Wish You Were Here... Weeks 3 & 4

A cold, grey day in early January is probably the only time you could hope to get a photograph of the front of the Château de Versailles with no one else around except your own friends. The relatively small number of visitors inside, made for a great tour and certainly made me appreciate being a local.



Gallettes des Rois are our favourite French tradition. This year we had four - one of them baked by India. Florence was almost able to carry out her role, designated by her status as the youngest in the family, to call out who should get each slice. However, having crowned herself Queen before the cake was even cut into, she lost interest and it was left to Savannah to do the honours.


Don't forget to check out all the other virtual postcards in the Wish You Were Here... project. Each week they get better and better!

Spring

We had a little bit of sun today (see? in the top right corner of the picture!)
and some local treats to celebrate Jour du Macaron.
A little taste of Spring.
Enjoy!

Two birthdays + forty eight cakes

Georgia & Savannah celebrated their ninth birthday this week. They're growing up but still not too old to ask for toys for their birthday or to take in treats to their classmates. Last year our sea shipment containing all our belongings from California had just arrived and I could barely see the kitchen for packing boxes, never mind attempt to create any kind of homemade treat. This year I was determined to make up for it and so, as requested, whipped up forty eight fairy cakes with 'soft' icing on the morning of their birthday for them to take into school.

I haven't done half as much baking as I used to since moving to France. My Kitchen Aid mixer, the secret of my baking success, did not come in that shipment and in any case it's hard to get motivated about baking when there's a patisserie on every corner! My first choice of recipe was quickly dismissed when I realised I had forgotten to buy any sugar and what was left in the house wasn't going to stretch to the two and a half cups required. Instead I used this muffin recipe an old favourite of ours, but left out the chocolate chips and used a bit less sugar as that was all I had. Miraculously the batter for twelve regular sized muffins stretched to make forty eight mini muffins so I didn't have to make a double batch!

The icing was made using our family's favourite method of adding liquid to powdered sugar (sucre glace à pâtisser in France). You can use water or milk, but I usually like to use freshly squeezed lemon juice to add a bit of flavour. This time I happened to have a box of limes that had caught my eye at the market but hadn't got around to using. The lime juice added a lovely zingy taste that made up for the lack of sugar in the cake! I always find it difficult to know just how much liquid to add to this kind of icing, so this time I paid attention so that I could share it here and create a reminder for myself. Six tablespoons of powdered sugar mixed with two tablespoons of lime juice and a drop of food colouring made just the right consistency. It really is a quick and easy way to ice a cake and when you have forty eight to ice quick and easy is what you want!

Farm Fresh to You

We have just a couple of days left in California before we return to France. When we first arrived, with four weeks stretching ahead of us it seemed like we had so much time and I expected we would fill much of it doing some of the touristy things we never got around to whilst living here, like visiting Alcatraz or walking across the Golden Gate Bridge in its 75th anniversary year. The four weeks have flown by though and those activities will have to stay on our bucket list as we chose to spend our time staying local, near friends and our favourite swimming pool, a ballet camp for India and a quilting camp for Georgia and more sleepovers for the big girls than we can count!

Last weekend though, we did fulfill a long held desire to attend the Capay Tomato Festival, hosted by the farm, Capay Organic, that used to deliver us our weekly box of organic vegetables. We started getting the box about four years ago and it completely changed the way we ate. I already loved cooking at home, but starting our menu planning with the vegetables we had available rather than the meat seemed to be a much healthier approach and never quite knowing which seasonal vegetables were going to turn up in our box really got the whole family trying new foods on a weekly basis.

We had attended lots of open days at the farm in every season whilst we lived here, but the heirloom tomato festival in the summer never seemed to fall at a good time for us. This year though we finally made it with our good friends who share our love for the contents of those boxes.


The farm is about an hour and a half's drive north of San Francisco and in such a pretty location. Tractor rides took visitors around the fields, filled at this time of year with summer squash and asparagus.


There were plenty of activities for the little ones. Arts and crafts, hula hoops, herb salt making and Florence's favourite...


...bubbles!


The main event though was the Heirloom Tomato Tasting.

Not only did the family who run Capay Organic pioneer organic farming in the region, farmer's markets and fresh produce delivery, they also reintroduced heirloom tomatoes to the market. Here's how...




What a great story!


Now, although those organic boxes have got my kids eating carrots, pistachios, spinach and even kale, India, Georgia and Savannah still maintain that they hate tomatoes and cannot usually be persuaded to eat them. I think they may have been converted though after this weekend. All three girls tried and liked the huge variety of tomatoes on offer.


Georgia sporting some Bastille Day fireworks!


Someone who doesn't need any persuading to eat a tomato though is Florence. She adores them and she was in tomato tasting heaven here.





The party continued with live music.


Just a few more tomatoes.


And dancing.


A wonderful day out in the fresh air with good food, great company and more tomatoes than you can eat.

Miam! Miam!

Out of the mouths of babes...

I think its fair to say that anyone lucky enough to have spent time in France will miss having daily access to a real baguette more than anything once they have to leave. Of course you can get baguettes in other countries but they'll never be quite the same. I picked up this one while we were in Whole Foods to have with our dinner on Sunday night. Florence was with me and as is her habit insisted on being given le quignon (the tip) to munch on while we went through the checkout line.

Sadly it was a huge disappointment for her. She had to use all her might to bite off a mouthful of the crust and after a few chews turned up her nose and spat it out on the floor in disgust! Her face was a picture but unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture it for you so you'll have to take my word for it.

I started an online photography course today and for the first time my camera dial is firmly set to manual. I suspect there will be quite a few more misses as I faff about with exposure whilst my subject runs away, but I'm hoping that taking control of the camera will ultimately make for more satisfying photos. We shall see..

Lunch. Lakeside

It's time to show off again I'm afraid. This is the heartbreaking time of year, when people we hadn't even heard of last year, but who are now friends for life, get posted to another assignment in another country. Aside from packing up all their belongings, finding somewhere to live and registering their kids in new schools, they have their Paris bucket lists to get through and what's a good friend to do other than accompany them on trips to see and do all the things they planned on doing while they lived here, but were too busy with the laundry and supervising maths homework to get around to?


Checked off the list yesterday was Le Chalet des Iles, a restaurant in the middle of a lake in the Bois de Boulogne.


A ferry takes you out to the restaurant. It's easy - you just show up at the water's edge and the ferryman sails you over to your table.


This was quite a spur of the moment outing for me and my friend. Mostly we wanted to see what it was like to take a ferry to lunch, we hadn't thought that much about what the restaurant would be like when we got there. It turned out to be quite the white table cloth affair - a sign I usually take to mean best avoided when out with Florence, but the waiters weren't phased and as soon as we were seated brought us out a colouring page and crayons for the little girls. Nothing special you might think but it was a first for us in Paris. The menu included a menu enfant which you don't see in that many nice restaurants either. We ordered one for both girls and when it arrived we wished we had ordered one for ourselves. Check out that mini (saignant!) burger and the tomato and mozzarella brochettes. Starter and main course on one plate which kept both girls content while we enjoyed our excellent plats du jour.

There were also sun hats to borrow. Definitely a first for me, although I have seen blankets on the backs of chairs in some Paris cafés. Luckily for us after a week of dismal weather, yesterday was finally a day for hats not blankets.


The nice weather brought out the ducks and their babies too at which point our leisurely lunch was somewhat disrupted as we tag teamed eating dessert whilst watching that the girls didn't fall in the lake feeding their baguette to the ducks!




I often hear or read that it's impossible to eat out with kids in Paris, but this doesn't have to be the case. This restaurant was especially welcoming to the children, but we haven't particularly sought out kid friendly restaurants since moving to France and we have had lots of enjoyable meals out with the family. Our trick is to arrive early, just as the restaurants are opening for lunch or dinner that way you get served much faster, but you also need to allow time for a leisurely meal if you want it to be a nice one. If you don't have time for a three course lunch grab a sandwich from the boulangerie and take it to a park bench! We check out the atmosphere in the restaurant before we sit down, if it's all white table cloths and fur coats we move on, there's another one at the corner. We've never been put off by the lack of a children's menu, Florence is always happy with a plate of frites and the girls have learnt to love rare steak in France and now choose that wherever they go. There usually aren't highchairs, but we took a portable one that clips to the table while Florence needed one and no one ever objected to us using it. Inspired by this post a long time ago, we taught Florence to drink out of a glass as soon as she started weaning and it had been such a helpful skill for her in France where cups with lids are never brought to the table. Most of the time she drinks her water out of a wine glass and she now insists on drinking Orangina straight out of the bottle. That's right, we're perfect parents, we give our two year old fries and Orangina so we can get a nice meal!

Not every time we eat out with the girls is a raging success, but part of the reason we enjoy life here is that we have been prepared to give it a try. If we had given too much thought to going out to Le Chalet des Iles we might not have gone, but it turned out to be the perfect afternoon out. Good food, friendly service, pretty scenery and perfect company!

Turning Two

Well we now have a two year old in the house. Not too terrible so far!

For someone who wouldn't have noticed what day it was, Florence had quite the birthday extravaganza. We spent her big day at Disneyland. Not my first choice of birthday venue for a two year old, but we were there for another friend's birthday party and Florence loved it. She is now a big fan of the It's a Small World ride, popcorn and coke. Sigh!

On Sunday we had a family tea party for the birthday girl.

Exactly one week after I was in New York buying fabric for her birthday outfit she was wearing it. Yeah!


Jet lag got the better of me before I could attempt the matching trousers but I did have time to whip up some 'Bonjour' bunting from the scraps. Inspired by Kirsty's tutorial I cut a bunch of four inch equilateral triangles from the Liberty fabric and shot cottons that I bought at Purl Soho and then stitched them to five yards of colourful twill tape which was another Purl purchase. Easy!


Knowing we'd be out until late the night before the party, I let the local boulangerie take most of the baking strain. These macarons were delicious and matched the colour scheme perfectly!


My Mum also made her cheese scones which were a huge hit. So much so that our guests asked her to write down the recipe. I'm so glad because now I have it and she says I can share it with you:

8oz plain flour sifted
2oz butter
2oz cheddar cheese grated
pinch of salt
7tbsp (approx) milk
dessert spoon of mustard

Pre-heat oven to 220ºC (425ºF).
Rub the sifted flour and butter together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Add other dry ingredients.
Combine mustard and milk then add to the dry ingredients to make a dough mix.
Roll out the dough to about one and a half inches thick and cut into rounds.
Place on non-stick baking tray and leave in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes.
Brush tops with milk and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.


When I was growing up, my birthday cakes were the talk of the town. It was usually my Dad who designed and decorated them. He even made drawings! This is the design for the cake for my second birthday. I found it recently tucked in the back of my baby book.


I've made my share of elaborate birthday cakes over the past eleven years, but this being the 21st (!) birthday party I have organized for one of my children, I chose to keep it simple with our favourite lemon poppy seed cake and a marzipan ladybird from the boulangerie.


Florence was much more interested in blowing out the candles than eating it anyway. And singing Happy Birthday ten times accompanied by Georgia who figured out all by herself how to play it on the piano.


I made play dough as party favours, packaged in my vast collection of empty Bonne Maman jars and tied up with more Liberty scraps.


I've been wanting to make my own play dough for Florence ever since seeing this post at Sew Liberated, but I've been put off by my inability to find cream of tartar in France. In the end I made it without and it was ridiculously easy although a bit sticky the next day. The need to add extra flour made it all the more fun though!


Just as much of a hit with the big kids as the two year old.

So there you have it. Florence turns two in style. Rather a long post but being a fourth child she doesn't have a baby book for me to tuck memories into so this is the virtual version.

This Moment. Moules mischief

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Joining in with Amanda and friends at SouleMama

Easter Weekend

I'm aware that this blog has been turning into a Christmas letter of fabulous things we have done in Paris recently, so to bring it all down to earth, today I bring you this...


...eight months and eight days since we moved into our French house, I finally unpacked the last of the moving boxes! You can see the floor in our basement! I found the beach toys one week before we leave for a trip to the sea! A wet and windy Bank Holiday Monday spent very productively.

In more picturesque and festive news, we had a pleasant and peaceful Easter here with a flurry of last minute making and baking on my part.


Sleepy Bunny bags made with this pattern.

Homemade Hot Cross Buns.


Delicious French Easter chocolate from our favourite boulanger.
Florence's first egg hunt but fun for all the family. Simple Spring basket pattern here


A traditional simnel cake that flooded the oven with butter, but turned out quite good in the end!

How was your long weekend?

Making an Impression

We are still giddily enjoying the gorgeous weather here in Paris. It's not forecast to last though so we have been making the most of the opportunity to get into Paris more often than usual. Last week however, on the first day of Spring, I had a day out a little closer to home.


Inspired by this post by Véronique at French Girl in Seattle we celebrated my friend's birthday at Le Restaurant Fournaise in Chatou, the setting of one of Renoir's most famous paintings Le Déjeuner des Canotiers.

I discovered Véronique's blog after seeing her comments on other blogs about French Life that I follow and her captivating post about the history of this restaurant and the nineteenth century artists who frequented it in its heyday was the first one I ever read. In it she concludes; "Next time you visit Paris, why don't you, too, follow la Seine all the way to Chatou? No need to wait until Sunday afternoon, or wear a canotier. The Canoeists and lovely Alphonsine may be long gone, but la Maison Fournaise is still there, by the river, waiting..." We didn't have to wait for a "next time" we live just ten minutes away from Chatou so as soon as we had an opportunity we took Véronique's advice and went to experience the place for ourselves.


The restaurant is an island amongst the office blocks now, but that sky is still worthy of a painting.




If you look carefully, you can see the American Express building where Véronique used to work reflected in the entrées!


This was my entrée. Gambas, the winning choice from a meal that we all agreed wasn't the best food we've ever had in France, but almost certainly better than we would have experienced in our U.S. suburban neighborhoods on a Tuesday lunchtime!

The food is secondary though to the experience of eating where Renoir and his Impressionist buddies once sat.


The building has been beautifully restored and there is a museum on site that we didn't have time to visit. A good excuse to go back.


There was time for a quick after lunch stroll along the river bank, past the boat house...


...then back home in time to fetch the kids off the school bus.