Fennel and potatoes

Fennel, orange, olive oil and garlic salad on the right; Oma's potato salad on the left (nobody ever really knew the recipe so I was just guessing. I think I was on the right track)

Basil!

Basil risotto

Basil!

The King of Salads

Franz prepared yet another leafy dream with fresh basil, carrots, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese

Couscous

couscous with garlicy aubergine, tomatoes, and parsley

Something sweet

This post is sweet in two ways: for one, these two meals were sweet in taste and secondly, one of the ingredients was a sweet gift from my brother Ben. He spent his summer in Canada and bought me a gift which he sent all the way to Paris and which I now treasure: Canadian maple sugar! What a delicious concoction! I add a spoonful to my tea or:

marinated nectarines with vanilla ice-cream

oats, raisins, nuts, nectarines, and a spoonful of maple sugar!

Thank you, Ben, for your delicious gift!

Potatoes

We bought a bunch of potatoes the other day.

Franz made: boiled potatoes (with a nob of butter) and two different sauces: tomato (lots of garlic!) and zucchini-ginger in white wine topped with parsley.

Visitor!

My sister Claire came by for a visit (awesome!) and we got a bunch of really nice and fresh vegetables from the market a few streets down. Here's the result!

Fresh artichokes (boiled in water with pepper and lemon slices) and a salad: romaine lettuce, carrots, tomato, feta cheese, apple, shallots, ginger with a mustard, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey dressing.

Inspiration

First of all I have to apologize- it has been way to quiet, I know. However, we didn't forget to take pictures of our Parisian creations!
But for now I will present you a source of inspiration. My very good friend Susan (who is a fantastic cook and has always been inspiring to me) prepared a good-bye meal for Franz and I before we left. Enjoy....

Our starter: avocado filled with "Schmand" (a kind of very thick sour cream) rouille, topped of with homemade dukka (an oriental nutty spice blend which tastes nice on almost everything! Bread, noodles, salad....). Next to it are honey-glzed shallots. Very tasty!

Our main course: "New-Age Ratatouille" as Susan called it. She said she doesn't enjoy ratatouille much when it's just a soupy mess. Instead, she fried thing eggplant and zucchini slices in advance. Baked a couple of red peppers and fried up some hash-browns. She placed them in the bottom of a pan and carefully layered everything, splashing it with a little tomato sauce every now and then. In the end she grated Parmesan cheese on top of it and baked it until the cheese was golden! Doesn't it look gooooood?

Done :o)