We’re starting to settle into the routine of life. Even in a foreign country, in time, comes routine. And, a regular part of my daily routine involves a trip to one of the local markets, which is one of the best parts of Paris in my mind.
We’re adopting a “European model” of life—our small fridge holds just enough groceries for a few days and most of the regular guests in our dorm-size fridge are things that are unlikely to be found in our fridge in the States.
We always have at least two types of cheese (and one of them is probably smelly in a good way), a variety of yogurts (this week we have coconut yogurt in small glass jars that is both cheap and tasty), diet coke (ok, not everything is a stranger), red wine (honestly a bottle lasts us a couple days here and the Gibson House Wine costs under two euros and its perfectly tasty—really!), and a collection of whatever other ingredients I have stumbled upon in my market journeys.
Josh refers to me as “MacGyver” in the kitchen—each day’s menu is based more on vision, intuition and improvisation, rather than planned menus. I tried a few recipes and they didn’t work out so well—I think I felt confined.
My favorite way to shape the menu is to find the “sale bins”. Each produce guy at the market (and yes, it usually is a man for some reason) has bins for a euro or a euro and a half full of things that are still in good shape, but are ripe enough he knows they won’t last more than a day or two. It’s a cheap way to buy a good amount of produce that is ready to eat immediately—perfect!
This week, I found a great deal on tomatoes (we’ve had tomato sauce, roasted tomatoes, sliced tomatoes and we still a have a few left), fennel (we’ve had fennel salad, sautéed fennel and we’ll keep having it for a few more days), eggplant (we’ve had roasted eggplant and I am considering making ratatouille) and clementines (which have been the omnipresent fruit since our arrival and have been in a part of at least one meal each day since our arrival). I also noticed that cauliflower is starting to show up (so we’ve had roasted cauliflower and cauliflower soup).
Josh is more than a good sport and has nearly stopped questioning the random mounds of produce that greet him each evening. He did ask today while staring at three enormous heads of fennel (when one head will usually last at least two meals)—“Was fennel having a going out of business sale?” For some reason he didn’t even take note of the five eggplants that were also on the table. And yes mom, I only paid 3 euros for all of it! [Note: Josh is also already predicting that one of my complaints about the states will be the lack of fennel. If you happen to be out and about and see fennel—can someone tell me how much it is a pound?] I think we might even be getting our five veggies a day.
We’re having a dinner guest tomorrow and therefore a trip to the market is on tap after French lessons. There is a market at Place Monge on Wednesdays and its on the way home from my teacher’s apartment—how convenient! We’re having pork, which I bought today, but I still need fruit for the tart—though I wonder, how bad could a fennel and cherry jam tart really be?
sPg
We’re adopting a “European model” of life—our small fridge holds just enough groceries for a few days and most of the regular guests in our dorm-size fridge are things that are unlikely to be found in our fridge in the States.
We always have at least two types of cheese (and one of them is probably smelly in a good way), a variety of yogurts (this week we have coconut yogurt in small glass jars that is both cheap and tasty), diet coke (ok, not everything is a stranger), red wine (honestly a bottle lasts us a couple days here and the Gibson House Wine costs under two euros and its perfectly tasty—really!), and a collection of whatever other ingredients I have stumbled upon in my market journeys.
Josh refers to me as “MacGyver” in the kitchen—each day’s menu is based more on vision, intuition and improvisation, rather than planned menus. I tried a few recipes and they didn’t work out so well—I think I felt confined.My favorite way to shape the menu is to find the “sale bins”. Each produce guy at the market (and yes, it usually is a man for some reason) has bins for a euro or a euro and a half full of things that are still in good shape, but are ripe enough he knows they won’t last more than a day or two. It’s a cheap way to buy a good amount of produce that is ready to eat immediately—perfect!
This week, I found a great deal on tomatoes (we’ve had tomato sauce, roasted tomatoes, sliced tomatoes and we still a have a few left), fennel (we’ve had fennel salad, sautéed fennel and we’ll keep having it for a few more days), eggplant (we’ve had roasted eggplant and I am considering making ratatouille) and clementines (which have been the omnipresent fruit since our arrival and have been in a part of at least one meal each day since our arrival). I also noticed that cauliflower is starting to show up (so we’ve had roasted cauliflower and cauliflower soup).
Josh is more than a good sport and has nearly stopped questioning the random mounds of produce that greet him each evening. He did ask today while staring at three enormous heads of fennel (when one head will usually last at least two meals)—“Was fennel having a going out of business sale?” For some reason he didn’t even take note of the five eggplants that were also on the table. And yes mom, I only paid 3 euros for all of it! [Note: Josh is also already predicting that one of my complaints about the states will be the lack of fennel. If you happen to be out and about and see fennel—can someone tell me how much it is a pound?] I think we might even be getting our five veggies a day.
We’re having a dinner guest tomorrow and therefore a trip to the market is on tap after French lessons. There is a market at Place Monge on Wednesdays and its on the way home from my teacher’s apartment—how convenient! We’re having pork, which I bought today, but I still need fruit for the tart—though I wonder, how bad could a fennel and cherry jam tart really be?sPg
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