Frommage anyone?

Okay, there are some things that are just so…”French” when it comes to dining. I was thinking about these things today as I was preparing a dinner for friends and family.
Here are some unwritten “rules” I thought I’d share.

First, you would never invite someone to your house for dinner before 20:00, which is 8pm. That means all of the guests really won’t arrive until 9p. Actual meal usually starts by 10p.

You typically start with Champagne and very light appetizers, like nuts or olives served in the living room or outside…no heavy appetizers to ruin your appetite for the meal.

The hosts will usually seat the guests and the hosts don’t occupy the ends of the table, but rather they sit in the middle seats of the table, easier to talk with all of the guests.

Seating alternate’s male, female and spouses are not seated next to each other. (they figure you see them enough, time to have interesting conversation with someone else – so French!).

Speaking of conversation…French conversations are generally NOT about work. More about your personal life, your interests, politics and world news, current events. People are not P.C. and in fact will disagree with your opinion as to make the conversation more interesting. They are quite direct and say what they are thinking.

The man is always in charge of serving the lady he is sat next to. Making sure her glass is never empty and she has everything she needs for her meal. A woman is generally not supposed to help herself to wine or water at anytime.

Cheese. Big part of the meal, so there are rules here. When serving cheese, this is the etiquette:
Round cheeses need to be cut like cake or pie. A big wedge of cheese needs to be sliced standing up, from back to front. As if you were slicing one piece of cake into two pieces of cake. NEVER slice the “nose” (the tip) of the cheese off. Quel faux pas! When that piece gets too thin, then it can be put on the side and then cut from front to back.

Sunday lunch is also a big deal. It’s usually a family/friends lunch day when everyone comes together. We love to do this in Seattle too. It allows us to invite friends and their children over, enjoy long lunches, let the kids play and you don’t really need to eat dinner Sunday night, because you had such a nice lunch that took four hours to eat!

Eating, drinking, talking, sharing, laughing…Quel Bonnheur! Bon Appetit!

My birthday in France well spent...

Bienvenue

Three days in France and the familiar feeling of being in another world has set in. The combination of being catapulted into another time zone and a complete different life here makes one wonder if I had ever left.

There is something about French life and French culture that has been coveted by many, but I think it’s the casual sophistication of everyday life that can captivate you. The appreciation of nature, the slower pace, attention to details, setting a table, rituals like after lunch coffee and the daily walk to fetch your baguette. As an outsider on the inside I blend well, but notice the differences.

I’m barely off the plane when my kitchen is filled with fruits from my sister-in-law and father-in-laws gardens’. From Valerie, tiny golden plums that you must stop yourself from devouring and from Jean-Claude freshly picked raspberries that are so tiny and sweet. Fresh from the garden, can’t beat that kind of welcome.

My in-laws are a farming family, so they naturally have more roots to the earth- pardon the pun. But I would say it is European in general to appreciate growing some sort of fruit or vegetable in your garden. Obviously if you live in a city like Paris this is hard to do in your apartment, but where we live here we are in a suburb of Paris and it is influenced by all of the farm lands in the surrounding area.

It is not a culture of one stop shopping. You don’t roll into QFC and get strawberries any time of the year that don’t taste like strawberries. They may LOOK like them, but they certainly don’t taste like them. No. Here, you eat strawberries when strawberries grow naturally, in the summer. They are small strawberries that are so deep red, and when you bite into one, you really taste summer. You taste sweetness and freshness. Since I won’t be able to bring home this fresh produce, I will be better about going to our local farmers market when I get home. I hope you are enjoying some of the markets in your area.

Who doesn’t love the convenience of one-stop…..but what are we racing around to do really?

Aller Aller!

Getting ready for our summer in Europe. With my husband being French, every summer we head to the Gallic country for several weeks. This year we will spend 3 weeks in France, one week in southern Portugal on the Algarve Coast and one week in Stockholm Sweden to visit friends. Typical days are spent shopping for good food to make for friends and family, long lunches that practically roll into dinners and dinners that roll into the wee hours of the morning. Walking down cobblestone roads to that perfect bakery or bistro that has the perfect chevre salad on a warm sunny day.

We are lucky enough to own a home in France, in a suburb of Paris, that we rent out during the year when we are not there. Last year was our first year in our home and it was such an adventure filling the home with the right furnishings for us and future renters.

Before I even arrived in France, I was on French Ebay buying mirrors, antique Bergere chairs, and velvet 20’s club chairs for the salon. The house is nearly complete, and this summer is more about enjoying it than having it be a “project” of ours. This year I will be able to meander through the famous Parisian flea markets for more antique mirrors that I love and other accents for the home. I love finding old furniture and recovering it with a great modern fabric. I love the juxtaposition of that, especially in a home that is 250 years old.

Here is a place for French mirrors that will allow you to capture some of that Parisian style, which is typically modern with hints for antiques.

Here is a place for Paris Perfect Apartments for rent that are just fun to browse and be inspired even if you aren’t planning a trip to France anytime soon!

Or this Haven in Paris, more apartments that are so easy to daydream and swoon over.

Stay tuned for more tips and adventures from abroad…a bientot!

Obrigado!

Someone asked me what the best way to learn a language was, and hands down best way….fall in love with someone from that country! How do you think I learned French fluently? Okay, so maybe you’re not going to run out and get a Latin lover to learn French or Spanish, but it’s never too late to learn languages. It’s so much fun and it just opens the world up to you that much more.

In a few weeks we will be vacationing in Portugal for the first time. My first reaction….have to learn some Portuguese! So, I got on my neighborhood alias and asked if anyone knew a native Portuguese speaker. I was put in touch with a young Portuguese au pair. I only met her a couple times for coffee, and if I had more time before my trip I would have met her more, but it was a great way for me to ask questions, learn a bit about the culture, and ask about some basic phrases that could help me get around. I brought a small Portuguese phrase book to make notes in, and it really helps to hear the words spoken from a native so you get the pronunciation correct.

Make it a summer project to learn a language! Even if you don’t have a trip planned, pick a language you’ve always wanted to learn, and go for it. Or perfect that broken Spanish you have going on. Sign up for a class (private lessons work best, or just 2-3 people in class), and make sure the teacher is a native speaker, it really is the only way. You get all the nuances and little anecdotes that are so much fun to learn about, it helps cement the language. I took Italian for a year and I will always remember the stories Michele would tell us about his days as a young boy in Sicily. Belissimo!

Besides, it’s so much fun to blow people away with your ability to speak their language when you are in their country. Let’s do our part so that not all Americans are monolingual!

Now we're cooking with gas

Summer=BBQ=Al Fresco Dining= some of my favorite delicious healthy meals!

Hope you all had a marvelous holiday weekend. I’m sure most of you hosted or attended some sort of BBQ. I wanted to share what I threw together for our BBQ because it’s one of my favorite “go-to” meals that takes no thought and it’s simply delicious and the colors of this meal are just delightful.

Marinated Flank Steak:
Flank Steak
1 Large piece of Ginger
Several cloves of garlic
Several Limes
Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Place flank steak in a large Ziploc bag. Peel ginger and cut in pieces. Peel garlic and put ginger and garlic in food processor. Mince that all up together. Rub this ginger garlic paste all over the flank steak. Pour in a good amount of low sodium soy sauce, then take 2 or 3 limes and squeeze all the juice into the bag. Seal and mix it all together, let sit overnight or one day.
BBQ the whole piece, then thinly slice this to serve.

Next I make this mango salsa, a recipe I got from a friend a long time ago, and since have added a few other ingredients that make this such an amazing accompaniment to most anything grilled.

2 large mangos, peeled and diced
½ red onion, diced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tsps minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tsps sugar
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (or keep seeds to add the heat!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, voila.

Lastly a “French” potato salad, that consists of small red potatoes tossed with olive oil and lots of fresh herbs! It’s so much fresher and I prefer it to the goopy mayonnaise filled potato salad.

2 lb small red potatoes
1 ½ Tbsp whole shallot diced
1 ½ tsp Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley
1 ½ tsp Fresh Tarragon
2 Tbsp Fresh Dill
1 Tbsp Fresh Chives
2 clove crushed Garlic
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Pepper
2 tsp sea salt
1 ½ Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
½ cup Olive Oil

Cut potatoes in ¼ “ slices with 2 Tbsp salt. Bring to a simmer until done. Save ¼ cup of the water you boiled potatoes in. Drain potatoes and spread on cookie sheet. In a bowl, mix ¼ cup of the potato water, Dijon, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and crushed garlic. Pour mixture on potatoes, set aside 15 min. Pour potatoes in large bowl and finely chop herbs and spices – mix gently.

Dessert - bowl of strawberries and blueberries and a tray of personal size Haagen Daaz! Done.

With this meal you can prepare everything before the party and actually ENJOY your guests and your vino!