October 11, 2011
Cooking For One (Zucchini and Chickpeas)
This is what dinner looks like when I eat on my own.
I am endlessly curious to know what cooks cook when they cook for one: some can't see the point if there is no audience, others fall back on no-cook comfort foods, some take it as their opportunity to indulge in the foods they love but their family despises, and others yet take pleasure in treating themselves to the precise meal their appetite calls for.
I'm in the latter camp. Breakfast ce...
"Cooking For One (Zucchini and Chickpeas)" continues »
July 23, 2010
Six Podcasts For Food Lovers
Whenever I walk, bike or metro my way somewhere, whenever I go for a run or sit down for a lengthy fava bean peeling session, I rely on podcasts to keep me entertained.
Although there are a few I listen to that are not food-oriented -- This American Life being my unrivaled favorite -- you won't be surprised to hear I lean toward those that discuss cooking, eating, and the cultural or political ramifications of both activities.
I can't be alone ...
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October 14, 2008
The Blind Cook: a Q&A
A few months ago, I received an unusual email from an American reader of Chocolate & Zucchini, David E. Price, a former geologist and now computer programmer who goes to graduate school in Salt Lake City, and is an enthusiastic cook.
David explained that he had purchased copies of my books but that -- and here comes the unusual part -- because he was blind, he was wondering if there was a computer-readable version he could have access to: he was...
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August 17, 2008
The Omnivore's Hundred
The Omnivore's Hundred is an eclectic and entirely subjective list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in his life.
He offered this list as the starting point for a game, along the following rules:
1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you've eaten (I've used icons instead, and added an aster...
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April 28, 2008
On Hotel Breakfasts, and How Not to Have Them
Much has been written about plane food and its associated plights; I don't think enough ink has been devoted to the matter of hotel breakfasts. And as I get ready to embark on my book tour, the subject is very much on my mind.
Breakfast is, to me, the most intimate meal of the day, the one that you eat barefoot and in your pajamas, the one that eases the transition from your helpless, sleeping self to the person you are in the daytime and to t...
"On Hotel Breakfasts, and How Not to Have Them" continues »
January 25, 2006
Tickets de Rationnement
[War Ration Stamps]
As if those two books my grandmother gave me weren't fascinating enough, leafing through them unearthed other treasures, slipped between the pages over the years.
A yellowed advertisement for a bottled remedy called Le Contre-Coups de l'Abbé Perdrigeon (Abbot Perdrigeon's back-kick), which will help you recover from heavy falls and blows, brain congestion, apoplexy, and will ease the pain from arthritis, rhumatisms, hypert...
"Tickets de Rationnement" continues »
August 17, 2005
Childhood Food Memories
Yup, yet another food-related meme, for which I was tagged by both Pascale and Jacqueline. This one has you indulge in the reminiscence of five childhood food memories. Here are mine!
Les Nounours à la Guimauve
When we had a little pocket money my sister and I would drop by the boulangerie around the corner from school to buy candy. The display case was visible through the window so we would stand there for a little while trying to decide what...
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August 1, 2005
Fleur de Courgette and Other Food Gifts
Oh gifts, gifts, gifts! Is there anything sweeter in life than having your friends go out and find something just for you, something that they think you will like and enjoy, something that will surprise and delight you? And when you do and it does, when the idea is fabulous and the gift exactly to your taste, when it is something that you really wanted or something you would have wanted had you known it existed, when it is custom-made for you a...
"Fleur de Courgette and Other Food Gifts" continues »
July 21, 2005
Fraises des bois du jardin
["Wild strawberries" from the garden]
One of my wildest dreams is to one day have a garden, a vegetable patch and an orchard. Oh, and a pool too, but that's off-topic. In the meantime, I have to settle for windowsills and small balconies on which Maxence, who is The Official Gardener around here, plants and pampers a lush jungle, making the absolute most of every square inch of space and railing. I have little patience for that kind of thing, ...
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June 14, 2005
Le Ticket Resto
And today, I thought I would share with you a small and mundane element from the everyday French office life. A food-related element, that goes without saying.
In France, the set of laws that governs the work environment, le code du travail, forbids you to eat in the rooms where you work (ahem -- no, I don't know how those crumbs got into my keyboard, did they maybe chip off from the ceiling?). But if enough employees wish to eat in their work...
May 3, 2005
La Baguette et les Tartines
Consider the baguette.
Or rather, consider the tartine de baguette, a popular breakfast item in which a piece of baguette -- preferably fresh and bought moments before, still warm, from the corner boulangerie, but if nobody really feels up to going out before breakfast day-old baguette will do fine, "freshened up" on top of the toaster -- is sliced in two, each half spread with your choice of butter and/or jam and/or honey (the combination of...
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April 28, 2005
A Lunch in the Life
On a Saturday morning, you go to the pool for your weekly swim. As you come out, limbs pleasantly weary and hair still wet, you reflect that it would be nice to buy a baguette for lunch. So, instead of making a right and walking directly home -- you are fortunate enough to live just a block from a clean and quiet swimming-pool -- you go left and make a detour by the boulangerie to buy a warm and crusty Renaissance baguette (their signature trad...
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December 18, 2004
Good Pain d'Epice, Bad Choucroute
How do you tell a true friend? She lets you buy her a hunk of pain d'épice in her hour of need and smiles to show it does help, if only a bit. And then when you meet again, she surprises you with a return hunk (in a signed ziplock bag), bought at her favorite market.
This in turn allows you to take a little slice with you on that 6:52am train to cold and rainy Luxembourg where you have to spend the day on business. This slice is a teeny handh...
"Good Pain d'Epice, Bad Choucroute" continues »
November 19, 2004
The Joy of Room Service
On Sunday night, wanting to put the finishing touches on my talk, I decide to stay in and have dinner in my room, a small room with a view out onto the harbour, in the four-star Cannes hotel where the Gourmet Voice festival is taking place.
I order a club sandwich of course, not hesitating for one second : the first room service of my life, it has to be the epitomical sandwich, no? Besides, club sandwiches are one of the better inventions of m...
"The Joy of Room Service" continues »
September 21, 2004
Chocolate & Zucchini Meets Chez Pim (and Vice-Versa)
Pim and I had been talking about meeting for a while : it was just a matter of patiently waiting for the opportunity to arise, since her job has her fly into Paris regularly. It finally did, and we had dinner yesterday at Flora, a restaurant operated by the young lady chef Flora Mikula, and about which I had read good things.
We had a fabulous time together, talking animatedly about myriads of things, blogs and food and restaurants and wine an...
"Chocolate & Zucchini Meets Chez Pim (and Vice-Versa)" continues »
August 12, 2004
So um, you like soba noodles too?
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind cooking for a crowd, but I'd sure have appreciated if a certain family of winged little guys had asked my permission before they went and gnawed at my half-open package of soba noodles. Common courtesy, really.
Bugs in my noodles? Just when I'm craving sesame soba noodles with spring onions? Not the prettiest sight. Yuck and triple yuck.
Thankfully, the other packages in that pasta/grains kitchen cabinet were ...
"So um, you like soba noodles too?" continues »
August 6, 2004
Sundried-Tomato-Sitting
Patricia and Stéphan, the neighbor-friends with whom we share a window sill, a herb garden and many an impromptu dinner, have just left for a couple of weeks' vacation.
They left us a veggie-drawer-full of fresh produce, a couple of yogurts and some bread. They also trusted us with the task of watering their plants, and instructed us to help them make a dent in this huge jar of sundried tomatoes, which they brought back from their recent trip...
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May 1, 2004
Mon Cahier de Recette
[My Recipe Book]
Six or seven years ago, I started a little recipe book. At that time, I still lived at my parents' and hardly ever cooked, except when they were away, and then there would be the obligatory calls to my mother for the recipe to gratin de courgette or quiche lorraine, and how do you cook potatoes again?
I bought a spiral notebook with three sections, and neatly labeled them "Salé", "Sucré" and "Divers" (savory, sweet and miscel...
"Mon Cahier de Recette" continues »
April 21, 2004
Coffee and a Boggle
Last Saturday, it was my great pleasure to have two American friends over for a late morning cup of coffee. Ruth, a coworker from my California days, was visiting Paris with her partner Pia, and she had contacted me to know if I'd like to meet up. We had the loveliest time chatting together and catching up.
It should be said that Ruth and I have been through special times together : she and a few other coworkers (namely Marni, Geoffrey and Mar...
"Coffee and a Boggle" continues »
March 23, 2004
Belleville Bagel
Some people have all the luck.
Maxence's company recently relocated to Belleville, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Not only are the new offices in a rehabilitated workshop with frosted glass windows and exposed beams, nested at the very back of a series of small rickety courtyards, it is also right at the crossroads between North Africa and Asia.
You didn't know such a geographic wonder existed? Well it does, as communities from both r...
"Belleville Bagel" continues »
March 21, 2004
Le Chou Labyrinthe
[Cabbage Maze]
Part of the intense pleasure I find in cooking comes from the simple joy of working with ingredients, handling them and admiring them, trying to make sense of their qualities and potential, and gently convincing them to give the best of what they have to offer.
I have a particular fondness for vegetables, and I often find myself, standing at the kitchen counter with a chef knife in my hand, awestruck by their sheer natural beau...
"Le Chou Labyrinthe" continues »
March 11, 2004
Thoughts from the Grocery Store
With the amount of food shopping I habitually engage into, you'd think I would know better than to go to the grocery store with my stomach rumbling so loud it could be heard over the loudspeakers' cheesy music.
Having come in with the intention to buy just plain yogurts to start a batch of homemade ones, I managed to walk away with two other types of yogurts, my favorite Krisprolls (the "Special" flavor with sunflower seeds), two different gât...
"Thoughts from the Grocery Store" continues »
March 2, 2004
I Don't Believe We've Been Properly Introduced
How about playing a little guessing game?
The first reader to correctly uncover the identity of this UFO (Unidentified Food Object), as well as the reader who comes up with the most unlikely or the funniest suggestion, will each get the wallpaper of their choice, signed to their name with a little note.
Not to mention the fame, and my respect and consideration for at least a couple of days. How's that for a tempting prize?
UPDATE : WINNER AN...
"I Don't Believe We've Been Properly Introduced" continues »
February 9, 2004
The Poached Egg : Anatomy of a Disaster
I always tell you about the creations I'm happy with, so I thought I would share a bit of incompetence for a change. I cannot, for the life of me, poach an egg.
I have read that you should use super fresh eggs, and I have read that week-old eggs worked better. I have read that you should add vinegar to the water, and I have read that no vinegar was necessary. I have read that the water should be salted, and I have read that salt would ruin it....
"The Poached Egg : Anatomy of a Disaster" continues »
February 1, 2004
Cooking Ten Year Old Girls -- and Other search phrases
Some of you may remember how much I like looking at the search engine queries that have led visitors to Chocolate & Zucchini. January has come and gone, leaving another batch of intriguing/funny/puzzling/cute phrases in its wake.
This month's top five :
cooking ten-year-old girls (or did you mean "for"?)
what the fuck macaroon
free pics of girls covered in chocolate sauce
juicing vegetables to taste like chocolate (do let me know if you find o...
"Cooking Ten Year Old Girls -- and Other search phrases" continues »
January 20, 2004
The Last Bite Axiom (and Corollaries)
As you well know, I give a fair amount of thought to food (understatement of the year). Lately, I've been thinking more and more about the special ways in which we eat our food. In paying attention to this, I have noticed the host of small unconscious ceremonials that I conduct while eating, and I wanted to share them with you.
I hope you'll recognize yourself in this and I won't feel so neurotic.
The Last Bite Axiom says : "the last bite has ...
"The Last Bite Axiom (and Corollaries)" continues »
January 9, 2004
How the Fuck Do I Prepare Eggplant? and Other Search Phrases
Thanks to Maxence's excellent home-hosting skills, Chocolate & Zucchini lives on a server in our apartment, cuddling up against muCommander. I like knowing it's safe and warm, purring when I walk by it in the corridor.
The added bonus of home-hosting, beyond the thrill of DIY and autarky, is that we have full access to the logs, which makes for endlessly mesmerizing stats. My favorite part is the section that tells me which search phrases hav...
"How the Fuck Do I Prepare Eggplant? and Other Search Phrases" continues »
December 2, 2003
A Diet of Baked Beans
From the ages of ten to sixteen, my parents sent me on séjours linguistiques ("linguistic stays") abroad each summer. The idea was to spend two to three weeks living with a family in an English- or German-speaking country and immerse myself in the culture and the language. It did tremendously improve my language skills and was also, to put it mildly, a definite character-building experience: I was miserable, but I learned to put up with it.
Th...
"A Diet of Baked Beans" continues »
October 30, 2003
Happiness (A Recipe)
On a Sunday afternoon, after a copious lunch, wait for your next-door neighbor Patricia to knock on your window with a wooden spoon. Agree to come over to their place for coffee. From the special chocolate cabinet in your kitchen (surely you must have one) grab what's left of the excellent dark chocolate with fragments of roasted cocoa beans that your friend Marie-Laure brought you last time she came for dinner. Walk next door in your socks. Le...
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