Tasty Tuesday

On the recommendations of fellow blogger Troy at The Grounded House Spouse, I finally watched Julie & Julia or is it Julia & Julie.

A Treat with a capital "T" it has been.  I did not know what to expect when I heard about it. Meryl Streep had been nominated for an oscar, so I guessed it would be a worthwhile film.  I knew it was about cooking and I was saying to my daughter I might get my mojo back (not that I have completely lost it) watching it because Troy is very verbal about this book.

My conclusion: I am today able to kill almost three birds with one stone:  You see I had no idea, it was also about blogging!  Julie's eagerness to start a blog to help her focus and concentrate with one subject is endearing and her excitement at her first comment is a treat! (Slightly disappointed when she realises she knows the author of the comment)

Do you remember your first comment? Let me know what it felt like?  Mine was from my friend Liz from A day in my life, and I was so over the moon! Thanks Liz ♥

Her guessing how many people are actually hitting her blog and the enormous amount of comments she eventually gets is a joy to see.

But most of all, the cooking is fantastic!  The film literally took me back down memory lane and reminded me that I am from a long line of extremely good cooks in my family and I have the best of both worlds.

Look at my profile.  I am French with a long tradition of French cooking and I am also from a little island with a long history of Creole cooking.  We are actually a melting pot of cooking influences, from the coast of Africa, to the shores of India and further afield with the Chinese escaping the Revolution of their country. We have had the Portugese stopping and leaving their legacy.  I was into fusion way before they had invented the the term for it!

We have a little bit of everybody and I personally think the best of everybody. As much as we adapt to a country and adopt its ways, in our kitchen we remain what we grew up to be, smells and touch are us.  Do you get what I am saying?  We all have memories linked with good food. 

Anyway to come back to my upbringing:  On the island, we love our fresh fish, our aromatic spices, our dairy products: butter and cheese, our fresh vegetable, especially our greens picked very often in the fields, exchanged with other family members for fruits such as avocadoes, or if it is in season, the juicy mangoes and pineapples and I mention but a few!

I have jumped from one litchi tree to another to taste the freshest and most scented fleshy fruit. 
I have eaten the most buttery avocado from my parents' garden. 
I have eaten the best chicken dishes cooked on logs by my aunt in my great-grandmother out-of-house kitchen smelling of smoked garlic waay before it was fashionable to have garlands of smoked garlic!

I have been served the biggest and most delicious langouste (rock lobster) just because my host was able to climb down the cliffs not far from his house and found many for a dinner party.

As a treat for Easter my mother and my aunt have cooked for me one of the most delicious fish I know légine.

My cousins have all spoiled me when I have visited with Palm heart gratin, smoked sausages in the most divine tomatoe sauces.

I have eaten Pigs trotters on picnic by the sea side with the moon as the sole source of light.
I have dipped my dimsum in hot chilli sauce whilst looking at the waves crashing in front of me.
I have barbecued fresh shrimps on Christmas day on the beach.

I have had the most succulent pork caramel and litchi stir-fry home made by my cousin Christine.

My best friend from primary school, invited me to her house where I saw her mother using a wok for the first time and her Dad grow his own beanshoots and trim them delicately with scissors ready for use.

I have helped my aunt prepare intricate canapes for her Saturday dinner parties when I was an impressionable teenager!
I have helped in the cake decoration section, of a renowned patissier on my island!

I have hand-picked greengages to make jam till midnight, with colourful and slightly eccentric cousins!

I have been served the tastiest couscous, well known Morrocan dish, my Aunt Jocelyne (her speciality)!

My mother's chicken a la Creole is renowned and I have copied her method many many times.

My father had a good nose for wine!  Although I do not drink I can still pick a good cru!

I learned to make a bechamel with my maths tutor's wife, when I was dropped off there for extra maths lessons : "the secret you see is to wait for the flour and butter to acquire a rich biscuit aroma, before adding your warm milk".  The money was not wasted Mum:  I like maths and cooking!

I have lived in Paris in the XV arrondissement not far from the Convention market to be able to shop even as a student where I was offered an array of potatoes varieties, the freshest endives during the Spring, the juicest apples and the Brie de Meaux, from the cheesemaker from Meaux.

I have lunched with my friend Liliane on the Champs Elysées!  Discovered still on the Champs Elysées the best sorbet house in the world!

I have eaten with my husband in one of the best restaurant in Stockholm, Berns.
I have had Mussels and chips in St Tropez over looking the millionnaires' yachts.
I have torn a pizza whilst sitting on a wall in Monaco Bay looking through the clear water at the array of fish!
I have eaten boiled eddoes in olive groves in the South of France!
I have eaten foie gras in the Perigord region of France! and spread it on my children's bread...to go to school...

I have gestured in Venice to be able to eat the freshest clams!  Not to mention the ice-cream during the heat wave in August 2004.

I have enjoyed the sushis at Nobu in London. 
Mingled and eaten in the noisiest restaurant of Hong Kong usually only for the locals. 
I have sat crossed legged in Chiang Mai, Thailand to eat their delicate morsels.
I have been served the biggest stuffed oysters at Redondo Beach, and they were out of this world.
I have people watched and drank good coffee during breakfast at the Back Burner Cafe on Hermosa Beach.

As I write down all these memories and many more that I have not mentionned:  I am suddenly not surprised by my love of food and my high expectations!  Not for the fanciest restaurants but for the love that can be shown in a plate of eats!

I have not written all this to try and impress you, but to remind myself that this blog is also my space to record memories and traditions.

And to finish I would like to add that I still love cooking to this day, even the simplest of dishes.  I love entertaining a few or many!  My kitchen is my favorite room in my house! The place where the life of my family is!

PS: Did I tell you my son is training to be a chef!!




By the way don't forget to follow this link (my own blog) I have a fantastic give-away, no kidding!