Don't worry. We're also doing cultural enrichment.

In an effort to offset the piles of pancakes and pounds of butter we've been consuming in Paris (not to mention the dozens of baguettes and heaps of fries) we're walking a lot. I mean A LOT. Like our-stroller-is-getting-a-limp amounts of walking. And since we're doing a lot of walking, we're seeing a lot of stuff. It doesn't hurt that we've also got two friends from New York visiting us right now-- you can't exactly invite people to Paris and then not take them to the Eiffel Tower. Then you're just a jerk.

So-- here are a couple of snapshots of what we've been up to. And no, I'm not a good photographer.

Third time is the charm! Trying to get all three of us and a landmark into one
selfie photo is no easy task!

Keep checking in to see what we're up to while we're here in Paris... We've got some new projects in the works, so be sure to stop back to see what we're cooking up... 

Things that are easier to get in New York. Things that aren't.

Alright. Full-disclosure. When we're in New York, I use a combination of Betty Crocker's Bisquick Pancake Mix and Bob's Redmill 10-Grain Pancake Mix to make Jules pancakes once or twice a week. Actually, if I was going to be completely honest, I'm a major fan of Bisquick pancakes myself and would probably eat an entire bowl of uncooked mix if it wasn't terrible for me (and completely gross of me...) 

Well. Believe it or not, it isn't easy to track down Betty's Bisquick or Bob here in Paris. There are a couple of funny American "epicerie" where they carry a peculiar mixture of American brands that I wouldn't qualify as obvious or useful, but none of them have my guilty/lazy pleasure, Bisquick mix. (I was just in one where they had five different flavors of "Nerds" the candy, but only generic ketchup. Someone needs to have a sit-down with the guy in charge of ordering...)

So I caved and looked up how to make pancakes from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I like making things from scratch. I never buy a ready-made pie dough, I don't think I've eaten a frozen meal or fast-food in about 10 years! But at pancake mix, I usually draw the line. And not because I don't think Jules is a discriminating audience, but because let's be serious, why try to make something that has already been perfected by the people at Betty Crocker??? Well. Surprise, surprise, Martha Stewart has found a way to make a homemade pancake that is almost as good as pre-fab.

Here's her recipe, though I made (of course) a couple of alterations... Mainly, I halved the quantity of sugar in the recipe, because I really don't like sweet pancakes. Obviously, that's dealers-choice, if you are cool with a sweet pancake, you can make her recipe exactly as you find it.

Sorry this photo is a little grizzly. Jules takes his pancakes "straight-up", so I couldn't jazz this photo up with gloriously drizzled syrup and a whopping pile of butter and fruit... 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 2 tablespoons sugar *I only used 1 T. and was happy with the degree of sweetness. To each, their own... 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or vegetable oil 
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Assorted toppings, such as butter, maple syrup, confectioners' sugar, honey, jams, preserves, sweetened whipped cream, or chocolate syrup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees; have a baking sheet or heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. **I didn't do this-- we just ate them as they came off the griddle and they never even saw the  chance to cool down. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine). *I used butter in lieu of oil throughout this recipe. Because it's delicious. And I'm in France where butter is on a completely different level. 
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel. Again, butter in lieu of oil. 
4. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You'll have 12 to 15 pancakes.) Serve warm, with desired toppings.

Things we're doing. Things we're eating.

So we've made the move from Burgundy to our magical new apartment in Paris. We're settling here until the end of 2014, so we're pretty psyched that we like the apartment and the neighborhood as much as we do.

And yes, our apartment did come with a trampoline...

So our move to Paris has pretty much been a hit, with only two small hitches:

1.) It's a fifth floor walk-up. Which is a long way up when you're counting steps in french and english with a two-year old. (Luckily, he loses interest in walking up after the first two flights, so at least it doesn't also take F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

2.) Our bedroom ceiling is about 69" tall, at it's highest point. So there's only one place where I can fully stand up, and John has to put his head out the skylight to put on his trousers in the morning. BUT-- we have a truly spectacular view of the Eiffel Tour from both of the skylight windows, so he gets to see that every morning too. I think it pretty much evens out pro vs. con. (He might vote differently.)

One of the best meals we made before we left for Paris was an adaptation of Marco Canora's "Veal-Ricotta Meatballs". I've eaten these meatballs a hundred times in New York, and I'm pretty much addicted. They serve these bad boys on a "ficelle" baguette at Marc's restaurant Terroir in the East Village, and when I saw a ficelle baguette at our local boulangerie, it planted a seed of such intense meatball-desire, that I just succumbed and attempted to make my own. (Yes. Meatball desire is a thing.) We had to adapt a little because we were in rural France, but if you can get these ingredients exactly as described, all the better. Now that we're here in Paris, I'm going to take another crack at it for dinner guests we've invited over this evening, hopefully using all the proper ingredients. I'll report back if it makes a big difference...

Veal and Ricotta Meatballs

Adapted from Marco Canora's recipe... 

Time: 3 1/4 hours, plus 1 hour chilling and overnight draining of ricotta

1 pound ricotta cheese *I confess. I did not drain my ricotta overnight the first time. And it was actually a french equivolent of ricotta, because I couldn't find any in Dijon. I'm a traitor. 
1 pound ground veal (triple ground by butcher or at home), chilled *Yep. Triple-grinding didn't happen either. Still turned out delicious. What can I say? 
2 large eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon salt, or as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg, as needed
Vegetable oil for frying
1 cup flour, or as needed
4 cups mild tomato sauce.

1. Wrap ricotta in cheesecloth a day before serving and place in a sieve set over a bowl. Weight cheese, cover and refrigerate overnight. (Cheese should then have consistency of tofu.)

2. The next day, combine all ingredients except oil, flour and sauce in a bowl and mix with hands until completely smooth, pale and homogenized, about 4 minutes. Test seasoning by frying a bit in hot oil. It should taste assertively salty (braising in sauce tames seasoning); adjust salt if needed. Cover and chill before shaping into meatballs.

3. Dust a baking sheet and your hands with flour. Keep remaining flour nearby in bowl. Gently form meat into nine balls. Place on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

4. Place about 1 1/2 inches oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, fry meatballs, moving them as little as possible. When bottoms are golden brown, after about 2 minutes, gently turn them. Fry until uniformly brown on all sides. Meanwhile, heat sauce in pot over medium-low heat and when meatballs are done, remove from oil with slotted spoon and add to sauce.

5. Simmer over medium-low heat for at least 30 minutes; they can remain in the sauce for hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Can be refrigerated overnight, and gently reheated. Serve meatballs in sauce alone, or over pasta, with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano passed separately.

Yield: 4 servings.

More wonderful adventures in France...

John and I have stolen off for a few days of baby-free Burgundian fun, and it's been just spectacular. Jules has been a real sport about visiting all of the local attractions (in particular, the parks, bodies of water, and castles; not to mention the zoo and the Natural History Museum!) but when our babysitter from New York offered to come to France for a couple of weeks, how could we refuse the chance to wile away a couple of afternoons tasting Chablis and Irancy while someone else honed their rock-skipping skills with Jules?!?!

While they're doing the grand tour of every surrounding river, more in-depth investigations of the zoo, and trips to local farms with the FOUR french children who live across the road; John and I have been out toodling around the countryside, channeling the spirit of the french locals while we squander the afternoon enjoying wines from the region and exploring local Burgundian cuisine. Needless to say, it's been challenging. 

Why I'll never be a double-zero...

After a week of eating stacks of charcuterie-- cheese by the wheel, slices of paté thicker than a Cracker Barrel serving of meatloaf, and enough baguettes to circle the globe-- I was feeling the burn (and by burn, I mean my jeans were feeling a little too snug... which is no small feat when you're already wearing skinny jeans) so when I read this "detox recipe" in the latest T Magazine, I thought "Okay. Time to eat the model food." It was going to be hard to convince John to chow down on frozen kleenex, so this seemed like the best possible alternative.

Pea, Mint and Broccoli Mash

According to the T Magazine, we're supposed to serve this lively green spread on multiseed loaf (find recipe in the same article), for a nutrient-dense, gluten-free bread packed with pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds. It also makes a fantastic dip. 

*However, I was up to my eyeballs in half-eaten french baguettes at our house in Bussy Le- Grand, so I wasn't about to bake a loaf of freaking bread. So-- right from the get-go, my aspirations for a model-bod were fading fast... It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that I realized just how little food we actually had in our house, so I ended up making a fair amount of alterationsto the original recipe too... If you've ever visited France, you know that Sunday afternoon is a barren wasteland of closed stores and shuttered stands. If you don't already have it, plan on driving back to Paris if you really want it, 'cause it ain't gonna happen in the countryside... 

INGREDIENTS:

1 garlic clove, diced (I added 3 garlic cloves, because as my mother says, "Can you really ever use too much garlic?")
1 head of broccoli, about 10 ½ ounces, cut into florets, with stalks finely chopped
12 ounces frozen peas
Juice of half a lemon (Turns out we'd used the last of our lemon stash, so I substituted sherry vinegar for this and though different, it was still delish.)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (Yeah. This is where we really parted ways. I probably put 4 tablespoons in instead....)
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives (skipped. Substituted with parsley.)
A small handful of fresh mint leaves (skipped. Seriously. Our fridge was empty.)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Steam the garlic and broccoli in a pan with 4 tablespoons of water, lid on, for 5 minutes until tender. Check to make sure there’s enough water to prevent the broccoli from sticking to the bottom of the pan — add more if needed. Remove from heat.

2. Drain and stir in peas. Cover and leave for 5 minutes for the peas to defrost in the hot mixture.

3. Add the garlic, broccoli and peas mixture and remaining ingredients to a food processor (except for a few chives to save for garnish later on), and blend until creamy.

4. Add salt and/or pepper to taste, and serve either hot or cooled on toasted bread, topped with remaining chives or even a drizzle of pesto.

It's at this point that things went completely off the rails... I happened to have a nice log of chèvre in the fridge, and I figured--- why wouldn't this luminous green spread be delicious on top of a lovely layer of goat cheese? Toasted, and then... at that rate, why not drizzle it with a little more olive oil too??? 

So we did that, and surprise, surprise! It was completely delicious. I'm not sure when this dinner left the category of "model food"... Around the third tablespoon of olive oil, the introduction of the baguette bread, or maybe it was the fact that we each ate five of them? 

Oh well. Nice try! 

Whipping Up Somethin' Simple for Our First Guests!

Our first guests arrive for a weekend in Burgundy tomorrow night, so John's cooking up a storm, and I'm in charge of desserts. We have a plethora of apples and pears in the house, so I've decided that would be a simple and delicious place to start. After a meager amount of investigation, I've churned up this recipe from "Food & Wine" and with a couple of alterations (ie. not having the right ingredients) I've decided to get cookin'!

Ideally, this bad-boy is going to emerge looking something like this... but no promises. I'm definitely winging here a little bit. And yes-- I am still going to have to figure out the conversion of Fahrenheit to Celsius. Not to mention converting all my measurements into grams. Wish me luck!!

Rustic Apple Tart

1. 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2. Pinch of salt
3. 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, plus 2 tablespoons melted
4. 1/3 cup ice water
5. 3 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6. 4 large Golden Delicious apples—peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices *Or in my case, three apples and a pear. 
7. 2 tablespoons melted and strained apricot preserves *Hoping preserves of any nature will work... Again. Crossing my fingers here... 

1. In a food processor, pulse 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the salt. Add the cold butter and process just until the butter is the size of peas, about 5 seconds. Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and process just until moistened, about 5 seconds. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just until it comes together. Pat the dough into a disk. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 16- to 17-inch round about 1/4 inch thick.
2. Line a large unrimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it onto the prepared baking sheet.
3. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the sugar with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour and sprinkle over the dough. Arrange the apple slices on top in overlapping concentric circles to within 3 inches of the edge. Fold the dough over the apples in a free-form fashion. Brush the apples with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Refrigerate the unbaked tart until slightly chilled, about 10 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the tart in the center of the oven for 1 hour, or until the apples are tender and golden and the crust is deep golden and cooked through. Brush the apples with the melted preserves. Slide the parchment onto a wire rack and let the tart cool slightly before serving.

MAKE AHEAD The baked tart can be stored overnight at room temperature. Reheat in a 325° oven before serving.

Feeling crafty?

I confess, I'm still way too immersed in vacation-mode to start any of my own projects, but I just got this weekly newsletter email from Better Homes & Gardens with some cute and crafty ideas... Lots of them are also very tacky (like turning your side table into a drum-lookin' thing by making a weird and ill-fitting table cloth) but some of them are great too...

I've sifted through them and picked out a couple that look really fun and easy to do, in case you're feeling crafty before I am...

I was thinking this same concept could also be applied to a larger screen, composed of three panels, each panel maybe 72" height and 24" wide, you could wallpaper the back and front sides of each panel, paint the edges, and make an awesome room divider... 

Just sayin'... Maybe it's time to get crafty!?!