Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “French”
Coronavirus Lockdown Mid-September in Melbourne 2020 and we are still in lock down, possibly until mid-October. We are largely confined to our homes. Country Victoria has fewer restrictions, while the other states of Australia have resumed fairly normal lives and lifestyles. We were pleased when our Adelaide friends were in contact to organise another virtual dinner party. Just the four …
(Update: For VDP No. 9, click here) Coronavirus Lockdown With most of us in self-isolation or even total lockdown, a VDP (virtual dinner party) is one way to catch up with friends and to continue to test your cooking skills. We have now had a number of VDPs. Here is the link to the first of those: Virtual Dinner Party …
This post continues on from: Strahan. After two days in Hobart and three in Strahan, we headed north to the Tamar Valley and Olive’s Cottage, our property at Windermere. We visit the cottage about four times a year, for four or five days each visit. Some of our time is taken up meeting up with our property manager and our gardener. …
We aren’t advocating setting the table just yet, but early December is not too early to start thinking about Christmas. On Christmas Day, our job is to provide the entree. We already have our contribution planned, as explained below – salmon rillettes (rillettes aux deux saumons). Before then, there is still some work to do. Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding …
Cooking fish and seafood is fraught with problems: it’s expensive, it’s too easy to overcook, and it’s too easy to swamp it with flavours. Here we present a simple way of cooking beautiful fish. It could be served very simply with some lemon wedges or with some parsley or garlic butter. Or it could be served with your favourite sauce. …
Potatoes: Gratin, Scalloped, Dauphinoise Whatever the name, these dishes are cooked in a similar way – sliced potatoes cooked in the oven in a creamy sauce, and they are all likely to be delicious, with a hint of cheese. The classic French method does not include cheese itself, with a cheesy flavour developing from the combination of potato starch and …
Continued from Europe 2016 – Part 4. Table d’Hôtes If you have travelled through France you are probably familiar with Chambres d’Hôtes – the equivalent of the Australian and British concept of Bed and Breakfast – and Gîtes – the equivalent of our holiday rental in the form of self-contained cottages, houses or apartments. Some of these establishments offer an …
Continued from Europe 2016 – Part 3. We went to learn French and learnt a lot about Sancerre The name ‘Sancerre‘ is well-known in the wine world, being a wine region south west of Paris famous for its sauvignon blanc. However, we hadn’t realised that there was also a small town called Sancerre until we discovered a language school located …
It is impossible to make croissants at home! Right? Well I think so! Decent ones, anyway. I did try to make croissants once but I have selectively cleared my mind of the details of that unfortunate experience. The complexity of the process and the dismal result warrant the jettisoning from the memory bank. Despite this memory cleansing, my love for …
(Continued from: Showing Friends Around – Part 3) Our two German friends, from Bavaria, are on a tight schedule with just five weeks in Australia overall, and just six nights in Tassie! What to do, where to take them in Tasmania? So far they have stayed at Olive’s Cottage (our property at Windermere), they have seen Launceston and toured the …
