Between the Pages: Life in France, by Julia Child

So, I haven't written in forever (I attribute this to making friends in Ecuador, returning to the USA, figuring out my future, but, most importantly the mysterious breaking of my camera)--I have been enjoying life in Minnesota for the summer.

Recently while in the Boundary Waters (more details to come) Julia Child's memoir My Life in France has allowed me to travel to France and back. Her words led me to laughter, introspection, and deep motivation to follow my passions--all without sentimentality. I liked her voice, hyperbole, and flair. Notable, underlined quotes:

"In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport."

I like this idea of serious creative work...as well as competition. She was ahead of her times, would Julia have liked Top Chef?

"Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it."

"Upon reflection, I decided I had three main weaknesses: I was
confused (evidenced by a lack of facts, an inability to coordinate my
thoughts, and an inability to verbalize my ideas); I had a lack of
confidence, which cause me to back down from forcefully stated
positions; and I was overly emotional at the expense of careful, 'scientific'
though. I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was."

So with this inspiration at my heels...I gave my shot at a Julia-inspired meal. I consider this a good use of a family of eager foodie guinea-pigs. The Salade Lyonnaise recipe I found online was a hit. Buttery croutons, greens, oil-dijon vinagrette, topped with a poached egg. This melt in your mouth character may be partially due to the bacon oil--but, hey Julia lived to be ninety-two. So, live it up sometimes, right?



The shining star of the meal was a Coq au Vin over a bed of pasta and accompanied with a side of peas. Coq au Vin--chicken, pearl onions, carmelized mushrooms, bacon bits (of course!), red wine, chicken broth, garlic, herbs. The dish simmered in a dutch oven (which I learned is really a huge covered iron pot). Trick: the best way to peel the pearl onions is to blanch them first.


New cooking terms courtesy of Epicurious food dictionary:
lardons; lardoons--diced bacon or other lard meat.

poach--to cook in a liquid just below boiling point (poached eggs are best done in slightly salted water with a bit of vinegar to help the egg retain shape)

blanch--to plunge food (usually produce) into boiling water briefly and then into cold water, as to stop the cooking process. Firms flesh, loosesns skins, boosts color and flavor. Used for bacon in main dish and to peel pearl onions.

The meal was a hit, I listened to perhaps cliché French music while cooking, mostly from the soundtrack to An Education.

Do I wish I had Julia's final masterpiece cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking? Yes, it seems very romantic to page through it while dirtying the pages with sauces and marinades--but as the "recent" release of Julie and Julia has jacked up the prices of used copies on Amazon to near full price, internet recipes will make due for now.

I leave you with Chef Child's final words from her memoir: "Learn to cook--try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!"

This made me chuckle

Trip to Northfield, MN Econo....hehe

What is New Age Pop? Please appreciate there is no mention of soda ;-)

Aseptic juice....sterile juice, wow that is what I want. Adult juice, is this the beer aisle?

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Left me chuckling and pondering the school system and values in education.

Heading to "El Campo"

The gynecologist and me in the room where she saw patients. It was HOT and humid!

This weekend I went along with physicians and volunteers from the CAS Clinic on a "medical caravan" trip to a small town an hour away. A general medicine physician, pediatrician, dentist, and gynecologist saw about 150 patients. I helped assist the gynecologist. Very eye-opening difference between the culture of a small town only an hour away from Portoviejo. It seems that women generally have many children, marry very young, and often are illiterate. The community that received us was very kind--cooking huge pots of rice, soup, and chicken.

Hills around Caña--covered mostly by farms filled with bananas, yuca, cacao, zapote, oranges, corn, and avacado.

Aftershock Quake in Portoviejo, Ecuador

A bit before 5:30 this morning there was a brief earthquake here--10 miles East of Portoviejo, Ecuador. According to the US Geological Service(USGS), it was 5.3 on the Richter Scale. While here, I have felt minor tremors for a matter of one or two seconds, yet this about four second shaking woke up the house and we stood near the front doorway for a few minutes afterwards.

This aftershock was one of 90 such aftershock earthquakes in South America following the recent devastating earthquake in Chile of 8.8 on the Richter Scale. This has been the only such aftershock quake in Ecuador. Yesterday, swimming was banned on nearby Ecuadorian beaches due to stronger than normal waves.

Here is a pretty cool website by USGS, showing The Location of Aftermath Earthquake, as well as all recent seismic activity.

10 Pineapples for 5 Dollars!

Can you believe that? Pineapple up in Minnesota is a bit of a luxury fruit. This morning I went to El Mercado with my host mom here. The market she regularly frequents is not the normal farmers market, rather it is the market that vendors and restaurants visit to buy in bulk. So, it is cheaper. I think we were the only non-vendors buying there. Other buyers were men trucking off on tricycle carts piled with mountains of fruit.

Host mom's style of shopping is not to be messed with--10 pineapples, 5 pounds of strawberries, three watermelon, about 100 oranges, and a few pounds of carrots and fruits I don't recognize, alongside a half pound of garlic. This is serious shopping.

The fruits and veggies at the market are thrown on the concrete under a huge open air roof. Mountains of pineapple, truckloads of watermelon----mmm time for breakfast.

Do you want potatoes with your rice and plantains?

This week, a forty-something neighbor of my host family came in to drop off two big water jugs. A family member told him it looked like he had lost weight. His response:

"Well, I did lose weight in my limbs, but this belly is still here. *patting huge stomach* I do tell my wife that I eat sufficient amounts of food to maintain this large figure, out of a deep love for her. You know, if I didn't maintain this belly, I would be attracting unwanted attention from women left and right. *Jolly laugh*"

Hm, quite an interesting argument for staying fat. I always thought the USA greedily held onto the obesity epidemic, but it is easy to see that the epidemic is growing. I was quite surprised upon arriving to the coast to learn that there is a significant portion of the population that suffers from azucar (literally "sugar," signifying diabetes at a doctor's office) and obesity. It is not hard to see why this is the case. While there is amazingly delicious and fresh fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates are aplenty and on every street corner.

A meal without rice is barely a meal. I haven't gone two days without eating some form of bananas-plantains. (Which I don't complain, they are tasty :-) Pasta is served alongside rice and potatoes. Did I mention the starchy yuca root?

Older Ecuadorians have noted that there didn't used to be all this street food. Sure, in a non-metropolis like Portoviejo, Wendy's and McDonald's aren't really to be seen. Still, KFC is huge here! (I never ate KFC before Ecuador). Hotdogs abound. Empanadas rain from the sky. Fried versions of dough dot the streets.

At least there are still tricyclists pushing about fruit stands and that man screaming like a dead cat, "Guineos! (Bananas!)" in the street.

PS I really do love food here. (Read: Seafood and Fruit, okay and ice cream too). This is just a note on the cornicopia of carbs.

PPS. It is totally cool, and sometimes "loving" to call overweight friends/family "gordo, gordita" (fatty, fat)---as in, "Venga Gordita." (Come here fatty). or "Te quiero gordo." I don't suggest trying this in the States.