One of the first things we did was to go to a Chinese grocery and stock up on rice, noodles, sauces, snacks and all the things we don't think we can live without. There is a rice worm living in the deep recesses of our gullets, if we go without rice for more than 2-3 days it makes us feel funny and we have to have a fix. We also have to eat our share of congee and soupy dishes. True, one can easily get a bowl of restorative pho here, but a simple clear soup noodle with stock made from chicken and maybe some dried scallops, this we have to fix ourselves. We still cook a lot of Chinese food at home, also curries and Japanese-style dishes, just as we did when we lived in Singapore.
But some things have changed. Casseroles, stews, braised dishes, pastas- all these would be very heavy and some are too tedious to cook back home in humid SEA. Well, it is the opposite here. Almost every week we are making a new variation of a long-cooked dish like boeuf bourguignonne, pork stew, mixed sausage casseroles etc, combining with the vegetables of the season like radishes, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms as well as lentils and various beans harmoniously in a heavy bottomed pot. Then there is the dessert counterparts, like cooking apples simmered with candied kumquats and raisins until syruppy, like apple pie without the guilty-inducing pastry, all the better to justify dolloping the creme fraiche on. The cocottes get a workout almost every other day. Better yet, some of the dishes freeze and keeps well, so there is enough for husband's lunches, impromptu sandwiches etc.
The dogs eat differently too. They get a lot of turkey and rabbit which is cheap now. I am impressed at how deliciously mild and sweet is the liver of a rabbit. They also get chicken of course, but not lamb or mutton anymore, too expensive.
The other day GG and I accidentally ate horse. We were at a cafe and I ordered a hamburger, not noticing until too late that it was actually 'hamburger a cheval' and then remembering husband telling me that there is a famous wine called Cheval Blanc which means white horse.....It is a deep red meat, cooked till charred outside. Tastes bland, just of chewy meat, not something I will want to eat again.
Also, our consumption of bread has gone up. At first it was a hearty loaf almost every day, then it slowed down to a large loaf over a week interspersed with the occasional baguette or the rarer croissant. We've had to find ways to finish up some of the bread before it goes rock hard. Toast, kiddy pizza base and breadcrumbs usually. Also, bread and butter pudding was surprisingly easy to make even though I did not follow the online recipes exactly: buttered bread layered with marmalade (not traditional too but delicious I can assure) till the dish is full, then components of a custard-eggs, sugar, milk +/or cream, vanilla beans- poured into dish and baked in a bain-marie.
Dairy products too. Fresh wholemilk has to be replenished all the time, it goes into our oatmeal porridge, into baked and steamed custards, into lattes, into baby's cereals, and so on. And yoghurt of course. Not forgetting cheeses too- at the market there is a stall which lays out an ever-changing spread of samples, and I pick up at least two types each time, not even paying much attention to the names, just buying because we like the taste. They go into salads, into sandwiches or stirred into hot milk for a quick pasta sauce.
The markets continue to fascinate us. Every visit we bring a new treat home. Like this oeuf en gelee, or eggs in aspic jelly. The egg is cooked and encased in a savoury gelatin wrapped with a bit of ham and a slice of tomato. The amazing part is that the yolk is still runny inside, good as we are all suckers for runny egg yolks in this household.
More goodies from the market. Pates and hams, usually made by the vendors themselves. Like cheese, I limit our purchase to one or two types per week. A little goes a long way. Every Saturday lunch is a picnic at home of cold cuts, fresh bread, cheese, salads and a little wine.
Finally, the best thing about the market nowadays is that fresh live scallops are coming into season. Not very big yet, but succulent enough. At first it was 20 EUD a kg, then 7.50 a kg, last Saturday one of the stalls was selling it at 3kg for 15 EUD! Needless to say it was sold out by noon, all 9 cases of it.I bought 10 pieces, which cost me 13.41 EUD, the equivalent of one measly scallop in a highend sushi restaurant in Singapore. We've had it sashimi-style, as in it was hacked inexpertly by me into bite size strips. When we got sick of scallop sashimi, never imagining that I would ever say it, we then grilled these little jewels and found it was just as tasty.
