Eating eating, lots of eating

I told you I'd be inconsistent

I don’t have a huge topic to cover compared to last month and this newsletter was supposed to be bi-weekly but such is life.

To reiterate my point about eating out in rural France, I’ve tried some good places in the past month but even when things are okay they can be a little off. Like this tendency to put the same garnishes or side-dishes on each and every plate, and too much of it at all times.

Now I’m not knocking the smart thing of having a base of off which to build so restaurants can save on cost and prep, but we ordered two different salads and they both came with exactly the same base and I am going to argue that adding cherry tomatoes, radishes and melon to each and every salad is overdoing it. Especially when people end up not finishing their meals and half of it ends up in the trash.

Similarly my bf’s duck breast didn’t need sweet potato puree and leeks on top of his grilled courgette, roast potatoes and cauliflower, in the same way that I didn’t need sweet potato puree and leeks on top of my avocado and tuna. Both restaurants were fine, not mind-blowing but definitely fine, but these kind of details just boggle my mind (beyond being aware that a lot of tourists do consider being overfed an important feature of the dining experience).

Still, I’ve found two places that I’ll definitely be back to when the mood strikes that are far beyond the places I’ve been where I just want to ask the staff if they’re not ashamed of what they’re putting on the table because I am definitely embarrassed for them, so that’s three solid options nearby on my list already.

What eating?

I am kind of getting my cooking mojo back, weather permitting. So this week I made (among other things):

• Loaded silken tofu, something I originally saw at Celestial Peach, after which I saw a recipe at Kavey Eats. This time I tried it with the sauce from these noodles, and more options are going on in my mind as I prepare to make my own silken tofu as so far I haven’t been able to find a really good silken tofu in France, which you kind of need if you’re going to eat it like this

• Also made some oyster mushroom gyros and bragged and worried that oyster mushroom were finally a standard in supermarches here, but I spoke to soon because a week later and they are nowhere to be found

• Made a really nice rattes potato and tuna salad using this recipe and resulting in this little demo image of why the best potatoes in the world carry this name. Jim Dixon (of quick Caesar salad dressing fame) also sent me a really cool article about the man who imported this legendary potato to the US.

What reading?

I’m almost through all the BBQ books I wanted to read, I can recommend the following:

• Live Fire - all the fun and flavor, none of the bro-ey bullshit with some really nice features on London-based barbecue people to boot

• The Green Barbecue - vegetarian barbecue recipes, half of which I bookmarked to recreate in one way or another at some point in life

• Fire Feasts - obnoxiously written but a lot of the recipes and technique (while staying basic) are solid so I’m still recommending it

• VBQ - vegan barbecue! It started off a little oh no everything but the kitchen sink vegan but then it got really good, again many recipes bookmarked

• Chasing Smoke - still finishing this but already hungry

What doing?

I’m busy setting up my French small business so I can start garnering some income from my inconsistent foodstuffs again, which reminds me I probably should’ve waited to share the above book list until after I was able to add affiliate links but wehey….

• New recipe on the website: pea and smoked oyster pasta!

• New old boast on the website: the cover I shot for Kitchen Table Magazine!

• Moar new old boast on the website: the article I wrote for Whetstone, which has been translated and will appear on The Dutch Review of Books shortly

• Working on a neat little project with a friend, will hopefully share more on that soon

I may cut this newsletter back to monthly as that’s just the way it kind of happened now, at the same time it will be less long if I keep it bi-weekly. What say you?