Category — Food for Thought

I had to go to the medical pharmacy down the street to pick up a prescription for my elderly aunt. Rather than return in 2 hours, I decided to wait it out; and cast evil eyes at the pharmacist to encourage him to quickly fill the prescription and get me out of this semi-scary place. As I paced the aisles one of the hanging displays caught my eye:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bugles? [Read more →]

We’re in Chicago for a few weeks: yes TBG and Moi are officially crazy. When we took Mignette for our morning walk by the lake it was 23° with a few snowflakes circling our heads. And it was 84° in SoFlo.

But the sun was shining and the skies were blue, and with the fireplace flickering it was a perfect day to stay indoors, working at a table next to the window enjoying the view of the lake and the skyline. Until it was time to bundle up, run out the door, and head for a book signing at the Hotel Allegro with David Lebovitz.

I don’t know David but I’ve been following his food blog and hysterical tweets for a while. He arrived in Paris about the same time we left, and we’ve never crossed paths. I’ve made some of his recipes from his website, love the frozen yogurt, but never bought one of his books.

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For Valentine’s Day dinner last night I made TBG one of our favorite Paris desserts, from my cooking teacher Eve Bark: Moelleux au Chocolat, aka Molten Lava Cake. This super elegant, super easy dessert is always a show-stopper and crowd-pleaser.

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TBG was raised on old fashioned, down-home southern style cooking. I was raised on a chunk of meat, a spoonful of canned corn, and an iceberg salad. We both had working mothers who at the end of a day had to cook dinner for an active family. After 35 years of marriage, his diet has become healthier and both of our diets have become more adventurous. But sometimes, you just want what you want.

Our typical dinners at home are:

• grilling salmon steak with a side of roasted asparagus and green beans and a nice glass of Sancerre
• baked chicken with a mustard and caper sauce à la The Barefoot Contessa, with a spinach and red onion salad and un verre rouge
• pasta dish of scallops, red peppers, spinach and spaghetti
• “garbage salad” (I heard that term at Canyon Ranch!) of field greens with corn, tomatoes, peas, onions, mushrooms, pecans, dried cranberries and chicken chunks

But then there are the nights when TBG wants his comfort foods, the recipes his Mom wrote down as a Christmas gift to all her grandkids one year: [Read more →]

As if Tuesday’s national crêpe day didn’t swoon your taste buds, Saturday is World Nutella Day! Sure you can always spread some nutella in a crêpe, but what not try a new nutella recipe? Lately I’m loving this easy recipe I discovered watching BravoTV’s Top Chef Just Desserts contestant Eric Wolitzky:

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Not on your calendar? Well, then you’re not in France. February 2 is the national holiday La Chandeleur, a Catholic feast honoring the Virgin Mary. Tradition says that the Pope offered crêpes to pilgrims who came to honor Mary. And the French have been eating them ever since.

Crêpes are a very large thin pancake with all types of fillings and rolled (like a sausage) or folded (like a blini) or stacked (like a cake) for serving. Crêpes are a popular dish through out France. Sweet crêpes (crêpes sucrées) made with wheat flour are filled with fruits, preserves, or moi favorite nutella, are served as a dessert or snack (not typically breakfast); and savory crêpes (crêpes salées ) are made with buckwheat and filled with vegetables, cheese, meats, seafood or eggs: sort of pizza-style!

These yummy crêpes are from Clotilde at Chocolate and Zucchini: moi favorite French food blog! I won’t be making my crêpes until tomorrow! [Read more →]

It’s no secret I have a fondness for French cookbooks… especially the pictures accompanying the recipes! And this Christmas daughter A was very good to moi: I was gifted Around My French Table, Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook.

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Over the past few months I’ve tweeted, blogged and facebooked my holiday baking. One of moi most-requested recipes: Nutella Pound Cake. I’ve been a Nutella fan (if you don’t know, Nutella is an Italian hazelnut and cocoa spread. And no, it’s not French: but the French have adopted Nutella as one of their own, and is typically served on bread for breakfast) for years, even back when it was très cher and hard to find in the US: I used to drag it back with me from Europe. Now it’s everywhere, and not so expensive. Living in Paris I couldn’t satisfy my chocolate-covered pretzel cravings without alot of chocolate melting and mess, so I’d sit on the couch and dip pretzels sticks right in the jar of Nutella. I don’t even want to think about those calories!

Last fall I was walking in Riverside Park, listening to the Gayle King Show on Sirius. I don’t know who her guest was, but they mentioned Nutella pound cake. So naturally it stuck in my head, and when I flew to Omaha for my annual holiday baking marathon with bff J, we decided to bake Nutella Pound Cakes.

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I’ve been a city girl for a while now. Paris, Copenhagen, New York, Chicago: they took me out of life in the ‘burbs and changed me forever:

• car? Take a bus, metro or a cab. Or better yet, just walk.
• everything can be delivered. Even waffles and frozen yogurt. 24/7.
• washing machine? The laundry service down the block picks up and delivers. And nothing is better than freshly pressed sheets from the laundry.
• garage? We had a storage unit. For only $372 per month!

With a grocery market on every corner, I’m used to picking up a bag or two of groceries every couple days. I go to the farmers market for fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs and meats, and even fish and breads. There’s always an online grocery store that delivers.

Every convenience imaginable, all for a price.

I had long conversations with my Omaha bff J about the price of groceries: how can 3 small plastic bags of groceries, with no meat, fish or cleaning products, cost $127.50? My box of favorite tea bags from the Italian deli? $12.  I became immune to to the prices: it’s the cost of living in the city. But it provided endless entertainment for Moi suburban friends. It was almost an honor: I could top any price my friends ever paid for anything.

And now, I’m living part of the year in South Florida: the home of the car and big, wide roads. So today, for the very first time, instead of shopping at a corner grocery market, I shopped at Super Target. [Read more →]

There is almost nothing that can’t be improved with chocolate. I’ve tweeted about Trader Joe’s chocolate covered edamame before…so good, and it’s a health food! Recently when I went to stock-up before our drive to Florida (where sadly Trader Joe’s does not have any stores) I discovered 2 more health foods:

• dark chocolate covered ginger
• dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds [Read more →]