May 28, 2010
[Edible Idiom] Être serrés comme des sardines
This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Browse the list of idioms featured so far.
This week's expression is, "Être serrés comme des sardines."
Literally translated as, "being packed together like sardines," it is a colloquial expression that's used when people are squeezed into a very small space with absolutely no room to move. For some reason, I remember liking this expression a lot as a child.
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"[Edible Idiom] Être serrés comme des sardines" continues »
May 25, 2010
Ginger Scallion Sauce
I've long been uneasy about spring onions. It's the kind of produce that I feel deserves a special treatment that will make it shine -- local scallions are in season but briefly before the onion part bulges and takes over the green stems -- but I'm never quite sure what that treatment might be.
They taste too sharply onion-y to me to be served solo as a side vegetable, yet cooking them with other vegetables seems wasteful, because then their s...
"Ginger Scallion Sauce" continues »
May 20, 2010
45 Things To Do With Fresh Sage
I recently remarked to a sympathetic friend how difficult it is to buy fresh sage around here. Sage isn't used intensively in French cuisine, so it's not part of the classic range of fresh herbs sold at produce shops or at the green market. But I enjoy its flavor very much, so I decided I would try and find seeds to grow my own.
Only days later, I walked past the sidewalk display of Etablissements Lion on my way home, and noticed that they sol...
"45 Things To Do With Fresh Sage" continues »
May 18, 2010
Warabi Mochi
We had our first taste of warabi mochi on the basement floor of the Tokyu department store in Shibuya, Tokyo. Amid the extraordinary spread of edible goods -- sweet, savory and in between, fresh, dried, hot, cold -- was a little stand from which a lady was offering samples of soft, bite-size morsels dusted with a light brown powder.
We each took a wooden pick, lifted a piece to our mouth, and started chewing. It was amazing: the coating was f...
May 11, 2010
Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
I used to be someone who liked the white meat best in a roast chicken.
This worked out nicely at dinner with my parents when I was growing up, as they would each get a chicken leg while we girls ate the breast happily: it was mild in flavor, there were no bones to wrestle with, and it came with plenty of pan juices that our mother spooned on after we'd cut criss-cross indentations in the meat for optimal absorption.
My preference made for a u...
"Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing" continues »
May 4, 2010
Japan Highlights
In the late eighties, my aunt took a trip to Japan and got me a pair of round-toed flats with a red flower pattern, and a little buckle to the side. I was nine, and these were the prettiest shoes I had ever owned. This, and the captivating tales she also brought back were likely the sparks that ignited my interest in all things Japanese: it seemed like she had visited another, mysterious planet, and I burned to go there myself some day.
It has...
"Japan Highlights" continues »
May 1, 2010
May 2010 Desktop Calendar
At the beginning of every month, I am offering C&Z readers a new wallpaper to apply on the desktop of your computer, with a food-related picture and a calendar of the current month.
Our calendar for May is a picture of my beloved green pea cilantro spread, which I can't wait to make with the first green peas of the season. (And if they choose to take a little more time where you live, no matter: frozen peas work really well in this recipe, too...
"May 2010 Desktop Calendar" continues »