Something about cooking

It occurred to me that I haven't posted anything recently about cooking, no recipes, no pictures, no nothing. Partly that's because I haven't been doing much cooking of interest & partly because I've been lurking on eGullet and getting a bit turned off by the way the subject's going.
I did do a big push for Thanksgiving, 21 people and a pretty full menu, but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of dished. I was pleased with my turkey stock consume with parmigiana; it was delicate and light, but full of flavour as I'd hoped. The avocado salad with a mild salsa was also a hit; sort of a guacamole without being mashed up. Its hard to get the right peppers here in France, so I used piment de Epelette which worked pretty well. The de constructed turkey a la Julia was perfect & the baked home brined ham was OK, not great. The veggies & stuffing's went down well. My tarte tatin was good, but Linda's trifle was monumental. Devoured is the only word that applies.


Jacques cheeses were nothing short of astounding. Here are a few pictures.

They all came from one affineur near where he lives. And they are all chevres (goat's milk) cheeses.

The variation in flavour is amazing.



We're still working our way through them and eating the cheeses I'd purchased myself before Jacques asked it he could bring a cheese. Talk about understatement!

Gearing up for Christmas now. de-constructed a turkey today & started making stock. We're going to have our Christmas meal with friends so won't be doing too much cooking ourselves.

Boxing Day (the day after Christmas for those of you not English) will be fun. We'll have about 30+ people over for a casino night. No money changes hands, but we play poker, blackjack, roulette & dice. Everyone starts with the same number of chips; lose them all & you have to tell a joke to the whole group to get more. Everyone bring a dish made from Christmas leftovers, a good deal of wine is drunk and a good time is had by all.

Hopefully my favourite eGullet will pick up in the New Year with the reorganization. Lately the France forum has been very Paricentric which gets a bit boring for those of us in the hinterlands. Cooking tends to be dominated by culinary thrill seekers, but there is some good stuff. I enjoy the exchanges on the Cheese thread & some of the food jokes are good. I'll stick with it & hope for better days.

Don't know how much time I'll have over the holidays, but will post when I can and/or when I have something to say.