Open faced toasted sardine sandwich aka sardine tartine
Sardine tartine
This sandwich is an inspiration from our trip to Paris. Our neighborhood boasted of a wonderful restaurant that served various tartines for lunch. Buttered and toasted open faced Poilâne bread with sardine paste hasn’t been forgotten yet.
Space invader in Edith Piaf’s Paris
Edith Piaf is exciting. A guided tour in the neighborhood where Edith Piaf was born, not so. However, it was our only trip to the edges of Paris. An added bonus was Père Lachaise Cemetery. What stood out on the trip, besides graffiti on Oscar Wilde’s tomb, was this odd art work above a specialty food store overlooking one of the oldest churches in the city. Didn’t quite realize what we were looking at until we saw Banksy’s movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. If I am not mistaken, this is work of Space Invader. I forgot to take down the name of the church but it is one of the two churches in main Paris with an attached cemetery and only one with everyday public access to the cemetery.
 Distant view of the church |
 Church and the epicerie |
 Space invader art above Epicerie |
 Behind the church |
Le timbre, French tranditional cuisine by an English Chef
 Mackerel with beet puree |
 Blood sausage with mashed potatoes |
 Fatty pork on a bed of lentils |
 Outside Le Timbre |
Located near Jardin du Luxembourg, Le Timbre is another small and delightful bistro serving traditional cuisine. Yet another place where I had to restrain myself from eating a big block of foie gras with a bottle of wine and loaf of white bread.
A traditional Parisian lunch at Le Comptoir
 Le Comptoir Bar |
 Outside seating at Le Comptoir |
Californians eat lunch early, what with getting up early in the morning for the 5 mile jog or an hour of hot yoga or both. A Californian tourist in Paris arrives early at restaurants during the lunchtime and gets a seat. An hour later would typically mean an hour long wait. Except for one or two of the trendiest restaurants, a reservation thankfully is not needed. Most places in Paris, one gets by with a few words in English, a few in French and lots of energetic hand gestures and facial expressions. Try doing that on the phone. So yes, I am grateful for the no reservation needed situation.
Chocolatiers and pâtisseries of Paris
Macaroons from Pierre Hermé
Living a block away from Pierre Hermé and being restrained was perhaps the hardest thing I had to do in Paris. The first thing we tried was a small box of macaroons – jasmine, vanilla, cassis, rose, various chocolates, balsamic vinegar, pistachio, orange – if I had to recommend one, it would be cassis. Each was a bit sized piece but even in that single bite sized piece, there were three distinct textures and flavors, one that of the soft cookie on the outside, the second that of the tart jelly on the foot of the macaroon and third that of the rich, sweet and soft cream filling.
Mille-feuille (napoleon) was the one we just had to go back for the second time. It is a layered pastry with rich layers of soft chocolate and flaky layers of puff pastry – if you a need a reason to believe in Pierre Hermé’s genius, then this is it. They also had a bread advertised as chocolate bread but really was a chocolate croissant – a perfect take out lunch accompaniment.
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Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime in Paris
 Hot chocolate slurry |
 Tea House at Passage Christine |
Of course in all great cities you walk and walk and walk. In Paris, you like me, perhaps choose to walk in good looking shoes. So, by the time evening rolls around, you are left sitting somewhere with very tired feet.
Le Reminet, a perfect Californian meal in Paris
 Le Reminet and neighboring wine bar |
 Le Reminet, Cozy interiors |
Food in Paris can be overwhelming. Particularly after a week of breakfasting on croissants, lunching on baguette and pâtés, and dining on delicious cuts of game birds, and pigs cooked in clarified butter and fortified with bacon jus. And crème fraiche topped pastries in between meals. How can you not eat well in Paris? But you can be also be overwhelmed by the craft – thousand layers in Pierre Hermes’ mille-feuille, minced pig’s feet stuffed in small potatoes at Christian Constants’ Les Cocottes, Joël Robuchon’s langoustini ravioli with truffle sauce to name a few. Le Reminet by Seine, near Notre Dame, is a tiny restaurant where we ate one of the most delicious meals this Paris trip. And we could have been eating in San Francisco.
Les Cocottes, eating near Eiffel Tower
Neighbor with a morning cup of coffee and cigarette
One nice thing about traveling from San Francisco to Paris is the hour you wake up on the very first day – it was three in the morning for us. Paris is beautifully lit and quiet at that time. We waited eagerly for our first taste of croissant and coffee at the neighborhood cafe. Early signs of dawn breaking are the activities around these breakfast cafes. Morning load of pastries and bread arrives, the chairs are placed out, the waiters share a few moments over their morning cigarettes. I notice a neighbor popping her head out of, what I assume to be, her bathroom window for a smoke.
Dressed in our freshly bought European style attire, we headed out. After a week, my beautiful shoes and the cobblestone paths of Paris parted ways but not on the first day. We decided to combine the two most quintessential symbols of Paris, Siene and Eiffel tower in one shot, walk along Siene to Eiffel tower. From Place Michel Debre to Blvd Saint-Germain to Rue De Bac to river Seine. Even with our hundred stops for photographs, we were near the tower in a couple of hours. Does a slow saunter work up an appetite? No. But sight of delicious pastries from the storefront definitely does.
 While waiting for Les Cocottes to open |
 Canelés, baked flour cakes soaked in syrup |
Breasts, patchouli oil, mint tisane and a Bangla conversation at the Parisian hammam
Sleeping at Jardin de Plantes
I like a good deep tissue massage to undo the damages caused by hours of sitting hunched over on the computer. My local massage spa in San Francisco Bay Area is less of a spa and more of a therapeutic center. Housed in an ugly building in a strip mall, the masseuse pummels the life out of you, kneading and elbowing and kneeing your muscles into submission. All knots begone. I thank the American immigration system that brings me the expertise of traditional Chinese massage techniques at my doorstep. When traveling, I try to get one in a strange city or airport with the purpose of undoing the tortures of the airlines seat. The tale of Korean massage where they turn you into a minor contortionist is for another occasion. This time, the story starts at a hammam in Paris – this is a story of oiled breasts, steamy dark rooms, minty potions and odd snatches of conversations.
Orzo pudding – three decades apart
Orzo pudding
A memory from the first decade of my life – a winter afternoon in a small town in India, sitting in the verandah underneath a warm sun, mother patiently creating rice shaped little grains of dough. For a child, perhaps tiny objects are fascinating. I may have helped her make 50 of those grains. She made 500 more or perhaps a 1000 more. She sun dried the grains for a day or two and then made a pudding, like rice pudding. My mother is a master pudding maker, she usually cooks a handful of rice in a large pot of milk and adds crushed cardamoms and jaggery. Although the grains cook in milk for hours, they are always perfectly melted, never pasty. The jaggery enriched condensed milk tastes like melted butterscotch icecream. There was extra excitement over the grains of dough pudding but the memory of the taste is lost among hundred other perfect puddings.
Time shift a few decades later. Now I make this quick orzo pudding, a few times a year. Sometimes to honor that lazy afternoon and sometimes to satisfy an immediate craving for a dessert.
One river to bind them all
In cities like Calcutta or Paris, the river is the precious that brings together the livelihoods and lifestyles of the people of the city. There is no denying the differences of course. In Calcutta, Ganges river is wide. Wide enough that on a regular traffic clogging business day, crossing one of the two bridges can take an hour or more. For many in Calcutta, the river is everything. They live in small precariously placed shacks along the riverside, cooking on crude stoves, bathing, urinating, defecating in the river, making a living off odd jobs by the riverside. Every once in a while the city police comes by and tears down the shacks and the cycle starts up all over again. For other Calcuttans, the riverside is a sanctuary from the hot and muggy interiors of the city. Often in the evening, when the rays of setting sun make the silt laden water look like gold, the Bengali babus can seen heatedly debating politics and cricket accompanied with roasted peanuts and hot chai. The local train line is just by the banks so every once in a while the toot of the train pierces the surrounding noise and the din. Is it just the mugginess that makes everything feel slow even in that throng of moving bodies? Large ferry and cargo boats crawl past without attracting attention. Tiny little picturesque boats offer rides to young lovers who can perhaps steal a kiss away from the throng of hawkers and gawkers. Nothing spectacular but nevertheless stunning.
 Goddess idol being prepared for immersion |
 Traveling priest or a homeless person |
 Live music between Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis |
 Notre Dame and cruise boat |
I tat I taw a puddy tat, I did taw a puddy tat … in Paris
Zlebia from Tunisia
One watches travel channels and food TV and begins to think that one knows it all. Nothing should come as a surprise and often, nothing does. And then one finds Zlebia from Tunisia in the Latin Quarter of Paris!
What is this strange looking shiny pretzel like thing?
Crepes and cider in Le Marais, Paris
Inside Briezh Cafe
September in Paris is not supposed to be rainy, is it? It rained a good bit during the first half of September this year. On a rainy day, I prefer to do nothing but curl up with a good book and snack on samosa-chai. I did have Simenon with me, I like detective fiction and police detective Maigret brings that in a Parisian setting. It felt a little lame doing that during a prized vacation. So, on one such rainy day this September, after wandering around Marais district of Paris in drizzling rain, I found myself warming up with some cider at a popular creperie, Breizh, that served Brittany style crepes.
 Egg and jambon crepe |
 Valrhona chocolate crepe |
Place des Vosges on a damp afternoon
Place des Vosges in Marais, built in early 1600s, in one of the oldest squares in Paris. And one of the most loved ones in the city. The following is perhaps my favorite picture of the arcades surrounding the square.
Achari Chicken Pizza
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 Achari chicken pizza |
 Achari chicken pizza with Mizuna leaves |
I am trying out a week of dining on pizza alone. Interesting ideas are popping out of the oven e.g.,harissa sauce and marinated eggplant or roasted garlic and pan fried padrone peppers. One of the most remarkable ones at the dinner table this week has been a curried chicken pizza that uses my favorite chicken recipe, achari chicken.
Achari means pickled. Chicken is not pickled here, this name is derived from the spice mix common to Indian pickles. This is one of the simplest chicken recipes and yet the result is highly consistent and extremely flavorful.
One thousand and one nights: Lentil soup recipe
Chana daal
Why 1001 nights? I reckon there are at least that many lentil soup recipes. I am adding mine to the mix.
Why is this special? Aside from the fact that I am not an impartial judge, this one has a variety of textures and flavors that are noticeably distinct but combine to form a wonderfully aromatic and light soup.
Key ingredients? Fresh pickled ginger, finely chopped pickled lime, slow roasted garlic, …
Coco & co, cutest little bistro serving ‘am and eggs
What can one do in a 200 sq ft of space? One can start a little bistro that serves eggs in all sorts of ways.
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Croissant and Coffee, s’il vous plaît
Croissant at Le Parisiene
Day 2: Breakfast at neighborhood cafe – Le Parisiene – coffee, croissant and omelette. This is the second thing on the list of living like a Parisian. First being the early morning trip to boulangerie for a baguette.
On day two, the breakfast is at 7:30 a.m. and on day six, at 9. There is no feeling of rushing about at any hour of the morning. Am I projecting my lack of urgency on the world around me? Everyone around me seems to have time to sit about, to chat with the cafe owner or read a paper. Judging from their shoes, they are Parisians. Yes, the shoes give you away. Tourist is in “comfortable” shoes and Parisians in good looking ones. There is a cafe or two on every block, each with customers. How does the economics work? Most prefer to sit out, including the tourists. It had seemed attractive when looking at Paris on television. But the first five real minutes are sufficient for me, I am soon overpowered by the smoke blown my way by the skinny Parisians.
Paris, First impressions
Looking out from apartment window
A stark divide between Paris inner and outer. As if the gardner has only tended the heart of his garden – planted rows upon rows of beautiful flowers and done meticulous weeding. If the outskirts had the beauty of the wild, that would be fine too but en route to the city from airport, it seemed like just another sub-urban sprawl with rows upon rows of cookie cutter apartments.
We are renting an apartment in St. Germain. The elevator could barely fit two people but at least we had one. Since we are prepared to look picture perfect ourselves during these two weeks in Paris, we had 150 lbs between the two of us. Lugging up three large suitcases six flights of stairs would not have been fun.
First supper
If one likes traveling then every journey builds up anticipation regardless of how seasoned a traveller one might be. Not everyone has George Clooney’s sang froid. But this anticipation must eventually face the reality of air travel. Yes, we are inured to our water bottles being taken away in the name of security. Yes, we know that we will have to contort ourselves into seats that serve dual use at Guantanamo. But we are still not used to the truly execrable food airlines see fit to serve to their hapless passengers. This was our first meal at the Air Canada flight from SFO to Toronto.
Dinner on Air Canada
Some Air Canada employee has a cruel sense of humor to inflict a Cup O’Noodles at poor folks at 30000 feet. And they made us pay $3 for the privilege too. The sandwich was no better – third rate bread, soggy cold cuts, some unidentifiable sauce. Hmmmm, maybe it is not sense of humor but an actively malicious intent behind this. Only that would explain why they could not source good bread from a city that houses Acme Bread Company.
But hey maybe that was a flight from US to Canada, practically a domestic flight. And we are used to getting peanuts, literally, on domestic flights. Maybe the next leg from Toronto to Paris would be a little better.
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A slice of lemon on your pizza?
Lemon, salami, roasted heirloom tomatoes, arugula pesto and goat cheese
After years of trying out all sorts of techniques, I have converged on a few basic aspects in pizza making – a) a soft and stretchy dough that is not a rubber mat but has sufficient elasticity to be hand stretched into a thin base, b) a 500-600F oven, and c) minimal but flavorful topping. Result is a chewy crust with a crisp bottom and rich flavors in every bite.
Some say that we should always eat whole grains. I agree, whole heartedly. I have gladly swapped out white bread for wheat bread – thanks to Acme. There is no better chappati than whole wheat one. I adore whole wheat or buckwheat parathas and puris. I have cheerfully replaced white flour with whole wheat pastry flour in cookies and cakes. I have even grudgingly swapped out regular pasta and white rice for whole wheat pasta and brown rice. But no whole wheat pizza for me. I have tried to swap out regular flour with white whole wheat, part whole wheat, part whole wheat pastry flour and I have failed to like them. So, my compromise – I don’t make pizza often and when I do, I don’t eat too much of it. If, however, you have to have whole wheat pizza, then give Heidi’s recipe a try.
Urban adventure with ground cherries
A ripe ground cherry
Cape gooseberry (Rasbhari in Northern India) is giant version of the ground cherry. Rasbhari is about the size of a kumquat and ground cherry is 1/4 that size. So giant is perhaps not the right description but you get my meaning. If you are living in India, you don’t think of rasbhari as uncommon. Seasonal yes, but uncommon no. In fact, during the season if you are stuck in slow moving traffic you will likely bring home a bunch from one of the numerous street vendors. But if like me, you travel to India, it is a treat like jamun. So, when my husband said in spring this year that he has found a source for ground cherry, I was naturally excited even if it meant growing from a seedling.
Ours came from Seed Saver Exchange. The rest was simple. Transplant, watch em’ grow slowly, very slowly. These bushes start to fruit even when they are a meager 4 inches tall. Wait for the fruits to ripen and fall off the plant. Eat.
Yogurt curry with spinach dumplings
Yogurt curry with steamed spinach dumplings
The yogurt curry is like hot raita. It is tasty and when had with a bowl of white rice, is a light and easy to digest meal. The lovely yellow color comes from turmeric, a spice with anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory responses. An ingredient is this spice, called curcumin, is now being tested against Alzheimer in scientific studies. The nutrition in the meal comes from the steamed spinach dumplings.
Ingredients for the steamed spinach dumpling (6-8 servings):
- A pack of frozen chopped spinach, microwaved for a few minutes until warm.
- 3/4 cup of besan (de-husked black gram flour). Can be substituted with chickpea flour.
- 4-5 pickled pearl/cocktail onions finely chopped (optional)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp amchoor (mango powder)
- 1 tsp lightly crushed coriander seeds
- 1 tsp paprika
Mix the above ingredients to make a soft dough. Prepare your steamer – I use a bamboo steamer. Make small dough balls with your fist, shape is not terribly important, and steam for 12 minutes. Cool and chop into bite size pieces.
Cook’s reward: Pop a few of these pieces in your mouth while you proceed with the rest.
Trio of preserves
Jams and marmalades this season
Black berry jam:
It is the end of the season here, and I picked up 2 lbs of blackberry at 1/2 the usual price!
Rinse, crush, and add 1 lb sugar. Add juice of 1 lemon reserving the zest. Cook on medium until candy thermometer reads 220 F. Switch off flame, add zest of the lemon and proceed to can.
Locomotoring 