Culinary delights in the City of Light

Stars in the sky over Luxembourg Gardens

I've been to Paris three times. The first time was when I was ten. On that trip I got sick from fois gras, indulged in glace à la fraise and café au lait and thought nothing could ever top a basketful of croissants. It was also when I began a lifetime fondness for mussels.

The second time was last summer. This time I was the parent of a ten year old. We trotted all over, sampled sorbet from a variety of vendors, swooned over Laduree macarons, and delighted in shady parks for picnics. One night after tucking our children into their beds, my husband and I opened the windows of our Juliet balcony, pushed two desk chairs up close and uncorked a bottle of Bordeaux, toasting our good fortune for that delightful moment.

When we started planning a trip to celebrate our anniversary this fall I think we both wanted to return to Paris but thought the other one would not. In my memory, we sort of floated it to each other simultaneously, without expectation. Whenever I make what I assume someone will think is a lousy suggestion, I sort of open my eyes really wide, raise my eyebrows, and grimace with one side of my mouth. It's not a good look. I suspect it disarms my opponent, who will not hear the suggestion but instead take pity on the wretch before him and just do whatever she said. This is how we end up at lots of parties.

Anyway, we went to Paris last month and picked right up where we left 14 months earlier with cool Beaujolais, fall picnics, and tromping from droit to gauche and back again. The best dinner was a monumentally savory Coq au Vin on the left bank. There's a story there; the Coq au Vin was actually my second choice. I owe a debt of gratitude to our waiter for translating my first choice, Rognons de Veau. I love veal (veau) so I assumed Rognons meant Chop-of-a-lifetime when, in point of fact, it means kidney. I made that same weird face at the waiter's suggestion that it was quite good (weird face can be also employed as a reaction to a lousy suggestion) and requested the Coq. That meal turned out to be the dish-of-a-lifetime. I've been trying to recreate it this side of the Seine but haven't come close to matching the depth of flavor of the Parisian masterpiece.

The other food take-away from Paris 2010: Medjool dates. I knew dates to be the sweet, chewy, flavorless nubs my mom added to oatmeal. I had never eaten a whole date. The Medjool ones I encountered in Paris were unbelievably delicate. The little pit inside surrendered its hold on the fruit without a fight, unlike the insouciant apricot pit whose aloofness toward his host is cause for one gentleman of my acquaintance to mistrust the fruit entirely.

Anyhoo, Medjool dates have joined the ranks of Favorite Fruit. It's a short list - only cherries and blueberries occupy it. The criteria to make the list: it takes discipline (sometimes force) to make me stop eating the candidate. I bought myself a small carton at Whole Foods upon our return home. They were good. The Parisian ones were no doubt the Jumbo variety. Those are the cream of the crop. Santa takes suggestions, right?

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What I'm Excited to Eat This Week

Photo courtesy Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

It's not tuna fish...

I'm surly about tuna right now. It's something of a staple in our home. It's something of a staple when we travel. When we were abroad last summer I took along one of those jazzy neoprene lunch totes so we could picnic. I love picnicking, especially when travelling. For one, eating out gets tiresome. Two, checking out local food markets is fun tourism. Three, sitting in a park in the shade or sun - and the inevitable short siesta that follows - is awesome.

We enjoyed several memorable picnics last summer. Gyros in Hyde Park, boulangerie baguettes at Place de Vosges, proscuitto cotto, olives and ciabatta in Corniglia. Almost every other lunch featured small cans of solid tuna packed in olive oil. It was something of a revelation, and very easy picnic food. Simply drain the oil and eat. The oil softened the tuna much the way mayo would were we preparing it at home. Trouble is, I got hooked on it and had not been able to source a comparable product stateside.

Sure, there's a $6 can at Whole Foods, but that's not what I'm looking for. Our summer tuna was a pretty generic item. Coop, the Italian super-coop grocery store, carries it under their own label.

I've got tuna on the brain because last week I was preparing for a dinner party and made stops at all my favorite grocers, checking the canned isle just one more time. Nothing. The only thing that came close was at Treasure Island, but we already tried it and it wasn't the same.

Thanks to an email alert from the NY Times, I've got something to be excited about this week. It's pickles. The kind only I - in my house - love. They're more like cucumber than pickle, with no dill and a short marinating time. I can't be sure they'll be as good as the ones at Wild Ginger in Seattle, but they do look promising, don't they?

Wanna try them too? Check out the recipe for Quick Sweet and Sour Cucumber Pickles here.

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Eating well when there's no time to cook

I enjoy planning a good meal, shopping and spending time in the kitchen. But sometimes time doesn't allow for that. I had one such evening last night. It wasn't that I didn't have time, but I've been down with a head cold and just not really up to the task of making dinner. But, with a nice piece of salmon on hand, some fresh green beans, mixed greens and a dusting of jerk spice, we had a really easy meal that only required me to get vertical for about twenty minutes. It's not terribly inventive, but eating this way beats eating out (for those watching their waistlines, arteries or wallets).

Another idea is the one shown above, concocted with frozen shrimp, leftover pilaf rice and some sauteed onions and peppers. I tossed it all up in a skillet in the galley of a sailboat last week and finished it with a spot of Caribbean hot sauce. Again, I wasn't without time - I just didn't want to spend much of it in the galley. Marina Cay Shrimp and Rice was really good, though I was obviously distracted, both by the hot sauce and the view. Just look at that water!

To pull together your own fast food, start with a protein that doesn't require marinating time or take too long to cook. Flank steak is a nice meat option, especially when you slice it prior to grilling or searing (flank cooks nicely on a hot cast iron skillet). Then add a salad and a side. Green beans sauteed with lots of garlic are super tasty.

Happy 2010!

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