A(NOTHER) WEEKEND IN PARIS

Paris - one of my favourite cities in the world. Last weekend I was back there for the third time in just over a year. This time I went with my mum, and we had the loveliest, whirlwind 36 hours (or less!) there. After an early start for one of the first Eurostar trains we headed straight to the airbnb studio I'd booked. Unfortunately our host had gone AWOL so we settled in at a local patisserie for coffees and freshly squeezed orange juice, before giving up on the airbnb host, leaving our bags with a very friendly man at his independent wine shop and setting off for a stroll around Le Marais, ducking in and out of galleries, gorgeous sun dappled squares and shops galore. I'd reserved a table at Amarante, which Lucy and I adored when we went this time last year, so meandered towards Bastille for lunch. Amarante is a tiny bistro on an otherwise residential road to the east of Bastille. But don't fooled by its random location - it's dishing up some of the best food in Paris and is 100% worth a visit. Mum and I went for the fixed lunch menu which is a steal at 19 euros for 2 courses, or 22 euros for 3. Our starters of tarama for me and liver pate for mum were perfect, followed by sublime ox cheek, greens and the jus of dreams; and fish and confit leeks for mum. I can't see myself ever visiting Paris and not eating at Amarante, and I suggest you do the same! Make sure you book though.

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A WEEKEND in PROVENCE

Our weekend in Provence with Olivence revolved mostly around food - after all, we were there to try all the wonderful olive products that are made in the region. This also included two wonderful meals in two of Marseille's top restaurants where we ate meals that had been designed to showcase the wonderful olive oils we'd sampled at the different mills and groves.

First up was a meal at Les Trois Forts, which is several storeys up at the top of the Sofitel hotel, with the most incredible views out over the old port of Marseille. Though this gorgeous sunset was actually looking out towards Les Trois Forts from our walk round the Christmas market before dinner.

We were seated at a huge round table right in the middle of the restaurant and started our specially designed meal with a perfectly poached egg (which I think had been cooked in a water bath at 63 degrees), on top of wild mushrooms and a green herb sauce made with the fruite noir olive oil. 

Our main course was the star for me - expertly cooked fillets of mullet on a creamy, rich risotto a la Provence with a bouillabaisse foam that was so tasty. Drizzled with olive oil this dish was right up there. As was the huge trolley of cheese that got rolled round afterwards for us to choose from. Though having chosen cheese I missed out on the olive oil themed pudding, but we all know how I feel about puddings!

Les Trois Forts was wonderful but the real highlight of the trip was the next day when we headed to Michelin starred Une Table, Au Sud where we had a cookery lesson with France's youngest starred chef, Ludovic Turac before sampling his creations at lunch in his restaurant. We prepped some of our lunch with Ludovic then watched him make his "aioli" - a piece of squid ink and olive bread topped with cod brandade and ribbons of vegetables - such a simple dish elevated to Michelin standards. 

Lunch opened with smoked mackerel pate on crispbread and a puff pastry roll stuffed with tapenade, which was warm and light and fluffy and superb. 

We'd made the parmesan tuille for the starter which came with vegetables and citrus zest in olive oil and melted in the mouth. 

Mains was bream wrapped in vine leaves with fennel and bisque foam. It was so good - zesty and really light, and cooking the fish in the vine leaf was such a great way to keep all the juiciness in. 

Dessert was a pretty plate of pineapple in various forms, with candied black olives, but far too sweet for me.

The food at Une Table, Au Sud is innovative and absolutely delicious. They do a lunchtime menu of three courses for 32euros, which is incredible value, so if you're in Marseille it's definitely worth checking out. 

Huge thank you to Olivence, all the wonderful olive oil producers and restaurants we ate at for such a great weekend. 

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OLIVE OIL in PROVENCE

Over the last 18 months I've learnt so much about olive oil - how it's produced, the difference in production in different countries and the brands that make, market and sell it. This all started with my trip to Tuscany at the end of 2015, and continued when I went to Provence at the end of last year to spend time with Olivence - the Provence Olive Oil Society which looks after five of the top olive oil producers in France. While Provence is better known for its grape growing and wine production, there are actually around 100 olive varieties grown throughout the region and the area produces some of the world's rarest and most unique types of olive oil. The five premium olive oil brands that make up Olivence have come together to push a campaign to introduce their olive oils to the UK market, and to keep the olive growing traditions of Provence alive for future generations. All five of the brands create their olive oils on small scale production, with many of them still harvesting by hand and following traditional farming and production techniques.

Our trip started with a visit to Vignolis, who are actually just outside Provence, in Rhone, in the gorgeous village of Vieux Nyons. They grow their own olives and make oil from their own harvest as well as other local farmers' harvests, producing 50% of PDO Nyons olive oil and olives. We had a wonderful olive based lunch (olive stuffed lamb, olive bread with tapenade, an olive ratatouille, spelt salad with olives and veggies) with the owners of Vignolis before touring their olive oil museum and factory, then tasting their olive oils, olives and wines.  

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CAVIAR STURIA at THE BALCON

As much as I love reviewing restaurants, attending launch parties and being sent new products to test and taste, I think my favourite type of event is when I get to meet producers and creators. Hearing people speak so passionately about something they've dedicated their entire lives to is inspiring and exciting. So I jumped at the chance to spend an evening with the guys from Sturia, France's leading caviar producers, at The Balcon where I've eaten and reviewed previously.

Sturia was set up nearly 20 years ago to produce sturgeon and caviar near Bordeaux, in the Aquitaine region of South West France, where over 90% of France's 25 tonnes of caviar is produced annually. Sturia produces 12 tonnes of this. The eggs are taken from the best spawning fish, after which the producers have to wait 2-3 years to determine the fish's gender. Once the females are identified they are farmed in ponds for up to 8 years until they reach egg producing age. Amazingly, an egg producing female weighs a massive ten kilos, and yields around 1kg of which is eggs/caviar! That's a lot of eggs for a fish to be carrying! The caviar is harvested between September and March each year. The grains are then hand sieved, very carefully washed in water, mixed with salt and tinned in 1kg tins to mature naturally in special temperature controlled rooms - not dissimilar to wine cellars. The great thing about Sturia's (and France's) caviar production method is that it is all farmed. This might not sound preferable to wild caviar but due to over-fishing the sale of caviar from wild sturgeon has been banned for the last eight years.

The caviar produced by Sturia is matured for various amounts of time, resulting in different final products. Each different type of caviar works well with different types of food, which was demonstrated throughout the meal we had at The Balcon that had been specially designed to pair with the caviars.

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BRASSERIE GUSTAVE, CHELSEA

I love discovering a new-to-me restaurant doing classic French food. French food done right is one of my favourite luxurious meals to go out for so when an email popped into my inbox inviting me to check out Brasserie Gustave in Chelsea/South Kensington I was intrigued as I'd never even heard of it. But I had a sneaky peek at the menu online and it looked like it had a lot of potential so accepted said invite and headed there a couple of weeks ago. 

Arriving outside Brasserie Gustave you'd hardly even know it was there from the street, but then you go inside and the place is so light and bright and airy. There's a huge skylight window at the back the of the room, the walls are painted a pretty light yellow and there are (nice) fake plants everywhere. We took a corner seat excited for what was to come - I could smell the garlic and we'd already seen a crepe suzette trolley wheeled out for a family to have their pudding cooked in front of them.

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RECENT EATS

Sometimes I actually go out to a restaurant without my camera and writing head, and just to enjoy a meal and catch up with mates... That doesn't mean the places we go aren't worth writing about, just that I can't document every single thing I eat all the time. Having said that, I've eaten in some really excellent places recently, so feel I should share the love and tell you about them in case you want to try them out too. So excuse the phone snaps, but here's a few of my recent favourites.

6 Portland Road

I saw this hidden gem on Instagram and immediately knew I wanted to go. Everything about it seemed so similar to the wonderful Amarante that Lucy and I discovered in Paris earlier this year. A little French inspired restaurant in West London that does brilliant food and even better wine all with excellent service. It felt like a little secret we'd discovered though I worry that it might be less of a secret now that both Grace and Fay have given it such stellar reviews. I went with Lucy and we drank delicious wine and shared courses of ox tongue, terrine, calves liver and red mullet. I can really see myself spending many a lazy Sunday afternoon at 6 Portland Road. It's the perfect addition to West London.

 

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BLANCHETTE, SOHO

It's so good when I finally get round to visiting a restaurant that I've been meaning to go to for ages and it lives up to the high expectations I had of it - always a relief....!! Emily and I went to check out the cutesy little French restaurant Blanchette, in Soho, that I'd heard so many good things about but still hadn't got round to going to. Blanchette is a French bistro on D'Arblay Street that's beautifully romantic/lit by candlelight/awful for photos and serves up small French family dishes alongside charcuterie, cheeses and excellent French wines. You're encouraged to order for the table and share dishes, though there were so many utterly delicious plates, I really wanted to eat all of some of them myself!

We started with one of their signature dishes - crispy frog legs with Bois Budran sauce - whole frog legs that had been breaded and deep fried, which were actually a little tricky to eat. As the leg is whole, it's still on the bone. I'm not sure if we tackled them wrong, but we both ended up with mouthfuls of frog leg meat and bone. Not our favourite but luckily not a sign of things to come as the rest of the plates of food that came out were spot on.

 

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FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE RECIPES PT II

I've written a few recipes using French goat's cheese previously, and today I've got a few more for you. They're all pretty simple, as the cheese is so delicious by itself that I don't want to overcomplicate things. These recipes use three different types of goat's cheese, but they're interchangeable so don't worry too much if you can't find the exact cheese I've used. Any good French goat's cheese will do. 

 

Roast peppers with goat's cheese, pesto and olives

Serves 2

 

8 mini bell peppers (red, yellow and orange)

French goat's cheese log

1 jar marinated mixed olives

1 jar tomato and ricotta pesto

Tbsp capers

Chopped parsley

Bread, to serve

 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Slice the peppers in half, removing the seeds. Add a slice of the goat's cheese to each pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Spread the stuffed peppers out on a baking tray and cook for ten minutes. Add a teaspoon of pesto to each pepper and cook for another five minutes. Remove from the oven and scatter capers and olives over the peppers. Serve with chopped parsley and a thick slice of bread.

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A WEEKEND IN PARIS

Nothing cures the January blues like a long weekend in Paris with a girlfriend, eating all the food and drinking all the drinks. So knowing we'd be feeling that post new year slump, Lucy and I booked the Eurostar and a beautiful Airbnb studio in Le Marais so we could get away last weekend. We started our weekend on Friday afternoon with a review I was doing of Roux at the Landau at The Langham Hotel (blog post on that to follow) then headed to Kings Cross where we caught a bit of Lumiere London and had a glass of bubbles at new D&D venue German Gymnasium, before jumping on the train to Paris.

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STREETAID IN CALAIS

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about what we can all do to help and support the people who've lost their homes and had to the flee their countries because of war where they lived. Sadly, every day more people become refugees, and though the media chooses to mostly ignore it, the problem is not going away. Some of these refugees have ended up in Calais, France, in a no man's land, where no government will help or take responsibility for them, and where they are about to experience a cold, long winter while living in makeshift camps. You can continue to donate clothing, shoes, food, tents and other supplies through various channels mentioned in the first post I wrote, but now you can also support in another way.

A collective of UK street food traders, StreetAid, will be heading to Calais in January 2016 to deliver direct aid to refugees in camps in Calais. They'll be providing hot nourishing food and essential building equipment to people in real need. Street food traders delivering aid in January include The Roadery, Rupert's Street, Streatza, The Bowler, Fleisch Mob, House of Dodo, and What The Dickens! This is the second trip to Calais for these superstars, having previously visited the camp in September, where their help was invaluable.

The guys at StreetAid who are arranging this trip are looking for our help in raising funds to buy food that they'll cook and distribute, and to purchase building provisions to help build more sturdy homes for the refugees, that will protect them from the harsh winter weather. So, please dig deep, and help StreetAid to help the people that need it the most. So often it can feel like there's nothing we can do to help, but by donating to this campaign you will be making a real difference. I've hyperlinked to the Just Giving page above, but just in case you can't see it, here's the full link to where you can donate - https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/StreetAid.

Thank you xx

 

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FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE RECIPES

Goat's cheese is one of the most common "don't eat" ingredients people mention when they book my pop ups, even when it's not on the menu. It's a really divisive ingredient, which is sad as there are so many types of goat's cheese that I struggle to believe that those who say they don't like it have tried all the variants. The hard goat's cheeses are so mild and creamy, and nothing like the soft, pungent versions that are what I think turn people off this type of cheese. Personally, I eat almost everything (bar tripe and baked beans), and adore cheese, particularly goat's cheese. Not only is goat's cheese delicious and versatile but it's also better for you then cow's cheese is, as it's lower in fat and cholesterol, has more protein, higher amounts of vitamins A and B6, and it's easier for the body to digest, as although it has similar levels of lactose to cow's cheese, it has small fat particles, so is often eaten by those who can't eat cow's cheese.

I've come up with a couple of recipes using goat's cheese below, and if you want more inspiration on what to do with goat's cheese, and which type of goat's cheese is best for certain recipes, then you can get out a whole plethora of information on it here. My first idea isn't really a recipe that uses goat's cheese, but instead it's a delicious chutney which you can serve with goat's cheese and crackers. You can substitute the plums, apples and pears for whatever's in season - butternut squash would work well, as would rhubarb when that's back in season. In summer you could even make this with nectarines or peaches.

PLUM & APPLE CHUTNEY

This will make quite a bit of chutney, but it will keep in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a month.

Slice 6 plums, 2 apples and 2 pears into small chunks. Add to a pan with 2 sliced shallots (I used purple shallots), a crushed cloves of garlic, some star anise, ginger powder, chilli flakes and about 150g golden caster sugar. Add 150ml white wine, red wine or cider vinegar (depending on the main fruit you're using) and let it bubble away on a medium heat, stirring occasionally to stop it catching at the bottom, until it's reduced down a chutney consistency. Remove from the heat, allow to cool and serve as part of your cheeseboard, or spread on bread before making a goat's cheese sandwich.

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CONFIT DUCK / CHESTNUT PASTRY - FRENCH RECIPES

Last weekend I went to Paris for a couple of days, and in between lots of walking and drinking coffee and wine (not at the same time!) I ate as much French food as possible - snails, steak, rum baba, steak tartare, oysters and a croissant for my final breakfast. Then yesterday I went to check out the soon to open Les 110 de Taillevent on Cavendish Square - an exquisite French restaurant that serves up lots of classics, alongside newer dishes (lamb sweetbread and crayfish vol au vent) with wines paired to each dish. So you could say I'm enjoying French food and wine at the moment! With all these great opportunities to eat out, it is also nice to cook at home, so I've been working with Expedia on their "world on a plate challenge" which celebrates the ultimate foodie holiday destinations around the world, which obviously include Paris. I've come up with a couple of recipe ideas below - not necessarily 100% French, but using delicious French ingredients with a bit of a twist.

CONFIT DUCK, CELERIAC PUREE, PLUM SAUCE

Serves 2
2 confit duck legs
Half small celeriac
250ml whole milk
25g butter
25ml double cream
Salt and pepper
4 plums
1 shallot
2 star anise
1 tsp coriander seeds
100ml water
50ml soy
50g caster sugar
Coriander
Pomegranate seeds

Put the duck legs, flesh side down, in a frying pan and heat gently for 20 minutes.

While the duck is cooking, peel the celeriac and chop in small squares. Add to a saucepan with the milk and top up with water so the celeriac's fully submerged. Cook for 10-15 mintues, or until soft, then strain, and blend with the butter and double cream, and salt and pepper to taste. (You could also make this dish with pulled pork instead of duck, and add some truffle paste or truffle oil to the celeriac puree at this point).

To make the plums sauce, finely chop the plums and shallot, and add to a pan with the star anise, coriander, water and soy sauce. Cook for 10 minutes, then blend and sieve.

After the duck has cooked for 20 minutes flip it over so it's skin side down and cook for a further five minutes.

To plate up, take two flat soup bowls and divide the celeriac between the two. Top with shredded confit duck, chopped coriander and pomegranate seeds, and finish with the plum sauce.

Photos by Chelone Wolf - Twitter / Facebook / Instagram

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LES GOURMETS DES TERNES, PARIS

I love Paris. It's such a beautiful city, it's cheap and quick to travel to from London, and it has so many great restaurants serving brilliant food. I booked a little weekend trip for myself and popped over last Friday. Having recently visited the lovely Rendezvous Bar in London, part of the trio of Les Gourmets des Ternes restaurants (one in Knightsbridge, where Rendezvous is, one in Maida Vale, and one in Paris) I was invited to try out the Paris branch while I was there. The Paris branch is the original restaurant of the three, having been open since 1962. It's a celebrity favourite and the walls are adorned with photos of the owner with various celebs, while the paper tablecloths are covered with prints of handwritten messages from them.

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INTERVIEW with MICHEL ROUX JR

It's not every day you receive an email asking if you'd like to send some interview questions through for Michel Roux Jr, but that's exactly what happened last Friday, much to my surprise and excitement. I love the Rouxs as chefs and always have done. I watch little live TV - only Attenborough, football and cooking shows - but have always loved what I've seen of Michel Roux Jr on shows such as Masterchef and Food and Drink, which I have on catch up in the background on Saturday mornings when I'm cooking for my pop ups. I was asked to provide questions for this interview as Michel is fundraising for a really great charity that he is a patron of, VICTA - a charity that fundraises to provide support and activities for visually impaired and blind children - by trading from an initial budget of £2,500 with City Index and trying to make as much money as possible - as stressful as a day in the kitchen I'm sure, just not half as tasty! Michel is a long term supporter of VICTA and has run several marathons for the charity too. I've enjoyed reading Michel's answers to my questions so much, and I hope you do too - he really seems even lovelier than I already thought he was:

1. Who has inspired you the most in your career? 
My first boss when I was an apprentice pastry chef, he was a man that led by example and rarely shouted. He was the first person in, in the morning and the last one out at night. 

2. What is the first thing you remember cooking? 
The first thing I remember cooking wasn’t actually cooking it was making ice cream as a child. My father had made the custard and I must have been about six and had to churn it by hand as we didn’t have an electric machine. It was churned on ice and was a very hard job. I was rewarded with a scoop of freshly made ice cream. 

3. What is your favourite restaurant in London? 
My favourite local restaurant is The Dairy in South London. I think it would be wonderful if every local restaurant was like the dairy. It’s affordable, run by a husband and wife team, and has a real homely feel. It ticks all the boxes of what I look for in a restaurant. 

4. What is your can’t live without kitchen gadget?
At the moment this would be a pressure cooker, I think they’re back in fashion now, when you say pressure cooker you usually think of your granny or old cabbage but these days they really are state of the art. 

5. What are your top three can’t live without ingredients? 
These would have to be venison, truffles and chocolate. 

6. What is your newest ingredient discovery? 
A forgotten vegetable, cardoons. 

7. What is your worst food intolerance to cook for? 
Working in a restaurant you have to cook for lots of different intolerances, but the one I have the most sympathy for has to be gluten, as I really couldn’t give up bread, pasta or any wheat products. 

8. Why did you choose to fundraise for VICTA today? 
Visually Impaired Children Taking Action - I’ve run marathons for VICTA for 16-18 years now. It’s about taking blind or partially sighted children out-and-about and getting them involved in sporting activities. It’s a small charity and I believe the smaller the charity the more of the money actually goes to the cause. I’ve had over four operations on my eyes myself and they really do deserve a little bit of help.
(I'm completely with Michel here with regards donating to smaller charities as I also believe that more money gets to those who need it this way) 

9. What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to start a career as a Chef? 
The advice I would give is for someone in a job or apprenticeship to take notes - not necessarily recipes but just little notes as you go along, in the form of a little diary. I still look back at my notes I made when I was apprentice and it really is an inspiration to look back and to learn.
(This is such a nice answer from Michel. So many chefs answer this question with "don't become a chef" which is really unhelpful for those who've already decided that they do want to be a chef!) 

Such interesting answers! The first thing I did when I read them was look up cardoons - it's a vegetable known as the artichoke thistle, and both the stalks and leaves can be eaten, and have an artichoke flavour to them - something to consider for my pop up menus!

There was one question on my list I'd sent through that Will didn't have time to ask for me, which was what Michel thought of supper clubs, and would he like to come to mine one day?! So if you're reading this Michel, why don't you come and try it out?!?
 

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CHAMPAGNE TASTING w DEVAUX at NOTES

I've got some news about an exciting free event happening in London! On Tuesday 25th November and Tuesday 2nd December you can go to a free champagne tasting evening - how great is that!

I went to the first of these events this week and it was such fun and really informative. Tuesday evening's event was hosted by Notes who are a speciality coffee, food and wine bar, with 3 branches in London - Moorgate (where we went), Trafalgar Square (where the event on 25th November is being held) and Covent Garden (where the 2nd December event will be). All of the wine that Notes sell is provided by Liberty Wines, so they sent James along to teach us all about Champagne Devaux, one of the champagnes stocked and sold by Notes. All 3 tastings follow the same format and offer 4 types of Champagne Devaux to try.

The evening started with a bit of history about Champagne Devaux. This champagne house was founded in 1846, some 168 years ago and run by the Devaux family who sadly lost 3 of the men running the house at an early age. In fact by the late 1987 none of the Devaux family remained to run the house and it was sold to the Union Auboise, one of the biggest vineyard holders in the region. However, Champagne Devaux remains one of the top quality champagnes available. With all this talk of champagne it was definitely time to try some, and first up was the Devaux Grand Reserve NV, a 3 year old champagne (double the minimum required age for champagne). There are 3 grapes that can be used to make champagne - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Devaux only use Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for their champagnes and the Grand Reserve uses a blend of 69% PN and 31% Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir grape that Devaux grows is one of the finest in the champagne region. This produces a very gentle champagne, that's extremely drinkable! I often find bubbly can be great for a glass, but that I wouldn't want to drink more than that, whereas I could the Devaux Grand Reserve all night!! It retails at around £25 a bottle, but tastes like it's worth a lot more.

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GRAND TOUR OF L'HEXAGONE WINES

There are a lot of things I like about wine. When I fancy an alcoholic drink, it's normally wine, or sparkling something that I go for. A crisp glass of cold white is a wonderful thing on a hot summer day, as is a deep bodied glass of red when the nights draw in and winter arrives (now!). Sparkling wine is perfect for celebrations, while there are many types of wine that match with all foods I can think of. And when you think you've found your perfect or favourite wine, you can spin round the globe and discover different versions of the same, and/or totally new wines. It seems that wine and my discovery of it is limitless - there's always a new wine to try or a different situation to try it in. So when asked to go on a virtual wine tour of France, up on the 31st floor of one of London's most Central buildings, I couldn't say no (apart from my vertigo, which was solved by a - staying in the middle of the room at all times, and b - sampling 10 different wines in the space of an hour!)

This wasn't an evening just to drink wine though, we were taken on a tour around France via wine, and talked through the perfect food to match each wine so I wanted to share what I learnt with you. All the wines we tried are reasonably priced, and generally widely available to buy, so each wine name will be hyperlinked to where you can buy it if you want to try any of them.

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LE PATISSON, VILLEMOISSON-SUR-ORGE, FRANCE

A couple of weekends ago the boy and I were invited to France for a night. Deciding that we'd rather stay 3 nights instead of 1 our extremely generous hosts extended their invite to us for 3 nights in their hotel. The hotel is about 30 minutes south of Paris and 15 minutes cab ride (if the cabbie knows where he's going - ours didn't and it cost us 60 euros!) from Orly airport. The owners of the hotel, friends of the boy's ma's, were having a party there to celebrate their 75th birthdays on the Saturday night.

We arrived at Le Relais des Chartreux late on Thursday night and dumped our bags in our newly refurbed room, before gobbling down a very late dinner of lobster then scallops, and wandering the hotel's grounds for an hour or two, whilst being eaten alive by mozzies, before collapsing in bed. We'd made the decision that we weren't going to actually go into Paris while we were there, as having come from London we both wanted to make the most of some chill out time with just the 2 of us in the French countryside. This didn't stop me wanting to find the best possible place for food near the hotel so I spent hours on Tripadvisor, Google, blogs etc before we went trying to narrow down the endless and confusing choices to a place where we'd have dinner on the Friday. It's really weird searching online for somewhere to eat in a place you've never been, that's not the trendiest of areas to start with, but I struck absolute gold and found somewhere with over 95% either good or very good reviews. 

We lazed around on Friday during the day, wandered into the local town to pick up some amazing skincare items from the French pharmacy, that airport security then tried confiscate on our way back, and got ready for our night out in Villemoisson-sur-Orge (!) The hotel kindly arranged a car to pick us up and take us there (not even our driver knew where this mysterious place was until we whipped out the trusty iPhones and found it in the maps). But we got there in the end, and I'm so glad we did. Villemoisson-sur-Orge is beautiful little village/town set on winding hilly roads, with picturesque French houses lining the streets, covered in vines. The light was fading so my photos aren't great, but you get the idea.

 

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VALENTINES BLOG LOVE

Valentines Day is the one day of the year when I don't want to cook for myself and the boy! So rather than a load of lovey dovey Valentines pink recipes, I thought I'd share the love by telling you about some of my favorite blogs I read. I read a lot of blogs, from food to lifestyle to travel and beauty, and obviously I really like all the blogs I read (otherwise I wouldn't read them!) but I can't list them all here, as there are tons I really like. However, these are some of my favs that involve food, that I hope you can enjoy too.

My FAVORITE blog of all of them is Manger. Mimi lives in Medoc in France with her beautiful family and their 14(!) dogs, where she cooks my idea of food heaven, with the most incredible looking produce. Oh how I would love to spend a weekend at their house!! I was going through her blog pulling some photos to put in this blog, and I literally saved tens of photos as I just couldn't decide between them.

Just look at that meat:

 

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