When we try to take a family photo...

Still a few miles out from perfection. Assuming we ever manage to take a useable photo, I'll post that too. It seems that we have a family tendency for not looking directly at the camera-- and a unique ability to take photos that crop out half of our faces...

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Wishing you a bright and exciting 2015!

 Getting closer... We'll try again today. 

Cross your fingers for us.

Dear Me. New Obsession.

I just bumped into this truly beautiful wallpaper on Apartment Therapy, and now I'm hooked. I think this might really be the wallpaper that I want for our downstair's bathroom in the Catskill Farmhouse, which probably means I'm going to have to save up for years before I can see this happen. But it will be worth the wait!!!

The wallpaper is made by "Osbourne & Little" which isn't exactly known for their bargain-basement wallpaper pricing, but it's just so perfectly romantic and lovely... in all of its color-ways.

Swoon. I'm hooked. 

Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone! 

I hope you're spending a warm and wonderful weekend with your friends and family, enjoying the festive spirit in the air, and eating as excessively as we have been, here in Paris...

We're beginning to prepare for our return to New York, and can't believe that our four-month-long adventure is coming to an end. We've seen so much, eaten SO much, learned so much (particularly about wine...) and have truly fallen in love with the city of Paris. We're excited to head back to New York and ready to tackle our next adventure, and somehow it seems perfectly fitting that we are returning to New York right as the New Year begins!

Out with the old, in with the new! 

Now... Enough of that sentimental gobbly-gook... Let's talk about food. 

Here's the play-by-play from our Christmas Eve menu. Prepare yourself. It was no joke. 

Entrée: 

Seared Fresh Foie Gras De Canard 

served with Homemade Onion Confit

*I'm not going to lie. This dish is not for the weak of heart. It's incredibly rich and pretty f-ing intense, but if you like paté or foie gras, this is next level delicious. Give it a try! 

John made the Foie Gras and followed the recipe exactly, though we ditched the fig-mostarda in favor of an onion confit, mainly because my mom and I both love onion confit somethin' crazy. 

This particular Homemade Onion Confit is spectacular, and I'm pretty sure I'd happily eat it on anything. Baguette with sausage and cornichon, ribs, steak, meatloaf, baguette & butter, eggs? I'm pretty sure you could innovate and put it on virtually anything and you wouldn't be sorry. 

The recipe came from this website, but things went a little tits-up during the cooking process, and I ended up "tweaking" the recipe to the version shown below. Let me emphasize this IS NOT because I thought the recipe was wrong. It's because I was trying to juggle too many things and mis-read the recipe and added the vinegar too soon. And once I'd biffed it, I figured, how bad could it possibly be, and went totally free-style from then on... 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs red onions or regular onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 5 tbsp butter & 4 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaf
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup red currant jelly
• 
  

1. Halve and thinly slice the onions, then thinly slice the garlic. Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Tip in the onions and garlic and give them a good stir so they are glossed with butter. Sprinkle over the sugar, thyme leaves, cayenne pepper, and a dash of salt and pepper. Give everything another really good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Scoop in approximately 3/4 cup of red currant jelly, coat the onions, and continue to cook over medium heat. 
2. Pour in the vinegar and continue to simmer everything, still uncovered, over a medium-high heat for another 40 minutes, stirring every so often until the onions are a deep purple color and the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. Your confit is ready when you can scrape a spoon across the bottom of the pan and it clears a path that fills rapidly with syrupy juice. Leave the onions to cool in the pan, then eat as fast as humanely possible. These actually last in the fridge for about a week, longer if you've put them into a clean jar, but don't wait too long or you'll discover someone else has eaten them all while you weren't looking!

Plat:  

Sweet-Jesus Whole Duck Cassoulet 

It's come to my attention that Mark Bittman is trying to kill my family. In the spirit of Christmas in France, we decided to tackle his "Whole Duck Cassoulet" which was featured in the NYTimes magazine in 2012. We followed this recipe exactly (which in itself was a Christmas Miracle because usually John and I like to muddle around with recipes to make them as difficult for us to follow as possible), and we ended up making cassoulet for all of the future generations of both the Salway and Moskowitz bloodlines. Literally, there is so much leftover cassoulet -- after we all gorged ourselves well beyond a point of discomfort-- that we froze it and are planning to organize another dinner party to serve it again. We could serve another 10 people with what is still left. In hindsight, I now realize that Mark's recipe doesn't actually admit how many people this dish serves. I can only assume that's because he knew that if he said "Serves 40" people would be put-off and intimidated. Well. Now I know. SERVES 40. 

I highly recommend this recipe, however I would encourage you to halve all ingredients, and invite over everyone you know. 

Dessert:  

Maple Hazelnut Pie

I made this recipe as recommended as well, and it was a hit. In hindsight, I'd probably recommend chopping the hazelnuts that line the crust more finely that they suggest (they say coarsely chopped, I'd say finely chopped...) and then sprinkling the top with additional coarsely chopped hazelnuts once you've poured in the butter-maple-syrup-sugar mixture. But that's just me... Dealer's choice there. 

Other than that, a total success and one that keeps on giving because we were all so full after Mark's Cassoulet that we really couldn't put our hearts into eating dessert. 

I know. We're quitters. 

I hope everyone is enjoying a truly wonderful holiday weekend, and is wading through fewer leftovers than we've got in our house... Happy Happy New Years... and here's to a year of healthy eating, once we've finished all of this food! 

Merry Christmas Eve from Paris...

We're cooking up a storm here in Paris this lovely Christmas Eve... We have an ambitious menu planned (which I'll post recipes for tomorrow) but for now, I've got to get cracking on the Red Onion Confit or we won't have garnish for the fresh slices of foie-gras de canard that are meant to kick-off this gratuitous festive feast!

Entrée

Fresh Seared Foie Gras De Canard 

served with homemade red onion confit... 

Plats

Whole Duck Cassoulet 

with seared lamb shoulder and garlic sausage

Dessert

Maple Hazelnut Pie

Have a terrific Christmas Eve everyone, and we'll rendezvous tomorrow to discuss what we've been eating, doing, building, and dreaming about since I blogged last...

If you're looking for a cool menorah this Hanukkah season...

Take a hint from the New York Times and check this baby out...

Très chic, non?

Happy Hanukkah folks!

The First Night of Hanukkah!

We started off a beautiful festival of lights this evening by making sugar cookies in the shape of menorahs, dreidels, and Stars of David, thanks to an enormous Hanukkah parcel sent by my mother-in-law...

I tracked down an astonishingly delicious recipe for sugar cookies-- via the tried-and-true-Martha-Stewart-- and I have to say, it's genuinely exceptional. They're chewy and flavorful, not too sweet and not too dry, which is unfortunately exactly the way I'd describe the majority of sugar cookies I've encountered since I was a kid.

Martha really nailed this one. I followed the recipe to a T, with only one exception... Because I'm currently living in someone else's Parisian apartment, I don't have access to my beloved kitchen-aid, an electric hand mixer, or sadly, even a whisk. (I know. I should just buy one. It's like € 4.00. Get off my back...) I improvised by using an archaic device that I think was a pastry knife, combined with a little spoon-and-fork action, and I was perfectly happy with the outcome. (So who says I need a whisk?!?)

Totally great.

Basic Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Assorted candies, sprinkles, or colored sugars, for decorating (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight).
    WATCH: How to Cream Butter Properly
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. (If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes.) Reroll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
3. Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size). Cool completely on wire racks. To ice cookies, spread with the back of a spoon. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes. Decorate as desired.

COOK'S NOTE

Use flour on utensils to keep dough from sticking: Dip the cookie cutters, and dust the spatula before transferring uncooked dough to a sheet. Rolling dough between two sheets of floured parchment will keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.

Revisitng Our Trip To London, One Photo at A Time.

If you've been following this blog for a while now, you'd know that Jules is pretty much bananas for dinosaurs. Actually, he's pretty much bananas for anything you'll find in a Natural History Museum (animals, bugs, large whales, DINOSAURS, fish of any kind, butterflies; you name it, man loves it.) And our visit to London's Natural History Museum was no exception. If you've had the good fortune to see their museum, you know without me saying that the dinosaur exhibit was a hit. It's freaking bizerk. 

In addition to the standard gigantic skeletons of diplodocus and triceratops, there are actual animatronic full-sized dinosaurs (T-Rex and a couple of creepy raptor-lookin' guys) and that pretty much blew Julian's mind. Needless to say, he and John stood for a solid 10 minutes just watching those creepy raptors watching them. 

And then the taxidermied section was just as impressive. Full-sized giraffes, surprisingly hairy elephants, a couple of cheeky looking gazelle. A true safari. 

And in case that wasn't enough-- the space itself is utterly spectacular as well. 

Those victorians did not f#!k about when it came to their museum halls. 

This space is truly palatial as well-- and just as beautifully designed as a palace to boot. When you first come in, look up and you'll spot roughly 30 enormous hand-painted, gold-leaved decorative ceiling panels, which (I have on good authority) were designed by the actual William Morris. Yes. The actual William Morris. Truly sensational. 

If you've got kids and you ever make it to London, this should absolutely be on your MUST-DO list. 

While we were there, we stayed on a houseboat that we'd found on AirBnb, right on the canal of Victoria Park. Victoria Park is this tremendous park in the East End of London, and near where most of our London-dwelling friends live, so this was a perfect location for our trip. I'm not going to lie-- sleeping on a boat is bizarre. I swear John and I were swaying for about two days after we got home... And honestly, it's not even that rocky when you're on the boat but evidently all the while, it's messing with your equilibrium, because after we got off, we felt utterly weird. Jules was a total dynamo about sleeping on a boat and didn't complain about dizziness at all-- though I doubt he'll even remember that it happened once he grows up. Luckily I'll have proof!! 

I usually try to avoid posting photos of myself on here, but what the hell! I was there too... We had a genuinely delicious, utterly typical Fish & Chips meal at the Fish House in Victoria Village, just around the corner from the enormous Victoria Park. A true english experience all around! 

All aboard! 

If you take a mouse to the movies...

It's a safe bet that if you've got a two-year-old and you celebrate Christmas, you're probably familiar with the book If You Take A Mouse To The Movies... 

So needless to say, we've read it about 1,000,000 times in the past week. And as soon as John showed up at our Parisian apartment with our Christmas tree (which I lovingly refer to as "The Shrub") Jules was gung-ho to string up some popcorn garland ASAP. 

Obviously it was hard to persuade John to make some popcorn (not true) and before we knew it, we were merrily stringing up popcorn strings and teaching Jules the words to "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer". Things are getting festive around here!! The "How-To" for stringing popcorn is pretty much unnecessary, but I snapped some photos, just in case. 

Step 1: Pop popcorn! (Try to prevent your "team" from eating it all...)

Step 2: Saddle up your needle and thread. I chose dark green thread because it would disappear into the greenery of our "Shrub" (and also because I happened to have dark green thread! ) I doubled up my thread so it wouldn't snap while I was putting on the popcorn. And don't forget to tie-off the end of your thread before you start stringing your popcorn onto the thread.

Step 3: Put a whole lot of popcorn onto your thread! Once you're finished, tie-off the other end and drape as elegantly as possible on your short-squat Parisian Christmas tree! 

And cross your fingers that you don't attract mice. 

Back on the mainland, and hunkering down for the winter...

We have survived our adventures in London (sleeping on a HOUSEBOAT, staying up too late with old friends, eating an unseemly amount of fish & chips, visiting the truly spectacular Natural History Museum, exploring the design districts in Shoreditch, enjoying breakfast in the Victoria Park Pavilion) and have returned to our "normal" life in Paris.

Yesterday was a particularly chilly one, so we hit the marché for supplies, stopped at my favorite bakery for (a couple of) baguettes, and headed home to rustle up Jamie Oliver's Hearty Beef Stew.

We had initially contemplated three different recipes which I'd tracked down and sent along to John:

But after a brief conference, we unanimously agreed that "Easy" sounded the best! (In hindsight, I wonder if we were both subconsciously drawn to this recipe because Jamie calls it, "Jools's Favorite Beef Stew"...) Of course, no recipe is complete without me personalizing it a little, so I've included my changes-- shown in red-- in the recipe below. This is a super simple, incredibly delicious, 100% satisfying dinner; but one small note... Jamie says this recipe serves 4, but I think that's only if you're a family of buffalo. John and I both ate two servings last night, and there's enough left over that we're probably eating it again for dinner tomorrow night, with friends! I would say "serves 6-8" is more accurate, so you could halve the recipe if that's over-kill for your needs. 

Ingredients: 

• olive oil
• 1 knob butter I skipped the butter & doubled-up on oil 
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 handful fresh sage leaves
• 800 g quality stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 5cm pieces
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• flour, to dust
• 2 parsnips, peeled and quartered I love a veggie-filled stew, so I did 3 parsnips...
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved ...And 6 carrots. 
• ½ butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
• 1 handful Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved, optional These shouldn't be considered optional. They add a sensational, nutty, aromatic flavor to the whole dish. And we probably used two handfuls. 
• 500 g small potatoes We went light on the potatoes, probably about 250 grams. 
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• ½ bottle red wine maybe a little more-- like 2/3s...
• 285 ml organic beef or vegetable stock And I doubled this to accommodate my extra veggies... 
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 handful rosemary, leaves picked
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped

Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/300ºF/gas 2. Put a little oil and your knob of butter into an appropriately sized pot or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. 

Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4 – it depends on what cut of meat you're using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it's ready. Once it's cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 110°C/225°F/gas ¼ and just hold it there until you're ready to eat. 

The best way to serve this is by ladling big spoonfuls into bowls, accompanied by a glass of French red wine and some really fresh, warmed bread. Mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew before eating. Just the smallest amount will make a world of difference – as soon as it hits the hot stew it will release an amazing fragrance. (This is in red because it's a vital addition to the stew. Unbelievably bright and delicious, and so flavorful!) 

**Jamie's note from his website: The great thing about this stew is that it gets put together very quickly, and this is partly to do with the fact that no time is spent browning the meat. Even though this goes against all my training, I experimented with two batches of meat – I browned one and put the other straight into the pot. The latter turned out to be the sweeter and cleaner-tasting, so I've stopped browning the meat for most of my stews these days.

We're off to London tomorrow!

Yes! We're boarding the euro-star chunnel train tomorrow morning and are headed for a weekend in London, to visit friends, explore my native land with Julian in tow, and -- let the fun begin-- renew my passport! (Hold onto your hats!)

I'll try to blog while I'm away, but if you only find radio silence over the weekend, check in on my insta-gram feed for the latest snapshots of our adventures!! 

All my photos and all our fun can be found at CHRISTINASALWAY on instagram!!