Not really. A really awkward lesson would be one where you ask a woman to repeat what you say, get curt when she doesn't and then learn she has throat cancer. Thank god that didn't happen to me. This is more gentle, but funny, and a little awkward.
Student : What does it mean, to finger?
Teacher: I beg your pardon, Jean François?
Student : To finger, F-E-N-J-A-R.
Teacher: Yes, yes, well, what do you think it means?
Jean François waves enthusiastically.
Teacher: Right Jean François, no, that 's to wave, WAVE...
and a couple more :
the student who said that at the bank, he "made out" (as in make out a check), and the one who said that at her company she liked to have the "fre massage on backside", she meant, of course, "back"...
samedi 29 novembre 2008
So here we are at the Chateaubriand
Dad was 65 in August but we only got round to celebrating with a nice meal out last week, in fact just a few days before Chook's birthday (at this rate, we will probably celebrate that in August...). The nice meal out was eaten at the Chateaubriand, a restaurant near us on the avenue Parmentier (11th). It's a very interesting place, and that's before you even eat. They've kept the slighlty old fashioned, nicotine-stained and dark wood decor that dates from the 30s : there is a shiny zinc bar and old menu boards from that time, and classic bistrot wooden tables and chairs. The food however is on the futuristic side of modern. They don't claim any link to El Bulli or Hestor Blumenthal, but certainly admit the chef is in to taking flavours apart and finding those perfect, and sometimes unusual combinations.
5 courses. 43 euros. The same for everyone (though they had no problem with vegetarian mum).
Amuse-bouche/starter : Firm, perfect dices of sardine with slivers of fresh green olives, grapefruit, a pesto "cream" and beautiful green grilled gindilla pepper (not hot, but with wonderful crunch and 'green taste') with sel de guérande.
Fish course : 2 perfectly cooked scallops (sealed and caramelised brown outside, raw and melt in the mouth inside), sitting on a stripe of helianti mash/cream (a root vegetable, cross between jerusalem artichoke and celeriac flavor), trail of vanilla foam (not sweet) and, get this, orange salt. Coarse salt that tastes of oranges. My personal favorite.
More fish course : flaky opaque seabass with light and crispy skin, over which have been negligently flung chanterelle mushrooms, hazelnuts, mustard leaves (bit of earthy tang), small dark muscat grapes. A small heap of onion compote.
Meat course : a neat little lump of veal, pink in the midlle, surmounted by slices of pinf radish and sitting on a purple potato mash, drizzled with a sauce made with ultra-fresh (only just dead?) cockles which may have been raw. the vegetarian was exactly the same only the veal replaced by fish. The whole dish had a ring of infanticide to it.
Cheese or dessert? I went for the cheese : a fully mature brie, golden and and creamy with a crust that looked like the parched, cracked earth you see in drought lands (a bit whiter, admittedly); a vintage comté, smooth and strong with a crunch of salt; and a fresh little goats' cheese. Yum.
The others went for dessert, which they all liked but i thought bordered on the nasty : an avacado mousse and thin slices of pineapple topped with an acerola (south american fruit, very sour, tastes a little of passion fruit) foam, stabbed with a nut and caramel snap. Too sour, too sweet, too avacado.
All in all absolutely amazing and lovely. As they change their menu gradually but constantly (they replace a course or so every day), the food evolves with the seasons and the whims of the chef. Will return as soon as can afford. Highly recommended.
5 courses. 43 euros. The same for everyone (though they had no problem with vegetarian mum).
Amuse-bouche/starter : Firm, perfect dices of sardine with slivers of fresh green olives, grapefruit, a pesto "cream" and beautiful green grilled gindilla pepper (not hot, but with wonderful crunch and 'green taste') with sel de guérande.
Fish course : 2 perfectly cooked scallops (sealed and caramelised brown outside, raw and melt in the mouth inside), sitting on a stripe of helianti mash/cream (a root vegetable, cross between jerusalem artichoke and celeriac flavor), trail of vanilla foam (not sweet) and, get this, orange salt. Coarse salt that tastes of oranges. My personal favorite.
More fish course : flaky opaque seabass with light and crispy skin, over which have been negligently flung chanterelle mushrooms, hazelnuts, mustard leaves (bit of earthy tang), small dark muscat grapes. A small heap of onion compote.
Meat course : a neat little lump of veal, pink in the midlle, surmounted by slices of pinf radish and sitting on a purple potato mash, drizzled with a sauce made with ultra-fresh (only just dead?) cockles which may have been raw. the vegetarian was exactly the same only the veal replaced by fish. The whole dish had a ring of infanticide to it.
Cheese or dessert? I went for the cheese : a fully mature brie, golden and and creamy with a crust that looked like the parched, cracked earth you see in drought lands (a bit whiter, admittedly); a vintage comté, smooth and strong with a crunch of salt; and a fresh little goats' cheese. Yum.
The others went for dessert, which they all liked but i thought bordered on the nasty : an avacado mousse and thin slices of pineapple topped with an acerola (south american fruit, very sour, tastes a little of passion fruit) foam, stabbed with a nut and caramel snap. Too sour, too sweet, too avacado.
All in all absolutely amazing and lovely. As they change their menu gradually but constantly (they replace a course or so every day), the food evolves with the seasons and the whims of the chef. Will return as soon as can afford. Highly recommended.
So here we are with the november veggies
Interesting developments on the veggie box front! here are the last couple of weeks.
Saturday November 22nd
500 g carrots, i.e. 2 (they are getting huger and huger)
half a cauliflower
500g potatoes
a huge (child's football) beetroot
half a celeriac
large bunch of celery
3 lovely apples (belle fille de salins variety?)
250 g of hideous, tough, yellowing, slug-chewed spinach (went straight to bin)
Ham and celery soup (serves 2)
This turned out to be a great little recipe : soothing to make, warming to eat, cheap and healthy. One important ingredient was the ham bone I got very cheap (1€50) from my local butcher/deli. It was about 20 cm long and still had plenty of ham on it.
First, take bone and remove nice bits of ham, i.e the pink moist bits, not the fatty/gristly or fast-stuck-to-the-bone bits. Try not to eat them all. In a dish, arrange the bone with a quartered onion and a roughly chopped carrot (tomatoes, shallots, herbs could also be added) and put in oven to bake for about 20 minutes until lovely juices have appeared and the bone has coloured a bit. When done, throw all this into a pot. Add half a dozen peppercorns, bay leaf/ves, and around three big handfuls of celery leaves. cover with cold water and leave on low heat for at least an hour. Make sure it is bubbling but not boiling.
When ready, skim of scum and remove celery leaves and all other solids (strain). Boil vigourously to reduce to correct quantity (you want about a pint per person for main course). Add half a very finely chopped carrot, ditto shallot, ditto celery stalk and some light pasta (I used alphabet, but vermicelli would be great). These should take about 5 minutes to soften. Salt, pepper. At last minute add ham.
Saturday November 29th
We were at the AMAP all morning as it was our turn to do the "permanence". We opened up shop (actually it's a restaurant*), set up the tables and so on, arranged the veg, and ticked off people's names as they picked up their stuff. At the end,we swept and tidied and washed away the mud, and took all the remaining veggies :)
500g potatoes
250 g lovely, small, shiny yellow little onions
500g carrots (one!! can they get any bigger?)
500g of the lovely apples
250 g spinach (I waded through the boxes looking for the nice fresh baby leaves)
250 g beetroot
half a celeriac
1/2 a "broccoflower" (see here for a picture as it is possibly the most beautiful thing in the veg world!). Called Romanesco cabbage in French.
* a associative restaurant that runs according to a really cool concept, maybe subject of next post.
Saturday November 22nd
500 g carrots, i.e. 2 (they are getting huger and huger)
half a cauliflower
500g potatoes
a huge (child's football) beetroot
half a celeriac
large bunch of celery
3 lovely apples (belle fille de salins variety?)
250 g of hideous, tough, yellowing, slug-chewed spinach (went straight to bin)
Ham and celery soup (serves 2)
This turned out to be a great little recipe : soothing to make, warming to eat, cheap and healthy. One important ingredient was the ham bone I got very cheap (1€50) from my local butcher/deli. It was about 20 cm long and still had plenty of ham on it.
First, take bone and remove nice bits of ham, i.e the pink moist bits, not the fatty/gristly or fast-stuck-to-the-bone bits. Try not to eat them all. In a dish, arrange the bone with a quartered onion and a roughly chopped carrot (tomatoes, shallots, herbs could also be added) and put in oven to bake for about 20 minutes until lovely juices have appeared and the bone has coloured a bit. When done, throw all this into a pot. Add half a dozen peppercorns, bay leaf/ves, and around three big handfuls of celery leaves. cover with cold water and leave on low heat for at least an hour. Make sure it is bubbling but not boiling.
When ready, skim of scum and remove celery leaves and all other solids (strain). Boil vigourously to reduce to correct quantity (you want about a pint per person for main course). Add half a very finely chopped carrot, ditto shallot, ditto celery stalk and some light pasta (I used alphabet, but vermicelli would be great). These should take about 5 minutes to soften. Salt, pepper. At last minute add ham.
Saturday November 29th
We were at the AMAP all morning as it was our turn to do the "permanence". We opened up shop (actually it's a restaurant*), set up the tables and so on, arranged the veg, and ticked off people's names as they picked up their stuff. At the end,we swept and tidied and washed away the mud, and took all the remaining veggies :)
500g potatoes250 g lovely, small, shiny yellow little onions
500g carrots (one!! can they get any bigger?)
500g of the lovely apples
250 g spinach (I waded through the boxes looking for the nice fresh baby leaves)
250 g beetroot
half a celeriac
1/2 a "broccoflower" (see here for a picture as it is possibly the most beautiful thing in the veg world!). Called Romanesco cabbage in French.
* a associative restaurant that runs according to a really cool concept, maybe subject of next post.
mercredi 12 novembre 2008
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