When it rains it pours....

When an awful something unexpectedly strikes us it is only human to feel miserable and devastated. I remember when I was a kid, everytime I was intensely happy I was always scared that something negative would happen anytime. As if somehow I feel subconsciously that I have no right to be enourmously joyful or else...

Two weeks ago, I was happy as a clam in a butter sauce; there was our unforgettable London trip and then the radiant wedding of my sister in law. Everything was doing well, until last Saturday when I received the phone call of my sister telling me about the recent catastrophe that hit Philippines. A strong typhoon striked and left lots of families homeless and the death toll still continues to rise. My family was luckily spared but there lots of others that are suffering. They need our love and prayers.

I will be back with my regular blogging in a few days. Please bear with me.

London, here and there

I'm finally back from our one week London trip. I must admit that I was a bit skeptic on having a great weather there and was sad to leave the beautiful sun here in Provence. But much to my surprise we had a fantastic sunny blue sky during our London escapade while a gloomy wetty weather was unexpectedly waiting for us here in France.

Meanwhile hope you all enjoy this bunch of photos I took from my "still broken camera" to keep everyone entertained this weekend. As I told you last time that our vacation was sort of "last minute'ly" decided and purchased nothing was prepared which is not very me when it comes to travelling and vacation :-).

I have heard so many times about London and its attractions and I was really looking forward in enjoying them all and of course to have my picture taken in front of it! What I didn't expect was how beautiful and charming this city is. We took a low-cost plane between Marseille and London and arrived there around midnight. We rented a flat in a lovely 17th century Mansion few blocks from Gloucester Underground station. It was immaculately clean with a small kitchen and a balcony. And to top it all we had a chamber maid that' was like a magician in cleaning up all the mess behind us every single day we were there. I told hubby that I want one when will be back in France. :-)

With the short time we had we didn't waste a single moment to visit each of them running here in there with our baby pushchair. My daughter was really behaved during the entire trip and she loved museums! Hahahaha! Anyways London is not London without seeing Westminster Abbey, London Eye, the British Museum, Picadilly Circus and the Tower Bridge. I enjoyed the "yeoman guide" that were garbed in red costumes and tells theatrically all the juicy gossips of the royalties. I almost had a fight in the tower when was told I couldn't bring my daughter's baby puschair but having heard all those stories of heads chopped off and people tortured in that part of the castle I immediately listened to them. After all history repeats itself.

On our gastronmic escapade however we went beyond "fish and chips" and "potato jacket" menus. We tried several restaurants and one of my favorite was an authentic Thai Restaurant were both ambiance and food was really amazing. The chicken pandan really melted on my mouth and one of these days I will try to do this Thai dish. After enjoying some freshly made vegetable gyoza's at Japan Center on the second day I suggested hubby we try eating at Wagamama for some Ramen. But I was disappointed with their Ramen: the noodles were overcooked, the soup was not really boiling hot and I tasted some Ramen far better when I was in Japan. But my favorite of all was "fooding" at Camden market. The ambiance is vibrant and dynamic with different food stalls freshly made right in front of you for a not so hefty price. I had one dozen of freshly made donuts, a slice of dulche de leche tart, blueberry muffins and what else ahhh I had some Bagels that were really heavenly good!!

Sigh, some good things never last. Till here and I will be back with my regular blogging activities next week. Tomorrow is my sister-in-law's wedding where I am supposed to sing so you imagine my feelings right at this moment. I'll be sharing again some photos next week it's a promise and probably a youtube video of me singing ;-)

Banoffee in Verrine and a short Break

Well after long years of service my camera is broken ...snif, snif

maybe it's just a message from up there telling me that I needed a short pause from blogging ;-)

Well friends I'll be in a short break probably somewhere in London, somewhere in Rome, somewhere in Greece...I don't know yet. That's the fun of this trip nothing is prepared LOL See you all soon!!

Banoffee in Verrine
I call this recipe of mine an express one!

Ingredients:
150 g of Speculoos or any biscuit of your choice (like graham)
50 g of melted butter
3 bananas
some lemon juice
4 tablespoons of Dulche de leche
30 cl of very cold fresh cream
3 tablespoons of icing sugar
some grated chocolate for decoration

Procedure: Crush your biscuits and pour the melted butter. Mix well. Spoon this as the first layer of your banoffee in your verrine glasses. Peel and cut your bananas to avoid discoloration add some lemon juice. Add them on your verrine glasses. Put the a layer of dulche de leche over the bananas. In a bowl, whisk your fresh cream and make a chantilly. Add the sugar little by little. Put this as a last layer on your glasses. Decorate with some grated chocolate on top.

Cold Minestrone

My Mom Lied to us!!

Eat stringbeans and you'll grow intelligent but hey I still consider myself poor in Math. How about some carrots that she claims will make us grow taller, hello I still need to put some inches to be seen by others. Or her famous tomatoes that'll make our cheeks pinkish, that I discovered during teen age years that a blush-on can do the trick.

I don't remember how many casserole of lies she fabricated only to convince us to eat vegetables after all children have always aversion for them. The truth is, if not for those lies I would have never known vegetables: its' tastiness, its' nutrients, its' versatility and how it could be economical.

I am sending a bowl of this Cold Minestrone soup to talented Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook, the creator and the host of My Legume Love Affair # 15.


Cold Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
250 g of any pasta (macaroni, tortillini)
300 g of white kidney beans
2 zucchini
2 carrots
1 onion
8 pieces of basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
some olive oil
salt and pepper

Procedure:
Soak the beans in cold water for twelve hours. Clean the zucchini and cut them. Wash and cut the rest of the vegetables in bite size pieces. Crush the garlic and chopped finely the basil leaves. Warm some olive oil in a casserole and sauté briefly all the vegetables except the zucchini and the beans. Then add the beans, the basil leaves and the garlic, pour afterwards about one and a half liter of water. Let it boil, then lower the fire and let it simmer for about an hour. Ten minutes before the final part of the cooking, add the zucchini,the pasta, salt and pepper. Finish cooking, then let it cool, serve with ice.

Papaya Brioche with cheese and farm eggs omelette and french tarragon bearnaise sauce

Are you promdi?

A few weeks ago, I got an eyebrow raising message from a friend telling me that I must be a "provenciana" now considering that I live in Provence which literally means province in french. And what is the big deal I just thought. It is so sad that the word province is often connotated with being naive, backward or ignorant. In Philippine lingo we have the term "promdi" to denigrate somebody coming from the province. I have been long time city dweller and somehow I understand this sort of rivalry. But honestly I really don't mind being coined as a "provenciana". Because this means living closer to the nature, breathing fresher air far from the hassle of the city and eating farm produced products. Yay isn't that better! Anyways I'm sure my friend meant no harm when she said that and besides France's Provençe isn't really that provincial.

And speaking of healthy food I just thought of conconting up this simple meal of fresh farm eggs omellette on home baked brioche with some tarragon bearnaise sauce for my Royal Food Joust entry.

My over burnt brioche......



My Papaya brioche before over burning ....

Papaya Brioche

Ingredients:
400 grams of flour
1 sachet of yeast (about 10 g)
85 g of sugar
one and a half teaspoon of salt
3 egg yolks
24 cl of milk
100 g of dried papaya
70 g of butter
1 egg yolk + some milk for brushing the brioche

In a bowl put the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and egg yolks and add the milk little by little and continue mixing until they become homogenous. Add the butter and continue kneading the dough until they dont stick to the hands. Let this dough stand for an hour. Flatten the dough to release the air and add your dried papaya. Continue kneading again and let it raise for another hour. Butter your brioche mold and put the dough inside. Brush it with egg yolk and egg mixture. Pre heat the oven and bake it for 20 minutes at 200° celsius.
Cheese and Farm Eggs Omelette

3 large eggs
half a cup of grated gruyere cheese
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Beat the eggs and fold in the grated cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Warm up the pan and pour in the butter and olive oil. Lower the fire. Pour the eggs and cheese and cook it slowly.

French Tarragon Bearnaise Sauce

1 tablespoon of chopped tarragon leaves
2 egg yolks
100 g of butter
2 cl of wine vinegar
2 cl of white wine
1 small shallots chopped

In a casserole boil slowly the white wine, wine vinegar, shallots and tarragon leaves. Let them infused until the volume reduced. Let it cool then add the egg yolks beat them vigorously. Put back into the fire and continue whisking. Avoid making the eggs coagulate. Add the butter and continue whisking the sauce.

Daube Provencal (Beef Stew in Wine and Olives)

Digesting a bad news

The thing that I hate the most on watching news is that most of the time its only about bad news. As if we do not have too much trouble to worry about. But then again the scenario turns into a different perspective, when the news you get are the ones coming from your loved one. How I despise bad news. Yesterday, I felt so devastated after learning about a heart-breaking news from the email I got. You know that I'm so far away from my family, and the Internet always makes me feel so close to home--sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's really bad.

The best thing to deal with problem is to be not too anxious about them! So to make me feel better, hubby had an excellent idea to bring us to to see the 40th celebration of Photography Festival in the historical city of Arles. It is one of the largest and the oldest in the region. Au rendezvous where numerous photo exhibits from the renowned photographers all over the world of all genre showcased all over the city. The guest of honor is Delpire the talented artistic editor of Nouvel Observateur. Of course it was forbidden to take photographs so I just took some snaps of this beautiful city.

(From top left to right clockwise; bull graffiti, the main plaza, the window of an eccentric house close to the Mayors office and the church of Arles.)

(From top left to right clockwise; signage of a yellow hotel, a serving of daube provencal, a door knob and a photographer's graffiti.)

And on times like this nothing beats a comforting dish of Beef Daube Provencal. It's a family recipe that hubby's Grandmother taught me. It's a typical provencale meat dish slowly cooked in wine and olives. I'm sending this off to Family Recipes an event of family well loved dishes hosted by the The Spiced Life.

Beef Daube Provencale

Ingredients:

1 kilo of boneless beef bottom round or chuck cut into bite size
half a kilo of beef short ribs or flanken
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of melted butter
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 big onions chopped
2 big tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped
one cup of green and black olives
one cup of white wine (or red wine)
one cup of beef broth
salt, pepper, bay leaf, fresh rosemary and thyme

Procedure:
Start by putting 1 tablespoon of olive oil on your meat, add some salt and pepper. Put the flour and toss it until the flour are evenly distributed. Heat the pan and put your melted butter and the rest of the olive oil. Fry briefly the beef to have that brownish golden color, add the garlic and onion. Continue stirring. Put the tomatoes, olives and deglaze it with the wine. Add the broth and cook it slowly on a crackpot. Add all the fresh herbes, salt and pepper.