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Menampilkan postingan dari April, 2020

5 (Covid Confinement) Things

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1) We have a great fromagerie around the corner, so we're still able to enjoy French cheese. Phew! 2) The nuns at the Catholic maternity clinic across from our apartment have been coming out on their roof terrace to join the 8pm applause for the health care workers, and then staying on to sing a couple of songs for the neighborhood. Complete with tambourines 3) Zonked out 4) Sunday is now pizza day! This one from last week was sautéed red onions, red peppers and Spanish chorizo 5) There were flour, egg and sugar shortages at the beginning of the lockdown, so when I walked into our local G20 grocery store and spotted this, I felt like I'd won the lottery

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart - Day 34 of Confinement

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As life has thrown us all a curve ball and we're advised to stay inside as much as possible, I'm heeding that advice. With that, I'm being extra conscious about not wasting food (something I will definitely be better at in the future!) and being creative with what has been lurking in my kitchen cupboards. I also, like so many others, have a lot of time on my hands to cook. It's rare that I follow a recipe to the letter. When I cook I feel pretty comfortable swapping a minor ingredient or two if I don't have what the recipe calls for and if I don't think it will change the flavor of the final dish. Last night I needed to use up some fresh goat cheese and zucchini, and after looking in my cookbooks and searching online, I found this tart recipe that looked interesting, but I still felt the urge to tweak it. I thought about swapping the walnuts for toasted almonds and omitting the honey entirely, but in the end I made it almost exactly as it was written (I used dr

Notre-Dame de Paris, As She Was

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It's been one year since Notre-Dame de Paris was almost destroyed by a devastating fire. Sadly, the re-construction has been temporarily put on hold due to the Covid-19 virus lock down in France. I so look forward to the day when her famous roof and spire will once again grace the skyline of Paris! The city isn't the same without her. #Parissesouvient

Life in the Times of Coronavirus - Day 18 (17? I've lost track)

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The New Normal. Life has completely changed since France closed non-essential businesses and asked its citizens to go into confinement in mid-March. It was supposed to last for two weeks, but now has been extended until April 15. I think this came as no surprise to anyone and now we all wonder if it will be extended again. So we wait. Fortunately, the boulangeries and fromageries are considered essential! I'm trying to avoid going out as much as possible, so every time I think about leaving the house to run and get a baguette or pop into the local fruit and vegetable shop, it's a mental tug of war of wanting to support local businesses vs. respecting the fact that we should stay inside as much as possible to avoid spreading this virus. The latter is winning. But when I do venture out, about every 5-6 days, I try to shop at the small, local places. Obviously, tourism has been hit HARD, so I'm not working for the time being. This means I could be doing many things to fill my