Food: Post #1

I am calling this post #1, since I am sure there will be many food posts. I have not been able to cook yet, as the kitchen in our temorary accommodation barely qualifies as a kitchen. We've been enjoying cold foods for supper, and even these have been delicious. Here's some of our favourite new discoveries:

Nutella...where have you been all my life? This chocolate/hazelnut spread that most European children grow up on is so incredibly delicious! We have tried Nutella in Canada, but it does not even compare to the formulation that is sold here. We were told that we would miss peanut butter, but who needs peanut butter when there is Nutella? Gilles is officially addicted. He eats it on bread for breakfast, and right out of the container with a spoon the rest of the day. First, I bought the smallest container just to try this infamous product. It lasted less than two days. Then I bought the medium sized bottle. It lasted about five days. Yesterday, I bought the largest bottle. The only thing that made me feel less guilty about buying more of this sweet spread was that the lady ahead of me in line had three large bottles in her cart!

Mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise is a French invention. In Canada, one can buy Miracle Whip (which tastes nothing like a true mayonnaise), and mayonnaise (which I suspect also tastes nothing like a true mayonnaise). In France, the prepared mayonnaises available in the grocery stores are a dijon/mayonnaise mix, and are so tasty that Gilles has resorted to dipping pieces of baguette into it. If you have heard my Parisienne chicken sandwhich story, I now know that this is what was used to make that sandwhich so memorable (I have plans of hunting that sandwhich down for a third time the next time I am in Paris!). I will attempt to make mayonnaise from scratch once we move into our house. I predict this will take some trial and error. Julia Child has seven mayonnaise recipes in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook!

Baguettes. Nothing gets more French than a baguette. It is one of my pre-visit images of France that has proven to be true. There are boulangeries on every corner. People are seen walking, baguette in hand, throughout the city. When they get hungry, they simply break off a piece a bread and munch away. It is not unusual to see someone buying four or five baguettes at a time. It is said that the French eat bread at all three meals, and I believe it. Every breakfast that I have been to has several baguettes on hand. Gilles said his colleagues use pieces of baguette to mop up left over sauce and dessert at lunch. And it is the first thing to appear on the table at restaurants. It is such an essential piece of French cuisine that the price is regulated by the government. One baguette costs around 0.70 euros. I have been trying several boulangeries to find the best baguette in town. So far, it was the one we bought on Sunday when all the stores were closed. We had it half eaten by supper! Yum!