Tricoquine in the land of the stinky cheese

Harry Potter mania

Ribbit and I took a little trip to San Diego last week to visit some family. It was nice to leave gloomy and unseasonably cold and miserable Paris (and those 17 hour days I had been working) for palm tress and Mexican food.

We happened to leave on July 21. This date has particular significance: the release date for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I had pre-ordered dear Harry several weeks before our trip -- I had started collecting the US versions of Potter and wanted to own a complete set of US versions, rather than buying the UK version so readily available on this side of the Atlantic.

But the Charles de Gaulle airport was awash with Harry Potter fans - can you think of a better way to spend your 8 hour flight to NYC? Taking a stroll up and down the aisles of our Boeing 777, I counted no less than 18 people reading Potter -- adults and children alike.

I devoured the previous Potter in just 1 1/2 days. This time I decided to prolong the pleasure and finished it on the plane ride home...

Of course, like some fellow knitters, this seriously cut into my knitting time but I still have a few finished and in progress projects to show you if I can ever manage to get home before the sun sets.

To those of you who finished, what did you think?

Knitting in San Francisco

It feels good to blog again!

Where I last left off, I was preparing for a business trip to San Francisco, making lists of sights to see, restaurants at which to eat, shops that I couldn't possibly pass up.

Bilan of my list: I made it to two yarn shops and a Mexican restaurant. Not a very good track record.

But I reconfirmed my love for San Francisco when I saw a public transportation ad on television (perhaps MUNI or maybe BART, I can't remember) that encouraged Friscoans to take public transportation by giving them a list of things they could do during their commute that they would not be able to do in their cars, one of which was to knit. Priceless!

I may have packed my suitcase just hours before leaving for the airport, but I made sure to print out maps from the hotel to Artfibers and Imagiknit.

Speaking of the airport, I suffered a minor setback when my addi turbos were confiscated by the wildly erratic and irrational Paris airport security claiming that they were an objet tranchant. Right, just about as sharp as a ballpoint pen.  Imagine a 12 hour flight with no knitting. I was beside myself and it was only 7am! 

The solution was to run straight to Artfibers as soon as I checked into my hotel. Lucky for me, it was a mere 3 blocks away.  Jetlagged but jubilant, I hopped, skipped and jumped up the stairs to the second floor and was greeted with this: glory to the yarn world. Color, texture and touch bursting at the seams.

I browsed, I touched, I yawned (I'd been awake for over 24 hours), I repeatedly told the shopkeeper that we just don't have yarn like this in France...

and then I bought...

330 yards of Golden Chai (100% golden tussah silk) in color 10

This yarn reminds me of Tilli Thomas pure & simple, but with more beautiful colors and less expensive.  I chose this color because it matches my eyes...

250 yards of Alfabeto (70% silk, 19% superfine kid mohair, 5% wool) in color 7

I bought this in view of making a small swallowtail shawl for my future mother-in-law

lots of yards of Andromeda (30% angora, 70% silk) in colors 6 (left) and 5 (right)

Do you see a theme -- I have gone crazy for pure silk and silk blend yarns.  What I loved most about Artfibers are their fibers -- matières nobles -- as they say in French. Luxurious fibers at reasonable prices. Can't go wrong with that, and they ship to Europe, don't worry, I asked.

One last shot of Andromeda (color 5) and Alfabeto

Lest you think that my pocketbook had exploded after this yarn extravaganza, the following day, in-between two meetings, I hoped on the F-line street car to the Castro to pay a visit to Imagiknit.

Looked promising peeking through the window...

and in the end, la pêche était bonne. See for yourselves:

Koigu...enough said.

The only disappointment was that the store did not have the Charolotte's Web shawl pattern that I would like to make out of this painter's palette selection and it seems to be impossible to find...any one have any suggestions?

Lexicon:

bilan (m): literally, in accounting, a balance sheet. It is also used more informally as "progress report" or "results"

objet tranchant (m): sharp object, as in knitting needles :)

matières nobles: fine materials

la pêche était bonne: literally, the fishing was good or the result was fruitful

Rice-A-Roni

I leave on Wednesday for a firm meeting in San Francisco for five days and I could not be more excited.  Although I spent 10 days in Southern California a mere three months ago, I feel like I need a fresh transfusion of "America".

To that end, I've already made a list of all the things I want to see, eat, and buy while there including

EATING:

• Scharffen Berger chocolate (I know I live in France, but this is some tasty choco)
• Mexican food
• an In-n-Out Double Double burger (there is one located in Fisherman's Wharf)
• Dim sum (there is a dim sum emporium on California Street that I can never remember the name of that we have been going to since I was 9 years old. Any other suggestions?)
• Only in my dreams: Chez Panisse, The French Laundry...

SEEING

• Botanical Gardens
• Coit Tower for the amazing view of the city and WPA murals supervised by Diego Rivera on the ground floor
• de Young museum of art in Golden Gate Park, a museum I visited for the first time on a class trip at 10 years old, but which I credit for encouraging my love for fine art
• North Beach, if only for a cappuccino and a browse through City Lights bookstore, home of the Beat Generation

BUYING

• Yarn, of course. Lots and lots of it!

Any other suggestions?

Natty goes to the French Alps

Two weeks ago, Ribbit and I decided that we wanted to go skiing. We booked our skiing trip three days before we were set to leave. When I stopped by the travel agent to inquire as to which resorts had snow (it has been unseasonably warm in the Alps and many resorts have NO snow at all) and told her when we wished to leave, she laughed and said vous attendez toujours la dernière minute (you always wait until the last minute). This was the third time I had gone to see Lauriane the travel agent to book a trip mere days before my desired departure date. She thinks I am the crazy American. Perhaps I am, but at least we had lots of powdery snow in Les Arcs nestled at 2000m in the Savoie French Alps.

Also true to form, Ribbit decided at the last minute that he needed a snow bonnet* and that I had to knit it for him.  As many of you know, Ribbit has never received a hand-knit gift in the three years since I have learned to knit and continually reminds me of this fact whenever I pick up a project destined for someone else. You may recall the disaster that was the Noro Sweater -- he had 4 inch bat wings for shoulders. There was another incident with the Interlocking Balloons scarf whereby I did not purchase enough yarn the first time (after knitting nearly 12 inches, I realized this) and when I ordered more yarn, I received the wrong color, and when I re-ordered, the store was out of stock and I had to wait patiently for three weeks to receive the new shipment.

So, I seized this opportunity to shed myself of my bad-girlfriend-fiancée guilt and proposed to knit Ribbit a Natty cap with some Rowan Chunky Print I had purchased to make a striped crochet cap and then realized that I was really not going to teach myself how to crochet in the near future. One evening and one afternoon's work was all it took to complete the cap, including an RYC Cashsoft band on the inside to keep the itchies at bay (which lovingly required picking up LOADS of stitches).

Not one to be left out of the fun, I decided that I needed a ski cap as well. In the five or so hours it took us to get from Paris to this charming destination in Les Arcs 1950 the cap was ready to hip the slopes.

Our apartment, with view of the chairlift and Mont Blanc (to the right)

Ribbit and I had a fantastic time skiing the over 400 km of runs, eating fondue and raclette (traditional Savoyard dishes), and drinking vin chaud on a sunny terrace overlooking the mountains.

At the top of l'Aiguille Rouge, 3200m

_________________________________________

Pattern: Natty by KnitandTonic

Yarn:

Natty v1: Rowan Chunky Print in Rage 079 (3/4 of a ball) and Woolly 071 (accent white)

Natty v2: Rowan Chunky Print in Tart 074 and Manos del Uruguay Wildflowers (2 strands held together, used 1 skein)

Needles: US 9 double point for the ribbing, US 11 16 inch circular for the body, US 11 double point for the top

_____________________________________________

Lexicon:

bonnet (m): cap/hat without a brim

Hoëdic, le caneton

Six year ago, nearly to the day, Ribbit and I met on this little island off the south shore of Brittany.  Special in its own right with its 500 acres of untamed fields and beaches, Hoëdic, which means duckling in breton, is at the origin of my love affair with France.  I met many of my oldest French friends because of the island, my mother's friend, an English teacher in France having recruited many of the  children of her friends who have second homes on the island to come visit us in the United States.  And it was while a guest at her house on the island that I met the people who would eventually introduce me to Ribbit.

We return several times a year and take advantage of the slow pace of the 100 or so inhabitants, to relax, fish, and enjoy a glass of Colombelle or Ricard on the terrasse of one of the three cafés.

A one and one-half hour ferry ride from the continent, the Island has a timeless quality associated with being far removed from the modern world of pollution and traffic (there are no motor vehicles on the Island except for a fire truck and a tractor). It retains its authentic fishing village feel -- I'll never forget my first morning there, siting around the kitchen table having coffee, when a knock at the door brought a fisherman in his rain slicks with a bucket of fresh fish for our lunch.

During this particular trip we had an exceptionally fruitful afternoon of clam digging and brought home a feast of 150 clams.  Although far from a traditional regional dish, my initial thought was to make linguine alle vongole.  There is nothing like the combination of clams and fresh pasta.

Linguine alle vongole

serves 4

fresh linguine

2 lbs fresh clams in the shell (or canned equivalent, although not recommended)

garlic cloves, slivered (to taste)

piment d'espelette (to taste)

3/4 cup of dry white wine

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

salt/pepper

bunch of chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:  in a large, deep pan, sauté olive oil with piment, garlic, salt and pepper for 3 minutes (do not let the garlic turn brown).  At the same time, boil water for fresh pasta. 

Add white wine and lemon juice, mixing together.  Add clams to liquid, cover with a lid and shake periodically.  After 6 minutes, or when all shells are open, take off heat and add cooked linguine.  Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsely and serve.

Bulgaria Part III: Knitting

One of the great things about knitting is that it is a craft that transcends borders and can teach a person a significant amount about a culture, for example, fisherman sweaters from Britain, Estonian lace, and Icelandic Lopis.  Knitting is also a part of Bulgarian culture, and during our visit to Nessebar (see posts below) there were many older women selling cotton hand-knit lace tablecloths and lace tank-tops.

Aside from the exceptional handiwork, what I found to be quite intriguing was the way in which the pieces were knit.  The women used a small wooden double point for the live stitches and knit the stitches with what looked like a crochet hook.  My shyness prevented me from asking to take a picture, and if anyone has any additional information about Bulgarian style knitting please post in the comments or email me.  Aside from the abundant cotton pieces, several stores also sold hand-knit socks and bulky sweaters with what looked and felt like worsted weight 100% wool.  When I purchased a small table runner, I mimed to the women that I too knit and they seemed delighted to see that a young woman knit as well.  I guess that trend hasn't reached this part of the world...yet.   You can find more Bulgaria pictures on my flickr page.

And although I brought my Orangina along with me on my trip, my needles were confiscated 'for security reasons' at the Prague airport before my flight to Sofia.  The passed through French security without a problem but apparently Czech Airlines takes more restrictive measures.

However I was able to finish the Tulip Toes before leave and I promise to post a picture and details shortly.

Bulgaria Part II: Eating

When Ribbit first proposed Bulgaria as our summer vacation destination, and being one who likes to see a country through a dinner plate and a glass of wine, and maybe a knitting store or two, my first thought was, oh no we'll have to eat goulash and borsht for one week.  Not that I don't like these two dishes, my grandmother being Hungarian and all but the thought of eating heavy stews and soup during the hot summer months was simply unappealing.

The cuisine, as it turns out, does contain paprika-laden, stick-to-your ribs type dishes but the majority of the plates were light and flavorful without being overbearing.

Exhibit #1: Tarator Soup.  A chilled yogurt cucumber soup seasoned with dill and chopped walnuts. 

This soup was available at every restaurant and will set you back a little more than $1.50 for nearly a quart of soup.  The soup is made with a special Bulgarian yogurt which was found by scientists to contain bacteria having important health properties.  Bulgarian yogurt is not accessible to all, and when I made this soup at home, I substituted plain yogurt (you could also use fromage blanc).

1 cucumber, peeled and grated

1/2 gallon of plain yogurt

1.5 cups of filtered water (depending on the consistency desired)

one/two tablespoons grated garlic (to taste)

toasted walnuts, chopped (to taste)

salt and pepper

chopped dill (for garnish)

dash of sunflower oil (or other similarly lightly-flavored oil)

Exhibit #2: Shopska salad

Another Bulgarian favorite, available at every restaurant for the bargain price of 2-3 leve ($1.50-2.25). Although I ate this every day for lunch, I failed to take a picture.  I "borrowed" this one from this site

Chop peeled cucumbers, tomatoes, and red or white onion in proportions to your liking, add roasted red peppers (if desired) and sprinkle shaved soft sheep's milk cheese (young feta could serve as a substitute) over the top.  Garnish with dill or parsley and serve with oil and vinegar.

Exhibit #3: Chicken/Beef/Pork skewers or poultry with melted cheese

Bulgarians love their skewers which are grilled in open stoves in nearly every restaurant.  They tender pieces of meat delicately seasoned with what tasted like garlic salt are then lovingly de-skewered table-side. 

It is also popular to serve cubes of chicken with carrots, peas and corn covered in white cheese in an iron skillet. 

Exhibit #4: Bulgarian Wine

Bulgaria cultivates an extensive variety of grapes, many grown only in Bulgaria. We tasted a number of local wines but only No Man's Land passed muster with our fickle French palates.

For more information about Bulgarian wines, please visit this site.

When I return from my long weekend in Brittany, on the tiny island of Hoëdic, I'll tell you all about my knitting adventures in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Part I

Long time no blog my friends.  We have just returned from a week's vacation in Bulgaria. 

I have some funny and informative things to share with you, traditional Bulgaria recipes, and beautiful photos of Nessebar, on the Black Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I haven't had the chance to upload my photos but I will leave you with an important Bulgarian cultural lesson that provided me with many moments of hysterical laughter.

In Bulgaria, when people nod their heads from side to side, they actually mean YES, and when they nod their heads up and down, they mean NO.  Ask for the check and the waiter inevitably shakes his head from side to side, provoking in me a delayed reaction which goes something like this : second 1 -- what is his problem, why won't he give us the check; second 2: oh, right, I remember; second 3: hysterical laughter.  Hey, it's cheaper than going to the movies!

Speaking of asking for the check, in Bulgaria you would say "Smétkata, mólia"?  Ribbit devised a very useful way to remember the pronunciation.  Smet - the real last name of aging French rocker Johnny Hallyday;  cata - short in French for catastrophe, which is the only way to characterize the way Hallyday sings, and mula - like the Mullah Omar.  Strange, I know, but I never forgot.

More Bulgaria to come:  why do they eat so much yogurt and did you say "shopska"?

Added: Our friend in Sofia told us that the inverted head-shaking dates back to the period when Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule.  During that period, the Turks exerted serious pressure on Bulgarians to leave the Orthodox church and convert to Islam.  Those who chose to become Muslims were treated more favorably.   As the story goes, when asked whether they wanted to become Muslims, Bulgarians shook their heads "yes" but in their heart of hearts really meant "no" thus implicitly transforming the "yes" side-to-side shake to mean "no". 

Been Busy

These last few weeks have been busy...wasn't I supposed to be on vacation???

Here is a long run down of what I did....

1) Ate, ate and ate some more. 

• Christmas Eve had 6 courses: oysters from Vendée, langoustines, foie gras, roasted quail with cognac and raisin sauce accompanied by roasted chestnuts, stinky cheese, bûche de Noël -- two different kinds
• Christmas day had 5 courses: oysters, prawns, duck, cheese, bûche de Noël
• At the chambre d'hôte: cream of celery and fennel soup, duck with purée of season vegetables served in a mini pumpkin, goat cheese covered in ash, tarte tatin
• New Year's Eve dinner in Loctudy: oysters from Brittany, home made (by Virginie!) foie gras with fig chutney, stewed chicken with curry, raisin and almond sauce...the meal was interrupted by the chiming of the clock at midnight and the chaos and fireworks which followed...

2) Visited the chateaux of Blois and Chambord

Blois                    Chambord

The guided tour of Blois's chateau, with its four different façades detailing important architectural movements -- Gothic, Flamboyant Gothic constructed by Louis XII, XVIth century Renaissance constructed by François 1er, and finally, the 17th century classical façade erected at the direction of Gaston D'Orléans (brother of Louis XIII) -- was really a walking tour of French history and I was thrown back to my high school French class and the slides of the French kings we were made to memorize.

At Chambord, possibly the most imposing and majestic chateau in the Loire valley, we purchased the audio guide. We froze our little toes off for the 2 hours we spent touring the chateau (it hovered around -1°C that day...and chateaux are quite drafty!) but the audio guide enabled us to go at our own pace, skip rooms, fast forward and admire Chambord's infamous da Vinci staircase.

We spent the night at a charming chambre d'hôte in Blois called La Petite Fugue where we were royally hosted in a sumptuous decor by owners Michelle and Michel Lescure . We had a splendid meal at the table d'hôte where we were treated to local wine (Touraine), ash-coated goat cheese (Selles-sur-Cher), and dessert (tarte tatin created locally by the Tatin sisters, essentially an upside-down apple tart).  The best treat was the coffee and cookies by the fire after our meal.

3) Knit in Public

Our train from Orléans to Paris was overcrowded but I wasn't about to let that stop me from working on the baby blanket I'm making for my friend J who is due in several weeks.  I stood for an hour, and happily finished 9 rows.  The blanket is nearly finished, I just have to add the ruffle. I chose Blue Sky Alpaca's organic cotton -- I like the idea of wrapping a newborn in a a blanket made of un-dyed, organic cotton but this cotton sheds, just take a look at my coat.

4) Celebrated New Year's Bigouden style

The Pays Bigouden is composed of several cantons inside the department of Finistère, with its capital located in the town of Pont l'Abbé.  Women from this pays are particularly known for their coiffe -- a traditional lace head covering, protruding from the head 1 foot high and secured by a ribbon tied under the chin. Other areas in Brittany have different head coverings-- this site has excellent examples.

We celebrated New Year's with 14 friends in Loctudy, on the coast not far from Pont l'Abbé. Every New Year's we come dressed up according to a pre-determined theme. This year's was Jean-Paul Gaultier meets the Pays Bigouden.  Ironically, the name of the owner of the house we rented is also Jean-Paul Gaultier.  Everyone dressed up in blue and white striped sailor's shirts and added their own little touches of edginess. We added lace skull and cross bones to our t-shirts, and wore fish net stockings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

Bok! from Dubrovnik

Bok!  Croatian for hello. 

We just returned from a week-long trip to Dubrovnik, a gorgeous sea-side town on Croatia's Dalmatian coast.  A drool-inducing article written by Henry Alford which appeared in the August 2005 issue of Bon Appétit magazine provided the inspiration for this trip, and it didn't disappoint.

At first, I was skeptical. After all, when one thinks of Croatia, sun drenched beaches, crystal clear water and seafood risotto don't usually make the top of the list -- more likely one remembers the dreadful war with the Serbs, Milosevic and his crimes against humanity, and lovely cities destroyed by bombardments just 10 years ago.  I am happy to report that what we found had nothing to do with goulash or boiled cabbage.  In Alford's article, he quotes a German tourist as saying that Croatia "...looks like Greece and tastes like Italy". I'd have to say, she wasn't far off the mark.

Here are a few of the highlights:

seafood risotto

- in Dubrovnik, our seafood risotto was spiked with saffron and tomato and mixed with mussels fresh from Mali Ston, a town 40 kilometers outside Dubrovnik and reputed for its excellent shellfish, and cuttlefish, a close relative of the squid and octopus, although substantially smaller --only several inches long and less chewy than its larger cousins. Dalmatian risottos are light and fluffy and tend not to have the creamy, starchy quality found in most Italian risottos.

squid ink risotto with cuttlefish

The picture does not do this dish justice, and should you ever find yourself in Mali Ston make sure to lunch at Kapetanova Kuca on the waterfront. This enormous plate was billed as a "warm starter" and was copious enough for 2 that we could have skipped the monkfish and plate of lightly fried calamari which followed.

Black risotto derives its name from the squid ink (just a few tablespoons suffice to color and flavor several cups of arborio rice) added to the risotto stock that gives it a rich, inky color.  Our dish had cuttlefish, but the restaurant also offered a more eclectic seafood risotto with mussels and clams. As a garnish, it was topped off with a tablespoon of chopped flat leaf parsley although green onions would make a tasty substitute.

Swiss chard

Because of its renown as a top European tourist destination for Italians, French, British and Germans, most of the menus in Dubrovnik's restaurants are available in 5 languages.  During out first dinner in Dubrovnik, at a very forgettable restaurant recommended by The New York Times,  my interest was piqued by a sentence at the end of the list of main courses -- "appropriate garnishes shall be served". Your can imagine my disappointment when my Adriatic sea bass came perched atop a mound of water-logged Swiss chard and surrounded by several boiled potatoes reminiscent of Irish pub food.

And, every meal I ate after that which contained a meat or fish protein had the same lumpy, tasteless mound.  A trip through the countryside on the drive from Dubrovnik to Mali Ston showed that this "garnish" is actually a national dish, not just some slop served to tourists. In every small garden, along with a pomegranate tree and several olive trees, there stood rows and rows of Swiss chard stocks standing proudly in the Mediterranean sun.

Swiss chard is a fabulously healthy deep green vegetable possessing tons of iron and other minerals. It should be steamed lightly, not blanched as it tends to horde water. Dress it with some garlic infused olive oil, piment d'esplette and fleur de sel.

Dalmatian smoked ham -- PRŠUT (think proshoot)

Often served as an appetizer with slices of the Dalmatian cheese Paski Sir from the island of Pag (salty goat cheese) and herbed olives, Dalmatian ham ranks up there with its similar cousins, Serrano and Parma ham.  Dried in the north eastern wind (called 'bura') and smoked, PRŠUT has a subtle flavor, slightly dry and not overwhelmingly fatty.

Mussels Busaru or Bouzzara

A typical preparation for shellfish, shrimp and langoustines, the broth is a mixture of tomatoes (or tomato paste), garlic, bread crumbs, olive oil, and Cognac or sweet wine.  We had delicious mussels from Mali Ston and licked the bowl dry.

Oysters from Mali Ston

Sadly on the day that we went to Mali Ston there were no fresh oysters due to a health inspection that revealed the presence of dangerous algae. Luckily, near the end of our trip, the algae cleared out and we were able to taste these renowned oysters.  They were deliciously salty, fresh from their growing beds, and had a slight taste of clams.