Thursday, September 30, 2004

I promised some food pictures from our vacation. Here they are, and then some...
Paris, France:

White Truffle, Choco Yuzu, Green Tea Macha Macarons	Caramelized Apple Fig Tart
Chocolate Yuzu Tart	Pierre Hermé Fall Collection
La Maison Du Chocolat Coffee and Chocolate Eclairs	Berry Compote, Crème brûlée (I think)

In Italy, we cooked a lot since we had a kitchen. Right now, I am in an Italian food phase. I just want to cook pasta everyday! It's so simple, yet so satisfying.

Penne with Porcini Cream Sauce, Mozzarella di Buffala with Tomato and Basil	Penne Al Amatriciana, Prosciutto with Melon, Burata (similar to mozzarella but with cream oozing out of it) with Tomatoes
View in between 2 chestnut trees	Tarte Tatin I made Last Sunday (here in SF)

Posted by Karen @ 12:37 PM PST [Link]

Thursday, September 16, 2004

It's market day in Montepulciano, and everyone in town, especially the old folks, are out and about, clutching their white plastic bags filled with fruit, vegetables, cheese and salted meats. Although the weather is a bit gloomy, no one seemed to mind. We were coaxed into buying not one, but TWO kilos of peaches -- way too much for 2 people, but hey, it was 2.50 euros! What a deal. And he said it was molto bene! After waiting in line for what seemed like half an hour, we finally got our hands on some porchetta (salted roast pork -- very tasty). The past few days, we've been enjoying our Tuscan vacation in a converted monastery turned vacation villa called Sant' Antonio. The land is vast, filled with olive trees, and right outside our apartment, two chestnut trees and a pear tree. We have a small kitchen so we've had the chance to enjoy the local produce and create some wonderful meals. Breakfast consists of some salted meats like prosciutto, salumi, mortadella, cheese like pecorino fresco, and some acacia honey. I find the bread here very bland though, they do not salt their bread in Tuscany, probably because they heavily salt their meats. I've had the sweetest melon here ... from the day we bought it, our whole apartment smelled like sweet melon. We've been eating a lot of pasta -- last night, we made penne al amatriciana -- with pancetta from Siena and a spice pack (pepperoncini, garlic, basil) that we bought in Pienza. Garry and I have been driving around Tuscany, going as far as Florence the other day. We have this book which lists all the slow food restaurants here in Italy, and we try to visit one in each town. So far, the best place we've been to is Osteria La Soleta Zuppa in Chiusi, which served local Tuscan food like ribollita, tripe, pici. We had a meal complete with wine pairings for about 30 euros per person.

I've taken some photos but will have to post them later. My laptop died the first day we arrived. It must've suffered a blow in Garry's luggage on the flight from SFO. We've also been too cheap to invest in an adapter, so we can't charge my digital camera anymore. I've taken some pictures of Pierre Hermé's Fall Collection though. I spent about 60 euros to buy an assortment of cakes. I didn't get to try that many patisseries in Paris since we didn't have a fridge in our hotel room and it was scorching hot everyday. We managed to try out some restaurants though, L'Astrance, Allard, L'O A La Bouche, L'Arbuci, Pinxo. I didn't like Pinxo very much, I thought it would be good since it's Alain Dutournier's (from Le Carré des Feuillants - our favorite) third restaurant, but I found it too experimental. The dishes were hit or miss. L'Astrance was very good though, they had an appetizer with thin slices of porcini over raw foie gras, served with lemon confit. Mmm... One tip though, never say yes to the champagne! Garry and I got 2 glasses of Tattinger, and when we saw the bill, we were shocked to see that it cost 20 euros each! Painful!

Will talk more later, my trente minuti in this internet cafe is almost up... Ciao!

Posted by Karen @ 04:28 AM PST [Link]

Friday, September 3, 2004

Deux jours et je serai à Paris.. I've had a craving for French food for the past two days but
have had to stop myself from going to a French restaurant so I can savor each and every euro I spend on food. I've listed down some restaurants I'd like to try, some of which are:
Kayser, Pinxo, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, L'Astrance, Guy Savoy, and some repeats, Carré des Feuillants and La Casa Olympe. I'm also excited to taste Pierre Hermé's Summer Collection, I wonder what new macaron flavor he's come up with. Mmm.. can't wait.

We'll only be in Paris for a week, so I'm not sure how many of these we'll be able to try. My mom and dad, as well as my brother and sis-in-law, will be meeting us there. I hope my dad won't force us all to eat Chinese food every night. As far as I know, there are no good Chinese restaurants in Paris. I've noticed that Chinese food in Paris all have the same style, but I never see that 'style' anywhere else. I guess we can call it French Chinese food. It's not very good, but my dad would rather have that than foie gras.

One exception though, is Steak Florentine, which is one non-Chinese dish that got my dad's approval and that my family can't stop talking about. I wanted to find out what all the hoopla was about so I shared one with my mom when we were in Florence last year. I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe it was just a bad restaurant. I'm willing to give it another try when Garry and I visit Florence this time around.

My friend Dave is taking the Basic Cuisine course at Le Cordon Bleu right now, and he's started an interesting blog chronicling his experiences. Reading it makes me want to try my hand at making Poulet Sauce Supreme (poached chicken in white cream sauce) again. Speaking of cooking, ever since Garry and I moved to the Peninsula, we've been eating in more. We've cooked dinner every night this week. Some of the dishes on this week's menu:
Gnocchi with Butter and Sage, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Fleur de Sel, Porterhouse steak, Roasted Cauliflower with Truffle Butter, Gnocchi with Porcini and Morel Cream Sauce (we made too much gnocchi the first time), Peaches in Ice Wine, Almond Raspberry Tea Cakes, Pot au Feu.

I have to find a way to use up all my zucchini before I leave. The zucchini in my garden has been growing like crazy. I always dread harvesting them because their leaves and branches are somewhat thorny and they hurt! I'm an amateur when it comes to gardening and the only reason why we have zucchini, tomatoes, parsley, strawberries, lettuce and cucumber is because my mom hired a real gardener to plant them there... Hence, I do not have the proper tools for the job. It feels good to eat something out of your own garden though -- no need to go grocery shopping. Just harvest and voilà, dinner is served!

Posted by Karen @ 03:45 PM PST [Link]