Happy Christmas from Ireland!

Almost halfway through my Emerald Isle holidays, and the past week has been merry, joyful, adventurous and laid-back! A traditional Polish Christmas Eve, was the perfect atmosphere to celebrate the season in a new country with celebrated cultural traditions. Despite distance or location the season continues to ring with the connected spirit of sharing and enjoyed company. The evening was spent at Marta’s (Agnieszka’s sister’s), and like the greatly missed Christmas Eve’s at Aunt Lucy’s featured a meat free, fish focused traditional meal, with beet soup, pierogis, fried fish, bigos (sauerkraut dish), and salatka warzywna (mixed vegetable salad).

It was an evening of shared preparation, cooking, conversation and laughter, followed by nibbling on decadent desserts and catching up with family and friends around the world via video and Skype. An amazing blend of new traditions fused with old to create an experience as unique and meaningful as all involved!

Christmas Day was relaxed and lazy, spent in PJ’s and fuzzy socks, preparing for the ‘globally’ traditional meal of turkey, ham, stuffing and potatoes, with the addition of the famous and pricey Irish spiced beef to honour and celebrate the home of our perpetually green Christmas! The weather was mild and drizzly and the surrounding grounds were lush and green, much different from the past December that was blanketed in sparkling snow.

Me & Aggie

Me, Mick, Marta & Shane

St Stephen’s Day (aka Boxing Day), was lazier than the day before, and spent in relaxed and contented discussion, feasting on leftovers, cake and chocolate while sluggishly digesting the last two days of overstuffed bellies. A wonderful start to a new and celebrated Christmas holidays! Days shared with friends in newly adopted homes like my current vie en France, with genuine Irish hospitality, coupled with childhood and cultural traditions to create a season of joy and appreciation!

The following few days were spent in sheer slothfulness, gorging on ridiculous amounts of chocolate, crisps and chips; watching way too much TV while cuddled in blankets and changing out of warm and comfy PJ’s for an hour or so to run into town for milk or bread, or to replace the dwindling supply of crisps ;) Ah the guilty pleasures of vacations and holidays and the way we rationalize and justify days of sluggish rest! A night out at the local village pub, and a Pre “New Year’s Eve“ evening at the Pub in the small town next door created the perfect prelude to today’s final day of 2011.





Let the resolutions, wishes and hopes for the upcoming year begin, if they already haven’t, and let us cherish the year we are leaving behind with fond memories and accomplishments; encouraging each other for continued greatness and soul satisfying opportunities.

I know I have already delved into some of my 2012 goals,

and hope that the same is true and inspired for each of us in this

upcoming New Year!

Europe in Bloom



With Christmas only days away and temperatures remaining in the 40's F - with drizzly rain instead of snow, and the occasional flurries that barely leave a mark on the pavement, it is no wonder I am left thinking about the blossoms of spring and foliage of fall. As such I took a walk down memory lane and reminisced over Europe in bloom...



Chavanay France

Brussels Belgium

Greystones Ireland

Monaco

St Tropez France

Cannes France

Lyon France

Edinburgh Scotland

London England

Annecy France

Perouges France

Edinburgh Scotland

Aix-les-Bains France

Edinburgh Scotland

Geneva Switzerland

North Co Dublin Ireland

Bourg-en-Bresse France

Condrieu France

Cavalaire-sur-Mer France

Marvellous Mountain Getaway

Oh the call of the mountains… profoundly peaceful, enchantingly tranquil and effortlessly meditative…  A place where the atmosphere changes not only in altitude, but in clarity and focus. Where thoughts are simplified, wants are reduced, and dreams are encouraged. Where faith is intimately sensed, and the universe is at its most exposed. A truly magnificent landscape uncaptured in images or words, but designed to be witnessed in sight, sound and touch.



Over the weekend of December 9-11, I was fortunate to spend a couple of days in the Alps, in a town called Avoriaz, near the Swiss border. Snow crested peaks encircled the ski resort town and enticed with miles of leading winding roads and blanketed ski routes. The air was crisp and cold but was deceived by the heat of the sun lending to contented moments in nature surveying the vistas, trudging knee deep in snow, and enjoying the company of friends on outside summer style terraces. Horse led sleighs chimed in tune with the clop of their hooves, snow glistened in the moonlight, and the grand tree in the village shimmered and shone reflecting the formation, innocence and magnitude of the mountain range.



A call loud enough to silence circling thoughts, yet soft enough to impart soul directed gratitude and contentment. A place possibly compared to by the sea or ocean, but nonetheless one of pure nature unspoiled by expectation, worry or imperfection.

Joyfully sinking in snow in celebration of Emily's birthday
& the amazing views of the Alps!



La deuxième quiche

I have officially discovered my favourite thing to make and eat! Leave it to the simple quiche recipe that is ultra versatile and delicious!!

Needing to rid my fridge and pantry before embarking on my upcoming Irish holidays, my second endeavour was an onion quiche. Loosely based on a recipe I found online, I kept it strictly onion based; sautéing and slightly caramelizing 4 white onions with a touch of flour and sugar. A box of half & half cream whisked with 4 eggs provided the base, with a dash of salt, pepper, paprika and turmeric. And to top it off, a sprinkle of finely grated emmental cheese to round out the flavours!



Reminiscent of french onion soup à la quiche, with the slightly sweet fragrance of sautéed onions paired with the salty quality of the cheese. Although I do have to admit that I am most proud that I cooked an amazingly delicious creation without following the confines of a recipe!



Onion quiche with spinich salad
& homemade dijon balsamic dressing

Maybe it is age or French living… or maybe it is a relaxed attitude or carefree notion… but I am actually finding I enjoy the simple domestic pleasures and treasures I am slowly acquiring!



Décorations de cannelle

Yeah, a productive day so far…. Blog entry, episode of Pan Am, homemade cinnamon ornaments and a bit of housecleaning, and it is only noon!! Mind you 20 minutes of that time was spent photographing the cinnamon ornament process ;)

I am gradually becoming a little Molly homemaker of sorts (insert curtsey & a spin for good measure)!  This morning I made cinnamon ornaments with a dash of creativity and flair apart from my traditional expertly measured ingredients, and explicitly followed directions, of cinnamon ornaments afore.

Unable to open the cinnamon ornament recipe I saved on disc, but remembering practically each ingredient and step (except the part about applesauce); I found a similar recipe online and went off on my way to modify, tweak and create a new chez Sophie version of les decorations de cannelle!

Forgetting to buy applesauce, I grabbed an individual serving size cup of compote pomme- banane and opened the cap of the hard to find colle blanche (white glue), only to find that it was not the gooey sticky liquid kind I was expecting but a thick hard paste.  Oh well! C’est domage, but still workable! On the plus side the compote is thicker so it doesn’t need to be drained!



Naturally, cinnamon is the main ingredient, with a touch of other warm and wintery spices like nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Having found everything I needed except cloves I began to stir and mix and knead together the dough for the highly fragrant inedible ornaments!

Cinnamon Ornaments Recipe                                                    Décorations de cannelle de Sophie

(Full batch)                                                                                     (Half batch)
 
1 cup cinnamon                                                                             ½ cup cannelle
1 Tbs nutmeg                                                                                 2 tsps muscade
1 Tbs ginger                                                                                    2 tsps gingembre
1 Tbs ground cloves                                                                      pas de girofle    
1 cup drained applesauce                                                            1 pot compote pomme-banane
1 Tbs white craft glue                                                                   1 glob colle blanche



Directions: (en anglais of course! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!!)

Mix together spices and stir in applesauce and glue until well mixed and doughy.
Roll out dough on a floured surface with extra flour on hand as dough is wet.
Cut out fun shapes and use a toothpick to insert a small hole for ribbon in each ornament.
Allow to air dry for 2-3 days flipping the ornaments each day for even drying.
(Fingers crossed that the dry radiant heated air speeds up the drying process).

P.S. It's the best scented holiday air freshener around!

simple pleasures...

At the start of the weekend I had the grand idea that I would write one blog per day until my upcoming Festivities away in Ireland!! So far so good –Saturday’s post about Fête des Lumières! Check!

While I have a list of ideas that I have wanted to write about, most have lost their sense of excitement and fun and have been demoted to the back burner of maybe’s and when’s… there is time, the mood strikes, the ideas flow effortlessly…

Although yesterday in my early morning - maybe I should have reconsidered - holiday season, trip to the grocery store I decided to cave in and buy peanut butter. In 14 months this is the second small jar of PB I have bought, not including the guiltily purchased mini jar of almond butter at the cost of 8 baguettes! But every once in a while the missed gout (taste) of PB stirs my fancy and I ignore the high cost, endless aisle searching, and wrinkled noses as PB is considered gross; quite similar to my reaction to non Nutella lovers.

 
So, on this highly aggravating grocery trip as I dodged unattended carts strewn and splayed ‘momentarily’ across aisle ways, and festive shoppers whistled merry tunes amplifying and reverberating off my eardrum, I wandered around half searching for a jar of PB. You would think that jars of PB would sit nicely beside the jars of jam or honey, but NO… instead there you can find Nutella, crème de marrons, and jars of spreadable creamy style Speculoos made from gingersnap spice cookies popular in France, but no peanut butter L I have been tempted however to buy a jar of the Speculoos spread as the cookie is delightful, but considering a jar of Nutella lasts less than one week, I can only imagine the nonexistent shelf life of the Speculoos variety!

As I wandered the aisles I came across an unknown brand on a small shelf devoted to British fare. I struggled to remember where I had seen it last and pictured the little jars of Skippy relegated somewhere to the bottom recesses of a shelf along with maybe rice noodles and creamed corn. Luckily enough somewhere else randomly placed on a miscellaneous shelf I found a crunchy no name variety, but at almost 5€ a pop I wasn’t going to play around with inferior PB! And then!! Not Skippy or a familiar brand of home, I spotted a fair trade Nicaraguan jar of PB for less than 4€, complete with an endorsement photo of a nice looking Nicaraguan man on the label! Off to the cash I went with my new find and other purchases ready to sample a non North American variety of PB.

Following my usual 6h30 automatic wake-up and one and a half coffees later I unpeeled the paper seal from the jar of PB and heartily spread some on a moist and chewy slice of rye bread topped also with peach Bonne Maman jam. But, before I could sample this new spread, my recent obsession with photographing just about everything I cook or bake took hold and I spent 5+ minutes in food photography heaven. Just then my usually analytical thoughts switched to the scattered ones of maybe I should carve out a personal niche in food photography?... Okay back to the PB. While it is different from the ultra smooth, sticky and sweet ones back home, this fair trade variety is slightly grainy with much less sugar and probably preservatives, lending it to a truer taste of protein perfection!! 

Fête des Lumières

December 8^th marked the annual celebration of Fètes des Lumiéres in Lyon. A time of praise and gratitude to the Virgin Mary for sparing Lyon from the plague in the 1600’s, although, the historical narrative is seemingly forgotten and overshadowed by current traditions and exhibitions.

For approximately 4 days the city morphs into a magnificent display of coloured lights, flickering candles and illuminated displays. The streets smell of spiced hot wine and chocolaty crepes. People flock to the centre squares and cathedrals from around the globe to witness the exquisitely crafted and timed lights and sights. The metro is expertly manned and controlled with the precise timing of entry and exit points. And the city comes alive in a multitude of displays, themes and colours; an ideal pairing to the diversity of the festivities revellers.

The days leading up to the Festival are dedicated to the sale of coloured, patterned, and clear candle holders with bags of plain white wax candles. Noel inspired lights line the streets and the city’s squares entice with carousels and Ferris wheels. The opening night of December 8^th is alight with candles lining windowsills and walkways, the sky is aglow in swaths of colours and designs, and the city is abuzz in radiant energy and excitement.



While the traditional religious significance of the event is undeniably outshined by the grand displays and shows of light, the themed posters and tribute depicting ‘Merci Marie’ ascend from the hill of Fourvière - an all encompassing and embracing reminder of the Festival’s origins.

I am a Domestic Goddess!

So I was going to write about Fête des Lumières and the weekend away in Avoriaz, but I just couldn’t resist writing instead about the super delicious quiche I just made!!!

Not only is it ridiculously easy to make, but it looks and tastes incredible too!

Yummy, yummy goodness! A new French création chez la cuisine de Sophie, inspired by la cuisine d’Emily!!!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 fresh refrigerated dough/crust (unrolled over a pie plate 30 mins before baking)
4 eggs
1 20cl (200 ml) carton half & half cream or substitute (Bridelight Fluide 4%mg)
Veggies, cheese, meat, etc… to your heart’s desire!!
Salt & pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425° (gas mark #7)

Whisk eggs and milk together

Stir in veggies, herbs & spices and/or cheese.
(Or crumble, sprinkle, cover the top with more cheese!!)

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set.

Enjoy with a glass of wine of course - and NOW I think of it L

Ma première recette:

Stir fried broccoli, chopped fresh spinach and sautéed onions.
Topped with crumbled goat cheese, fresh rosemary & thyme.

Alors Danse

Oh the dreams of a life like no other, a life outside of the one you already know… The hope and childlike innocence that resonates from the what if I…

Before moving to France I had a short list of dreams that were simple and by all intents and purposes completely achievable with a little effort and perseverance, of course! One of those was to learn to dance. And not just any old dance, but the couple style dancing I remembered from my past visits to France, where despite age, gender, or occasion, people enjoyed dancing together in a sort of lightly swing influenced, du-whop, possibly 60’s or 70’s inspired crocodile rock style of dance. Armed with the crystal clear reality that I am haphazardly uncoordinated and can barely follow the fluid bodily motions of a relaxing qigong or tai chi session, let alone understand or follow the ever embarrassingly popular hustle or other synchronized group dance; I merely kept an eye out for dance studios and advertisements. And over the past year, this once thriving idea shrunk into the background becoming a nice idea instead of a must do….

Much to my surprise, a couple of weeks ago I got together with a French friend I met through the Act4 English group. It was to be a soirée en français, where I could fumble my way through French and enjoy a night out in pure French fried fun! Paying much less attention to just about everything than I ever have, I knew that we were going to some theatre, play, music thing… Clearly I had a very vague idea at best of what was to come…  Even better was that I had a copy of the advertisement (below) as reference, but chose to just show up to the soirée for a night of unexpected fun.

After a mixed-up meet-up at one of the larger metro stations in Lyon, Juliette and I set off to the Bal D’hiver event, complete with a 2 piece band, no table or chairs and an open space filled with the creative artsy type, most in funky socked feet, all ready to jive and spin and follow the instructions of the dance club leader.

Okay, so here I am uncoordinated and uncomfortable in any sort of coordinated group activity whether aerobics, Simon says, or dance, and in a still fuzzy language, and I was following the gradually increasing 2 to 4 to 6 step solo dance choreography. The night was separated into 5 radically different dance combos, each with varying movements, rules and degrees of creativity. Most started with a basic introduction and steps that gradually morphed into a revolving couple or group dance; and all were artistically creative and fun; much less coordinated and more childlike and innocent. As the two piece band played on, we followed the guided instructions of our dance hall master and twisted and turned and weaved and wiggled to the likes of mirroring each other without touching, swaying blindly around the dance floor, and tapping into our inner penguins!

                                                                                                                                                

Not exactly what I had in mind when I dreamed of dancing in diner style rock and roll, but that is the beauty of dreams and reality… sometimes the little differences and unexpectancies are more revealing and fun and just as memorable as the memory you wish to create.