places I've been.....and enjoyed being......

Many years ago, when we were young (!) and travelled....we had a formula. If you want to see a place, really see a place, enjoy it as well, then when you're walking around, always look for restaurant signs, and go look!  Not only do you see the town, but you get amused - for  free......... and you have to eat anyway! This works basically anywhere in the world....more or less, just be careful where you are - could be true...
In general, there are so many types of menus that it becomes difficult to find what you want....but it's out there - somewhere....
Otherwise, just stay with the places you know or have heard of!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zmprVVOfe3k

Bolton, Lancashire UK - fish market

I'll start with this place because I enjoyed going here regularly to get our breakfast kippers and smoked halibut and other 'fishy' things. It was also possible to get things like oysters and mussels, fresh - things not readily available in the UK......the fresh Scottish salmon really was fresh and Scottish!
Right next door, linked with a door, was an enormous fruit and vegetable market, with cheese, butter and the other things one needs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDOhtOwP3EM
 It was a regular Saturday morning pleasure, followed by a weekend of feasting!

Billingsgate fish market

In London we found those well known places (at the time) like 'Smithfields' market..... an enormous food temple, particularly for meat so fresh it beggared description and Billingsgate really a professional's fish market with any type of fish and then some......!
London had a lot to offer, but only when we arrived in West Berlin did we see the extent of what we had been missing, and France was still to come!
West Berlin was, at the time, mainly subsidised by the West to show the East what we had that the East didn't have! The 'in place' was called 'KADEWE' shortened from 'Kaufhaus de Westen' (meaning the Western Supermarket or the West Supermarket, and they had EVERYTHING.....! Even French Baguettes flown in every morning from Paris http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaDeWe   On the 6th floor is a sort of 'shrine' to food! Food of all sorts (I even saw bearmeat on sale once) all arranged in sort of little 'islands/bars' depending on the type. All could be tasted, all could be bought to eat  either in the store, or were sold to take home with you!
For me personally, the rest of the store had nothing to offer....perfumes, woman stuff and so on, but useful to 'depose' the wife and get myself up to the 6th floor! In general, German stores (foodstuff stores) have a very similar offer, but KADEWE is something exceptional....if you get the chance - GO!
Belgium is on my list as well. For a country which produces no mussels at all (it imports all of them) strange that the national dish is generally 'Moules- Frites....' (Mussels and chips) ....but together with fresh bread   I can suffer....!
I recall eating, in a small restaurant in Calais, a fresh lobster which was delicious. I recall wondering why this was not the national dish until I got the bill!

Of course....go on 'walk about' things are waiting for you out there....

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• been a long time.....!(gourmandisedemrlemarquis.blogspot.com)

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Ever had a dry pulse.....?

  I'm sure you all, or almost all, have eaten pulse vegetables, even if only from a tin with tomato sauce, those famous 'Beanz meanz Heinz'  adverts
But.....there are many, many different types of pulses and dishes prepared with 'pulse' vegetables. Here is a list.......
http://www.cropsreview.com/grain-legumes.html
The main problem with pulse vegetables is cooking them! They tend to be long in cooking, and are not always guaranteed! If you get there, do it all right (sauce, contents and so on)  you are in for a treat!
 http://thegoodcook.hubpages.com/hub/driedpulses (this link gives you tips how to cook them, and some recipes)
One of the most consumed and favourites here in France is 'Cassoulet' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet  The one shown is a REAL one  but there are cheaper prepared, in tins - not expensive preferred by particularly British tourists on holiday to replace 'sausage and baked beans'- They have no resemblance in price, taste or appearance to the real one!  Here is an article I found on how to really make one, but I doubt many of you will follow it! http://rachelhopecleves.com/2013/10/11/cassoulet/ !
Another popular dish is 'lentils with sausage'  also available in conserve, but nothing like the original! The problem with most of these classics is that getting the real ingredients is not easy, nor cheap! If you read the link/article above, you'll be amazed how long it takes!
Of course, I am CARNIVORE, but the pulses can be used extensively in or for Vegetarian dishes and in salads. Cooked and prepared, here you are..........  
http://britishfood.about.com/od/britishrecipecollections/tp/Vegetarian-Recipes-Using-Pulses.htm  or in salads.....
  for these, you can even take TINNED....!

The most important thing with your pulses is to store them well and DRY. If they get damp, it is doubtful you will get them to cook at all!

Of course, palenta - rice- semolina and others are in their own way 'pulses' but not really in the fashion we understand it. They are more cereals, being 'grains milled'(Still got to keep them dry though!)


Bonne Appétit!

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Summertime.....

  summertime and the livin' is easy.....? Whover thought that wasn't the one who had to do the grilling outside!
A mixture of things which need different cooking times, all on one cooking platform and a very fierce one too! Not easy to get everything 'a point' as it should be.....sardines well overcooked, chicken 'rare', hamburgers burnt.....you name it, you get it!
Start with the actual 'barbecues' ..... I've had various, from the simple  useful particularly for simple affairs, passing by the more refined, gas powered, lava stone affairs, needing someone with strong arms to cart the gas bottle  as well as everything else, and up to the luxury models which are almost more luxurious than home kitchens and can't be moved around to picnics  I also had a traditional one from here which was very good, if rather large  but you could make (God forbid) pizzas and had a baking oven. You still needed the charcoal, of course,  but the gas and lava stone ones are quite reasonable  The flames are probably the most attractive part of any barbeque, and the smoke the least! In Germany they have a thing called a 'Schwenkgrill', a simple affair, but very different and they are very enjoyable to play with. The fire bit can be on the ground or on a 'container'and you pull the chain to make the circular roasting grill go around, this gives it heat all over. It also fascinates French children in particular!
If you're really intelligent, then you prepare the whole lot - marinaded and so on, present it in its natural state, and let your guests get on with it! That way it's their own fault if it's burnt!
 (guaranteed raw on the inside....!)

So far as marinading is concerned I'll deal with that another time.
There are different ways of marinading for different products, for the next time around.....

Bonne Appétit!

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