06 septembre 2009
Vives les vacances!
I have been longing for this for so long.
A break. Pause. Holidays. Disconnect. Reconnect. I feel so full of so much things now. Some trash I have to get rid of. Some stress to release. And some stuff like excitement, joy, hope, peace... some great expectations for life...
I don't know what more to say.
Actually I have loads to say. Loads of pix too. But too much time went by.
So I'll take some time this week for myself. To do stuff I long for again. And to take no more stress. And hopefully to keep you updated.
Our plan for this week consists in reading: a novel, my deco'magazines, my new Laurence Pernoud' book {no don't see an announcement here, it's just part of the maturation process!}, in cooking & baking of course, in enjoying the beach & sea with Fly, in spending some time with friends, family & hubby in nice places, in enjoying the simple moments & things of life after the whirlwind...
A few clichés of our Fly' super training...
05 mai 2009
A few days in Pointe d'Esny
Plage de Pointe d"Esny
Mieux vaut tard que jamais!
We're back since Sunday afternoon, with a nice tan, 2 more kilos after indulging ourselves with the most exquisite food {boeuf charolais, langoutes fraiches grillees, filet de capitaine frais, proscuitto gruyere & onion cake, banana & chocolate muffins, nice & fresh salads, just to name a few...}, & also a sore throat {for me}!
J. & gorgeous Tristan
Altogether this was another lovely week-end that involved good moments with our friends P.& J., cooking together, savouring great champagne & wines, reading & resting on the beach...
So you'll understand that a few days were needed to rest, unpack, clean the house,& prepare my mom's birthday party yesterday...{coming next}
05 avril 2009
Olive and tomato tear and share bread
... & une petite pour le week-end... euh en fait 2 petites!
A week-end made of cooking, tasting, relaxing, watching TV... & looking after my convalescent man.
This bread recipe is taken from a book but I changed some bits; Tear a wedge and fill it with some speck ham, parmesan, tomato, artichoke heart, olive oil, mustard, grounded pepper and devour!
Ingrédients:
- 275 ml d'eau
- 2 c. a s. d'huile d'olive
- 275 gr de farine blanche
- 200 gr de farine bise
- 1 c. a c. de fleur de sel
- 1 c. a c. de cassonade
- 1 1/2 c.a c. de levure déshydratée
- 60 gr d'olives vertes & noires hachées grossièrement
- 40 gr de tomate séchées hachées grossièrement
- fleur de sel & paprika pour la garniture
Étapes:
- Verser les ingrédients dans l'ordre indiqué dans la cuve de la MAP & lancer le programme de pétrissage.
- Apres qu'il ait double de taille, dégazer la pâte & former une boule de 20 cm de diamètre;
- Transférer sur une plaque couverte de papier sulfurisé fariné; Y couper 8 tranches sans toucher le fond;
- Saupoudrer de fleur de sel & de paprika;
- Le laisser doubler pendant 30 min {je le mets dans mon four avec une légère tiédeur}
- Préchauffer le four a 180 C. Enfourner le pain 25-30 minutes; & Laisser refroidir sur une grille.
And then for the week-end's breakfast or sunday'tea, some pancake/crêpe ideas:
Ingrédients:
-60 gr de farine blanche
-60 gr de farine bise
-1 c.a c. de levure chimique
-1 c.a c. de sucre
-1 c.a s. de beurre
-2 oeufs
-200 ml de lait
-50 ml de bière
-huile
Filling:
-100 gr de chocolat noir
-40 ml de crème
-4 bananes coupées dans la longueur
-beurre
-cassonade
-muscade râpée
-coco
ou:
-sirop d'érable
-citron vert
Étapes:
- Tamiser les farines & la levure; Ajouter le sel & sucre;
- Y faire un puits & casser les oeufs au centre; Puis y verser le lait en filet; Puis le beurre fondu & la bière;
- Faire revenir a la poêle legerement huilee comme d'habitude;
- Pendant ce temps, faire fondre du beurre dans une poêle, & y faire revenir les bananes 1 min de chaque coté;
- Saupoudrer de cassonade & noix de muscade rapee.
- Au bain-marie faire fondre le chocolat & la crème
- Servir la crêpe avec la banane, la sauce chocolat & le coco saupoudré dessus
- ou nappee de sauce d'erable & de jus de citron
26 mars 2009
A few tarts to keep us going...
tartes...
What makes the cooking & savouring even more precious is sharing these moments & homemade goodies with friends. That's what we've been doing with the Swiss'gals here, in between moving around & enjoying various bits of the island.
Already inspired by this gorgeous book they offered me with bananas'recipes... I tried the Mam'zelle tatin for an afternoon tea or dessert! Mmmm...!
The Swiss girls
Then for dinner, I got inspiration with what I had handy in the fridge;
To start with, I spread some homemade pesto on a flaky pastry {pate feuilletée}, arranged some jambon cru, & some feta chunks. Then I poured over the tart the whisked fromage blanc, milk, cream & eggs. Enfournée at 200 C for 10 min, then 175 for 15 min approx.
I find some of the best dishes are simply made of leftovers & that brightens the day even more!
03 mars 2009
Holidays' program
The program was written on a lil blackboard in the kitchen:
- play with Ticoulou {our new kitten}
- climb the hill {we see from our window)
- do some baking/cooking
- do some gardening
...
& everything was done with my bro D. & sis T. who were here for 2 days!
Muffin'baking
We baked some fruits des bois muffins with white chocolate icing, which I'll be able to share with you because for once I wrote down the ingredients & mesures! Moelleux a point... The alliance of the fruits acidules & sweet milky bar were simply srumptious! 
Pasta'chef
Later on, it was B's turn to take over the kitchen & concoct some pasta with a pancetta, mushroom & onion' sauce, sprinkled with parmeggiano & basil, & followed by a watercress salad. Mmmm... a delight!
Apart from cooking & eating, we of course played & stroked our kitty, climbed our hill, walked through the fields of sugar cane & filled it with laughs, mowed the lawn & planted some rocket...!
For approx. 12 Muffins aux fruits des bois & glacage au chocolat blanc:
Ingredients pour les muffins:
1.5 c.a c. levure chimique
100 gr farine bise
100 gr farine blanche
2 oeufs
100 gr beurre
125 gr cassonade
100 gr fruits des bois
60 ml yaourt nature
un peu de lait {optionnel}
Pour le glacage:
100 gr chocolat blanc
1 gousse de vanille
Marche a suivre:
- Prechauffer le four a 180 C
- Melanger la levure + les farines + puis le sucre
- Faire fondre le beurre
- Battre les oeufs + les melanger au beurre
- Ajouter le yaourt + les fruits rouges + {un peu de lait selon la consistence voulue}
- Garnir un moule a muffin (ou des petits moules en papier) de la preparation + enfournez pendant 25 minutes
Pour le glacage:
- Faire fondre le chocolat blanc en morceaux au bain-marie
- Y rajouter l'interieur de la gousse de vanille
- Glacer les muffins immediatement a l'aide d'une spatule
- Les decorer de quelques copeaux de chocolat blanc
+++ Les deguster le jour meme pour plus de moelleux!!
