Cooking Fun in France

On Thursday I got to enjoy a fun day of good food here in France. I met Janine Springall of l'Assiette de Paris (www.cookinparis.eu) during ASP's Living Skills Workshop - something the school puts on 2x a year to help people new to France and ASP. Janine does a great talk at the workshop about grocery shopping, food, etc. that really helps people get oriented to their new lives here in Paris. Things sure are different! She also teaches cooking classes at her home, and they can be really fun, informative and delicious.

I went with my friend Julie to Janine's house for a class based on fall flavors. There were 2 other women there - an Australian (who has lived in the US amongst many overseas assignments) and a South African. I always love meeting other people at Janine's classes from all over the world - we share good food, wine, and stories of times in France. The four of us sat at the horseshoe counter while Janine worked behind it - her classes aren't hands-on, but I really enjoy them partly for that reason. I'm a pretty decent cook on my own, and doing all the chopping and prep work are my least favorite part of cooking. I really enjoy sitting back, soaking up her expertise and getting answers to any questions we may ask. Janine's kitchen is quite amazing for France (where the kitchens are usually small), and we learned that she bought her kitchen first and then built her house around it. A woman after my own heart! I really loved each and every dish we made this day - it was one of my favorites so far.

Janine lives further out West in the country and the view is always beautiful on the long-ish drive to Janine's house.

Janine has all sorts of beautiful dishes and serving sets as she is also a caterer

Our first dish was a Root Vegetable Salad with Crème Fraiche Vinaigrette. I don't normally eat beets, but I actually enjoyed them in this dish!

Next was Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Hazelnuts and Brown Butter Sage Sauce. I think this was definitely a favorite of everyone's, it was so flavorful. This would be a great Thanksgiving dish as it contains many of our traditional Thanksgiving foods in one dish.

This Chestnut-Apple Soup was very rich, smooth and again, full of flavor. I had leftovers for lunch today and it was just as good the second time around - though I missed the pumpkin seed garnish.

The main dish was Seared Duck Breast, Pumpkin Purée, and Fennel Crisps with Madeira Jus. I haven't eaten duck very often - I think only once in the US, but I've been trying to eat more since I moved here. France knows how to do duck well! Fennel is another thing I'm not super fond of, but these fried crisps were yummy.

To finish it all off we enjoyed a Pumpkin Bread Pudding. I was so full I thought I would just have a bite and take the rest home, but once I started I just couldn't stop until it was all gone.

Of course you aren't meant to serve all of these things at the same time if you were cooking dinner, but it gave a great view of all the different ways you can use winter/root veggies. These were all so good, I wouldn't hesitate to cook them again. And lots of the prep work can be done ahead of time, so it isn't too overwhelming in terms of effort.

Summer of Fun 2013 – Part 2

After spending one night in Pasadena with Frank and Barbara, the girls and I headed off for our first beach stop – Terranea resort in Palos Verdes. It’s a beautiful resort set right on the cliffs over the ocean with great views out over the Pacific. We relaxed, swam in the pool, got pedicures, etc. Since we were there over the 4^th of July, and Sean was still in California, he was able to come down around July 3^rd and join us. We also spent most of the days with our good friends Shanna and Brad who live nearby in Redondo Beach. The weather could have been a bit sunnier, but it was still gorgeous. We lucked out on the 4^th and got a nice, sunny but not too hot day. The English’s joined us at the resort and we enjoyed a full day at the pool followed by dinner at Nelson’s. Overall the resort was nice – a location that can’t be beat – and the food there was good. But there were some service issues that you wouldn’t expect from such a high-end place.

 Terranea property and ocean views from my balcony

Good times at Nelson's

We were supposed to head up to Carpinteria on July 6^th to stay at a beach house we rented with my parents for one week. I was able to get the house for an extra night, so we headed up on Friday and met our friend Cindy and her daughter Anna there who stayed with us for the weekend. Sean was still able to be with us for that time also, and it was nice to enjoy Carp with him and Cindy. My parents decided to not come up until Monday, so it worked out perfectly. We really love Carp – it is one of the only old-fashioned beach towns left along the coast of Southern California. Yet, it is only 20 minutes from Santa Barbara, so there is plenty to do. The beach at Carp is one of the safest beaches in the country, so it is very popular with families. No undertow, small waves, easy to swim…we spend most of our time biking around, hanging at the beach, shopping, eating, and of course enjoying the delicious beers at Island Brewing Company! Cindy also went to UCSB (though we didn’t know each other there) and had never taken her daughter to visit, so we spent one day going to Isla Vista to enjoy Freebird Nacho’s, go to the UCSB bookstore, tour the campus and then explore Isla Vista. Always fun to go down memory lane, and since we used to go to Family Camp at UCSB every summer, the girls love going back and seeing it all again. The beach house we rented wasn’t very expensive and there was a reason why – it was pretty beat. It felt like the elderly owners had just died and the heirs had just stuck it on the market. We would never rent it again as it was very dated – all the furniture looked & felt like it was from the 60’s – and wasn’t outfitted well for a rental. The search for the perfect place continues…When our rental period at the house was up on Saturday, the girls & I decided we weren’t ready to leave yet. Since our rental in Burlingame didn’t start until Monday, I was able to find a place we could rent for Saturday and Sunday nights. We really enjoyed those last 2 days as the sun came out in force, and we were able to get more beach time in. I was also able to get more brewery time in with my friend Fish and her husband!

Enjoying delicious beer at Island Brewing with Sean and Cindy

Views in Carp while on my run

Rachel, Claire and Anna in front of Storke Tower on the UCSB campus

Yes, it was so tough to go to a college with a view like this!

 Frank enjoying Padaro Beach Grill for lunch on Santa Claus Lane in Carp

Downtown Carp beautiful night sky

Fun with Fish!

After Carp it was time to head up to Burlingame – the town we live in up in Northern California. The drive up takes about 5 ½ hours, but it didn’t feel that long at all. Our first rental for that part of our stay was in San Mateo Park – only a few blocks from the house we own (& have rented out) in Burlingame. The location was great as we could walk to Burlingame Avenue and we enjoyed being close to our “neighborhood”.

To be continued…

-->

Summer of Fun 2013 – Part 1

We had an amazing summer! After such a cold winter and no real Spring, we were desperate for sunshine – that became the focus of our summer. School ended on June 14^th, and the next day the girls and I hopped on a plane and headed to southern Spain. We stayed at a villa on the beach (Oasis Club) between Marbella and Puerto Banus. We had high hopes of mixing beach time with tourist time driving and visiting many other places (Granada, Ronda, Gibraltar, etc.), but the end-of-the-year exhaustion overwhelmed us and we ended up just sleeping and relaxing. Not a bad option – the sun was out, it was warm…perfect for us.

Beach along the "Golden Mile"

One of the most difficult parts of planning a vacation is finding the perfect spot and accommodations – it takes hours and hours. I found the villa on VRBO, but rented through an agency. It was a great place with 3 bedrooms, a private pool and a wonderful deck with views of the ocean. I spent most of my time reading on the deck. The girls and I would walk or drive into town for dinner most nights and enjoyed a meal or 2 at a local beach bar. Sean was working in the US, but was able to finally join us on the 20^th, though work still took up most of his time with international conference calls at all hours.

After one week in the Costa del Sol region of Spain, we boarded a train and headed to Seville. Seville is such a beautiful city. We explored, wandered, visited, ate and just generally soaked it all in. It was very hot there – over 100°F at 8:00 at night – so we embraced the whole siesta ideal and relaxed every afternoon either in the hotel pool (we stayed at the Hotel Dona Maria) or in our air conditioned rooms. We enjoyed delicious Spanish tapas and some of the best Italian food we’ve had in ages. We all fell in love with Spain and look forward to returning again. Next time I won’t plan any vacations until a week after school is out so we can be more rested and raring to go!

The girls and I had only 2 days back in France before we had to head off to our next vacation destination. We spent the time doing laundry, packing and saying goodbye to some friends who were moving away. Our first stop in the United States was Blue Springs, Missouri for a Way family reunion. It was so great to see our family – both immediate (my parents and sister were at the reunion) and extended. It’s always wonderful to be reminded of how fun the Way family is – fish frys, boating, parties, bbqs, and of course, lots of Budweiser! Sean was able to escape from work for the weekend and join us, which was great.

From Missouri we flew off to Los Angeles to start our vacation in California eager to visit friends & family and get in some good beach time.

To be continued…

-->

Summer of Fun 2013 – Part 1

We had an amazing summer! After such a cold winter and no real Spring, we were desperate for sunshine – that became the focus of our summer. School ended on June 14^th, and the next day the girls and I hopped on a plane and headed to southern Spain. We stayed at a villa on the beach (Oasis Club) between Marbella and Puerto Banus. We had high hopes of mixing beach time with tourist time driving and visiting many other places (Granada, Ronda, Gibraltar, etc.), but the end-of-the-year exhaustion overwhelmed us and we ended up just sleeping and relaxing. Not a bad option – the sun was out, it was warm…perfect for us.

In Old Town Marbella

Beach along the Golden Mile

One of the most difficult parts of planning a vacation is finding the perfect spot and accommodations – it takes hours and hours. I found the villa on VRBO, but rented through an agency. It was a great place with 3 bedrooms, a private pool and a wonderful deck with views of the ocean. I spent most of my time reading on the deck. The girls and I would walk or drive into town for dinner most nights and enjoyed a meal or 2 at a local beach bar. Sean was working in the US, but was able to finally join us on the 20^th, though work still took up most of his time with international conference calls at all hours.

Deck outside my bedroom where I spent many hours

R & C enjoying pool time at the villa

After one week in the Costa del Sol region of Spain, we boarded a train and headed to Seville. Seville is such a beautiful city. We explored, wandered, visited, ate and just generally soaked it all in. It was very hot there – over 100°F at 8:00 at night – so we embraced the whole siesta ideal and relaxed every afternoon either in the hotel pool (we stayed at the Hotel Dona Maria) or in our air conditioned rooms. We enjoyed delicious Spanish tapas and some of the best Italian food we’ve had in ages. We all fell in love with Spain and look forward to returning again. Next time I won’t plan any vacations until a week after school is out so we can be more rested and raring to go!

 Sevilla's cathedral (3rd largest in Europe) lit up at night

 Sean & girls in the Alcazar (oldest Royal Palace in use in Europe)

 Courtyard in the Alcazar

 View from the bell tower of the Cathedral

 Trying to cool off along the river in the heat

 Inside the Cathedral

The girls and I had only 2 days back in France before we had to head off to our next vacation destination. We spent the time doing laundry, packing and saying goodbye to some friends who were moving away. Our first stop in the United States was Blue Springs, Missouri for a Way family reunion. It was so great to see our family – both immediate (my parents and sister were at the reunion) and extended. It’s always wonderful to be reminded of how fun the Way family is – fish frys, boating, parties, bbqs, and of course, lots of Budweiser! Sean was able to escape from work for the weekend and join us, which was great.

 Having fun on a pontoon with my cousins

 My sister and I with Barbara & Andy in the background

R & C wearing their reunion t-shirts with pride

 

From Missouri we flew off to Los Angeles to start our vacation in California eager to visit friends & family and get in some good beach time.

To be continued…

 Grandpa Frank lookin' good in a mullet!

A Weekend in Prague

One of our favorite things about living here in France is the ability we have to travel to many different places. Countries are so close together, and we love not having to deal with the jet lag that I always found so difficult when visiting before. Neither Sean nor I grew up with much opportunity to explore the world, so we are very grateful to have that chance now. We sometimes wonder what our children will have to do when they are grown as they will have been so many places already!

Whenever we get the chance, we take advantage of our situation and plan a weekend (or longer) away. The girls had a 4-day weekend due to teacher development so we decided it was time to go somewhere we have never been. Sean has always been dying to see Prague; we read many articles that said winter is the perfect time to go to Prague, so off we went. Claire had to play in a basketball tournament on Friday so we decided to leave Saturday, stay for 2 nights and return late on Monday night giving us Tuesday to still relax and enjoy a “free” day from school while getting almost 3 days in Prague. We often end up flying EasyJet as the airfare can be so inexpensive when you only bring a small carry-on. Prague isn’t a super hopping destination in the winter I guess, and we got a great deal on a hotel right near Old Town Square and cheap plane tix – so off to Prague we went!

We got our guy Philippe to drive us to Charles de Gaulle where we caught the 11:50am flight to Prague. Less than 2 easy hours later, we landed at the airport in Prague. We were surprised that there was no passport control or customs check in Prague – this is Eastern Europe after all! Went to the AAA taxi desk to get a taxi into town (they are the only ones recommended to be trustworthy); it took less than 30 minutes to drive to our hotel. After doing lots of research on TripAdvisor and various blogs, we decided to stay at the Ventana Hotel Prague where we got a good deal on hotels.com. The girls were very excited that our 2 rooms were both loft rooms on the top floor – they had beds upstairs, and a sitting area downstairs. Lots of room to hang out and relax. The location was awesome – right next to Tyne church just off Old Town Square. Took us awhile to get used to the exchange rate of the Czech crowns. The notes were large, usually 100 or 1000 which was worth around 4 and 40 euros.

It was very cold in Prague; it snowed on Sunday, but didn’t slow us down too much. We walked from one end to the other, saw all the major sites, searched out some vegan/vegetarian restaurants for Claire, enjoyed Czech beer, shopped and just generally explored. Another good weekend exploring another part of the world. This was the girls’ first visit to Eastern Europe (maybe Sean too? Deb went to Russia in grad school) and a great chance to see some different versions of history. We went to the Museum of Communism and what was really interesting is that our children had no idea what communism even was. It was a great way for them to learn about “history” that happened not that long ago. They couldn’t believe the last revolution, the Velvet Revolution, was just in 1989. How different the world was for Prague even that short time ago. When we left the museum we visited Wenceslas Square where so many of the demonstrations for freedom occurred.

In Prague we saw Charles Bridge, Dancing House (Fred & Ginger building), Jewish Quarter, Lobkowicz Palace, Museum of Communism, Old Town Bridge Tower, Astronomical Clock, Old Town Hall Tower (great view from the top), Old Town Square, Powder Gate, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral (saw the Prime Minister of Turkey there), Tyn Church, house of the Golden Bears, Wenceslas Square, Palladium and more. A full and fun trip.