28 December 2011

Top 10 Recipes of 2011!


2011...what a year it's been! For me personally, it was filled with busy times and political turmoil at work as well as lots of travel (within France, this included two trips to Reims, Burgundy and Nice...outside it was Barcelona, New York, Lisbon twice, Prague, Atlanta, Minneapolis/St Paul, Cameroun and Gabon, London, Marrakesh and Essaouira and Brussels). We celebrated our first wedding anniversary and saw two couples who met at our wedding get married themselves. And of course the biggest news of the year...our upcoming move to Thailand, for which we are now busily preparing (less than a month to go!).

20 December 2011

"Son-in-law" eggs...and some big news!!!


So dear friends...I've been keeping a little secret from you. Please excuse me for this, but I just wanted to be mum about it until everything was all official. But now that is, I'm pleased to announce that...we are leaving Paris! Yes, you read right, we'll soon be moving out of the wondrous "City of Lights" that I've called home for almost 6 years and Luis for 18 years. And where will we be going, you're probably asking? Today's recipe - a fun and delicious Thai dish called "son-in-law" eggs - should give you a pretty strong hint! If not, this might. Or this. So can you guess? Well you've probably figured it out...we're moving to Thailand!

15 December 2011

Risotto with caramelized onions and fennel, mascarpone & lemon zest


I don't know about you all, but one of my favorite ways to cook is to just come home in the evening without any plan, open up the fridge and pantry and figure out something to make with ingredients that I have. No trips to the grocery store or market, no checking my cookbooks and favorite recipe websites, nothing. Just an exercise in sheer resourcefulness and creativity. This recipe is the epitome of this technique - totally thrown together with random things that we happened to have on hand. It was delicious with the caramelized sweetness of the onions and fennel, the creaminess of the mascarpone cheese and just a bit of tang from the lemon zest. If you're a risotto lover like me, then you must try it!

08 December 2011

Moroccan beet salad



As you may have guessed by the silence, it's been a very busy past few weeks chez your favorite spice mistress! Among other things, we hosted our first ever Thanksgiving dinner here in Paris (for 30+ people and it was a success!), had a visit from one of my Philadelphia-based cousins and did a fair bit of travel - namely to Morocco (Marrakesh and Essaouira), Brussels and Lisbon. Given that my previous Morocco experience was limited to a few days in the capital city of Rabat, the weekend that we spent in Marrakesh and Essaouira was a real treat - a true mix of colors, flavors, scents and sounds! All the details are coming in a future post, but rest assured that we stuffed ourselves with pungent tajines, delicious couscous, refreshing salads and lots of mint tea.