The Suitcase Full of Thread

Nothing revives the imagination more than a visit to the Puces du Canal, the flea market just outside Lyon. These vendors here specialize their vision, hone their eye. They each seek a certain class of object. Each person has a different method of amassing their collections, buyers and sellers alike. The time of year, the time of month, the weather, the season, the wind, the way we all see, dictates how things move.

You never know when a person might need a suitcase full of thread, right? What elusive creature do these large red spools symbolize, who might be drawn to them? Emancipation or capture? Might someone find comfort or satisfaction in taking possession of them, closing up this case and carrying them away?



Fishes and birds. So many species of fish. How many ways can you cast a fish in chocolate? Sometimes it seems that the possibilities are endless. A muse can appear at every turn.

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

My track record with party cakes has never been the greatest, but hey, I'm always ready to give another one a try. This month for the daring bakers we were challenged to a cake. Easter dinner with family was the perfect occasion. The recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours.

What I loved about this cake is that following Dorie's basic recipe, using her suggestions with the lemon in the cake, the fruit preserves, and the butter cream, there's a lovely flavor balance. It felt like there was a gauzy light fairy bridge of flavor suspended between each element, tied all together with a nice little bow. I particularly loved the effect of applying coconut to the outside, which gave it a festive and feminine look, a touch of grace after my not so great job of spreading the buttercream.

I have to admit I was feeling rather sorry for myself until the coconut came in. I had trouble getting the cake to rise so I did bake this cake several times and ended up using three flat layers instead of two layers cut in half. The butter cream was quite easy coming together and tasted great. I have never put fruit preserves in cake before, and it was something I will do again. When you are in a rush to finish this cake with guests coming, having a vacuum cleaner within arm's reach at the application of coconut stage is very helpful.

The book itself is a work of art, and having made the trip to the book shop in London when I was there was something I am really thankful I did. It is a gorgeous enormous cookbook containing only baked desserts. 500+ of my fellow daring bakers all did excellent jobs with their cakes - and I salute you!

Thank you, fellow daring bakers, for your kind support in helping me stretch my wings and step outside of my comfort zone. And thank you Dorie, for creating such a beautiful book. I add it lovingly to my small collection of English language baking books.

This Daring Baker's challenge was hosted by Morven.

Taking the Scenic Route

Past the palace and into Notting Hill, I loved the bus ride to this shop.

In Paris, taking the bus from Dehillerin to Gare de Lyon will take you on a tour through the Marais and Bastille.

Having various personal projects in addition to work related missions is a good inspiration to climb on board the buses with some destination shops in mind.

In London, the bus 52 runs down from Hyde Park Corner through the Kensington Palace area (good little Chinese place there) to Notting Hill, where getting off at the stop called Elgin Crescent will take you to the neighborhood of the book shop called Books for Cooks. From what I had heard and read about it, I imagined the book shop to be a rambling labyrinth of stacks through which one might get lost, but in fact it is a one room shop that also features a kitchen. I loved the Travelers Bookshop, just nearby, it had all of my favorites.

Dehellerin, for cooking, pastry, and restaurant supplies, is located along the bus no 29 in Paris, which swings through the neighborhood surrounding Les Halles. The stop is called Etienne Marcel - Montmartre. It is also located in a neighborhood that features an array of cooking supply shops along the rue Montmartre, so do stroll in the neighborhood. If you are getting a train out to Lyon, you hop back on the No. 29, and go into and through the Marais, past Bastille, and the bus deposits you conveniently at the Gare de Lyon. A very nice bus line.

Books for Cooks
4 Blenheim Crescent
Notting Hill London W11 1NN

Dehillerin
18-20 rue Coquillière
75001 Paris

London, Pork Pie

The man at the market explained to me that these are best enjoyed cold with a nice glass of beer. They are also nice cut into wedges and served at apéro with a glass of Lillet. They certainly aroused my curiosity, and I wondered which were best. All of the butchers had them too.

Welsh Cheese for Sale in London

I cannot get enough of Gorwydd Caerphilly. This is what I will ask them to bring me next time.
It is aged 60 days, and has a soft inner core, reminding me of an enormous firm young Camembert in texture. The flowering of flavors took me on quite a ride. This is an excellent cheese worth trying.

London

Londres

One Night in Paris

I am sure you will forgive me when you find out where I've been. I didn't have a computer. A majestic evening sun was sinking over Lyon when I left, and when I arrived to Paris, I checked right into a place I know, with a spacious balcony and 10 minutes from the station. The neighborhood is nothing to be afraid of if you stay in the light and keep to yourself. The door locks and the room is clean, so I love this place, especially my own private terrace.

Sitting on the cane bottomed desk chair that I have brought outside, leaning against the wall, looking out from across the courtyard, I look for a long time at the Sacré Cœur. A train streams across, chopping the scene diagonally, shuttling people, stuttering ahead, and I remember enormous pylons of the rail bridge arching down into the cobblestone as if to continue underground. Streams of oil-like fluid smelling like clean guns ooze down the Paris grey painted pillars, but from where I am I cannot see or smell it. It looks pristine from here. There are people underneath. Strutting, eying, moving quickly or watching. You can see from this vantage point figures moving or pausing across a narrow field of light, in the mercury glow of a sign from the Metro. The hotel guests that don't have bathrooms take showers at the end of the hall and steam billows from the shower room window.


It is dinnertime and I am seated next to a woman with very red lips and the matte face made up like in a magazine. Her friend is dressed in black leather from head to toe. I have a rendezvous with a Mariner, whose inquisitive hawk eyes gaze light brown over a chiseled nose when I don't finish my lamb chops. He insists I don't like them, but I do. He insists to give me a free dessert, which I finally accept to turn the focus away. A birthday in the corner. The painted lady listens attentively to her companion. She looks like a good woman. The kitchen staff drift out and take a look at the floor. A couple by the window have a candle on the table. I think of the stories of the people.

The train in the morning will leave while the streets are still dark there. You mustn't dawdle or you'll miss it. The first trickle of hard skinned wage earners will have begun their daily journey then and you'll sit with them on the way, curious about their lives before everyone scatters at the station. There will be coffee on the train, and you will have to ask him to pull another shot into your cup to get it strong enough. You will stand facing the horizon traveling sideways through country and watch the sun rise with a steaming cup before you plunge into darkness. We can pay in pounds if we like.

It was a very nice moment.

Coffee Cake and the Photo Group

I was walking down along the Rhone riverside with my friend Marc, who is also français par mariage, and conversation turned to cameras. He expressed that he just can't get the hang of capturing his rapidly moving toddler with his Canon Rebel, especially during family time in the evenings when the light is dim. Talk with Fran has been Canon-centric in these past few weeks, and she recently showed me a neat shortcut I never knew existed on my own camera. It just so happens that my new friend Jo also has a Canon and has been talking about composition and her recent efforts to capture moments of her life here in Lyon. This got me thinking. I have friends I meet with one on one but they have never met each other. I want the map of our individual friendships to expand into more of a web. All the more supportive and resilient for us all. So this morning I made a cake and they all came by for coffee and camera talk. We gave assignments and set a general challenge for our first group theme.

The satisfying thing about the whole thing was being able to say "ok now turn the dial this way" with immediate tangible results instead of having to go to all of the effort to wrap the mind around descriptive written explanations. Such a pleasure. In any case, there certainly was a warm sense of community in our meeting today. I can't decide if it was the group, our sitting around the coffee table face to face, or the satisfaction that comes from teaching and learning that hit the spot like it did. The cake turned out pretty well, too.

Apple Coffee Cake

1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7 tablespoon butter
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 small tart apple

- Turn on the oven to 375F / 190C, and let it heat while you put the batter together.
- Grease a 9 inch hollow centered springform pan.
- Measure the 1 cup of the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
- Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter and 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar until smooth.
- Add the egg and beat until smooth.
- Add half the flour mixture, half the milk, the remaining flour, and the remaining milk.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in the microwave while you peel and slice the apple.
- Mix the apple, butter, brown sugar, and remaining granulated sugar in a small bowl.
- Remove the apples from the butter sugar mixture, leaving most of the sugar and butter in the bowl, and place the slices on top of the cake batter.
- Add the remaining 1/4 cup flour to the remaining butter and sugar mixture, and work it with your fingertips.
- Sprinkle the flour, sugar, and butter mixture over the apples and cake batter and transfer the pan to the oven.
- Bake for 25 minutes and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Lyon's Flowering Trees

Magnolias on the Place des Celestins, Lyon 2eme

The trees on Lyon's squares are budding and will soon be in full bloom, meaning that soon we'll be able to enjoy their splendor in outdoor cafes. The cherry blossoms that envelope Place Francisque Régaud in a gorgeous canopy of blossoms in front of the Grand Café des Negotiants and Café Perl in the 2nd arrondissement haven't bloomed yet but will any day now. It might be worth your while to swing by (metro Cordeliers) and check it out within the next couple of weeks, and enjoy lunch or a refreshment there if the weather is nice. Weekends are destined to be packed and tense with people scheming for tables, but know that the trees don't close up shop after Saturday and Sunday. At the same time, you can enjoy your own version at home by picking up what looks to be the bunches of bare branches currently for sale by many of the farmers at the outdoor markets. The branches are trimmed from a variety of fruit in the orchards surrounding Lyon, and feature an exciting array of colors and shapes in the blossoms that come out of them. All you have to do is put them in water at home. Watching them unfold never ceases to enchant and amaze.

Central 3ème: Marché Guichard

I adore the mosaic modeled after a 1934 work by Ferdinand Fargeot.

If there's one place that's easy to get to in the 3rd arrondissement, it's Place Guichard. The market is right above the metro stop on line B. The tram T1 stops there, and two buses stop within close proximity. The two-lane dedicated bike path that cuts east west across the city runs right next to the market, and there's a VeloV station just next door. If you are a budget traveler, in fact, this neighborhood being super accessible by public transport, is a smart choice for a pied-à-terre if you can't afford the choice digs on the presqu'ile.

This market is an easy excursion by bike from centre ville.

If you plan to visit Les Halles, Place Guichard would be nice start to a discovery tour of the neighborhood. The square is at one and of a pedestrian walkway lined with outdoor cafés, with Les Halles at the other. It's a nice place for inexpensive local produce, and Les Halles of course is the place to get just about everything else you can think of.

Ultra-fresh local produce and an organic bread baker coming in from the region
are succulent draws to Marché Guichard.

The market at Place Guichard on Tuesdays and Saturdays is small, with only 8 official vendors, but features some quality local produce that is clearly popular with the neighborhood peeps. So popular in fact, that you have to take a number!





There's a raw milk vendor that also has pasteurized and fermented milk products, 2 fromagères, four vegetable stands, and an organic bread baker bringing in his loaves from Gringny. The vendors here know their clients, call to them by name, share their news, but don't hesitate to also talk to strangers. There is a lot of good natured fun and smiles at this market, they don't get big crowds and nobody's in a hurry. The hustle and bustle and circus atmosphere we sometimes see at the larger markets is left aside here, no hollering sellers, no pushy salespeople, just honest selling going on here, where people take the time to talk. In addition to the produce, cheese, and bread, there is a florist and stands selling prefab goods like knives, cooking pots, and electronic items, which can vary, depending on the day. There are no ready to eat meals, but if the weather is nice, you can easily have a cold picnic with purchases from this market and enjoy them in the amphitheater on site.





Marché Guichard
Location: Place Guichard, 69003
Days: Tuesday and Saturday
No. of Vendors: 8

Seeds and Their Force

Thanks for the present, Fran!

March 2008. My friend Fran and I met halfway between my place and hers and she brought me a little present as a surprise. It was a brown paper package and had all kinds of nice things inside. I was thinking, while walking home along the river that day, about how much I appreciate the gift of friendships new and old right now. The month of March this year feels a little bit like a gift. No grand occasion, just brought out of Mother Nature's shoulder bag and placed there, on the table. What do I hope is inside? I want this March to be able to see and hear the world that is awakening now. I want to tune in to the sprouting seed in me. Time to look inside and garner my force. I am ready to put in the grand effort I need to push through, out into the sun. As another friend that I met for the first time in person during the month of March last year often says: Onward! That seems to be a very good word today. We are opening the windows this weekend, and giving the house a good scrub down.