The other night, we had two friends over for a casual dinner : Marion, a friend of mine from university, and Marwane, whom Maxence has known since junior high. Being on a Japanese food kick induced by Maxence’s recent successful forays, I decided to make some kind of udon dish topped with stuff. That seemed reasonably doable (I mean, how ambitious does that sound?) with the various ingredients we happened to have on hand.

In particular, I used one of these little packets of rice seasoning mix that they sell in Japanese grocery stores. They come in different flavors, but they all basically contain some kind of meat and vegetable extract, teeny shrimps for some, salt, sugar, sesame oil, onions and various spices. In fact the only actual difference the naked eye can see is in the color of the package and the Pokemon character depicted on it. The idea is to add them to cooked rice, and beat an egg in for a quick yummy meal. We bought tens of these back in California and they had gotten somewhat lost in oblivion in the back of our bulging kitchen cabinets. I recently unearthed them and have found them to be very convenient, instantly giving an interesting Japanese flavor to anything you add them to.

At first, I had reservations about just throwing together what was in the fridge and labelling it Japanese, especially the parsnip and the parsley which sounded to me all but traditional Japanese fare. But after a little research, it appears that our friends from the Empire of the Rising Sun do use parsnips (for tempura in particular) and parsley (lthough theirs seems to be flat-leaf when mine was curly). So all is right in the world, and the result was a very flavorful and satisfying dish, with a lot of different tastes and textures, that we all liked very much.

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Our first Campanier order included a small head of cauliflower. I felt like eating it raw, and came up with this easy-breazy dip to accompany it. I wanted to eat a quick snack before joining Maxence at the movies, and this took me all of five minutes to whip up. This fresh and tasty dip can be eaten with veggies, or spread on toasted bread.

Be warned though, that as you sit down to watch the movie, your boyfriend may look at you suspiciously in the semi-darkness and ask : “Did you, um… eat onions?”.

Nope. Shallots.

But thanks all the same.

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This is Pierre Hermé’s Marron et Thé Vert Matcha macaron.

This is a delicate confection of chestnut almond meringue and fresh chestnut cream and voluptuous green tea cream.

This is a true delight, to the eye and to the palate.

This is my Valentine’s Day gift to you.

Joyeuse St-Valentin!

Back when we lived in the Silicon Valley, whenever I ordered a sandwich, I would invariably and happily go for the California sandwich. Not only did it sound most appropriate given the location, but avocado is among my best friends, and sprouts are a fantastic addition, adding the perfect peppery crunch to its comforting and sweet tenderness.

I have had many different types of California sandwiches, with different types of bread and cheese, some vegetarian and some with turkey or even bacon, some with tomatoes and some with roasted red pepper, some without greens and some with spinach leaves.

But to me, the essence of the California sandwich lies in the combination of avocado and sprouts, hugged by excellent good-for-you bread and a mellow kind of cheese.

So when I got avocados in my Campanier order the other day, I quickly started a batch of sprouts. When the avocados were ripe and the sprouts had grown, I bought mozzarella and multigrain bread, for a delighful trip down memory lane, flying on the wings of this simple and scrumptious sandwich.

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