done well: July 2010

"I'm Kelly Dunwell! Bon Appetit!"

>> Wednesday, July 21, 2010 – food, France, travel

When planning for this trip, I knew there was one thing I had to do: take a cooking class in France.

The recommendation from Chateau Les Roches was to try L'atelier des Chefs in Dijon. The problem? The classes were only offered in french!!! We were left to our broken french and hand gestures.

On the menu was a Duck Terrine (duck!!!), a Green Tomato Chutney, and ... drumroll... raspberry macarons!

The green tomato chutney was a great recipe to practice our chopping, dicing, and mincing. Chutneys are so delicious and simple to make: you just need to be patient when reducing all the ingredients to a tasty mush. We froze the chutney and brought it back to Toronto where we ate it with some maple glazed ham. mmmm.

The terrine was much like a pâté, but more chunky. We had finely diced some sweet orange and yellow bell peppers to mix in with a fish mixture. It was all whizzed up in the blender with some cream and then alternately layered with the smoked duck breast. If only we knew there would only be two layers of duck breast, I would have (quietly) asked Dustin to load on the duck.

The finale of the day was the raspberry macarons! I want to say that it was so easy to make, and I think I could make them at home, but the hardest parts were taken care of by the chef...

The outer part of the macaron was essentially a meringue with almond powder.

We all took turns sifting the almond powder and folding the powder into the perfectly prepared meringue (We observed as the master chef carefully heated the simple syrup to 119 degrees Celsius, adding it to perfectly whipped egg whites producing the "eagle's beak" to show that the meringue was at the desired consistency.)

We got a quick piping lesson and Dustin decided it was a contest to pipe the biggest macarons. It just made for a difficult situation trying to fit them into our take-home containers in the end.

The "garniture" (filling?) was a raspberry jelly slowly reduced in a pan, and additionally solidified with agar agar (a natural gelatin).

I think the hardest part about macarons is baking it to the perfect doneness. Too much, and they look a little burnt; too little and they collapse and don't come off the pan. The chef took care of that part.

Our job was to find matching sides to pair together, then add the filling, and voila: the almost perfect macaron!

They really are as delicious as they say. Crispy light outer crust, delicious jammy filling... Mmmmm.

And thus ends the quest for the french macaron, and the travel section on France. [Exeunt]

Burgundy?

>> Monday, July 19, 2010 – France, musical/movie references, travel

My favourite part about our trip to France was the side-trip out to the Burgundy region. We drove out approximately 3 hours to Mont Saint Jean, where an enchanting "country residence" awaited our arrival.

Chateau Les Roches came highly recommended by my good friends who had honeymooned there 4 years ago. It is run by two english-speaking gentlemen, Marcus and Tobias. They offered delicious food cooked in-house by Marcus and they were most helpful in planning our time in the area.

The chateau itself was amazing. My reaction was much like that of Frauline Maria's, when she first spotted the Von Trapp's residence -- minus the dread. and the singing.

Our room had a gorgeous view of the back gardens, where we climbed for a spectacular view of the Chateau.

Breakfast (with freshly baked croissants!) was on the terrace.

The detail to finish the fantasy: a real key. The big clunky kind. With a tassel!

Although it was difficult to tear ourselves away from Les Roches, there was plenty more to marvel at. I will save my favourite adventure to share as my final France post: ultimate best for last. (I promise not to keep you in suspense for too long.)

The rest of our time in the Burgundy region was spent seeing Dijon, Beaune, and all the breathtaking countryside in between. We took in everything: goats, markets, castles, cobblestone roads and artistic roofs, and not to mention the endless views of spectacular farmland, gardens, vineyards, and untouched greenery. All this in Burgundy, just a few hours drive from the hustle and bustle of Paris.

As a preview/clue to my final post on France: I had alluded to another encounter with the elusive macaron. Here we are in front of the Châteauneauf-en-Auxois with raspberry macarons. If we couldn't get into the fancy shop to buy them, then why not just make them?! ...To be continued...

A new park of smells

>> Saturday, July 17, 2010 – mackenzie, Out and About

Mackenzie loves walks. What dog doesn't? But I was getting the impression that she was outgrowing her neighbourhood. Same smells everywhere. And it didn't help that there was a serious lack of squirrels.

Today I decided to take her on a new adventure. We took the bus (the TTC allows dogs on the bus/subway system!) to Dufferin Grove park and had a nice morning in the sun.

Mackenzie even made an appearance at a one year old's birthday party! She usually isn't very good at staying still for kids to pet her; this abnormal politeness may have had something to do with the croissant that one of the kids was carrying.

I've been blogging for a couple hours now, and Mackenzie has been sleeping at my feet snoring louder than my brother, Kirk. She must have had a marvelous time!

Duck, Duck, Goose!

>> Wednesday, July 14, 2010 – food, France, travel

[A friendly warning to my beloved vegetarian readers: you might want to skip this one.]

Duck is one of my favourite meats. Odd, because chicken is one of my least favourite meats and you'd think they'd taste similar...

In Toronto, my favourite restaurant is Superior, mostly because of the duck breast seared rare with pommes anna topped with concorde grape jus but also because we stumbled upon the restaurant by sheer luck after a disastrous start to the evening at Tom Jones Steak House involving a creepy piano guy... Good times.

In Paris, I think duck is their chicken. (Or maybe I had tunnel vision when I looked at menus...) After the seared duck breast at Chez Papa, I had two more mouth-watering duck dishes.

Saturday afternoon was mostly spent in line waiting for "evening tickets" to the French Open. But that's another story: no duck at the tennis match. Following the (amazing) tennis matches, we were famished. We stayed out in the 16th arrondissement and just randomly picked a restaurant based on its menu and ambiance.

At Le Beaujolais d'Auteuil (chosen random restaurant) I ordered the duck confit: a leg of duck preserved, and then slowly cooked in its own fat. Delicious. It was accompanied by a very simple salad with a flavourful house vinaigrette. The french fry was stolen from Dustin's meal.

Sunday was spent in Monmartre in the north end of Paris. A spectacular view after a hefty climb. We even spotted a space invader graffiti art!

It was also here in Monmartre where I had the duck salad of my life. Yes: salad. Sounds healthy! ... not so much.

The salad began with a generous base of crispy greens and tomatoes, (wait for it,) slices of smoked duck breast layered throughout, (WAIT for it...) a chunk of goose foie gras nestled in the middle, (AND the kicker:) a mountain of herb and garlic fried potatoes topping the whole dish off.

A - MA - ZING.

Avenue des Champs Elysées

>> Tuesday, July 13, 2010 – France, travel

How's that for a normal title?

This post is about our stroll down the luxurious Avenue des Champs Elysées, famous for being the most beautiful street in the world. It definitely had beautiful stores that silently told me to "look, but don't go in."

Everything from Hermes, Chanel, Prada, Dior, Luis Vuitton, Yves Rocher... I was happy to just look from the outside.

We also stopped at the famous Ladurée to check out what all the macaron fuss was about. After reading about macarons in Karyn's blog (different from the coconutty macaroon) I knew my trip to France would not be complete without a taste.

I made it about 1 meter in, and after being told "pas de photo" (no photos!) I decided the lineup was not worth it. Not to fret: this is not the last you will hear about the macaron.

The end of the famous avenue is home to the equally famous Arc de Triomphe. Like the Eiffel Tower, we did not climb to the top. No lineups to blame this time. We were satisfied by the view, and a little intimidated by the traffic. I feel like in some way, it was my personal symbol of triumph for having not purchased anything along the way!

Crêpes sucrées et crêpes salées

>> Monday, July 12, 2010 – food, France, travel

I've shared about my love of crepes once before, and in Paris, they did not disappoint. In Paris, you can get crepes as street food, or you can sit in a café and order them on a plate.

Our first night in Paris, we stopped at Crêperie de Cluny on our way back to the hotel. We were overwhelmed. You can get a crepe with anything you want: nutella, jam, booze, fruit, chocolate, cheese, ham, EGGS! Thank goodness restaurants are open so late in Paris... We decided on a nutella crepe with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Heavenly.

Our second day in Paris was spent by the Louvre. I say "by" the Louvre because we did not go inside. Dustin and I decided we'd rather see more of the city, than spend most of one day inside a museum; also, I had already been to the Louvre and did not remember it being a very "Dustin" place.

We took our pictures, and then went for a nice stroll through the gardens.

We eventually caved to one of the many crepe vendors along the way, and decided to try a savoury crepe: une crêpe salée. The ham and cheese crepe was even better than the nutella crepe from the night before. And not just because I prefer salty foods over sweet. This one was made with a cheese that was full of flavour (no mozzarella here!) and it was warmed until the crepe was just a little crispy...

Later in our trip, I had tried one more crêpe salée and it just wasn't the same. There was too much cheese (there is such a thing) and there was no crispy crust. Instead of delicately placing it on a (paper) plate already cut in half, this crepe was rolled up into a cone shape and left to soggify in its own grease. Okay -- it wasn't that bad. Still tasty, but I fear that no crepe in the world will ever live up to my first crêpe salée experience.

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