Slowly I’m putting together my Europe wardrobe and it has been rather fun but not easy. Having never been there, I have to go by guidebooks and other students’ accounts of winter weather in Angers and am expecting lots of cold and lots of wet. As a result, I just bought a brand new London Fog camel trench coat while in Chicago! Just because the weather won’t look pleasant doesn’t mean I have to as well.
So that’s been a work in progress and I’ll stop there for now since I hate to bore you with a detailed account of every sweater, camisole, and pair of pants I’m dragging over with me.
HOWEVER, I will drag in my latest obsession while waiting and waiting to go to France…cooking.
In my horror at the idea of spending a whole month doing nothing, I searched for something to keep me not only busy but producing something all the time. Hence, this is why I’m always knitting, reading, writing, or something. It is all to keep away from the dismal, boring state of doing nothing.
So I’ve been perusing through the internet, especially taking the opportunity to go healthier and cheaper, trying to use the contents of my parents’ over-stocked cabinets as much as I can. While, I doubt I can take care of the over two dozen boxes of pudding mix and the fifteen packets of country gravy by the time I leave, I have almost conquered the canned fish, fruits, soups, and vegetables. We also have a box of lime gelatin that is old and fragile enough, it could have easily come from the 80s. Anybody like Jell-O?
As any new journey such as this one, we come across individuals who change us deeply. In my case, it is Les Classiques de Camille. Yes, I’m in love with French cooking.
This is actually big news to me because ironically enough in the past I judged French cooking to be too rich, too complicated, and too expensive for my eating habits. This cookbook, covering some of the most fundamental dishes and elements of the French meal, has made me see the error of my ways.
Is it easy? No, but it is simple and I do mean simple. Those five-ingredient recipes from Betty Crocker can’t touch some of this stuff. It is good, simple food. There are no complicated ingredients to cover a poor-quality piece of meat or the freshness of the eggs. As someone who can get nearly snooty about that sort of thing, this book is my ally and friend.
Ah, and let’s not forget that great “food porn” and Camille delivers. Almost every single picture and recipe had me sighing and moaning until I realized that in the wrong context, someone might get the wrong idea if they heard me! That is why it is food porn. Though not as good as seeing it in person, here are some of my favorites. I’m just going to go to the kitchen now….
Food porn? haha Liz, surprisingly, I know exactly what you mean. I found my taste buds watering just at the pictures you've posted.
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