Vongole

There are times when you have a hopeless, helpless passion for something - inexplicable, sudden, overwhelming - as you say in French, a coup de foudre. It happened to me the first time I tasted vongole, on the Amalfi Coast.* I don't know why I love it so much. Maybe because it's so simple and fresh. Clams don't have the complexity of taste that an oyster or scallop does - it's salty, briny, a

The raptor

Picture: Wikipedia This beautiful fellow* stopped by to have his aperitif in our garden today. Thanks to the Bushnell binoculars we got last year, I was able to watch every detail as he merrily stripped a magpie's flesh from its bones for nearly 45 minutes. He then parked the carcass up on the hedge (presumably for later consumption...and why not use our hedge as a fridge?  We've been kn

Homemade pasta day

What to do with leftover roasted red onions with mascarpone cheese and thyme?  Make pasta, of course! We've got it down to about an hour and a half -- okay, we didn't really have to make the filling, I just added some prosciutto and Parmesan to the leftover onions and whipped it in the food processor -- because David and I have a good rhythm now for making pasta, even tortellini. O

Winter wonderland...and some cake

It's been a while. We've been hanging out, doing our thing here at La Maison. Living, not broadcasting. Isn't that what a break is for?  To stop talking, stop extending yourself, stop pushing...and spend some time just listening.  Receiving.  Letting things gestate, until your next outward blossoming. Like today.  Is there any sound more beautiful than falling snow?  (Oth

Hooray for Francophone - California cuisine!

We're all about the cultural crossover of Belgium and California at La Maison, so it's cool to see everyone going nuts about burgers, started (from what I can tell) from this New York Times article on California cuisine food trucks in Paris. I'm proud to say we have a mini-version right here in our own commune of Assesse in the form of Myburger. Come on Wednesday nights in the place d'Assesse for

Ma Tim Raue and the California coast

Finally, finally, finally Belgium is having a bit of sun - the first since March. It's not California sun, but still sunny and hot enough to make me long for the coast where I grew up. I'm not the sort of person who feels attached to any one place, which is probably why I was perfectly comfortable being an expat all my life, but if there is one place I love besides La Maison, it's the California c

Molto italiano

I don't often screw up when cooking, but I'm proud to say that when I do, I tend to fail spectacularly.  This week was no exception. Tired of making the same old thing, I found two recipes in trusty Food & Wine, for Indonesian beef (beef rendang) and an Iraqi lamb stew. I'm sure it wasn't their fault...probably operator error...except maybe for the Iraqi stew which I simply can't see how

Lambs! Lambs!

A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period — When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad On Solitary Fields That Science cannot overtake But Human Nature feels. It waits upon the Lawn, It shows the furthest Tree Upon the furthest Slope you know It almost speaks to you. Then as Horizons step Or Noons report away Without the Formula of sound It passes and we stay —

Bonne année!

Happy New Year, everybody! Working too much these days means that posts are few and far between.  This weekend, to keep our spirits up while I work, it's time for a nice big pot of chili.  I've adapted the recipe from Cooking Light to punch it up a bit, but it's one of those super easy, endlessly variable recipes that works no matter how you do it, while conveniently cleaning your fridg

Giving thanks

My parent's cat Alex expresses perfectly the post-turkey food coma that we hope you're all experiencing in some way.  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!  

It's good to be home

What better way to celebrate coming home than puttering about our region with the top down, enjoying some early-autumn sun and a lunch of moules de vin blanc, finished with a stop at our favourite airport bar in Lustin?   Even the bunny was happy to be out and about in the sunshine, and the porto rouge made us start thinking about our next vacation...to the Douro, perhaps? We'd

La fin de la journée

We woke to a cold, gray day. The solution, it seemed to us, was to seek out a wine experience that expressed the autumn season: warmth overlaid with chill, with a focus on colour, brightness, aliveness that would defy the upcoming winter, at least temporarily. It seemed the perfect time to explore the northern Rhône. Having been assured via email that it would be open, after driving abo

Do I look like a f***ing baker?

One morning David and I set out to explore close to the house where we were staying, stopping first at a random village along the way to have a coffee and get our bearings. We found a table on the terrace, and he went inside to order coffees and ask for some pastry. Gazing half-asleep at the patisserie across the street, I wondered if we should have stopped there first, but realized it would be a

While being protected from flying saucers...

...we set out to explore Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It was a comfort to know that the local council in 1954 passed a law preventing flying saucers from landing, taking off, or flying overhead in the commune. Personally we find flying saucers rather cute when hovering about La Maison, but a pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure, after all, and we suppose the leaders of Châteauneuf didn't want to t

Rhone rangers

I've always loved the wines of the Rhône Valley. I appreciate spicy wines, and lean toward deeper, bigger wines as a general rule, depending on what I'm eating, or whether I'm eating at all, as more often than not I'm seeking a vin de meditation. I remember the first time I tasted a Viognier and was blown away by the bell-like roundness of the fruit coupled with the aromatic, floral spiciness....i

yes I said yes I will Yes

After a furious 2011 that for both of us was essentially a blur of work - productive, creative and stimulating work, but still work - when you are offered a house in Chantemerle-Lès-Grignan, nestled up against the Côtes du Rhône, with a pool, all for David and I alone, you say Yes. Ten days. Nothing to do but eat, sleep, and putter about tasting wine, drinking Pastis, visit

Boy food

While I'm away next week at a conference, I thought I'd stock up the refrigerator for David so he wouldn't have to shop. And it occurred to me that men and women shop very differently (in terms of what they buy, not how they buy). We all know this in our 20s of course; women are generally more careful with their diets than men, and men generally don't go through the I'm totally a vegetarian now!&n

You don't need eyes to see, you need vision

Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox here at La Maison, David and I decided to take our new Celestron Skymaster binoculars for a spin.  Not having much experience, we picked a few interesting objects from the Stellarium freeware programme's map of our sky and tried to focus in. I'm all excited because I can see Jupiter and its moons so clearly...while David is trying to explain the diff

The hedgehog that thinks he's a cat

We noticed the other day that when we left some cat kibble out for baby Fighter - whom we've christened Chewbacca for now - we had a new visitor:  a hedgehog. Now, being a city girl I have no idea if this is a mature hedgehog's proper size, or if it's also a baby, which would be SO CUTE I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT....Anyways, clearly this hedgehog thinks he's a kitten.  There seem to be some

Baby Fighter(s)

Well, it looks as if Fighter, alpha male of La Maison, has finally decided to settle down.  About a week ago, near to where David first found Victoria peeking around the barbecue only two years ago, we saw another tiny, fuzzy little face.  He's the spitting image of his father - Fighter must be so proud - and still far too afraid to come near humans.  However, this morning when I fo

Je ne veux pas travallier

But I do want to déjeuner!  Especially when it involves blueberries. Last year, for whatever reason (I'm still learning about life in the country), the blueberry bush didn't give any fruit. This spring, I carefully watered it every week, and gave it some of the same food I gave my new roses (soon to be another post....)  This year, I've got multitudes of shy, little blue berries.

Sushi time

Here we go, this was the last event at La Maison Sacré, before the summer - I'll let Karen comment in details, I just wanted to quickly publish for my friend Teresa, hoping it'll cheer her up!  Getting ready to chop chop and chop again... Jean-Marc is chopping some zucchini and Michaël is cleaning the shrimps, all for the tempura. I dec

Almost here!

Ye gods.  Enough already!  Spring, please!  Now!

Blackberry Farm part 2

  The next day we had our cooking demonstration/lesson with Chef Dustin Busby, who made for us: 1. baby greens, carrots and turnip salad with fresh whole milk ricotta, made on the stove while we waited; 2. chestnut ravioli with sweet potato and cream filling; and 3. seared duck breast with wilted collard greens tossed in duck fat. Yes, it was every bit as good as you'd imagine.&nbs

Blackberry Farm part 1

Blackberry Farm is a resort in Walland, Tennessee with an ethos I like:  to provide an experience for guests "as if you are staying at the most wonderful house of a good friend." They are intent on providing a restful place "on Blackberry time" where you can slow down enough to actually live the way you want to live.  (The hard part of course is slowing yourself down, but that's a diff

Cantique de Noël

O night divine! Peace be with you, and blessed be.

Snow 1 Belgium 0

We haven't seen so much snow in Belgium since Hitler's army was nearly stopped in the Ardenne. As a consequence, most people in small villages like ours are stuck home. Heavy pack of snow are damaging the hedges everywhere. Let's hope they'll recover soon. Roads are not plowed here, I need a chat with our mayor soon there's no reason they can consider our road as secondary if our

Thomas Keller pour les nuls

I'm not saying that I'll never try things like cooking my way through the French Laundry (hats off to Carol for making it so entertaining) or Per Se cookbooks, but that level of fussiness isn't really my style. I have no religious objections to molecular gastronomy; in fact, I love the amuses-bouches at the start of a meal in a restaurant, I'm more excited about those than the main course most of

The first winter snows

All this past week it's been snowing on and off, and today we've got steady snow blanketing us and everyone else in the village. Time to make some chili!  

La biche et le foie gras "explosif"

The Walloon region, being the gateway and home to the Ardennes, is simply wonderful territory for enjoying all kinds of forest-based produits du terroir. Mushrooms, for instance, are plentiful here and we're always trying to think of new ways to cook them. But the best of all is the ready availability every autumn and winter of game. I was never a huge fan of game before coming to Belgium. I had e

Sundays

Just an ordinary Sunday, making foie gras mousse and biche medallions for linner (around 1530 CET, so lunch-dinner). Didn't want to overdo things after last weekend's Comfortfoodapallooza.  But first we had to finish off the two chickens by making potpies - great recipe from a magazine I can't quite remember, so apologies for the lack of attribution. These freeze and stack extremely well, so

La Maison Sacré Autumn 2010 R&D meeting

One of the things we look forward to developing further at La Maison is our boutique catering business. Naturally, this will require us to pair up with people who know far more about wines than we do. To that end, for our fall R&D meeting last weekend we asked Marc Detraux of Vino Vino in Namur to provide wines for a blind dégustation modeled after the Judgment of Paris, one of my favorite boo

Comfortfoodapallooza

No social obligations this weekend, no work (fingers crossed) and pouring, absolutely pouring, rain. Gutters are overflowing and we managed to staunch the flow of water into our basement temporarily only after sticking some empty trash cans under the runoff from the roof. It's cold, dark and expected to rain off and on throughout the weekend. Sure, I've got some good books that have been stacke

Starting the morning right

When it's a holiday in Belgium and it's gorgeous out, it seems a good time to do some gardening around La Maison. But that doesn't mean you do it on an empty stomach! Far from it. You need to put everything on the right path from the beginning. So it seemed a good time to give our new Caphalon egg poaching pan a go by making eggs benedict. It came out great except the eggs were a bit more har

Spring est arrivé

Finally, finally, finally. Spring is here at La Maison! It's been too long since we had the time -- or the energy -- to post. Didn't it seem as if winter took forever this year? And it only really became warm this week, although we're trying not to think about how it may only be due to volcanic ash clouds. We decided to just get going in the garden and the house without big plans or mapp

Halloween 2010

Wake up, go to store to pick up Halloween candy for the kids, then decide to drive around because the colors of the leaves are so beautiful, and visit our local pub Les Pachis where they still have the decorations up from last night's boisterous costume party. Come home to some pastry nibbles and bubbly for the aperitif, followed by a big bowl of chili....and that's a Sunday at La Maison.

Splendor of the fall

Chili! The day cries out for chili. It's alternating between sunny and rainy, but a bit cold nonetheless, and the leaves on the trees have begun to fall. I'm ordering nubbly sweaters from the L.L. Bean catalog, the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Roger Perrin 2008 tastes wonderfully spicy and jammy and the cats are content to keep us company as long as the heaters are cranked up high. So we make a big pot o

Weekend in the village

We've been blessed with a run of nice weather here, although it's still a bit cold (as if it's reminding us that it's spring, not summer, and they're quite different thank you very much). Unfortuately my morning walk was postponed due to the car rally in and around Assesse, the commune where Courrière belongs, so I couldn't feel completely virtuous, but with a nice long Saturday ahead of us we dec

The last barbecue of 2010 - Part deux

And now, the barbecue. Simplicity itself: saucisson from the supermarket, some pork chops Iberico, which is like crack for me; courgettes à la David, and polenta Roscoff. Sidebar: Roscoff onions were a discovery from a year or two ago when I was enticed by the displays of braided onions in the supermarket. One of them was sort of brown skin but light violet inside. Turns out there's a whole st

The last barbecue of 2010

It's been a very intense year at La Maison. While there were moments of repose -- like when I had three weeks off from work over the summer and practically all I did was sleep -- overall, what I mainly remember from 2010 is working, working, working. But there are times of fun, mainly involving friends and barbecue, just as you'd expect from La Maison. So when we woke up this morning to t

Trying to become a gardener

It's that time of year again. That time of year when I think: living in a small village, surrounded by gorgeous green spaces, shouldn't I love gardening? Shouldn't I be obsessed with catalogues filled with yuppie green accessories like clogs, aprons, special shovels, little gardening stools, and page after page of exotic seeds? But every time I think about all that I'd have to learn to do it p

Summer enhancements

David suggested that unlike the previous years we've lived here, we spruce (heh) up La Maison a bit this summer by putting some fresh flowers around the front of the house. After some lively debate at the local Coin Vert about what kind of flowers are suitable, we chose a mix of purple and white flowers (impatiens, muehlenbeckia which we also have indoors, solanum rantonetti and polygala, or milkw

Kickin' it on the weekend

The perfect weekend - for us - is to not have anything planned, not have anyplace we "have to be", and no obligations. So we can have friends over at the last minute for a barbecue (of course, a barbecue - it's La Maison), or drive around our region and explore little-known roads and villages, or make a seriously awesome pizza. Or all of the above. The rhododendrons are

Beech Marten

A little surprise when I came back from Tennessee : we had a new pet that I wasn't aware of. Although I couldn't catch it or even see it, the evidences were there: Insulation all over the front yard and some little turds proudly displayed on the roof to mark territory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech_Marten As the English version of wiki doesn't say (see french), Martens also love to eat the el

More holidays, please!

By popular demand

Happy May Day! I've gotten a few requests about this pasta salad that I do for barbecues when we don't do polenta (I'm not a potato person although they can be nice from time to time). It's laughably easy: Fridge/Pantry Tartare Salad Get a big bowl and while the pasta water is boiling, put into the bowl: 1 can of canned corn, rinsed or 2 cups frozen corn, warmed 1 jar capers 4 tbsp pine nuts,

Everything's changing

Another year, and the trees and bushes and flowers are beginning to show themselves. Another spring at La Maison, and it's around 16 degrees, which for us means barbecue. Truth be told we'd barbecue at far lower temperatures, but we try to control ourselves...we have heard our neighbors have christened us "The Barbecue Couple", and we are very proud of that. Tonight it was: teriyaki-marinated salm

Simone

We are so sorry and sad to say that our dear kitty Simone passed away yesterday, of natural causes at the age of 18. Karen got Simone when she got her first apartment by herself, in Philadelphia in 1994. She was going to graduate school and knew, having grown up with kitties in the house, that she wanted one and that she wanted to give an unwanted cat a home. So finding a notice on the student bo

Out like a lamb

Spring is here! Spring is here! The village is alive with the smell of barbecue. It's sunny. And we're starting to cook again at La Maison. This weekend we've been feasting on the following, barbecue-style: pancetta-wrapped spring onions (just wrap, toothpick and toss on grill)stuffed mushrooms (Carrefour carries the best kind, for when you're feeling lazy...More evidence there's sim

Victoria

Meet the newest member of our feline family: Victoria. She's a wonder. David and I found her last September, just before the weather turned really, really cold, peeking out from behind the barbecue, all alone. Our dear vet Luc said she couldn't be more than five weeks old. She would never have survived this winter of all winters, which has been unusually cold and snowy by Belgian standards