Two weeks ago, I attended a home sale of Demarle Flexipan molds, hosted by my friend and fellow food-blogger Pascale. Demarle is the original inventor of those nonstick flexible baking molds, made of silicon and glass fiber. Originally sold to professionals only, they have been available to happy home bakers for a few years : most brands distribute their products in department stores and such, but Demarle chose to sell their molds (and the other cooking/baking tools they make) in Tupperware-style meetings instead.

Pascale was there of course, as were her sister and our friends Alisa and Isabelle, of the Paris Potluck crowd. Pascale and Chantal, the Demarle representative, had prepared quite a few things for us to taste, to illustrate what you could make with the molds. In particular, Pascale had baked chocolate hazelnut madeleines, which she insisted were “ratées” (failed). We couldn’t have disagreed more, and in fact thought they represented such a high risk for the health and sanity of the general public, that we made sure to eat as many as we possibly could. It was tough, but I think we have reason to be proud.

It was my first time attenting such a meeting, and it was a lot of fun. Chantal presented the different products and their possible uses, they were passed from hand to hand, and we made a couple of recipes together (a really tasty spinach and fresh cheese roll, and some gougères, those little cheese puffs). I had a grand time, as I always do when I’m in the same room with other cooking enthusiasts, and Pascale’s bright and sunny kitchen, filled with goodies as it was, was the perfect place to be on that beautiful June day.

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I just love snow peas, because of the taste and the crunch and the look, but they’re seldom served in France, so I’m always happy to give them the space in the sun that they rightfully deserve. I think they’re perfect in salads, and this is what struck my fancy during a recent dinner party. A scrumptious combination that went surprisingly well with the terrine.

Terrine and salad were then followed by Stéphan’s sumptuous lamb tagine, complete with prunes, dates, apricots, almonds and walnuts, served in the beautiful tagine dish that Maxence’s mother brought us back from Turkey.

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When I was a child, my family spent a week in Brittany every year during the spring break. The place where we went most often was Carnac, on the South coast of Brittany, a little town famous for its stunning prehistoric menhir alignments. It was always quite a gamble on the weather, as that time of year has equal chances of being brightly sunny, or grimly overcast and even thunderous. But I would be hard-pressed to choose the kind of weather I preferred : of course I loved riding my bike in the sun until I had sunburns on the backs of my hands, and building sandcastles that we fought to protect against the rising tide ; but I also have great memories of watching storms from the safety of the seaside, in awe of the strength with which the waves came crashing onto the pier. Getting dressed from head to toe in waterproof gear, walking on the beach against the fierce wind, flying kites, and coming home, the four of us red-cheeked, drippy-nosed, hardly seeing a thing through our soaked and salty glasses.

Of course, I also have many fond food memories of those vacations. In Carnac we knew every crêperie, every bakery and which one had the best kouign aman, a caramelized flaked pastry involving rather indecent amounts of butter, every ice-cream parlor and which one had the best waffle cones and flavors.

But my personal favorite, the treat I looked forward to the most, was Les Niniches : a hard candy in the shape of a long, thin cylinder, in a colored wrapping, with a little stick to hold it.

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Courgettes farcies

We buy most of our fruits and vegetables at our favorite little fruit stand on rue des Abbesses, where the staff is friendly, greets us with big smiles, gets stuff for us from the back, and is always happy to discuss what’s the best seasonal choice and how to prepare it.

So last week, when I saw that they sold little ball-shaped zucchini, I instantly decided to get a few, because anything round and small and cute gets my enthusiastic vote. And of course, what can you do with little round zucchini, if not stuff them with goodies?

I had made similar Quinoa-Stuffed Zucchini a few months ago, filling the shells with quinoa, ricotta and pinenuts, and had enjoyed the process as much as the result. I decided to do something different this time, a non-vegetarian version that would use ground beef instead, which is the traditional way to make French stuffed zucchini.

This was delicious, and very easy to make. The zucchini look so pretty, and the meat and onion filling is a simple but glorious complement. Maxence enjoyed it particularly, and said that this was the best thing I had done in a while. (He’s not quite the soup fan I have become, so I’m afraid he’s been feeling a little deprived.)

Finally, my advice is this: make sure you have leftovers, as this tastes even better the next day.

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