David Lebovitz's Blog, page 26
August 29, 2019
Fig Leaf and Honey Ice Cream
In terms of favorite ice cream flavors, it’s likely that Fig Leaf Ice Cream isn’t at the top of your list. But once you taste it, you’ll probably add it. It’s tricky to provide an exact description of the flavor, which is coconutty, and references figs, but is its own flavor in and of itself.
Living in a city, I don’t have a fig tree, unfortunately. There are some around town that I’ve had my eye on, but it’s probably best not to go around defoliating trees that aren’t yours. You might just need six leaves to make this ice cream…but what if fifty other people want to make it at the same time? Yes, it’s that good.
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August 26, 2019
10 Things to Do With Kids in Paris
If you’ve gotten a response via email from someone else, it may have been from Emily, who has been helping me keep up with things on the blog, including all the newfangled tech stuff that eludes me. Emily is married, with children, and lives in Paris. Because I get a number of requests about kid-friendly activities in Paris, I asked her to offer up with her 10 favorite things to do with kids in Paris, including bonus tips on dining out with the little ones.
-David
10 Fun Things to Do with Kids in Paris
With an 11-year-old daughter and a new 6-month-old son, I was worried that I would have a hard time finding activities to suit the whole family. Happily, while Parisiens have a reputation for indifference, they delight in babies. French people (almost) universally love babies, so they are welcome nearly everywhere in Paris. Below is a list of activities that we have enjoyed recently together as a family, and I hope you will enjoy them too.
(Words to the wise: While Paris is baby-friendly, the city streets, sidewalks, and compact cafés aren’t always stroller friendly. When in doubt, check the website or call before you go.)
1. Jardin du Luxembourg
The Jardin du Luxembourg is a treasure, with so many things to discover. At first glance there is the obvious: a newly renovated playground, swings, a carousel and the round pond where you can rent a classic model sailboat. If you look a little closer you will find a theatre with a daily puppet show, balloon sellers, a fairy floss stand, pony rides and a place to feed ducks in the shade at La Fontaine Médicis. There are hidden beehives (the honey is exclusively sold one day per year), a pétanque terrain where you can watch older men battle it out daily and even a miniature statue of Liberty hidden in the greenery. You can also enjoy lunch outside while the kids explore at La Table du Luxembourg.
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August 7, 2019
Tomato Tart
I didn’t know what to make for dinner the other night. I had some tart dough tucked away in the freezer, and because I was having trouble closing the door (er…what else is new?), I realized it was time to clear some of the stuff out. But I also had some beautiful tomatoes on hand, and a tub of fromage frais (fresh spreadable cheese), which the universe seemed to be telling me that I should make a tart out of.
I’ll admit that I’m not the most creative person with tomatoes. I usually eat them just as they are; I have a hard time messing too much with heirloom tomatoes since they are so precious around here. My usual M.O. is to slice them up, drizzle them with good olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, and eat them that way. But when the stars – or ingredients – aligned in my kitchen, a Tomato Tart seemed destined for our dinner.
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July 30, 2019
Nectarine-Berry Popsicles
During the summer, at outdoor flea markets and brocantes, you’ll invariably find me on my hands and knees, rifle through boxes that are jammed with stuff, since ya never know what you’ll pluck out. I’m particularly keen on finding old French baking items, although I’ve learned that all those pretty little tin tart molds are best left to clutter someone else’s kitchen drawers. And since I can’t use them for sharing recipes since I’m guessing not many of you have a set of 8 to 10 French mini barquette molds, I have to leave those kinds of treasures behind.
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July 27, 2019
Weekend Links
La vache! as they say in France, or “Holy cow.” It’s been quite a week, with temperatures hitting 108ºF (42ºC) on Thursday. With little reliance on fans or air-conditioning, the city melted down for the day as people stayed indoors with their windows closed (on the belief that opening them lets hot air in), and the curtains drawn. I defied the odds and rose from bed at 5:30am on Thursday to make apricot jam, like I did when I rolled out apple-blackberry slab pie during the last bout of intense heat a week or so prior.
Many wondered how I did it, and the answer is that as a former line cook, I can cook and bake through anything. Imagine standing in front of a gas stove with six burners going full blast for eight hours sautéing and plating food. Or reaching in and out of a fiery-hot bread oven all day and night in the back of a kitchen. Now that’s hot. Making jam at home is a piece of cake, and I have a cupboard of apricot jam (as well as rhubarb-berry jam, which I made this morning) to prove it.
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July 23, 2019
The French Bastards
When the bakery sign went up, I thought, “Well, that’s rather audacious. I wonder what it’s going to be?” A bakery had been in that space, which had once been a pretty good, but had slid in quality, until one day, the doors closed for good. It’s a bummer to see a place decline but exciting when something better opens in its place, which happened.
There’s been a renaissance in Paris over the last few years of young bakers, who understand techniques and traditions, but use them as springboards to go beyond them. And three of them have set up shop, calling themselves The French Bastards.
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July 20, 2019
10 Fun Things to Do When Planning Your Food Trip to Paris
My friend Anne Ditmeyer has lived in Paris for over a decade and not only knows her way around town, but also helps others get around. She offers personalized Navigate Tours, she’s also launched Navigate Paris Online, to help you plan the perfect trip yourself. On her blog, Prêt à Voyager, she’s covered everything from the delights (and hazards) of Paris swimming pools, to her path to citizenship. I asked Anne to share some of her favorite food-related travel tips for visitors. From indulging in French butter, to finding the best Tarte au citron in town, here are her top ten tips for tasting the best of Paris.
Bonjour! It’s Anne Ditmeyer here of Prêt à Voyager (translation: ready to travel). I just launched a new project called Navigate Paris Online, and to give you a taste, so to speak, of what it’s about, David invited me to put this post together of food-related tips and suggestions to make your visit to Paris a little more delicious. Here are my top ten tips to help you make the most of your time in Paris!
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July 15, 2019
Mixed Berry Shortcakes
It was definitely mercury in retrograde recently when I got a phone call at 8:20pm, while we were having dinner at home, from a restaurant I’d reserved a table at, asking if we were showing up for our 8pm reservation. I was sure I had reserved for the following night, but – nope – I erred and our reservation was for that evening. (Fortunately, the restaurant has a steady walk-in crowd so the table didn’t sit empty. Still, I felt terrible.) We did go the next night, but that same day, I was typing this recipe up and my blogging platform asked me to log in again, which I dutifully did, and then it proceeded to erase the entire post, including the recipe.
With my head on the verge of imploding, I decided to go for a walk, then head back a little later and get back to rewriting everything up from scratch. A few people told me mercury was in retrograde, so, of course, the moment I returned, they started doing construction upstairs, so was subjected to the sounds of jackhammering while trying to fill in all the ingredients in the recipe plug-in I use, so the recipes are printable, and to make sure I got all the ingredients and so forth in the right place, and the conversions.
By the time evening rolled around, some other neighbors decided to have a party and their voices were so loud, they could be heard all the way down the block. (So much for les américains having the loudest voices in town anymore.) What made up for it were these Mixed Berry Shortcakes, which we had for dessert that night.
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July 12, 2019
Weekend Reads
We survived the recent heatwave, which seemed like a good time to update my post on Vanilla Ice Cream, with new pictures. Probably the worst thing you can do in a heatwave is photograph ice cream, but I did it. As a former restaurant line cook, I can cook or bake through anything. Having a batch of freshly churned ice cream when it’s that hot, is never a bad idea, but plum sorbet, elderflower sorbet, and strawberry frozen yogurt, are also good ways to cool down, using seasonal fruits, berries, and flowers.
Got cherries? Make the easy Cherry Red Wine Compote (shown above), or this Cherry Compote without red wine.
This machine makes perfectly clear spheres of ice for just $199! Oops, I mean $999…
Parents in the 18th arrondissement of Paris furious their kids were fed industrial, pre-packaged sandwiches.
Wine glasses that float ensure you don’t spill. (But just in case, you might want to fill ’em with rosé, rather than red.)
The curse of hashtagged honeymoons.
The jambon-beurre is having a renaissance.
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July 8, 2019
Panzanella: Bread and Tomato Salad
Tomatoes didn’t originally come from Italy, but they’ve certainly made up for lost time. Now it’s hard to think of Italian cuisine without them, from classic dishes, from Pasta all’Arrabiata and Salade Caprese, to Pizza Margherita and Panzanella, a bread and tomato salad that’s one of my favorite things to make, and eat.
This summer salad gets tossed with basil, which boosts its appeal (at least in my book…), as my summer trilogy has traditionally been tomatoes, basil, and fresh corn. But since fresh corn isn’t widely available here, I have to make do with something that is: Bread. And that’s fine by me.
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