Food. Style. Travel.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been four months since our last post. We’ve been super busy with travels and time really got away from us. I had a tour of the South in the middle of a heat wave (hello Texas, where it was 97 degrees in the middle of the night) and bakerbiker and I went on a two and a half week trip to France, starting in Paris, wending our way through the Loire, Burgundy, and Provence, and then back to Paris. It was pure heaven.

I have to be honest – I had somewhat low expectations for France. I’ve been there once before and though I found it beautiful, I also found it to be rude and cold. But this time around, I made a point of adding to my limited French vocabulary by taking six months of Coffee Break French, which was just awesome for learning basic phrases for travelers to France. I got by with a smile and a little bit of French and most people eventually took pity on me and started speaking in English.

Paris, as you can imagine, is just glorious at this time of year. We went in the June and the weather was a bit rainy, but romantic. And the food was truly amazing. We hit lots of little cafes and shops and sampled all kinds of pastries, croissants, and macaroons. Almost too many to count. A true favorite was the salted caramel and chocolate macaroon by Pierre Herme.

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There are the obvious pastries that can be found on every block. But a true pleasure of France that I didn’t know about before this visit are the markets. There are dozens of them – outdoor markets, full of any kind of gourmet item you want. Fresh flowers, fruits and veggies, meats, milks, cheeses, pastries – you name it. We hit the organic market in Raspail, and cooked ourselves several full meals using just what we purchased at the market. Because we were out and about all day, we kept it simple, but it’s hard to go wrong with ingredients like these.

Heirloom tomatoes with basil and burrata

Though we did a lot of cooking, a visit to Paris wouldn’t be complete without a few restaurants in the mix. Two that we especially liked were Le Comptoir in Saint-Germain and Spring Restaurant near the Louvre. Both had casual atmospheres, but impeccable food. Le Comptoir is known for really long waiting lists and inventive cuisine. However, a nice way to enjoy the food without making a reservation months in advance is to go for lunch any day of the week or dinner on Sunday night – neither requires a reservation, but you do have to wait in line. The food is a la carte, and I’d describe it as classic European with a twist. Both times we went there, I had sashimi grade fish that was out of this world.

Spring, which is owned by an American, is all the rage, and apparently gets 850 reservation requests a night. Also impossible to get into, but I called to see if there were any cancellations, and indeed there were, so we were able to get in here for bakerbiker’s birthday celebration. Spring is known for its inventive food and you basically have no choices when you eat here – menu is prix fixe and there are about seven courses. There was so much I loved here, but the lobster consomme with lobster, corn, and basil was truly special. Delicate and flavorful at the same time. Too bad it was so dark in there that I couldn’t take any photos!

Signing off for now, but more to come on other France highlights soon!

Hey everyone! We’ve been quiet here recently because home renovations have completely taken over our lives. I was hoping to post some new home updates in this space, but as those of you who have had construction done in your living spaces know, things almost never go according to plan. And in recent weeks, we’ve almost completely lost use of our bathroom and kitchen, which is a minor tragedy in our household. With very little counter space, we’ve been coping by sticking to one-pot meals and/or fleeing for the weekends. This week, we did both with a theme that stayed with us from breakfast to dinner.

Part I:

It’s been a super cold and just pretty awful winter here in New England, and amidst the mess that is our house, bakerbiker and I were at our wit’s end trying to figure out what to cook for dinner that didn’t involve leaving the house to brave the snow, sleet, or whatever else seems to be out there all the time. And then we looked in the fridge and lo and behold: the perfect ingredients for stick-to-your ribs gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches were staring us in the face.

We’ve taste-tested many different grilled-cheese combos, and have really come to like a mix of melty cheeses rather than just one kind. For this meal, we used gruyere, manchego, and cheddar. We shredded even amounts of each, piled them between two slices of Fornax bread (which in our opinion is really the best for grilled cheese), and grilled them in three generous pats of butter.

And to make things interesting, we happened to have some homemade pickled green tomatoes in the fridge – a layer of that spread on top of the cheese adds a little zip that’s really tasty. You can pickle or preserve your own green tomatoes – we really like Martha Stewart’s green tomato chutney recipe – or, if you’re in the Boston area, City Feed and Supply also sells their own version of pickled green tomatoes that are very good.

To make things just a little bit healthy, we tossed together some roasted beets and arugula with olive oil and salt for a salad on the side. At least SOMETHING is finally melting in our lives, even if it’s not all the snow.

Part II:

You all have heard me rave about Portland, Maine and its amazing food scene, so I won’t rehash too much here again. But part II of our home renovation escape involved a trip to visit our dear friends in Portland. And just when we thought we had created the perfect grilled cheese, we discovered the brunch menu at Blue Spoon, an amazing little spot that offers grilled cheese (among many other tasty dishes) for breakfast!

This was not your everyday grilled cheese, served with taleggio cheese, which really is a wonder, apricot jam, and arugula. You can guess that we just had to try this sweeter version of heaven and it was AMAZING – sweet and salty and perfectly melty. The apricot/taleggio combo is really pure genius. I think we’ve permanently added a new grilled cheese to our repertoire.

Do you have grilled cheese ingredients that you like? Please share!

Green Tomato Chutney from Martha Stewart Living
Servings: 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients:
4 pounds green tomatoes (about 12 medium), diced
2 yellow bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, finely diced
2 Vidalia or other sweet onions, finely diced
1 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 cups packed light-brown sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 sticks cinnamon (each 3 inches long)
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Instructions:
Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Set over high heat; bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer until mixture has thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 hour.

Using a slotted spoon, remove cinnamon sticks. At this point, chutney can be cooled and served, or canned: Ladle chutney into clean canning jars, and wipe excess from rims; screw on lids.

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Using canning tongs, gently place jars in boiling water, making sure the water covers the jars (if not, add additional water to cover). Let jars sit in gently simmering water for 10 minutes. Remove; let cool slightly. Check seal by pressing in center of lid. If it doesn’t pop back, it is properly sealed. If it does, return jars to water for 10 more minutes. Let sealed jars cool completely.

Let pickled tomatoes stand until flavors have melded, at least 2 weeks. Store unopened jars in a cool, dark place up to 6 months. Once opened, jars will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

My recent travels took me to an unlikely place – Vegas. Now, I’m not much of a gambler, so finding fun things to do in Vegas was a bit of a challenge, since, you know, the main thing to do is gamble. But with a little help from some knowledgeable friends, we found plenty to do on and off the Strip.

First notable stop for dinner: Lotus of Siam, also known to some as the best Thai restaurant in the country. This is a no-frills restaurant located in a strip mall WAY off the strip, but well worth it. Many of the dishes here were ones you might have tried in your local Thai restaurant, but the flavors were so much richer and bolder than the bland takeout that I have in my neighborhood. The green curry with shrimp and drunken noodles were my favorite by far.

Next stop, right in our hotel, was Sage. We started with some old-school drinks at the bar – I had an excellent Aviation and bakerbiker tried a Manhattan. We then moved on to the dining room, where the chef specializes in locally-inspired, inventive dishes. We went with the prix-fixe, since we wanted to try lots of different things. My very favorite of the evening: slow-poached farm egg with smoked potato, shaved black truffles, and country bread. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner rolled into one! Main dishes were also excellent – I had a tender potato-crusted Arctic char with fennel, apple, and horseradish. Definitely a flavor profile you don’t see every day. The one dull spot of the meal was dessert. Mine was perfect and totally unique — lemon-thyme semifreddo with roasted grapes, sugar cookies, and orange honey. But bakerbiker’s meal came with a somewhat boring chocolate torte. Overall, though, would totally recommend a stop for a meal here. They have happy hour during the week as well, and it’s a bargain with half price drinks and an affordable bar menu.

To burn off those calories, the next day, we drove out to Red Rock Canyon about 45 minutes away, and spent the day hiking. I have been to the southwest exactly one other time, so the landscape is really different and striking for me. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, so for those of you have, this is probably nothing. But I was still in love with the colors and shapes.

For an evening out on the town, we splurged and went to a Cirque du Soleil. There are actually seven or eight Cirque shows going on in Vegas simultaneously at any given time. After A LOT of research, we settled on “O,” which was a good choice for me. It was a mix of diving, synchronized swimming, and acrobatics. The set is basically a stage equipped with a pool that opens out underneath it. There was a plot, but it didn’t take over, and you could focus on the artistic parts, which were really impressive.

To top off the weekend, we hit Bouchon for brunch. The food was upscale Euro-American brunch fare. I had a very good garden omelet, plus a cup of homemade yogurt and granola, with fruit and honey. Portions were huge and tasty and kept us both full until dinner.

Which leads me to dinner, which was really the highlight meal of the trip. We drove off the strip to Rosemary’s, a tiny spot in a strip mall (lots of unexpected gems in strip malls on this trip). Things I especially enjoyed: prosciutto-wrapped figs with basil pesto, crab cake “fritters” with shaved fennel, and a gorgeous piece of halibut on sauteed spinach, with crunchy leeks and chive butter. You can guess from the descriptions, but the flavor combos were really different – I would never have even thought about putting basil with figs! The wait staff was awesome, and the owner even called me a few days later to find out how my meal was.

Overall, the city itself was a bit much for me – so much excess. But we were still able to find some fun stuff to do – and no gambling!