Savory Sunday: Beer, Books, and Flying Snake Women

Recently, I sampled a few local beers : Mélusine, Blanche Ecume, Love & Flowers, and Puy d’Enfer. Each had their own personality with eye-catching labels that made it feel like I was looking at book covers. Plus, the larger bottles (75cl) were corked a bit like champagne bottles which was fun.

Anyway, of the four I drank sampled, the one I preferred was Mélusine. It’s a dry beer with a 6.5% alcohol content and is the kind that tastes great on a hot summer day.

The second one I tasted was the Blanche Ecume. Despite its bronze medal win in Paris last year, the Blanche Ecume (4.2%) was just ok in my opinion. It was a little weaker in taste compared to Mélusine but not bad.

After that, I tasted Love & Flowers (4.2%). From the label alone, this beer certainly targets a more feminine palate. I was curious about this beer because on the back of the bottle it says it's flavoured with flower petals and hops. And indeed, it did have a subtle rose flower aroma to it. But, the taste doesn’t last in your mouth, and I like beers that tickle my tongue and linger in my mouth a bit. 

Then, I tried Puy d’Enfer that had the highest alcohol content, 8.5%. This one I did not like at all. Blaeeeah. It was really bitter with a strong taste of hops. It was like licking a thorn bush. The word ‘Enfer’ translates to Hell, so the label was aptly chosen. This beer did indeed taste like Hell. 

 ANYWAY, what was interesting about all these beers besides taste, is that they are made by the same brewery: Mélusine. And even MORE interesting, is in the European literary world, Mélusine (which rhymes with magazine) refers to a mythical creature described in many legends. There are different variations of Mélusine but she is usually depicted as a fairy, mystical female spirit or a kind of half-human half-serpent creature. 

The first literary version of Mélisine was written in the late 1300's by Jean d'Arras, a French poet and composer. The story basically tells the tale of a man named Raymond of Poitou (a real province in France) who meets a woman named Mélusine in a forest. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. She says yes, under one condition, he must never enter her chamber on a Saturday. He agrees and keeps his promise (for a while). They go on to have a family and their lives prosper, until the day he breaks his promise and sees her in her true form: part woman, part serpent. After that he calls her names, she turns into a dragon, and all hell breaks loose (I'm simplifying just a tad, can't you tell?)

Anyway a while back, friends of ours offered my kids a book about Mélusine. This children's version is called, The Fairy Mélusine talks about the region we live in.

In this book, poor Raymond meets beautiful Mélusine in the forest. She sees in him a good man and asks him to marry her. She tells him she has the power to make him a wealthy man under one condition, he must never disturb her in her chamber on Saturdays. He agrees.

Soon after they are married, she uses her power to create castles and churches throughout the region (all of which are real places that can be visited today.)

They live in a beautiful castle in a kingdom that prospers, have a large family, and everything is perfect until. . . curiosity gets the better of Raymond. 

One Saturday, he peeks through a hole in the door and sees Mélusine in her true form; part woman, part serpent.

Turns out, Mélusine is cursed and Raymond's betrayal condemns her to grow wings and leave the kingdom forever. 

Little by little, all the kingdoms she created fall into ruin.

Moral of this story is: 

Respect a woman's privacy else you lose all your shit. 

Cheers 

And Happy Sunday.

Savory Sunday - Chocolate Breakfast Cake with Rice Milk

There is one cake recipe I risk making once every blue moon. Trouble is, I'm terrible when it comes to baking. However, when I'm not forgetting ingredients like baking power or sugar, or forgetting the damn thing in the oven, this cake is amazing. Plus, it's made with rice flour and rice milk instead of cows milk.

Making this cake is simple and simultaneously tricky. What makes it challenging is one, I've never had the recipe written down and two, when it comes to the baking phase, I end up winging it. And if you bake then you know you never "wing" anything. 

Here are the ingredients: (Remember, I've never had the exact measurements because I never bothered writing them down. Therefore, I use a tall glass for measuring: 1 part  = one large glass. Just respect the proportions and it'll be fine.)

3 to 4 eggs depending on size
1 part raw sugar 
1 part coconut shavings
2 parts rice flour
2 parts rice milk
100 g of dark chocolate
1 small packet of baking powder
pinch of salt (fleur de sel if you have it)

Preheat oven.
Melt the chocolate in the rice milk. In a large bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients together. Pour the chocolate and rice milk mix in with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Pour the whole lot into a cake mold and stick it in the oven. This is where things get tricky. I'm not sure exactly how long it should cook. What I do is stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Sometimes I lower the temperature a few degrees, don't ask me why I do that because sometimes I forget and it doesn't seem to change things much.

God, Elise. These are the worst directions ever for making a cake.
Give me a break. I'm a pantser even in the kitchen and this cake is fab...Granted, when I'm not screwing it up.  

So after about 20 minutes, I'll stab the cake with a knife to check if it's cooked. If it looks done, I'll turn off the oven, pull out the cake and let it cool before de-molding. Actually, that's a big fat lie. I turn off the oven and leave it in there until I can get back to it later. Nine out of ten times it comes out burned on top, but it's still damn good cake.

A few things to keep in mind. If you're used to highly sweeten cakes, you probably won't care much for this. But, I guess you could always add more sugar. And though it's a moist cake (sorry for you folks that cringe at the word moist), it's not your typical light, airy, fluffy kiddie cake. It's dense. Really dense, the black hole of cakes kind of dense. One descent slice for breakfast with coffee or tea should do. Also, it's a nice substitute for all you poor lactose intolerant people out there, or those who simply want to reduce your dairy intake.

Okay, that's it for today. Enjoy your Sunday and Bon Appétit! 

Savory Sunday: Beer and Chocolate

We had friends over for dinner last week and for l'apéro, I thought it'd be fun to do a little beer tasting. Back in college, I came to appreciate all kinds of beers and really miss the microbreweries of the States. Unfortunately, since I moved to France, I haven't had a lot of opportunity to drink beer. As a consequence, I know very little about European beers. Anyway, I thought I'd go out and grab some random bottles at our local beer store (which is huge btw) to sample with friends. This is what I ended up with:  

My favorites were the first two on the left and the last on the right .

Abbaye des Rocs a dark Belgium beer (9 %), Tripel Karmeliet (8.4%) a Belgium light beer that claims their 3 grain beer recipe dates back to the 17th century in the Carmes de Termonde monastery. And lastely, Chimay (9%) another Belgium dark beer  brewed by Trappist monks of the Abbaye de Scourmont.  

The Quintine (8%) was a light beer and the only reason I got it is because I like the label. Serves me right, it really does taste like witches brew. The Timmermans (4.5%) was a bit too aggressive to my liking as far as taste, and the Goliath (9%) was so strong  I ended up watering the weeds with what was left in my glass. 

If anyone has any suggestions I should try let me know. Got any favorites?

And for you non-alcoholic / chocolate fans, here's something really simple to make and an instant smile generator no matter what time of year. Make hot chocolate and use a tooth pic to skewer two marshmallows and pinch them to the edge of your mug. See, you're smiling already. (:

My kids love this. Even in the summer, it's a hit.

Savory Sunday: Food at 38,000 feet

...is not savory.

This is what I was served on the plane back in May. Today, I'm traveling again and not expecting any better. Can you even guess what this is? It looks like a microwaved, regurgitated Krabby Patty. But, since it cost me an arm and a leg (holy cliché Batman) I was damned if I wasn't going to eat it. And with enough salt and cheep wine it eventually got digested. Belch.

Anyway, I'll be sure to have have a better SS post for you next week, so until then, be grateful you're not eating this ^^.    

Savory Sunday: No-Knead Bread

No-knead bread needs no explaination. 

Well actually it does, but it is so worth it. 

Bread. I love bread. I'm French/Italian so I was practically born with a loaf of bread in one hand and a cigarette in the other (just kidding folks). That being said, I can't bake for shit. I've tried and tried, but when it come to flour, baker's yeast, and an oven, the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry jump ship. I must be the only mother alive that can't bake edible cookies for her children. *hangs head in shame* A palm reader once told me the root of my problem was that I didn't know my oven well enough. True story.

Luckily, a really good friend of mine passed this recipe along promising me it was easy and even I couldn't screw it up. And he was right, it turned out fantastic despite my baking deficiency (see picture of my bread-making success). The result was a perfectly crisp bread crust with a soft inside...heaven. Even the French people liked it and that's saying a lot. The only thing I'd do differently next time is add a bit more salt. So, click the LINK and get the recipe for bread from the New York Times that you just can't screw up. If I can do this, so can you. 

Note: I'm going to be traveling for the next 2 days so I'll be out until I get back home.

Savory Sunday: Fried Breaded Brie

Made this for some firends of mine that came to visit this afternoon.

It's easy to make and so good. (:

1) Cut brie into cubes

2) Dip brie into flour, beaten egg, bread crumbs. Fry in olive oil. Brown on all sides.
Serve immediately with a jam vinaigrette and side salad.