preparing a crazy contest, with 3 amazing prizes to win… I can’t tell you more …) and I’m super happy that everything coincides, 2015, new year, new look, 5 years… Thank you for being faithful!

So basically, what changes today…

– all categories in this blog are better highlighted above with small icons, there are even subtopics

– the blog is always bilingual French / English but now you can choose your language at the top left on the site

– all recipes are classified: entrees, mains, desserts, drinks

– all restaurants are also classified by city and borough for Paris

– and then many other small things like the background that I drew with watercolor, the picture which are larger than before, the fact that I am now on the Wordpress platform but that you don’t really care hehe…!

Please be clement, I still have 600 articles to review and reclassify one by one, and there might be some small display problems … but we’re almost there! What do you think of the new look? Feel free to leave me a comment, even if you think that there is room for improvement!

29/01/2015
Bocuse d’Or 2015

It was in 1987 that the great French chef Paul Bocuse created the Bocuse d’Or, a cooking contest bringing together 24 young chefs from around the world, the most promising talents of their generation. This concept has surely inspired shows like Top Chef: an audience and cameras, 5 hours to make meat and fish dishes, a prestigious jury. After national and continental selections, the 24 finalists compete every two years in Lyon, Paul Bocuse’s hometown.

This year, Norway (Orjan Johanessen) won first place, followed by the US (Philipp Tessier) for the silver medal – first time the US entered the top 3 – followed by Sweden (Tommy Myllymaki) for bronze. France, last year’s winner with Thibaut Ruggeri, tumbled in 7th place. However, if we look at the past winners of all previous editions, you can see almost every time Sweden, Norway and France (which has won 7 times!) in the lead. Here are some pictures of the winners and my favorites (aesthetically speaking only, as I have not tasted!).

Finland – fish

Finland – meat

Japan – fish

Japan – meat

Malaysia – fish

Netherlands – fish

Norway – fish

Norway – meat

Singapore – fish

Singapore – meat

Sweden – fish

23/01/2015
Pho Ga

What could be more comforting than a good hot broth during these chilly days? I love this Vietnamese chicken soup, pho ga, with lots of flavors and fresh herbs!

Ingredients (for 6-8 people)
– 1 whole chicken
– a bunch of Thai basil
– a bunch of fresh coriander
– a bunch of fresh mint
– 3 limes
– some spring onions
– 500g wide, flat rice noodles
– 300g soja bean sprouts
– 4 red small chilis
– 1 large piece of ginger
– 2 onions
– 5 star anise
– 7 cloves
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 6 tablespoons fish sauce
– 1 stock cube

the Recipe

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water to the maximum. Add the peeled onions, stock cube and ginger.
Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 1 hour. Skim regularly.
Add the fish sauce, spices, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 hour at low heat.
Cook the noodles aside, rinse with cold water.
Take the chicken out and bone it completely.
Into bowls, place the noodles, chicken, spring onions finely chopped, coriander, and cover with the hot broth.
Serve with lime, Thai basil, mint, soy, and sliced chili.

20/01/2015
Cook like Cyril Lignac

Have you heard of Cuisine Attitude, Cyril Lignac’s cooking school? Located in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris near République, in a beautiful bright modern workshop, the school offers many different courses, from technical ones dedicated to a product, to pastry lessons, cuisine from the market, or even aperitifs, and do not worry there are even some for beginners!

Do not expect to learn to make tarts with Cyril Lignac, among its restaurants, pastry shop and TV shows, the chef is more than busy, but his team Cathleen Clarity and Julien Gatineau are very talented and will share with you their passion for cooking!

I chose a technical course on scallops and I was more than delighted by this three hours course, spent preparing 26 pounds of this sublime product, and trying 3 different recipes, all perfectly delicious. We learned to dissect the scallop and keep what there is edible, made an exquisite emulsion and cooked the product in three different ways: carpaccio (with yuzu and baby leaves), smoked in hay (amazing!), and burned with a blowtorch (raw inside and toasted on the outside). The advantage of this course is that the workshop has several workstations which really allow each person to cook, unlike other courses where we only look at the chefs, here everyone mucks in! A very pleasant time during which we enjoy cooking and eating from beginning to end. You can even offer a course to your loved ones, a perfect gift!

Cuisine Attitude

10 cité Dupetit Thouars

Paris 3ème

From 50 to 120 euros

From Thursday until Saturday / One Wednesday a month for kids

Cuisine Attitude

10 cité Dupetit Thouars

Paris 3ème

From 50 to 120 euros

From Thursday until Saturday / One Wednesday a month for kids

18/01/2015
Cool bananas!

After the acidulous lemon, it is the banana’s turn today, cool bananas will bring you joy and frivolity! You can take away your banana in a box designed for it, dry your plates with this pretty tablecloth, and even get the total look with the dress, cap and shoes! Let’s go bananas!

1. Banana Bunker – MoMa store
2. Bowl – Areaware
3. Tea towel – Kelly the wrapping company
4. Slides – Sophia Webster
5. iPhone case – Etsy
6. Patch – Etsy
7. iPad mini case – Amara
8. Dress – Markus Lupfer
9. Cap – Carhartt
10. Sweatshirt – Paul Smith
11. Earrings – Lane Crawford