Cold Spring

It has been a cold spring around here.  I don't recall having such a cold spring since I've been in France. Ok, North of France is pretty cold compare to the rest of the country.  I don't believe we'll be in May in a few days and we are heating the house.  

Besides the cold weather, France has governmental problems.  And now, France is voting a new law for gay mariage.  Most of us would consider this as a small issue but minority of people (extremists) are in the streets to protest against this new law.  In Canada, it is legal since 2005 throughout the country.  It's been legal in Spain since 2005 as well, a country way more catholic.  You can see here on the map which european countries have legalized gay marriage : http://www.touteleurope.eu/index.php?id=5560

If you have read my blog before, you would know that I am very critical of France, which is one of the reasons why I choose to express my opinions in English.  I am amazed how this country can be so conservative.  It's all about tradition, family.  The anti gay marriage people want to protect the families : i.e. a family is one dad and a mom, period.   Lately, there is a rise of violence towards gay people because of the protests. I'm appalled that they call it : le printemps français (french Spring).  Comparing this to the Arab Spring.  Some right wings politicians were in the anti-gay marriage parades.  It's like they were agreeing that it was O.K. to be openly homophobic.

These people should calm down, it's official France will legalize Gay Marriage today. Here's to Equality!

New Food

If you have read my previous posts, I'm constantly obsessing with my weight.  I eat less junk food and try to eat healthy most of the time.

I cut down on ice cream and potatoe chips, but last weekend I lost it : bought a huge bag of chips and ate the Häagen-Dazs bucket in one evening (ok only 1/3 but my husband ate most of it).  I felt terrible, my stomach can't process that anymore.  Anyways, it felt good to let it go a little.

The next evening we ate homemade sushis and edamame beans.  It's the new food trend now, edamame.  They are addictive.  You can find them at Picard, if you live in France. In Canada it is easier to find  them at L.o.b.l.a.w.s or C.o.s.t.c.o. They sold them already peeled. I found out about the beans 2 years ago in Canada.  I asked my friend what is this hairy bean? She was shocked that I had never had edamame beans before.

If you haven't tried them already,  you can use those beans in an Asian style salad or any recipes you like or as a snack. 

When there's snow in France it's the end of the world

A couple days ago, we experienced snow storms on the northern regions of France.  I don't know exactly how much centimetres of snow have fallen, but I'm guessing less than 10 cm.  Well school was cancelled, lots of workers didn't show up at work.  Our employees decided not to come 2 days ago. TGV trains were cancelled.  The government had to deploy some "emergency plan". We don't have mails for 2 days. It was that bad.

It  is really frustrating.  The government knew there was going to have a snow storm but why didn't they get their snowplows to run?  rural roads are taken cared by communes (municipalities), highways by the regions. It's like the country is crippled by the snow.  Even if it doesn't occur often, there is no budget allocated to this kind of events.  I just found out that roads of our village is "cleaned" by a farmer, who does that in exchange of a full tank for his tractor, offered by the village.  It's like there is no such thing as a snow removal company.  Even if they wanted to use private companies, they would have to make a call for tenders.  Since it seems so complicated, they choose to do NOTHING.  And of course, French people don't have winter tires, except for the ones who live in the Alpes.

No need to be a genious to see that absenteeism in the workplace, no school, cars accidents on the road, are much more costly than spending a little on private snow removal companies once in a while.  I really wonder how the French government spends the tax revenues. My Canadian self can only shake my head. 

Quinoa

As I said on a previous post, I really want to reduce my meat consumption.  With all the meat scandals in France and Europe, it is a eye opener on the food we buy.  Besides, eating meat has an impact on the environment.  A prof at the University repeated a few times that it takes 16 000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of beef and those animals are fed by genetically modified soy beans from Brazil.  Every purchase we make has an impact.  I'm not saying that I will go vegetarian but I'm aware that meat can no longer be part of my everyday meals.

So where can I get proteines if I eat less meat? How about quinoa.  Since I've been in France, I've been eating a lot of couscous, and quinoa is a great way to replace the wheat and proteine.  It has no gluten, lots of proteine and has omega 3.  What's not to like?  I'm cooking my quinoa like rice, don't know if it's the right way or not though.

I have made sauteed vegetables and tofu with curry, with quinoa.  It was delicious.  I also make tabouleh with quinoa.

 Do you have quinoa recipes to share?

Recette de crème caramel

I haven't been inspired lately, but I am always willing to blog about food.  Recently, I have calculated the amount of food I spend every week, and it is shocking : 160 euros per week, for 2 people.  It really doesn't help either to have a neighbour who sells pork directly from his farm.  We work from home so lunches are included in our weekly food shopping.  So we've decided to cut down a little bit on meat.  Our goal is to eat meat once a day, or even less if possible.  I just ate the perfect lunch : capelli with mushrooms and green lentils, with tomato sauce. 

I never buy extras, such as "transformed" food, like cookies, or ready-cooked meals, or any desserts.  But sometimes, I have sugar attacks, so here's the simpliest dessert ever, and it is cheap too.  Only 3 or 4 ingredients.

Crème caramel

Yields 7 small ramekins

3 large eggs or 4 medium eggs
62,5 grammes of brown sugar or white (I used brown sugar with vanilla flavour)
375 ml of whole milk
75 ml of cream

1. Boil the cream and milk together.
2. In a bowl, mix eggs and sugar until it is foamy.
3. When the cream and milk mixture is boiled, gently add to the beaten eggs, whisk the mixture while adding the liquid.
4. In 7 ramekins, put a teaspoon of caramel (homemade or store bought). You can add a little bit of liquor if you are fancy.  I added irish coffee in mines.
4. Pour the egg mixture into ramekins (I had 7 smalls ramekins that fit into a plate that goes into an oven)
Add water into the plate and put the ramekins in the plate.
Cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 200°C.

It is cooked in a bain-marie so the bottom won't burn.  

The fancy version is "crème brûlée" which is pretty much the same recipe but you only put the brown sugar on the top and burn the sugar with a small burner or put the crème brûlée under hot grills for a few minutes. Put the ramekins into the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.  You can present the ramekin as it is or flip the crème caramel upside down.

Now you can impress your guests with a simple desserts and they will think you're a fancy cook.