Paris domestique

Lucky, lucky me. I'm in Paris for two whole weeks, joining my husband who is here for two months doing research in the archives. He was able to rent the apartment of a colleague who works in Oxford part time, so we are living in luxury in the 19th arrondisement.

It's a large sunny flat - a lovely place to spend time - which is good because I didn't have enough holiday left over, so I'm working remotely part of the time (have I mentioned before how much I love my job?). The neighborhood is not very chic, so there aren't lots of boutique clothes and food shops, as I was hoping, but never mind, there is a Casino supermarket just across the street that fulfils all our needs.

I know when you come to Paris you are supposed to eat in chic bistros, hang out in cafes and shop in outdoor markets, exploring all the wonderful goodies on offer. But to tell the truth, I'm quite delighted to shop in a boring old supermarché, because the food and selection is already so vastly superior to what you find in a British supermarket. The fruit is succulent, the vegetables tasty, and the cheese selection is ridiculously large. To say nothing of the reasonably priced wine.

I got used to shopping in the supermarché when we lived in the suburbs of Caen for a year. No boutique food stores in our area, just an enormous Carrefour on our doorstep. I developed a taste for Petit Billy, a spreadable goat cheese and Chaussée aux Moines, an uncooked pressed cheese with a hard rind and soft inside. Neither of which I can get in the UK, unfortunately. So I have to eat up while I'm here.

I'm also enjoying the new variety of Maille pickles, Malossol a la Russe. Obviously the French are feeling the Eastern European influence as well (see my previous blog post). These pickles have just a tiny hint of sugar, but not enough to ruin them. Delicious on sandwiches with Maille mustard, cured Spanish ham, Chaussée aux Moines cheese and Butterhead lettuce on fresh French bread. I don't require anything more gourmet than that.

And I'm not the only one to appreciate convenience. I found a most interesting product in the flat owner's freezer - packaged chopped frozen herbs.

Herbs from Picard - a whole supermarket for frozen foods!

The only way you would get these in the UK would be to do it yourself*. Not that it is difficult, but us busy women have better things to do! Like work - and as it happens, France has a very high rate of mothers working (and who is busier than a working mother?), partly because of excellent child care facilities, but I'm sure the supermarché doesn't hurt. (Interesting blog post about being a working mother in France here.)

It also helps that living is France is kind of like living in California, in that all the best fruit, veg and produce is local anyway. I suppose the main difference is that California is not known for its cheese (but they do make wine and films!). Ok, granted, there are other differences. For example, California is also not particularly known for fashion and decor. More on that later...

* I have been informed that frozen herbs actually are available in the UK, in the posh supermarket Waitrose. Which I never go to because there isn't one within walking distance and I don't have a car. Also I always assumed that due to its poshness it would be overpriced and full of unneccessary processed items (like frozen herbs). I'm just going to have to stop being lazy and freeze my own.

A peck of pickles

One of the main problems with allotment gardening is keeping up with the vegetables. I've started planting more flowers, but it is still a struggle to consume everything we grow. Obviously the best way around this is to store things for winter. I'm growing pumpkins and beans for drying, and I'm also doing as much pickling as possible.

Pickles in the UK are nothing like pickles in the US. British pickles usually refer to a sickly sweet concoction of chopped vegetables and/or fruit, usually eaten on a sandwich with cheddar cheese. Their pickled cucumbers are equally sweet and sickly.



The quintessential British pickle

 
When I first moved to the UK I had to go without proper dill pickles until enough Poles migrated over and started opening deli shops. This migration also led to the introduction of sauerkraut, keilbasa sausage and pierogi. And, possibly, to the recent introduction of New York deli pastrami sandwiches at M&S. Complete with sauerkraut and REAL non-sweet dill pickles. I imagine some people are blaming these new sandwiches on the Americanisation of the British diet, but I'm just happy to be able to eat more of my favourite foods.

Actually, I should also acknowledge my gratitude to migrants from the Middle East, because you can also usually find non-sweet Persian pickled cucumbers in Halal shops (though they are apparently produced in Israel, for an interesting twist). I would encourage you to check out the hot pepper variety for a flavour explosion!



After spending a year in France enjoying their superior (like most French food) pickled cornichons, I became more attached than ever to pickles. So when we got an allotment the first priority was to grow gherkins and French beans for pickling (called dilly beans). Last year's attempt was a reasonable success, and this year I've expanded into beets and chili peppers.

 

I flavour the gherkins and dilly beans with dill seed heads grown in my garden.



I also learned that you can pickle in the fridge, without all the fuss of boiling water baths. The pickles are ready in about a week, and they keep in the fridge for up to 6 months. I'm doing my overgrown gherkins this way, and they are very tasty. Another advantage is that you can keep topping up the jar, replacing the slices you've eaten. You know they are ready when the skin yellows.

  

The jar in the middle contains nastertium seeds, which supposedly taste like capers when pickled.



There are lots of pickling recipes online, but one source I use for all kinds of canning recipes and ideas is the blog Food in Jars. I'm using their easy peasy refrigerator pickles recipe. But the best thing about refrigerator pickles is that you don't have to slavishly follow a recipe. The vinegar (ideally in 1:1 proportion to the water) and refrigeration will ensure that no nasty bacteria grow, and you can try any combination of spices and vegetables that take your fancy. 

I don't think the 1:1 proportion works with beets - they require more vinegar, possibly to counteract the effect of all the sugar. Here is a really easy recipe from my mother for pickling raw beets:

Scrub, trim and peel 2 red or golden beets.  Slice thinly, and transfer to a jar.  Split 1 fresh Thai chili in half.  Bring chili, 1 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 fresh bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns to a boil in a small saucepan.  Pour hot mixture over beets.  Seal jar, and refrigerate.  Beets will keep for six months in refrigerator.

I left out the sugar and spices and put in a couple of star anise instead. They are amazing!



Fridge beets and beans (flavoured with white wine and home grown coriander seed)

 
So, now that I pretty much have pickling down, my next step should be fermentation, so I can make my very own sauerkraut. Except I fear I'll never manage to grow my own cabbage.

Summer knitting

I somehow ended up knitting three tank tops this summer, all in various shades of green. I just finished two over the past week, but I'll be lucky if I finish the last one in time to wear even once before the weather turns.

Last year I pretty much gave up on summer knitting by the beginning of August because summer basically ended then, but this year summer finally arrived in late July, and I'm hoping the summery mood lasts until at least the end of August. I'll be in Paris for two weeks then, where the weather should be fine and lots of knitting should get done.

The first tank is Petal Halter by Olga Buraya-Kefelian. I've been fascinated by this pattern ever since I first saw it several years ago, and when my LYS stocked Louise Harding Mulberry silk in my very favourite chartreuse shade, I just had to take the plunge.

It is not a particularly difficult knit, though you do have to use the Eastern cast on, or magic cast on if you prefer. I got the hang of that pretty quickly; my problem was with the silk. I hadn't worked with 100% silk before, so forgot to wet block my swatch. What a mistake - my first 3 petals were enormous! So I started all over again on smaller needles.

The tricky part to this pattern is the seaming. The designer cleverly hides the seams in a garter stitch border, so you don't see the join, but there is an awful lot of sewing. Which I added to by double seaming the short ends of the petals with cotton thread (to prevent the wrapped stitches from gaping). I actually don't mind seaming - it reminds me of sewing doll clothes as a child. But to all those many knitters out there who dread seaming: you'll definitely want to avoid this pattern.

I'm really delighted with this top - it is so unusual and elegant.



Gold Leaf


My second top is rather less elegant, but quite funky. It is Liesl, a long sleeveless tunic with pockets from Cocoknits. I did mine in Katia lino (100% linen) and Habu wool/steel. I decided to branch out from the inevitable chartreuse, and went with a dusty sage colour. It is a bottom up pattern, knit in the round, starting very large and decreasing rapidly at the sides, creating an asymmetric drape on the hemline.

I bought a skirt with the same style of asymmetric hemline expressly to wear with this top, and I was delighted to see that it goes perfectly. And the colour matches my suede clogs, so it couldn't be more perfect.



Sage


The last top is also a Cocoknits design. I picked the pattern up at KnitNation - Cocoknits had a booth right next to Habu, and Gretel seemed the best pattern to make with only two skeins of Habu cotton gima. I chose chartreuse again, speckled with white. But in a matte cotton, loosely knit, it will look nothing like my Gold Leaf anyway. I've made almost no progress on this top so far, but I should be able to speed through it now that the other tops are finished.



Habu painted cotton gima (feels more like linen than cotton)




Gretel pattern


And that will probably be the end of my summer knitting, but it's been a good, productive season, and I'm actualy starting to look forward to working with wool again.