Things have been exciting here in France these days. My host parent's kitchen is being remodeled right now so there is no stove, oven, or dish washer and my host father is in a wheelchair after having his Achilles tendon operated on. For a couple days there was no water in my bathroom and yesterday there was no heat. Needless to say, my host mother is feeling a little frazzled. But, the culinary adventures have been exciting and it's amazing what things come out of the microwave. It appears that the french take microwave dinners just as seriously as they take any other kind of dinner. There's even a special store called Picard that sells only frozen food. And it's really good. They do a nice bechemel sauce and we've been eating a lot of moussaka, which my host mother "adores." She's also been feeding me the ultimate decadent food: veal meat loaf. I know. I feel so guilty when eating it because it's so tender and yummy! It comes in little balls that I think she gets at the butcher and you just pop it into the microwave for 3 minutes and poof! veal meat loaf.
I have also just returned from Edinburgh to visit my very good friends Katy and Neela and the culinary adventures were no less exciting. Katy is a pro when it comes to baked chicken, and as a roast chicken lover, I was very appreciative. Her secret is to peel the skin away from the breasts and stuff it with butter. Very low in calories. Good for the diet. I also found gin and tonics in cans and found this very amusing. The Edinburgh newspaper was having a deal where one could go to a restaurant and order a three course meal for only 10 pounds and as the dollar is doing so badly and we're all poor college students, we jumped at the opportunity. We went to a mexican restaurant on "cockburn" street (pronounced co-burn, oh those scottish) and we were pleasantly surprised when it was good! *gasp!* We ate our weights in guacamole and sour cream and refried beens. It was fabulous, as the french haven't really grasped the concept of mexican food yet and good refried beens are not to be found. All in all, eating has been going well on this continent and I'm anxious to see what comes out of the microwave ce soir....
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2 comments:
Gee Ren,
I wish someone woulda told me that you were headed to Scotland. I'm still trying to get someone into the Oxford Pub and meet the author, Ian Rankin. That is his hangout. If you have not read any of his detective fiction, look up any of the Inspector Rebus series.
Microwave veal meat loaf, in balls no less. I'd try them in tomato sauce, with pasta.
we nostalgically recall our days in paris where we had no hot water for at least three weeks in march.
i think that trader joe's has caught on to picards. they now have many desserts that look amazingly like the ones sold in picards!
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