Il est mars, le printemps n'est plus très loin!

Joyeux anniversaire,mon chéri!(avec quelque jours de retard)

Happy New Year! Bonne Année!

All the best wishes for 2012!  新年快樂!

Meilleurs voeux pour 2012!


I love golden crispy grissini breadsticks. I decided to make some grissini for tonight.

                               Waiting for the final countdown... Cheers!

Happy Holidays to All

Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah!

Christmas Recap:

This year I made sea food theme Christmas meal.

Thanksgiving Recap: ( I know...  I am really slow to update my blog...)

As family flew from France to clebebrate Thanksgiving with us, I made double desserts for this occassion; rapsberry charlotte for those who love fresh fruity delight, and chocolate mousse with raspberry glaze for those who are choco-addicted.

A cute little visitor in our backyard

                                I am in my yummy yummy land...

                                      It's heavenly good!

                        I am done now. Stop taking pictures, you paparazzi!!

                                    I am out of here now...ciao!

Charlotte aux fraises

J'adore la charlotte aux fraises.

Le tout premier dessert français que j'appris, c' était bien une charlotte aux fraises.Depuis, j'ai succombé au charme de desserts et de la pâtisserie.

A ma surprise, charlotte(aux fraises) n'est pas un dessert aussi connu que tiramisu ou la mousse au chocolat aux État-Unis.C'est pour cela que j'en fais souvent pour faire goûter aux amis.Mes invités sont enchantés par cette petite merveille de charlotte que l'on ne voit guère même à la Côte Est des États-Unis.

Ça vous arrive souvent de prendre un dessert avec grande culpabilité? Et bien, la charlotte aux fraises est un dessert que l'on peut savourer sans culpabilité, parce qu'elle est plutôt légère. Comme je ne trouve pas de Gervita aux Etats-Unis, je prend souvent une mousse aux fraises pour remplacer le Gervita.

Une bouchée de boudoir mélangé aux fraises fraîches et aux mousses aux fraises, " c'est que du bonheur !" comme dit souvent une amie.

Life Without TV

Several years ago I blogged about not having a television at home, readers were astonished by our choice to exclude such an ubiquitous and indispensable element in modern life.

We decided not to have a TV since we moved from Europe to US several years ago. Why? Because I was quite annoyed by lengthy and uninspiring commercials on TV while staying in a hotel waiting for the closing of our house. It might sound absurd, but the main reason was just that our old TV was broken and I simply did not bother to buy a new one.

Over the years we were so used to having a TV at home, at the beginning I thought our life without TV would sink into finger-biting boredom. To my surprise, our television-free life has been going really well, and quite frankly, I've never missed television a single day. I've been amused to see people's reaction when they learned that we don't have a TV .Our next-door teenager had very spontaneous reaction:" What? you don't have a TV ?" She looked at me as if I were from another planet (I added up quickly:"I know, we are weird!"). She just wondered, like most people : " how can you live without TV?" .

Well, six years on, we still live without television, sans regrets. In a country where almost every bedroom in the house has a television, some might view the choice for not wanting a television as the manifestation of an anti-social caveman's nature. We surely don't live like cavemen, and I am fully aware of what's going on in the world, from the debt-ceiling drama in the US, sovereign debts crisis in Europe, horrendous riots in London to tragic earthquake and tsunami earlier in Japan. Thanks to tremendous progress in this digital era, we can watch online movies and latest sit-com episodes , and Red Box and Netflix come handy for movies too.

The benefit for opting out television for six years makes me realize how I used to spend long hours in front of television, taking passively whatever it appeared on the screen, or just zapping like a fool. Some might argue it's the same thing with computer. I think not. Modern technology evolves rapidly and changes the way we live. Indeed, I spend incredible amount of time on my laptop or iPad, but like most people, I read, chat and watch movies a lot online too.

If the digital trend goes as it's been predicted, TV and computer will be soon converging into a new digital entertainment device.I was excited to learn about Apple's upcoming smart TV (ok, I admit I am easily sold by any cool product from Apple). I guess one day we might welcome back a TV, but a smarter one,I hope!

Sweet Basil, Omelette and Sushi

Among hundreds of seasoning herbs, basil is definitely my favorite. Highly fragrant with subtle and unique flavor, basil is a must-have in my garden in summer. As I don't have a green thumb, one thing I love about basil is that it's a low-maintenance herb that comes handy in kitchen.

While basil is more commonly used for pesto, I prefer to make a basil omelette, simply because I grew up eating basil omelettes prepared with love by my mom from whom I've learned the fundamentals of cooking.

My sweet basil herbs grow amazingly well thanks to abundant rain this summer. As I am thrilled about plentiful basil herbs available, I make quite some basil omelettes for lunch this summer.

I've been very basil in culinary exploration these days, so yesterday I made fusion-style sushi with basil omelette and smoked salmon.I loved it!

Peach Gazpacho and Croutons

Nothing is more refreshing and delightful than a chilled Gazpacho soup in a hot summer day. Gazpacho , a cold soup originally from Andalusia ,Spain, has become a popular dish through Europe and South America.

While traditional Gazpacho is a tomato-based veggie soup, I prefer the version of peach Gazpacho;The natural sweetness of peaches gives Gazpacho a more subtle flavour. And I love peaches!

Vive el verano!

There's always leftover bread or unwanted bread crust in my kitchen. Since I have some unexplainable guilt to throw food away, instead of throwing the leftover bread or bread crust in the garbage, I would keep them in a plastic box for" recycling".

I cut the leftover bread in cubes, marinate with olive oil and minced garlic, sprinkle some salt,rainbow pepper , some dried oregano,and bake them for 10 minutes (at 355F),and voila !

Golden crispy croutons add amazing flavour to a salad, can also spice up a soup. Baguette leftover can't go wrong with crouton recipe. Sliced crispy baguette along with peach Gazpacho can make my day in hot summer!

For peach Gazpacho recipe, please visit:

http://www.marthastewart.com/330203/peach-gazpacho

Thanksgiving holiday

As last year, I make unconventional Thanksgiving dinners. That means, sans turkey. I've tried lobsters last year, roast beef with gratin dauphinois(a popular French Alps dish) and shrimp with cheese rice crown for this year. I guess I would go back to turkey next year.

Now, it's time for Christmas decoration!

I Like Pie

"I like pie" is a random sentence commonly used in internet to decline politely a discussion with someone.

I would start this post by writing:" I like pie." But seriously, I do like pie ( in the literal sense), especially making pies.

While summer is a great season to make pies when there are more fresh fruits available , in winter I would make more apple ( and pear ) pies , or just use frozen fruits like cranberries and blueberries. Actually, frozen berries are excellent to make pies in fall/winter, as you can see the picture below: ( cranberry/blueberry tartelettes I made the other day.)

For those who are health( or weight) conscious, eating pie can be guilt-free too. Preparing your own butter-free pie crust by replacing butter with organic yogurt( in my case, I use organic European style non-fat yogurt from Trader Joe's), reducing the sugar and the cream, you can enjoy eating pie without guilt !

Delicate sweet sour flavor: Fresh lemon juice
and lemon zest are key elements to a delicious lemon pie.



above: country style apple pie





new experiment: cranberry tartlette



I made some tartelettes with fresh raspberries
last summer.



Above:the other day I was out of plums,
so I made a plum/peach pie instead.




Above: my favorite pie in summer.



Juicy peaches are great to make

a healthy and light fruit pie.