Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Artichoke bouquet

When we got back from France, my business partner asked me what we'd done and I thought for a second and said, um...ate a lot!

Our trip was pretty much centered around food and wine (and cider and coffee). I don't know how much this reflects our love of seafood and cheesy products, or because we spend our vacations with a French expat living in England, or because we have small children and can't wander about as much as other vacationers, but when we go to France, we tend to spend a lot of time preparing meals and hanging out at the table.

Here's the consumption tally from our five days on the coast:
1. market visits - three. We got to know the olive stand family quite well.
2. grocery store visits - three. How I love thee, E.LeClerc.
3. ice cream parlors - four. Did you know, French scoops are thrice the size of Czech scoops? Thus rendering our family favorite of pistachio and chocolate into nearly a meal.
4. lollipop stand - one. Even Caroline, the queen of lollipops, thought one visit to the succette stand enough. The resulting lollipop remains largely intact, unvanquished by many many licks.
5. cafes - three. Mostly for their email connections. And to meet new friends! More on this later.
6. restaurants - three. Because mussels and fries taste much better in a restaurant.
7. home cooked seafood - As Will would say, not enough. In tally though we did a good job of covering the basics: cooking oysters, ray, squid, shrimp, and fish cakes.
8. cheese and yogurt - enough to start our own dairy. Luckily we could make the yogurt ourselves.
9. Czech beer consumed - one case, imported for the occasion.
10. Alsace Cremant - three bottles (we were trying to save some for posterity)
11. Brittany cider - much.

With some trepidation then, yesterday I decided to greet our scales again and see what they might have to tell me. I'm happy to note that after their news I tripped blithley to the grocery store and picked up some goat cheese (driven in from France, approximately six times the cost of E.LeClerc) to celebrate and reminisce.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmm...I love artichokes, also love pistachio-and-chocolate combos!

countrypeapie said...

lactose intolerance be damned!

really outstanding photographs

lee says if the republicans win, we're moving out of the country -- can we stay on your couch while we find a new place to live? ;)

Kelly said...

Oh how I miss artichokes....big, healthy, looking artichokes :) Did you bring any home???

Julia said...

I didn't since the car was packed to the gills. In retrospect though, I wish I had grabbed a few!

Lucy said...

Mouthwatering!

Ellen said...

Pistachio and chocolate - my ice cream combo favorite too!

(BTW, have you tried out the calamari recipe from Express? I could eat it 7 days a week...)

Julia said...

Just looked it up and that does sound delicious. A good Friday food don't you think?