Ann Mah's Blog, page 36

Dinner party flowers

Aren't these flowers pretty? A friend sent them a few days after our Chinese dinner party extravaganza, as a thank-you-gift. I love the hydrangeas and delicate skeins of wheat. But I love even more that this bouquet wasn't handed to me during the middle of the dinner party, when my hands were covered in salad dressing and the sink was too full of dirty pots to fill a vase with water.

Of course, the clever French have an elegant solution to the problem of the harried hostess: they send a delivery of flowers before or after the party. Et voila, a lovely gesture is made and no one has to take time out from making gravy to find a bleedin' vase. (Gifts like chocolate, or wine (if you know the person well) are also appropriate.)

What's your favorite host(ess) gift to give or receive? I'd love to hear!

Restaurants I have loved (or liked)

Salut, mes amis! Despite a recent spate of homecooking and baking posts (muffins, tart, and cake in the past three weeks — are hens sprouting teeth?!), I have been fulfilling my responbilities as your faithful Paris blogger. Here's a little roundup of restaurant discoveries to prove it.

Where: Spring (6 rue Bailleul, 1er)

With: Adventurous gastronomes: Anna, Serge and Chris

Ate: Market-influenced tasting menu (64€, no choices). My favorite plate was the opener (picture above): battered cod with a smoked yellow tomato sauce and slice of fried aubergine; fish with teeny girolles in a stunningly green and oddly tasteless pureed soup of salad; veal tonnato, tender slices dolloped with housemade mayonnaise; a dessert of raspberries floating in strange, sugared water; too sweet pistachio cake with confiture of cherries, a bright lemon curd sprinkled with chocolate cookie crumbs.

Thoughts: There's lots of buzz surrounding American chef Daniel Rose's new venture. While the first plate proved that it's merited — with flavors modern, clean, playful — the meal seemed to fade rather than build to a crescendo. Still, 64€ is a veritable bargain for such thoughtful, market-centric cuisine. The only hitch? The place is already so popular we'll probably never be able to snag a table again.

Where: Bob's Kitchen (74 rue des Gravilliers, 3e)

With: Fellow vegan/vegetarian enthusiast (Anna)

Ate: Veggie stew with gentle Indian spices and brown rice; sweet-and-savory quinoa salad (tasted too similar to veggie stew); futomaki sushi roll stuffed with avocado and Japanese pickles (not pictured), watermelon-and-apple juice.

Thoughts: American-style lunch counter with a twist — it's vegetarian (with a lot of vegan options). The bright, bustly, relaxed space, with its high stools and long tables took me right back to Brooklyn. I am always looking for fast, cheap, healthy lunch options and I wish Bob's was closer to my house/work. Alas, the small menu doesn't vary that much.

Where: KGB (25 rue des Grands Augustins, 6e)

With: French foodies (visit #3), In-laws (visit #4)

Ate: Selection of "zors d'oeuvres," or tapas (photo above): crab ravioli in delicate Thai broth, pork croquette, chilled salad of mussels, vibrant apple-scented gaspacho, sliced hamachi accented with a tart mango sauce. Tasting menu with the same fish and duck (visit #3). Tempura of soft-shelled crab with a too-timid wasabi sauce (visit #4).  

Thoughts: I know, you're thinking, What? She went again? Yes, twice more. I've now eaten at KGB four times in three months, which I believe is the same amount of visits the New York Times dining critic makes before reviewing a restaurant. I'm surprised Sam Sifton hasn't gone bonkers yet. The food at KGB is lovely — bright, fresh, inventive, fun, with delightful accents of coconut milk, ginger, and lemongrass — but the dishes vary not a whit. I loved my meal here the first time. By the fourth visit, I was ready to commit lemongrass-cide (e.g. herbacious murder).

Where: Casa Palenque (22 rue de l'Arrivée, 15e)

With: Hot Tamale

Ate: Chunky fresh guacamole, served with housemade tortilla chips (photo above); chicken enchiladas in a spicy red sauce; puntas des res al chipotle – tender braised beef in a smoky, sweet chipotle sauce that's truly fiery and delicious (my mouth is watering as I type this).

Thoughts: I usually avoid Mexican food in Paris like the French avoid milk after 12 noon, but thanks to my pal Croque Camille, I have actually discovered excellent south-of-the-border cuisine here in the City of Light. The chef-owners hail from Mexico and offer truly authentic food — not Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex, but real-Mex like chicken in mole sauce. Plus, they have beer on tap and margaritas. And it's walking distance from our apartment. Yes, we eat here like once a week.

Cooking with Dad

When Mom and Dad come to town, what do you do? If you're in the Mah family, you cook a huge Chinese dinner. Twelve people. Fourteen dishes. One day of shopping and cooking. It was a marathon, let me tell you. My father is a Chinese food guru, so I was delighted to pick up a few secrets from him while shopping at the Asian supermarché, Tang Frères (48 Avenue d'Ivry, 13e), and acting as his sous chef. What did we make?

  

First there was a series of cold dishes: Quail tea eggs in a nest of...

Before and after

  

Mirabelle is the cutest name ever for a fruit, and when the tiny plums started appearing on menus and in the market, I wanted to experiment with them, too. And thus, this rustic mirabelle tart was born. It has a crunchy whole wheat olive oil crust and walnut filling, and a wholesome sweetness (though it could have been a little sweeter — next time I'd add another tablespoon of honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon).

Want to make your own plum tart? I was inspired by these recipes on Chocolate...

Love and comfort food in Odessa (and giveaway)

Odessa has been on my mind recently, and not just because I miss the perogies at the New York City diner of the same name. First, my parents went on a 14-day Black Sea cruise, only to come home raving about the port city so avidly, I was convinced they'd discovered an ancestral Ukrainian link to the Mah family.

And then I read Moonlight in Odessa, a charming first novel about a young Ukrainian woman navigating the world of Eastern European mail-order brides. Written by my friend and fellow...

Birthday baking

I don't bake very often, but homemade treats do make birthdays sweeter, n'est-ce pas? I just spent the morning making a batch of donut muffins for my husband to share with his colleagues for his birthday. What's a donut muffin? Think of a buttery muffin dipped in melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Yes, butter + more butter. The alternative name for these puppies is heart-attack muffins. But the result is magical: cakey, moist, crunchy and cinnamon-y all at the same time.

Want to make ...

Michel Bras, marvelous

 

In the rough and ready region of Aveyron, a remote area of south-central France, stands a modern glass house with clean lines and a sweeping view of the bucolic landscape. It's Michel Bras, the eponymous three-star Michelin restaurant, owned by the man that Food & Wine dubbed "arguably France's most revered chef." On a recent late summer afternoon, I was lucky enough to lunch here with our Averyonais friends, and to taste Bras's special cuisine of local, sometimes wild, ingredients...

Cat nap

Visiting friends in Aveyron this weekend, I snapped this sleeping kitty, who evidently felt a lot like I did after eating nine courses at the three Michelin-starred Michel Bras. (Detailed post coming soon!) Add to this bites of region's saucisson sec, fromage de Laguiole, Roquefort, and aligot (cheesy potatoes)…. Hello, food coma!

If you're in Paris and curious about Aveyron's rough and rustic, costaud cuisine, the Aveyron Fair is worth a visit.

Marché des Pays de l'Aveyron
October 9-11
rue de...

Fire in the oven!

That is, the PIZZA oven. But let me explain. For five years, we've rented the same house in Provence, a house with a remarkable garden, a beautiful swimming pool — and a pizza oven. For four years, we've attempted to make our own pizzas in the wood-burning oven, only to face uncooked dough, ash-covered cheese, collapsed pies — in other words, unmitigated pizza disaster.

It turns out, fifth time's the charm!

The secret is lighting the fire about an hour before you cook the pizzas. And the...

Chinese takeout sheets

I used to dream about Chinese food while writing Kitchen Chinese. I should have made my bed with these wacky Chinese takeout sheets. They're printed with pictures of Chinese food, with the names of the dishes in characters. I wonder if they satisfy midnight kung pao cravings?

Photo from Garnet Hill.