This package of ricotta was given to me by a passionate and very kind cheese maker from Grenoble, whom I met at the Salon du Fromage – a parting gift after our long conversation, during which we tasted the whole array of his products (and not your teensy scanty samples either), discussed their respective flavors and textures, personalities and benefits, and swapped recipe ideas.

It is sweet with a mildly acidic edge, and its texture, slightly curdled, doesn’t have much to do with the Finetta ricotta you find in grocery stores here.

We’ve enjoyed it simply on its own, with good crusty bread, but we’ve also combined it with lemon zest and a pinch of sugar to coat warm bow-shaped pasta ; we’ve used it in a frittata, as a sandwich spread, and we’ve had it for dessert, drizzled with maple syrup. As you will infer, we had quite a quantity!

Oh, and um… wanna see my ricotta naked?

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[Lime and Ginger Melon Jam]

The truly magical thing about making your own jam is that they tell you to store the jars in a cool and dark place for a few months, to let the flavors develop fully. Oh sure, it is something of a heartbreak at first – you would so like to keep it close to you and dip the occasional finger in – but you know to be reasonable, you’ve been told to act like a grownup, so you relinquish and stash them at the back of a kitchen cabinet.

And life goes on, of course. Summer draws to a close, and fall, then winter, come and go with their own share of distractions and sweets and excitement. And all of a sudden, without a warning, spring is back! And you clean up the house! And the kitchen cabinets! And what do you find in there, all but forgotten, sitting side by side, cuddled up in the back? Your lovely lovely jars of summery jams.

And the following morning, it is with a renewed joy and high expectations that you pop open a jar of lime and ginger melon jam, and spread it generously on a big slice of bread.

Mmmmmm. So sweet and fragrant, so spicy and warm, with candied bits of ginger and lime peel, like tiny gems.

Well worth the wait.

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Some people have all the luck.

Maxence’s company recently relocated to Belleville, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Not only are the new offices in a rehabilitated workshop with frosted glass windows and exposed beams, nested at the very back of a series of small rickety courtyards, it is also right at the crossroads between North Africa and Asia.

You didn’t know such a geographic wonder existed? Well it does, as communities from both regions of the world have taken up residence on either side of the place de Belleville.

And this means that my lucky boy gets to conduct stupendous explorations trying out every possible hole-in-the-wall, travelling from Vietnam to Morocco by way of Thaïland, from Tunisia to China, from Korea to Turkey, and back again – all during his lunch break.

Thankfully, he is the generous kind, and from time to time he’ll suprise me with a selection of local Belleville goodies. Like for instance, those huge and delectable poppyseed bagels…

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[Red Cabbage and Dried Figs Salad]

If you look for recipes to use up a head of red cabbage before it applies for permanent residence in your vegetable drawer, you will find that the general agreement is “red cabbage shall be sublimated by fruit” : popular uses include braising it with apples or chestnuts, cooking it with pears, or pairing it with apricots or raisins in a salad.

Although the Cook’s Thesaurus dismisses it as tasting just like green cabbage and presenting the clear and present danger of bleeding onto the other ingredients, I still consider red cabbage my friend – like anything purple and pretty, really – and we’ll just agree to disagree on the taste thing, as I think it is distinctive and unlike that of green cabbage.

This fresh salad, in keeping with the fruit pairing idea, stars the aforementioned head of red cabbage (the volume of shredded cabbage a smallish head produces never ceases to astound me) and enhances its taste with little strips of dried figs for sweetness, toasted pumpkin seeds for nuttiness, soy sprouts for color contrast and crunch, and a lemon dressing for tang.

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