He's Back!

Remember this post? Guess he thinks our garage is a nice shelter from the rain and cold. Isn't he just so cute?! I took SA out to see him and we actually gently touched him. He was slightly bristly but nothing like what I imagine a porcupine would feel like. The poor thing was probably terrified, but I didn't want SA to miss an opportunity to touch a real live hedghog! We went back later to see if he was still there, but he had left- (probably fled for his life!). With great disappointment, SA said, "Where's our hedgehog?" and then went out of the garage, looked under the bushes, and started calling at the top of her voice, "HEDGEHOG!!!!!!!" Needless to say, we haven't seen Mr. Hedgehog since then even though I have inadvertantly left the garage door open a time or two.

Easy As Pie

Did you know that quiche is the pizza of France? I always thought of quiche as a chic French dish. I enjoy eating quiche and salade or quiche and soup at cute, girly tea rooms at home in the US. I even served Quiche Lorraine at my bridesmaid's luncheon, because I like it but also because I thought it looked nice on my pretty, printed menus. So, imagine my surprise when my friend Bernard informed me that Quiche Lorriane is the pizza of France. He explained that it's what they make when they need to prepare something in a hurry and they don't have anything else. There aren't very many ingredients and apparently, everyone usually has them on hand in their kitchens. It's their version of quick, easy food. You can pop into many boulangeries and pick up individual size quiches for lunch, and you can also buy frozen quiches at the store. When I told Bernard that I was interested in learning to "cuisiner a la Francaise"(cook the French way), he asked me if I had mastered the recipe for Quiche Lorraine. Quite honestly, I hadn't. I hadn't found the need to make it myself when they are so many quiches readily available to buy premade. Well, last week I was given fresh eggs from my friend Charity's chickens, so I thought I'd make something besides scrambled eggs since I have completely burned out my family on this easy meal. It actually is pretty easy (especially if you buy the crust like I did), and the whole family liked it!

Here's the recipe:

store bought crust (or you can make your own)
butter (25 g,1 oz)
bacon slices 300 g (10.5 oz) diced- I use lardons since they are already diced
heavy cream 250 ml (1 cup)
eggs 3, lightly beaten
nutmeg to season

Preheat to 200C (400 F). Roll out pastry and fit to a 25cm (10 in) tart tin (or pie pan). Line the pastry shell with a crumpled piece of baking paper and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and bake for another 3-5 minutes until the pastry is just cooked but still very pale. Reduce oven to 180 C (350 F).

Melt the butter in small frying pan and cook the bacon (I use lardons) until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Whisk together the cream and eggs and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Scatter the bacon over the pastry shell and then pour in the egg mixture. Bake for 30 min. or until the filling is set. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before serving.

Un dimanche autour de la table...

We spent the afternoon with some friends from church on Sunday. They are a lovely family- an older couple, Bernard and Aline, and Marie their daughter with her husband Romiald, and daughters Alice and Louise. We go to a French church and have been greatly enriched by our friendships there. Interacting with them over the years I have been stretched and amazed at how different we are with regard to perspective, language, and culture yet comforted and encouraged that we know the same Savior and are one in Spirit. This week, we decided to get together after church at the last minute, so some of the formalities were skipped- for example, we did not take a gift to the hostess and Danny and Romiald picked up Domino's Pizza and a bottle of Rose for the meal. This was the first time that our friends had tried Domino's pizza, so there were questions about the recipe, the toppings, etc. It was so interesting to eat a meal with French people which was not prepared by someone at the table. The normal course of conversation in which we discuss at length the preparation of the food was cut short (perhaps because I am not well informed of Domino's recipes). However, the courses carried on and the manner in which the meal was served was elegant anyway. It never ceases to amaze me that elegance and grace is just so much a part of them that they cannot help but serve even pizza in this manner! Everyone's plate was served- no every man for himself like it would have been at our house. :) There was a huge green salad with homemade vinaigrette (no store bought dressings for us!) Then after we finished our pizza, there was a beautiful cheese tray with fresh figs to eat with a delicious red wine. Then it was time for coffee and ice cream after which the conversation turned to the contamination of the food supply in France.

I thought that I was so much healthier living over here, but it turns out that the fruits and veggies are genetically modified here too. There are no hormone or antibiotique injections in the meat though. That is a definite plus. But, I learned that they do feed the cattle "torteau" which is basically a little cake made from the leftovers at the septic treatment plant- Quelle horreur! Romiald told about a program he had seen on TV that showed hundreds of square miles of dusty fields in the US where cows were hanging out and being fed by an airplane that flys over and drops the food. This was unthinkable for Aline and Marie who live here in Auvergne with us where there are miles and miles of farmland where cattle roam and eat grass, nourishing themselves naturally. While the girls played in the jardin, we chatted and picked apples to eat from Aline's tree in order to "equilibrer le repas"- balance our meal. Pizza isn't a nutritionally balanced meal, you know. Guess that's why they fed the children first- an alternate meal. SA held out for the Domino's, though. She is a true blue Amercian girl. CG had a "repas bebe" (baby meal) that was in the freezer, but of course it was homemade too. She loved this little puree of carrots, poireaux, and potatoes. I am trying to recreate it for her tonight. Aline claims that the secret is in the carrots. She buys her carrots from a local lady who sells her vegetables at the market in town. They are according to Aline, "pas comme des carrotes horrible industrielle, amer!!!"- translation- not like the horrible industrial carrots that are bitter. She is right, the carrots in the puree were very sweet. I am tempted to go track down her carrot lady if my veggie guy's carrots from our market turn out to be less tasty! I am having difficulty feeding CG lately. She is not impressed with my homemade babyfood efforts and she doesn't like store bought either. What's a girl to do? Well, I am off to peel more carrots and potatoes. Nothing is fast and easy that's good for you, right? As Marie loves to remind me, "Everything is better that is fait maison- homemade."