Encore du beau temps

Encore du beau temps means : nice weather again.  We are not going to complain.  Since we are selling solar panels, it is the best time of the year for new clients.  We get hassled from old customers who encounter technical problems with their photovoltaic installations.  They freak out because the sun is there and they can't produce electricity because an inverter is out of order.  One customer (who is a farmer) called last Friday at 5pm, as if we could do something about his problem in the weekend. 

Speaking of the weekend, we finally went to the beach, at De Panne.  It was nice but still chilly.  Some people let their children play in their bathing suit.  I wore a coat and sandals and I was cold.

  

When life gives you lemons you make Lemon Curd Muffins!

I have seen on British TV a few a lemon curd muffin recipes.  I thought I would give it a try.  I wanted to make Lemon tart at first, but just the thought of making meringue and all, made me wanted to give up without even starting first.  My husband doesn't like lemony food, but lemon curd yes!

I have started the lemon curd first.
3 eggs
juice of 3 lemons
150 gr of sugar
1 table spoon of corn starch
30gr to 50 gr of unsalted butter cut in cubes
(the "authentic" version doesn't have corn starch)

Start whisking the eggs and the sugar first, then add the lemon juice and the corn starch.

Put the mixture in a bowl that will go over a bain-marie.
Whisk whisk whisk until it starts to thicken.  Add the butter cubes.
It may take more than 5 minutes.  I was about to give up and then it started to thicken.  Now it's ready.
You can put the lemon curd in a jar, it will last up to a week.

Update 19/07/2013 : The bain-marie is not really necessary, you can put the pan directly on the heat.  It will work too.  Just set the heat on medium or low. 

Now what to do with all this lemony goodness?

It goes well with:
-crêpes
-yougurt
-cake
-muffin

Lemon curd muffins

I made my muffins with the french" yogurt cake" recipe, they use the cup of the yogurt for measurement.

 

Use the cup of the yogurt to measure the ingredients, do not throw this away!

-1 portion of plain yogurt 
-3 eggs
-2 cups of sugar (cup of the yogurt)
-3 cups of flour (cup of the yogurt)
-10 g of baking powder
-1/2 cup of the vegetable oil (cup of the yogurt)

Mix all the ingredients together and grate a little bit of lemon zest and add it to the mix.
 Prepare le muffin tin and the muffin cases.

Put a table spoon of the cake mixture in the muffin cases (it should be half of the muffin case) and add a spoon of the lemon curd, then another spoon of the cake mixture.

 Bake in the oven at 200 degree Celsius or 392 degree Fahrenheit (lower depending on your oven), for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! Miam c'est bon!

C'est le printemps!

If you have watched the news, France is shocked by several shootings in a row, the latest happened in a school in Toulouse.  Politics have decided to take a pause on their electoral campaign for a few days.  It's a good thing, we can have a break from the political candidates who are overly advertised in the media.  

On a lighter note, spring has finally arrived! my favorite season.  It's been sunny for 2 weeks in a row now.  So I am really delighted by the weather.  My parents will be visiting us in a couple of weeks and we are planning on going to London and The Netherlands for a week only.  Don't know how we can do it all on such a short period of time.  They want to see the tulips in Keukenhof (Netherlands), the Van Gogh Museum and The Hague. I must say I'm looking forward to this trip!

Happy Spring to all!

  

On being frustrated about my weight

Many people struggle with their weight.  As for me, the pounds started to add up coincidentally after my move to France.  My weakness: I have discovered French food.  Every weekend, we had to go to my In-laws and we would have a 3 course meal everytime.  A starter, a main course, cheese and dessert.  After a while, I dreaded those family meals.  Too copious for my eating habits.  Before my moving, I was eating basically rice on a daily basis, like all Asians do. lol

Last June, when we went for a mountain hike in the French Alps, my husband and I realized that we were out of shape and out of breath.  A little thing clicked in me, I've said to myself, enough is enough.  And from then on, I have started to do something with my extra weight.

          Reminiscing the French Alps

 It's been almost a year now, and I've only lost 10 lbs.  I have still 10 lbs to lose to reach my initial weight.  I didn't follow any diet. I have cut down on the portion of meals. And just plain exercice, I did stationary biking regularly at home, but it began to take a toll on my knees.

Since we were going back to Canada on December, we were afraid of gaining weight again because of all the food available during the winter festivities.  As expected, we had so much lobsters and other stuff only available in Canada.  But we did not gain weight.  We hitted the gym in Ottawa and Montreal.  

Back in France, my husband said he misses the gym and is eager to get a membership in a gym nearby.  Gym Membership in North of France is cheap, 33 euros/month.  I wouldn't find that in Canada.  After 2 months of intensive cardio, we haven't lost any weight.  We sure look more toned but it's not enough!  Of course, we have cut down on food, but we must reduce even more.  grrrr!  I guess I would have to eat smaller portions.

Meanwhile on the news these days, they said that red meat is pretty bad for our health.  So I guess I would have to cut down on that too. 

My goals for now, continuing to exercice like a mad woman and eat less meat.

When I was visiting my family in Canada, I have rediscovered Végépâté.  It is such a delight.  It almost tastes like meat pâté.  I tried to make this at home since there's no such thing as végépâté in France. It was not as good as the store bought version.

Can you cut down on meat? what are your favorite vegetarian dishes? Do you have tips to share on weight loss? haaa j'ai faim!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/meat+linked+higher+risk+premature+death/6299982/story.html

                                                 

Combien y'a-t-il chats?

 

 hum, this is only moss that fell off the roof

There are a least 7 cats on the farm.  Some are even half domesticated, but I don't think they would be able to feed themselves.  The white cat has decided to live inside the house, much to dismay.  The owner wanted a lot of cats so they can chase mice.  Only the female cats do the work. lol

When will people learn?

Tomorrow, we will mark a sad anniversary. A year ago, the Japanese have suffered greatly from natural disasters which  led to a nuclear catastraphe. To date, we do not know the health impacts of the this nuclear accident on the Japanese population. They are fairly discreet about it.  

Meanwhile in France, when we first heard the news, Industry and Environment ministers  had to call the press right after this nuclear disaster. They tried to reassure the French that Fukushima was not Tchernobyl, it was less serious. 

France is the second most nuclearized country in the world.  Nuclear power is part of the life of the French since the oil crisis of '70. Despite all the efforts to develop new clean energy, policy makers still favor this energy. I think we are not safe from a nuclear accident in France. Politicians is so stubborn in maintaining the nuclear power that they are willing to lie and hide informations from the population.

The French government even tried to pass nuclear as a clean and carbon-free energy to the European union. 

There is something that is often ignored : uranium comes from Africa, and mostly from Niger. Working conditions are precarious in those uranium mines and the waters and soils are contaminated.   

What we wouldn't do to meet French growing demand of electricity for a few human lives?

picture from : http://www.bizimugi.eu/?page_id=4563

Happy Women's day

I am grateful for those women who fought for women's rights. Thank you.

Snow stom and Flood in the North of France

I have only realized today that the North of France is 200 km long, as much as the distance from Ottawa to Montréal.  For those who live in the North region, they would say : "I'm from the South of the North, or the North of North."  (je vis dans le sud du nord ou le nord du nord).  That's how long is the region, it is narrow as well. 

You can have two different weather conditions in the same region.  Yesterday was terrible.  In Lille, they had snow storm and blackouts.  From were I am, almost of the tip of the North region (near Dunkerque), we didn't have snow but pouring rain all day long.  We were flooded!

This is a little cascade in the garden.  I couldn't even get my mail.

When I woke up this morning, most of the excess water has disappeared.  I must say, I was relieved.  I could have been worse, we didn't have any blackout.

Asian Feast

Since I live in France, I do less and less asian cooking.  I get frustated for not finding all the ingredients I want.  I live more than 45 min away from Lille, and that is pretty much the only place I can purchase asian products.  Also, asian cooking takes a lot of time.  Chop chop chop, mix mix grind grind grind...My mom usually cooks meals 1 hour ahead.  My French MIL, would take less than 15 minutes to make a savory meal.  I would even get stressed out for her, for not starting making dinner at 6:45pm.  So from then on, I've decided not to spend so much time cooking.

Yesterday I was in Lille, so I got my ingredients to make an Asian feast! lol

I just made fried dumplings.

For my filling, I just put whatever vegetables I have on hands: shitake mushrooms, cabbage, leeks, shallots and onions.  

Then I chopped all the vegetables in the mixer.  I have cooked the vegetables and let it cool first before adding 500g of ground beef.  I made the dumplings with some store bought sheets.

When you are done with all the wrapping, you fry them.

I like some vegetables to go with the dumplings.  I boiled some bokchoys.

There you go, the finished result.  We had sake to wash them down.

I also made dessert: this is tapioca pudding with bananas.  Ingredients: tapioca pearls, one can of coconut milk, sugar to taste and 3 bananas.

Have a nice Sunday.

If you want a more authentic dumpling recipe, here's a link to one of my favorite food goddess:

http://userealbutter.com/2007/10/04/chinese-dumplings-and-potstickers-recipe/

Merkozy

I just saw on TV that Mr. François Hollande, the Socialist front runner for the French presidency, has been snubbed or even worse boycotted by Angela Merkel, and her Italian, Spanish and English counterparts.  They will not welcome the Socialist Candidate in their country.  They are not happy with the idea that François Hollande, if elected, would  renegociate the fiscal treaty for the Euro zone bailout plan.

I don't think that it is appropriate for Angela Merkel to interfer with the politics of France.  We all know that Merkel and Sarko are a team, also known as Merkozy.  Sarko wants to hold on to his power and he is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power, even with the helps of his friends.

Here a link to a funny picture of the Carnaval in germany:

http://www.duesseldorf-blog.de/tag/karneval-dusseldorf/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9064363/Angela-Merkel-openly-backs-Nicolas-Sarkozy-in-political-storm.html

http://www.publicsenat.fr/lcp/politique/ps-d-nonce-boycott-hollande-merkel-homologues-italien-espagnol-britannique-219092

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/02/28/cameron-snubs-hollande/

Sarko hué à Bayonne

ooooh!  excusez-moi si je parle beaucoup de politique en ce moment mais, c'est bientôt les élections.  Le 22 avril,ce sera le premier tour des élections en France.  Ensuite, le 6 mai on connaîtra définitivement le nouveau président.  En résumé, les Français voteront 2 fois.  En ce moment, les candidats à la présidentielle se livrent une lutte sans merci.  Les accusations fusent de toute part.  La dernière en date, provient de Sarkozy.  Je vous mets en contexte, le président sortant décide d'aller à Bayonne, soit disant le fief des autonomistes Basques.  Sarkozy a pris un bain de foule, et contre tout attente, il s'est fait hué comme un mal-propre.  D'habitude, on lui sélectionne même les individus qui auront le privilège de lui serrer la main.  Il a alors attribué cet incident aux socialistes, et les a accusé d'avoir organisé avec des indépendantistes basques cette manifestation de rue.  Il cherche à faire des amalgames et n'accepte pas qu'il ne soit pas adulé partout où il passe.

Est-ce qu'ils ont l'air de vrais terroristes basques? lol

Writer's block

I haven't posted since last Saturday.  There is nothing new worth writing about. I have the writer's block.   I am not in any way a writter.  The purpose of this blog is mostly to write more in English.

All I can say is that the sky has been grey for several weeks in North of France.  At least, it's not raining.  I hope the weather will be nice this weekend, so I can go to the shore, De Panne, in Belgium.  It is not too far from were I live.  http://www.depanne.be

photo from : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:De_Panne_Dunes_et_plage.jpg

My husband and I enjoy going further North, (Belgium and Netherlands,..).  It is closer for short  weekend getaways. I have relatives in Dijon, in Bourgogne region.  It takes more than 5 hours to get there by car.  And taking the highway is expensive: it could cost us up to 80 euros of tolls for roundtrip.  You can also take  the high speed train, but it will cost you as much.  It is not cheap to travel across France. So for now, it will be Belgium and the Netherlands.

Anyway, Happy March to all, hope it will be sunny!