In French it’s called “coeur d’artichaut” (cur dahr-tee-show) and it sounds much better than artichoke heart, doesn’t it? Better than “Arty choking someone’s heart?” This recipe, which I got from the Madame Le Figaro cookbook, is pretty, elegant, easy to make, and tasty. You need artichoke hearts. The recipe says to cook 4 artichokes and remove all the leaves, but… Read More
My blog silence has not been entirely on purpose. We’ve had problems with the Internet connection for the past week – sometimes slow, sometimes not working. And then yesterday it stopped all together. We are sort of at the mercy of two phone companies – one which owns the line and the other which provides the service. Getting this thing… Read More
Chartres is most known for it’s gothic cathedral that was built around the same time as the Notre Dame de Paris. The city is located in lower Normandy and evidence of that architecture is found everywhere. There are plenty of open spaces in the town and there are just as many hills and winding alleys. Just above is an example… Read More
I realise my blog has been all over the place lately. First doldrums, then silence, then a strange Georgette Heyer voice (sorry – had to get that out of my system) and now a somewhat controversial Biblical topic. But this theme has been dully nudging me for weeks, so I thought I’d address it. To most Christian denominations, baptism means… Read More
Le raclette is a cheese that comes from Switzerland, which is used in making the “dish” called la raclette. Yes, the Swiss differentiate between the cheese and the dish (le raclette versus la raclette) whereas the French don’t. The cheese is made with cow’s milk, aged at least 8 weeks, and has a golden crust with a yellow or white… Read More
The city of Maison Laffitte, with its magnificent chateau, is very close to Paris. The area used to be called Maisons-sur-Seine – the Houses on the Seine – until the chateau (built in the 1600’s) was bought after the French Revolution by the banker Jacques Laffitte. Maison Laffitte is the city of horses and contains the largest hippodrome in the… Read More
