Mushrooms and Oregano

The oregano is out, the thyme is in bloom, and the summer savory is waving in the wind. I always buy up big bunches of the oregano to hang in the kitchen to dry. Some herbs, in my opinion, are better dried than fresh. Sage is like that too, for me. Summer is close at hand. These last precious days of spring also brought us a nice batch of assorted mushrooms.

The other day at the market the walnut lady said she was thinking of me. She is such a nice sweet woman. I'll be taking her a bottle of last year's vin de noix that we made with chocolate. This coming weekend is walnut weekend, St. Jean, the coming of the equinox, and thankfully Mercury will be coming out of retrograde. Can you say big sigh of relief?

Here is a typical Mercury in retrograde event. I bought a LARGE CAST IRON BELL from a seller in Germany. I was looking for wood burning stoves, trying to see what was out there, you know. I logged on and saw this bell, and there were two minutes left on the sale, and the highest bid was something like a buck fifty. What luck! The bell was so pretty. In the picture, it looked small and cute. I upped the bid by a few centimes, and it was mine! Then I realized maybe there was a reason why people weren't bidding on this item? Leave it to common sense to kick in after the button is pressed. The postage on this thing was mind blowing. Reading the fine print in German and I discover that this seller only accepts direct bank wire transfers. Trying to talk my way out of admitting I'd really flubbed up that time, I thought, oh, we'll do it on line. But no. I spent a morning at the bank, explaining that yes, I did want to make a wire transfer for €17.09. They kept saying, "Oh no you don't." And I kept saying "Oh yes I do." But in all I will take it as a lesson learned.

The PUDLO has Arrived!

The PUDLO guide has finally arrived! After months and months of translating my way through all of the regions of France, restaurant by restaurant, town after city, region after region, working with Phyllis on her part, then passing it on to dear Angela for production, the France guide is out.

This is the second PUDLO guide I have worked on, and I have to say that culinary translation is one of the most satisfying and educational experiences that a food loving writer can do. Not only did I enjoy the work, but I feel like a better person coming out of the experience.

Please do pick up your copy, and enjoy reading the list of Gilles Pudlowski's recommended restaurants throughout every corner of France. With approximately 1200 pages and 20,000 French ideas for dishes to choose from, the possibilities will never run out. This book is FULL of ideas.

Watching Little Things Grow

Just back from the horse farm, we're thinking about so many things. Aude and Seb have finally found a place in the Auvergne where they'll be moving at the end of this summer, and Isabelle is doing well after her ankle operation. One of the horses was orphaned at birth a couple of weeks ago and takes 8 bibis (bottles) a day! Loic and I come home happy and refreshed after a weekend with the babies. Hopes and dreams of a little fixer-upper in the Alps, these ideas are taking up much of our energy.



Oh the daydreams that a little stone house and garden in the mountains can bring. Even if it does need a new roof. Ideas of a potager and what we'll plant row by row are laid out in my mind until I realize that first we must find some solution to the neighboring herd of cows that spend their afternoons lounging under the fruit trees where our future garden will be. Is there some kind of law that's going to keep us from fencing it off? Imagining we do get it cloistered off. Maybe just some nice landscaping will do. Meandering slate paths and cedar wood furniture under a natural vine and climbing rose covered natural wood awning unfurl in my mind, step by step. A smokehouse! This is the best time, when we can follow where our ideas go, think them through, and then rub out little details like charcoal from newsprint, to work them out some more. It's very nice to play with these ideas, dream about what they might become.



Summer's coming up and we've been eating tons of courgettes. A lamb shank simmered slowly with thick cut wedges brings out the best of early summer. We've also been tossing diced courgettes with cod, and rolling it with eggplant and oven roasting it with olive oil until it forms plump delicious steamy pillows. I'll be sharing some cooking this week, so tune in!

The rain is good for something, that's for sure.

Ideas for Asparagus

It is still going strong, and friends are asking for ideas. Oh, the things you can do with asparagus! That's not to say that you shouldn't make a simple velouté or remove any woody parts and poach it delicately, then pluck the stalks up with your fingers one by one and nibble it plain. Any number of serving sauces and souped up mayonnaises which you have whisked up yourself with the various oils you love make wonderful accompaniments. It might be interesting to note that in France, white asparagus is the most common, so green asparagus is somewhat of a delicacy here. Due to the higher price it brings, green asparagus is beginning to get more space in the fields here. It sells like hotcakes, leaving the old fashioned noble plump white stalks to be gathered up by the likes of myself for consummation in bulk.

Shall we take a stroll around the country for a survey? Let's go! The dishes and pairings listed here are by geographic appearance only, and they may or may not be traditional to the regions. It depends on the chefs and where they've been, just so you know.

In restaurants in Alsace, we can see that like everywhere in France, fish and asparagus are paired quite readily. Atlantic sea bass or John Dory are common. Asparagus and morels are also presented together in a cup of puff pastry. They are scattering asparagus and veal sweetbreads over salad here.

Ride a wave the way down southwest to the Aquitaine, we see that fish is draped over an asparagus wheat 'risotto', and it is loved. Delicately spoon an asapragus velouté to your lips in emblem to your host country before popping local bite sized fried asparagus and mozerella as an appetizer. Pray to the god of the tides, and when the day is done, just dig in to tender wild mushrooms with morels tossed with local asparagus. Royally enjoy roasted scallops with smoked pumpkin and green asparagus to get your juices flowing. Follow with a formidable cod or Atlantic sea bass with asparagus and young broad beans (fevettes are getting bigger by the day, so act fast!), or that line fished whiting and asparagus in a local dish called the koskera. They're matching veal sweetbreads with green asparagus too, for the hard core purists.

Up into France profond in the Auvergne, Asparagus is making its appearance again with John Dory. In Bugundy, they're serving forth a cold asparagus cream, a novel venison fricassee served with asparagus, a match with pikeperch, and a pan toss with langoustines.

Brittany is prolific with creative uses of asparagus, although I'm not sure what to think about an asparagus and Aquitaine caviar 'milkshake' (hmmm. Those people who dance in circles have some crazy drinks up there!). Veal sweetbreads pain perdu with green asparagus, locally gathered scallops and green asparagus with beet juice alongside a mixed aromatic herb salad surpise and delight. Country cured bacon served with green asparagus sounds good, doesn't it? Catfish and asparagus with seaweed seasoned coulis, the classic combination of steamed Atlantic sea bass and asparagus, langoustine and asparagus risotto, more sea bass with sautéed fava beans, and cockle clams and asparagus served over polenta. One other adventurous creation is roasted langoustines with asparagus and coffee seasoned sauce.

In the region called the Centre, we have a crab, potato, and asparagus Chartreuse. The roasted turbot with a vegetable caviar (minced vegetables with a chef's choice of liaison) served with asparagus as its own attraction with chorizo seasoned butter. Seared foie gras with asparagus and hazelnut oil, a neat pikeperch and salmon terrine with asparagus, another use of crab with asparagus tips in salad. Panfried skate served with sweet potato purée and green asparagus is nourishing.

In the Champagne region, a slice of turbot with an asparagus risotto makes an appearance. Zoning in on the Franche Comte, a beef muzzle salad with balsamic and asparagus makes a nice marriage of in season and traditional. A creamy morel and green asparagus soup makes waves, or lake whitefish poached with chili peppers served with asparagus. Crayfish salad with asparagus, or a regional Luberon asparagus served with milk chantilly and diced smoked herring.

Just a few selections from the Ile-de-France and Paris, home of friend bloggers David Lebovitz and Clotilde Dusoulier. Imagine warm asparagus with soft boiled eggs and toast strips for dipping after a whirlwind day in the city. John Dory again walks hand in hand with asparagus. Atlantic sea bass served with green asparagus and an olive oil sauce with condiments, or you might find a smart city side of marinated cucumbers and asparagus to be served with a pepper crusted grilled rib eye, Parisian style. An asparagus and salmon flan might hit the spot in a Paris café. You might get frozen asparagus cream with a tomato granité as a palate cleanser. Sit down for puff pastry with asparagus, Bourbon vanilla marinated salmon served with asparagus purée, a white asparagus and morel mushroom fricassee, or large green asparagus with Parmesan, seasoned with truffles and a slow cooked black olive polenta accompaniment. Oh la la. Everything is possible here. How about a golden Bresse liver cake with Pouilly-Fuissé seasoned crayfish and Perthius asparagus tips, new onions, and Menton lemon paste? Of course the Parisians get their the best prime oysters and serve them with white Landais asparagus, the best of the best.

In the Languedoc-Roussilon, we see cod risotto with green asparagus. I don't have much more information from the region. In the Limousin, sea bass is served with raw and cooked asparagus, and I am ashamed to say I have nothing more to say about that region's use of it. Maybe local friends can chime in.

In the Lorraine, Bea's old home, the key words are fresh and tasty. We see a pretty little red mullet fillet broiled on one side and steamed over mushroom broth and asparagus. Turbot with green asparagus and grapefruit is served forth. A comforting creamy asparagus tip risotto, lake trout with asparagus and cured ham, the langoustine in a summer truffle crust with shellfish cappuccino and grated green asparagus, a snail and asparagus croustade, sautéed John Dory with a lemon confiture and asparagus, young pigeon terrine with duck foie gras accompanied by a little asparagus salad, and a simple pan tossed slice of veal sweetbread with asparagus tips.

Lets head to the Midi-Pyrenees, shall we? Kate Lives there! Dream of sweet weekends with green asparagus and frog legs presented in an emulsion of smoked bacon and olive oil, to start. It sounds divine, non? In the Haut Garonne, we're bowled over with the lobster tail with asparagus flanked with braised veal shank presented in its cooking jus. Hot plain asparagus comes out clean with an accompanying garlic sauce, an asparagus duo (green and white) floats in creamy soup alongside oyster brochettes. One can be pleasantly appeased with asparagus in vinaigrette with poached eggs in Gascony, and genuinely pleased with a fresh scallop and asparagus salad. Langoustines are paired with asparagus as well as pan tossed with veal sweetbreads. In the Tarn, a creamy asparagus soup with a poached egg is garnished with again, diced smoked herring! Speaking of smoked, lox makes an appearance with radishes and asparagus in an opening note in one restuarant. Not to forget a delicious pocket of curry seasoned crab and asparagus tucked into puff pastry in the town of Montauban. God, I love it down there.

N is for Nord-Pas-de-Calais. What's cooking on the asparagus front there? Again, line fished sea bass is paired with our lovable stalk, more than once in this region. A veal scallop is served with a novel salsify and asparagus combination, and crab and haddock are topped with creamed asparagus in a verrine.

In the Normandy region, proper and straight shooting. Our friends from Calvados like sea urchin in its shell with eggs and green asparagus, a tender rein into tradition. Sweet stalks of asparagus rolled in sole. A fingerfood fest ensues with roasted whole lobster with a side of asparagus, and correction in spades with a civilized asparagus feuilleté with a morel mushroom cream sauce. The pikeperch poached in red wine and served on a bed of asparagus sounds like an interesting way to present it, and a champagne flute with spider crab, leeks and asparagus all topped with a salad burnet emulsion is an entertaining course. Served with turbot and in terrine, asparagus makes its mark in Normandy. Delectable idea: lobster meat served in a jar, layered with slow cooked pork cheek and asparagus tips. Normandy likes verrines.

In the Pays-de-la-Loire, let's begin with a beef tenderloin with wild mushroom duxelles (minced and creamed) served with green asparagus. Tossed with langoustines or served with lobster medallions and a truffle oil vinaigrette, we're in heaven. A duckling fillet is served with green asparagus and Pancetta and the lot is drizzled with a pear seasoned reduction, hello fruit! Two points to the ladies! It sounds simple and delicious served aside roasted salmon with slow cooked onions and peppers, or with oven crisped crab and beets. The milk fed veal medallions with asparagus again strikes a note.

In Poitou-Charentes, asparagus makes a colorful presentation with the classic turbot, and it is simmered with shallots in wine to accompany drum fish. A smoked salmon and asparagus terrine makes an appearance as well.

In Provence and the Cotes d'Azur... Asparagus comes graced with shavings of chorizo, Mediterranean sea bass is again paired with asparagus and morel mushrooms, or purple asparagus comes to the table with a truffle infused glaze and a side of foie gras. Mediterranean sea bass again is a classic match served with leeks in truffled sauce, or we find a spicy pork tenderloin medallion served with crunchy asparagus fricassee featuring larch sprouts. Bask in the generous sun and be served a simple egg with asparagus cream, green asparagus cut into fans and served simply, or cooked slow and served a slice of foie gras and drizzled with aged balsamic jus. Enjoy it pan tossed with fresh morels and served with shavings of parmesan and a warm vinaigrette, in an asparagus Mikado with gratined speck, or served with a truffle mousseline. A simple poultry terrine with asparagus, mushroom macaroni stuffed with John Dory, asparagus and morels, or green asparagus tips in salad, served with a white truffle oil infused mascarpone quenelle. A stuffed pigeon roasted with green asparagus and fresh chanterelles sounds divine. Consider a tomato, basil, and garlic aspic with asparagus. A fried egg with shellfish and asparagus might hit the spot, or pair it with pan seared tuna. Try it with potatoes in an asparagus tarte parmentière. The more east you go, the more you see asparagus in risotto.

Back to the Rhone Alpes. Red mullet comes with asparagus and ham chips, or you might choose a slice of pan seared foie gras served over an asparagus pain perdu. Veal cutlets with their accompanying oyster mushrooms and asparagus might please you. Asperges sauce mousseline, or a creamy asparagus soup with morels and scallops nods to the regions. In Lyon, we regale in a delicious breed of Monkfish, traditionally and locally fished and served with chanterelles and asparagus, roasted jumbo shrimp glazed with shellfish jus and served along with an asparagus tip tartelette, turbot, thick sliced and oven-browned, served with a steamed asparagus terrine drizzled with fresh verbena infused jus. You might enjoy green asparagus cake with beet and fig sauce, or a lobster on salad with a white asparagus carpaccio. Line fished sole napped with Vin d'Apremont sauce and served with asparagus might just be the perfect ending to this trip around the country of France, as you round about this place I call home.

To summarize: In all, there are a lot of pairings, with seafood clearly taking priority all over France. The veloutes and creams caught my eye as they always do, as well as that nice garnish of diced smoked herring, sometimes called a smoked herring caviar that surfaced in two different regions. Tender veal and asparagus go hand in hand, with a special nod to sweetbreads. For sauces, you might think outside of the mouselline cream hollandaise box with fresh snappy flavors such as lemon confit, verbena, or grapefruit, especially if you are going for the seafood pairing. Simple sautes are popular in all regions, with the season's mushrooms (oyster or mousserons and morels, or black trumpets falling on an early cusp). Down south especially, chorizo or shaved Parmesan might make an embematic appearance with the oils of the regions over asparagus.

Voila, dear friends, I hope you enjoy it and can glean some ideas for asparagus from this survey.

Shallots, St. Antoine Market, Lyon

How My Father Would Handle This

A blessing in disguise, really. Our neighbor's kitchen is above our bedroom, and some time during the winter, a slow leak developed a water supply hose to their dishwasher. Underneath this built-in appliance, water slowly dripped over time, seeping through and over the wood beams between their kitchen floor and into our bedroom, taking color along the way, and blooming out into a frightening yellow stain across our ceiling, which also began to crack.

After some initial upset involving calling the neighbors, long discussions, emphatic denials of any problem at all then turning into a maybe, then finally an agreement for a plumber to check it out and eventually fix the very slow leak upstairs, we were on our way to a solution. It took some time, but finally the wheels rolled into motion to bring us to last week, when workers came to do the repairs at our house.

We lucked out with the man our contractor sent to oversee the work, an old pro. On the verge of retirement, this fatherly figure has 48 years of experience. He has worked on lots of big jobs, sometimes gutting the interiors of old apartments, removing walls and replacing windows. When people don't specifically request to save the hardware during the remodels, he salvages the bits and pieces that would otherwise be thrown away. Hooks, handles, sometimes stained glass, even fireplaces get removed from structures sometimes hundreds of years old to accommodate new plans, new tastes. You would be surprised at what gets discarded. He brought me a bucket of doorknobs on his second day on the job, after we'd discussed some architectural details in this little Belle Epoch apartment. It was very nice of him. And it got me thinking.

Sometimes, especially when you're communicating in a foreign language, you get into a discussion where a word comes up repeatedly and if the discussion isn't too complicated, the back of your mind can work on the words, the language. For example, this word, poignée. Funny little word. It means handle or knob, but I first began to use it steadily at the market, because the word also means "handful". Good for spinach and mixed greens, dried Soissons and mushrooms, cherries heaped into mountains on the first weekend in June, Mirabelles, just about anything that you can pick up and scoop with your hands into your market basket. We often don't need any more than a handful, do we? I learned it years ago from the sellers at the market, and thought about it carefully again last week. In fact, every time I open a door, I also think on the many levels of this word.

The Chinese have a thing for these kinds of similes. They infer meaning by word choices, knowing that there may be 8 or more different words represented by a certain syllable, depending on the inflection. Part of the beauty and richness of Chinese linguistic communication comes from a choice of words, with a knowledge and special attention paid to the underlying meaning in the overall scheme of things. It makes Chinese literature extremely rich with symbol and hidden meaning. It also makes it easy to ease an idea into a discussion, slowly, maybe an idea you'd never hit straight on for reasons of politesse.

I made a decision during this past year to commit to a pretty big project, and to do it right. In many ways, commitment to this project opened a new door for me. At first, it seemed quite a natural thing to do, and I began to tackle it with joyous abandon and scattered energy. Then, when it came down to the nitty gritty, I realized that I was going to have to suffer to get this thing under control. It was much bigger than me. As it bucked and kicked around, I began to think of its scope and get frightened. That's when I remembered my father. In his spare time, he worked on creative projects that were simply extraordinary. Anyone who knew John Sellers can attest to this. For example, the boat. He didn't just have a knack with wood. It was something spiritual. And it was all his.

His creative projects came to represent his spiritual livelihood, and after he died, this spirit became his legacy. The beauty of it all was that he was never under the gun. Not under contract, never any reason to rush through any project or cut corners. Throughout his life, he was able to maintain a level of concentration on distant goals that resulted in, quite frankly, his achieving an artisan's mastery over wood and the wind that fed his soul and that of everyone around him. A man of few words, he would break down a project into little pieces, and tackle them silently, one by one. Thinking of the beautiful projects my father undertook throughout his life and his handful by handful approach to them gave me great comfort as I slowly get a handle on my own.