hand pulled noodles blog SF NYC shang

http://noodlefrontity.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=22

SOUPS

CHOUX FLEUR GLACE.

courgette ou choux fleur,

ail,

sel, poivre,

paprika ou curry,
lait,

crème légère

Faire bouillir l'eau.

Pendant ce temps, tronconner les courgettes sans les peler ou défaire les fleurs de choux fleur.
Blanchir dans l'eau bien salée avec l'ail.
Egoutter.
Passer au mixer avec du lait, la proportion est basée sur le nombre de personnes, compter un bon quart de lait par convives.
Réserver au frais, si plus ils reste plus de 2 heures, filmer.
Au moment de servir, monter de la crème pour la faire mousser, la repartir sur le velouté, saupoudrer de paprika ou de curry, ajouter les croutons au dessus et servir.

Repas préparé a l'avance qui ne coute pas grand chose, et qui ne monopolise pas en cuisine.

RESTO LYON la Fleurie

great little restaurant between Jean Macé and Gerland in an office building section of town. Danny and myself went on a friday for lunch. It is loud and the clientel a little bit not my style but things quieted down by 13:30. We arrived at 13;15 and stayed seated until after 15h. I suggest that you make reservations for 13:15 and arrive 15 minutes fashionably late. the 3 cours lunchtime menu was 15 euros. I ordered the parfait de fois de volaille with a mesclun salade and danny did as well. I had a beautiful slice of salmon resting on a cauliflour flan.It was one of the better dishes I have had recently.  The mousse au chocolat was a bit to sweet for my likings but the salty caramel ice-cream that went with was the perfect combination for the coffee that went with (which happened to be one of the better ones that I have had in Lyon) The bill for  1 menu,  a 50cls of Macon blanc and a coffee was 26 euros. I must admit that the only reason to go out there is for the food. It was similar food wise to Le Potager des Halles but the ambience was not as nice; we did however have perfect service. The waiter left us alone the whole time and was running all over the place but the second you raised your finger he would have exactly what you needed in under a minute. First time I've ever dropped a serious tip in France. The only reason to go out there for lunch is to check out the gerland park. Go with bikes because it is a bit hard to get to on public transit. a 10-15 min walk through concrete walldom.

resto lyon

le potager des halles

becoming one of my favourite eateries in this mindblowing city. It is a great place with food that knocks your socks off and bread and wine in-line with the menu. the portions are just the right size. I've been here twice in 2 weeks and i have the feeling i will be back soon. I had one of the best cold soups ever today and everything was done to perfection. wine list is good and cheap. It is right next to the wall on the Saone with all the lyonnais people painted on it. stop by Les Halles for a great cheese plate to bring back home.

VIDE GRENIER

here it is folks. This is for everyone living in lyon (or france for that matter) and who want to know when the street sales are. You just have to type in "vide grenier lyon" into google and the first website that comes up in google search is the following:
http://vide-greniers.org/agendaDepartement.php?departement=69

use your brains and your own will power. have fun and find some steals

RESTO LYON la jonque d'or

great vietnamese place in the guillotiere. I had the bo bun with lemongrass beef. (156) The beef was perfectly cooked with that good fire taste that only a super hot wok can give. the person across from me had the rice noodles that were pretty far out (164). definately going back and back again.

bo bun- the staple of this restaurant. it is heaven on earth. comes w/ nems. they have all sorts but i keep getting the lemongrass beef
soupe tamerin- too salty but an interesting venture
nems chaud- these things are off the hook. get them if you aren't getting a main dish that has them
travers de porc- very nicely done.
fried omelette- greasy greasy greasy, not really my thing

Pad Thai

I got the following description off of the following blog. long as hell but well worth the read (season pan/making sauce/ cooking...)
http://chezpim.com/cook/pad_thai_for_be


Pad Thai is one of the most popular Thai dishes, perhaps second only to Tom Yum Goong. It’s also one of the most requested recipes here on Chez Pim. Why, then, has it taken me this long to post this recipe, you asked? I don’t know…perhaps it’s because I don’t actually have a recipe! Is that a good enough reason?
Then what am wasting your time for, you are wondering, yes? Well, it’s true that I don’t have a recipe, but what I have, and will share with you here, is way better than a recipe. It’s in fact a fool-proof way to make Pad Thai -Pad Thai for just about anyone from beginners to experts. I must warn you that I will a bit wordy. I could easily write a very short description and make everything look and sound easy -but that means I’d be leaving you to figure out the details on your own. Or I could explain every step of the way so that you understand what goes into a Pad Thai and what distinguishes a great one from the usual blah. The piece might look a little intimidating, but I think it will in fact be easier than any easy-looking recipe. And, I promise you, if you read through the entire thing, you’ll never have to look at another Pad Thai recipe. You’ll be set. Really you will.
There are so many silly Pad Thai recipes around, a quick google reveals one with ketchup as an ingredient. What an abomination! Not even the fabulous June Taylor’s artisanal ketchup can rescue that one! A few other recipes I came across would have us make four or more portions of Pad Thai at once –which, I can guarantee you will result in clumps of oily, sticky noodle unfit for human consumption.
The textures and flavors of a proper Pad Thai derive largely from the way the dish is cooked, that is to say its quick footloose dance in an ultra hot wok. That simply means you can’t do many servings at once.
No, no, I’m not going to make you drive around town procuring all the exoticities required to make a proper Pad Thai only to feed just you and your sweetheart. It is entirely possible to feed a whole crowd. You just have to do it like they do on the streets of Bangkok -cook one or two portions at a time. Your friends and dinner guests must be a bit patient, but they will kiss you in the end –no, not the rear end, just the end of your party, get your mind off the gutter you!

Another common mistake in a Pad Thai recipe is to season while cooking in the wok, which once again get in the way of that super-heated wok-quickstep I mentioned before. If you follow those recipes that have you measure a tablespoon of fish sauce and one of tamarind and yet another of palm sugar into the hot wok during the cooking, you are –it pains me to say- doomed to failure. By the time you’re done adding all the whatnots, your noodle turns gooey, your protein done to the texture of a rubber eraser, and your perfectly innocent Pad Thai becomes what I call a sorry excuse of the dish. Bad all around.
Once again a little street sense can help a whole lot. Pad Thai vendors in Thailand don’t season their Pad Thai one portion at a time. They usually have a giant vat of sauce pre-made waiting patiently by the wok station. As they cook a portion they add the sauce -no guess work, no fumbling with this bottle and that, a ladle full of the pre-seasoned sauce and that’s it. Easy enough, yes?
That’s how I do it. I make my sauce beforehand. I don’t even care if I make too much sauce, since it keeps quite well in the fridge for a long time –comes very handy for a quickie Pad Thai fix later. I also prepare all the other ingredients and have them ready. (You can be fancy and call it mise en place like the French do, or just a simple meez like all the American cooks I know.) When my guests arrive I get the wok smoking hot and make one or two portions at a time until everyone has their fill of the noodle-y goodness. They can even take the wok on a spin and make one on their own. My friends get a kick out of that, yours might too.
So you begin by preparing the sauce.
There are four ingredients in the Pad Thai sauce, Tamarind pulp (for the sour flavor), Fish Sauce (for the salty part), Palm Sugar (for a slight sweetness), and Paprika or Thai chilli powder (for the spice). Two cups of sauce will make about 6-8 portions of Pad Thai. You can make your Pad Thai sauce vegetarian by using this sauce instead of fish sauce.
To make about two cups of sauce, you should begin with about ½ cup each of Tamarind (*see the note below for how to prepare tamarind pulp), Fish Sauce, and Palm Sugar. If you substitute white and/or brown sugar for the Palm Sugar, you should use only about 1/3 cup. Melt all these together in a small pot over a low flame. Taste and adjust the flavor balance until it suits you. Then add the chilli powder, begin with a teaspoon or two, depending on your taste, and keep adding until it tastes the way you like it. By the time you’re done flavoring the pot should be simmering happily. Turn off the heat and let the sauce rest while you get to the other ingredients.
At this point in the game I like my sauce to lead with a salty flavor, follow by a mild sourness, then just a gentle sweetness and a soft caress from the chilli at the back of my throat at the very end. A finished plate of Pad Thai will be served with a sliver of lime and extra chilli powder to be mixed in at the table, so you could keep these two flavors in the sauce mild for now. I don’t know about you but there is nothing I hate more than a cloying sweet Pad Thai. If your sauce starts out super sweet now it will be very tough to correct later.
Those of you with a scientific mind might want more precise measurements or proportion or whatnot. I’d do it if I could, but the problem is most Thai ingredients are not standardized in the way that a Western ingredient, say, white granulated sugar, is. A cup of granulated sugar is always the same, but a cup of your Palm Sugar or Fish Sauce might not have the same intensity as mine. So the easiest thing to do is just to taste. And herein lies another beauty of preparing the sauce ahead of time. You can take your time to taste and adjust the sauce precisely to your liking, which would be hard to do à la minute in the wok.
Now that you have your sauce ready and waiting, you can prep the other ingredients.
Here’s a list of what you need, and the quantity to use per portion.
Thin rice noodle, also called Rice Sticks, Banh Pho, or Chantaboon.
You can buy Rice Stick noodles at your local Asian supermarket or get them online.  Soak them . Don’t soak until the noodle is soft enough to eat, or it will turn into mush in the wok. Just do it until it’s pliable and almost edile, like very al dente pasta, then drain well. You will need about 1-2 loosely packed cups per portion, depending on how carb-happy you are. You can use more or less, entirely up to you and your friends. A 500g (or about 16oz) bag of dried noodles should be enough for 6-8 portions. Buy a little extra just to be sure. It’s cheap and, if left unsoaked, will last just about forever.
If you can find fresh rice noodle at your market, depending on the freshness, you might want to soak it anyway just to soften it a bit more. Follow the same step as the dried noodle but do not soak for as long. One normal bag of fresh noodle, usually around 500g, will be enough for 3-4 portions.
Shrimps, or chicken, or for vegetarians see under ‘Tofu’ below
The more traditional version of Pad Thai uses shrimps. I use about 7 pieces of medium size shrimps per portion, peeled of course. You can be as generous as you want.
You can also easily substitute chicken, about 2oz of chicken meat (cut into bite-size pieces) per portion will be plenty.
Tofu
I like to use the pressed tofu that comes in square blocks. You can use just about any firm-textured tofu you can find, even the pre-fried varieties from Chinese markets. As long as it doesn’t disintegrate when fried in the wok, you will be fine. I cut the tofu into thin, bite-size pieces, and use about a small handful in each carnivorous portion. For a vegetarian portion, with only tofu and no other meat, you will have to use more. A little guess work is involved here but it’s easy enough, yes? (To make it completely vegetarian, you can use this sauce in place of fish sauce.)
Eggs
I usually crack one small egg into the wok while cooking each serving. If you dinner guests like less egg you can make two servings at a time and only crack one egg into the wok while cooking, essentially cutting the egg quantity in half in each portion.
Ground Peanuts
I use roasted and unsalted peanuts (sometimes I roast my own) for this. Ground the peanuts roughly, beware not to overdo it as you will end up with peanut butter and not ground peanuts. You will need 1-2 tablespoons per portion, depending on how much your friends like peanuts.
Flat-leaf Garlic Chives, also called Chinese Chives
Bai Gui-chai as they are called in Thai. Although most restaurants use the green part of green onions or spring onions, Garlic Chive is the more traditional herb for Pad Thai. Wash and dry the chives carefully, then cut into 2 inches pieces. I use a handful of them per portion.
Beansprouts
I love a lot of beansprouts in my Pad Thai, so I use almost a full cup per portion. You can use as much or little as you like. You can even skip them entirely.
Pickled Turnips (optional)
You can buy pickled turnips pre-chopped in a
plastic bag, but I think the whole ones are fresher. I chopped whole
turnips into small bits, and use about 1 tablespoon per portion.
Dried shrimps (optional)
The cheaper versions of Pad Thai on the streets of Bangkok are made with only tiny dried shrimps and no fresh ones at all. I don’t want to go that far, but I still like to add a bit of these salty dried shrimps for extra flavor -you can easily skip it altogether. I take a bit of dried shrimp and pound in a stone mortar and pestle until fluffy. It’s important to use the mortar here and not your cuisinart, which will turn to dried shrimp into hard, dried chunks (entirely capable of cracking a tooth) instead of fluffy bits of salty shrimp. I use about 1-2 tablespoon per portion.
Chopped garlic (optional)
I like to use a little bit of garlic in each portion, give it an extra kick. You don’t have to.
To serve as condiments at the table you will need:
Slivers of lime, extra ground peanuts, extra chilli powder, fish sauce, and even a bit of white sugar. Just like other street food in Thailand, everyone can tailor the final dish to their own taste. I suggest a squeeze of lime for sure, and anything else that pleases you.
Toast yourself with a glass of champagne now that the prep is done before your dinner guests arrive. A nice off-dry and not oaky champagne will go well with the Pad Thai later too. Lovely Rieslings will do fine as well.
While you’re savoring your champagne, let me tell you a bit about that temperamental beast that’s your well-seasoned wok (**see note below). The success of your Pad Thai depends on it. A wok is not built for heat retention or long and even cooking, unlike Western style pots and pans. A Le Creuset pot, for example, is built like a marathon runner, slow to warm up but has a long staying power. A wok, on the other hand, is more like a sprinter. It heats up really fast, and loses it just as quickly. The thin iron steel material in a good wok transfers more or less all the heat from the flame directly to the content inside. This is great for the ability to control heat, you can turn the fire up and down and the heat in the pan will rise and fall just as quickly. This also means that a wok can sear and cook a small amount of food lightening fast. Adding too much all at once and letting the heat escape would turn a wok into a useless piece of tin in a blink of an eye. And since the caramelization and charring from a hot wok is where the wok-flavor, or wok-breath as some call it, comes from, your utmost goal in wok-cooking is to start out hot and keep it hot! Make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature, and that you add them in sequence and let the wok reheat back up before each addition. At no time should you add a huge amount of ingredients all at once, unless you want a Pad Thai stew.
Now you are ready to make a Pad Thai.
Follow these steps carefully and the best Pad Thai you’ve ever had will be the one you’ve just made! Keep the sauce pot warm on another burner next to your wok. Keep a bowl of water handy too, if things get to hot in the wok you can sprinkle the water on it to slow it down.

1. Heat a large wok over high heat until very hot, to the point of smoky.
2. Add a splash of oil, about 3-4 tablespoons. Don’t be shy, this ain’t no diet food.
3. If you are making chicken Pad Thai, add the chicken first, cook, stirring vigorously, until it’s half way done, about 1-2 minutes, then add the tofu, a tablespoon or two of the sauce to flavor the chicken, and a pinch of garlic if you’re using it. If you are making tofu or shrimp and tofu Pad Thai, then only add the tofu (and garlic) for now. Cook for another minute until the tofu is crisp and slightly brown at the edges.
4. Add the noodle, about 2 loosely packed cups for one portion is my standard, and then a ladle (about ¼ cup) of warm sauce. Stir rigorously, keep everything moving in the wok, and cook the noodle until soft. Remember to break up the noodle and don’t let it lump together. If the sauce evaporates too quickly and your noodle isn’t quite ready, sprinkle a bit of water and keep stirring. Add a bit of oil if the noodle still stubbornly sticks together. As I said, this ain’t no diet food.
5. When the noodle is ready (taste it to be sure), push it up to one side of the wok and crack an egg into the middle. Let it set for 10-15 seconds and toss everything all together.
6. Add the shrimp meat, pickled turnips, ground peanuts, ground dried shrimp, beansprouts. Keep things moving. Add more sauce if it looks a little pale.
7. When the shrimps are done, shouldn’t take more than a minute, add a handful of Garlic Chives. Turn the heat off, and quickly give the wok a good stirring to mix everything together.
8. Add the finished Pad Thai to a plate and serve to your first lucky dinner guest. Give the used wok a quick rinse with warm water, wipe off any excess bits of food with a warm towel, then put the wok back on to the fire.
9. As soon as it heats back up to a smoking point, you’re ready to do another portion. Repeat this process until all your dinner guests are fed. Keep them lubricated and happy with ample supply of Riesling, Champagne, and/or beer while they wait. That’s how I do it!

That’s it friends, your lesson in Pad Thai. It’s a bit long, like I said, but this will be the last thing you’ll ever need to read about Pad Thai. You might never go out for Pad Thai again, even!
So, go on, throw your own Pad Thai party. Your friends will love you (even more.)
———————–



You can buy tamarind in blocks or readymade pulp that comes in plastic or glass containers (see the photo above). If you can’t find a local market that carries tamarind you can order it online. If you buy readymade pulp, check to make sure that the ingredients only contain tamarind and water, no sugar or anything else. If you buy block tamarind, soak the block in 4 cups of hot water in a large bowl. Mesh the tamarind and water together and let sit until the water cool down enough not to burn your hands. Stick your hands -your impeccably clean hands as Julia Child would say- into the bowl and work the tamarind and water together until the consistency is a bit looser than room-temperature ketchup. Add more warm water if needed. Then, strain the mixture to remove the pits and tough membranes from the tamarind pulp. The consistency will be thick enough that you’d need to press it through the strainer. Use as much as you need for the Pad Thai sauce and keep the rest in a glass jar in your fridge. You’ll have tamarind pulp handy for a long time.
This recipe is highly adaptable. Some people don’t like the intensity of tamarind. Fine, just use less tamarind and add simple white vinegar til your desired sourness (pun intended). You won’t be able to get rid of tamarind all together. Without it your Pad Thai won’t be much of a dish, but you can use about half the tamarind I use and supplement the rest with vinegar.
**A well-seasoned wok
First of all, you’ll need an iron steel wok -the cheapest kind made of a thin layer of iron steel that’s sold in practically any Chinese market. There’s no need to buy anything fancy, mine was less than $15 and it’s working out great. You just have to keep it well-seasoned and it will last practically forever.
At any point in the making of this superb Pad Thai, if anything sticks to the pan and won’t come out easily with a gentle push of a metal spatula, your wok isn’t well-seasoned. No, no, you don’t have to rush out to buy a replacement. You just have to season it again.
There are plenty of ways to season a pan, here’s how I do it. First, add to your wok one cup of oil –make sure you brush the oil over all the inside surface of the wok- and heat the wok until it is smoking. Tilt the pan around to keep lubricating the surface with oil and let it continues to smoke for a few minutes –make sure your smoke vent is running and all the windows are open, by the way. Then, take the pan off the heat and dispose of the oil. Pour half a cup of kosher salt into the wok and, with a kitchen rag, rub the salt all over the inside surface of the wok. Throw out the salt, wipe the wok clean with a damp towel. Pour a small amount of oil into a paper towel and wipe the oil all over the inside surface again. Your wok is now seasoned and ready.

SALADS

WALDORF SALAD
apple
yogurt
raisin
lemon juice
mache

SMOKED HERRING AND POTATO SALAD
smoked herring
sauted onions
3 or 4 cloves of pressed garlic
6-7 large red potatoes. (1-2 large potatos per person)
loads of fresh parseley.
salt water of potatos and the herring will salt the rest.
a touch of olive oil.

LYON BARS AND CAFES

smoking dog- irish pub but relaxed in vieux lyon
le Spleen- old fashion corner/local drink spot lyon 2em (arret ampere)
le cafe du rhone- mirrows/woodwork/ and a cast iron oven in the middle run buy an old lady (view of rhone)
le cafe de la mairie- place satonay- parent with strollers having beers on the weekend
la cafette- student union building on INSA CAMPUS- 6 pints for 12 euros !!!! open 12-14   18-?late during semester
la passagere- peniche next to pont de la guillotiere
indo cafe- hype/lounge bar with cheap wine and expensive bo bun
red house cafe- not amazing but I meet yann there for drinks (croix rousse)
cassoulet whiskey pingpong- cheap good wine, complement the tom petty being played and you might get free drinks
terrace at the musee des beaux arts- too expensive but a kind of touristy thing to do that touristes dont do

LIST OF THINGS TO DO IN LYON

cheese plate and wine at the Halles de la Martiniere
bicycle ride out to l'ile barbe
go up and down all of the walking stairs
check out the courtyard of the musee des beaux arts
chill in place satonay- and have an ice cream at Les Enfants GATEES- sanguine orange,apricot
have coffee at Cafe du rhone, on the river banks next to the guillotiere- so freaking french and old
walk around le parc TETE D'OR
bike from tete d'or to Gerland on the riverbanks (and back again)
have a drink on a peniche
get crazy and go to the market- quai de saone
have a glass of anything at any bar
eat at 6 chez les gones and have the gateau foie de volaille (drink wine)
have breakfast or lunch on my terrace at anytime except for the summer at which point have dinner
walk up the grande montee and down the montee sebastien to the croix rousse
check out the croix rousse and laugh at the wanna be rich hippies
stand on the Gros cailloux at the croix rousse
check out the musee de la soie at the croix rousse actually very interesting
rent a velov
go to the guillotiere
check out place bellecour
wander around vieux lyon
look at the opera and watch the youngsters breakdancing
check out falling flying rollerskating monster statue at place tolozan (next to opera)should be a childrens book character
check out any and all street sales in the spring and fall
go to any salon de VINS and get some serious tasting done for free
HANG OUT WITH ME because I love this city more than anyone

resto lyon le CANARD LAQUE

10 Rue Passet
69007 Lyon
04 72 71 62 76

this resto is pretty nice. i went for the pad thai that was not bad. I was hoping that it would inspire me but wasn't as good as Mai Thai's.the service was good and the whole feel of the place was pretty nice. the beef citronelle salade wasn't as good as I had hoped. (i m not a fan of uncooked fish sauce that seemed to be the secret ingredient in the salade). I can recommend this place but don t plan on being blown away.

went back and had the boh bun. (nothing amazing but decent)

LYON AMAZING CHEVRE

This is some of the most amazing cheese I have had. It is from a little organic farm in Vaugneray outside of lyon. You can eiher go there (taking a bus from Gorge de Loup) or drive yourself there. They have a cheese that is more of a wheel cheese (very different from all the other goat cheeses that they have). Can't remember the name of it but it is like a Tome and is similar to another cheese which is AOC (but they can't call it the same name because it is outside of the region. If you explain all this to them they know exaclty what you are talking about (I did it last time I went there and had no problems). Vaugneray is a great little town and the walk around there is beautiful in the Mont Lyonnais. They also sell  the cheese at the market at Place Carnot on wednesday afternoons. (every other week for half the year and every week for the other half). just give them a ring.
http://www.producteurs-fermiers-rhone.com/perrusset/index.html

Ferme de la Milonière
Chèvres et Cabrions
Marc et Monique Perrusset

La Milonière
69670 Vaugneray
Tél. : 04 78 45 97 10
Fax : 04 78 45 97 10

RESTO GRENOBLE Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh
18, Rue Thiers
38000 Grenoble
France

I'd walked by a few times while I was living in grenoble and had been curious about it. turns out it is pretty amazing. the inside has 2 big rooms and a tiny room attached to the bar. The rooms have high ceilings and white walls giving it a very colonial look. we went there on a whim, literally walked by and said "why not?". luckily we arrived super early because we didn't have a reservation and they turned away people the rest of the evening. i had for starters the ravioli soup which hit the spot with just the right flavors. next were some of the best battered things i ve ever had. I chose the shrimp with the spicy sauce but they brought out the sweet and sour instead (non  of this from a jar BS sweet and sour sauce but a real home made thing. I finished with a flambeyed banana thingy. the 3 course was 17 euros. between the quality, the decor, the friendly service, this was some pretty amazing bang for buck. I m looking forward to going back again sometime. they have a massive terrace out front that should be nice when the weather is nice.
make sure you reserve if your going on thurs fri or sat and check out a late afternoon film before hand at the CLUB theatre which is around the corner.

resto/bar lyon INDO CAFE

INDO CAFE
14 rue de thibbaudiere (angle avec rue d'anvers)

amazing lounge bar between guillotier and lyon 2 the serves a mean Bo Bun. I met auriane and philou there. I was a bit turned off by the hype kind of atmosphere and the 12 euro bo bun ( I had an amazing one for 7 in paris) but i was convinced by the nice service, amazing food, chill music (james brown/herbie hancock, dave brubek, St germain...etc...) and the 6.50euros  50cl of rose wine. we ate in the bar area. I can't wait to go back for the 3 course meal for 18 euros. They only serve the 3 course meal on Mondays and Wednesdays. the rest of the week is a buffet and some select dishes.

AMAZING ALBUMS

edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros-up from below
la tordue- champ libre
Noir desire - des visages des figures
Ry Cooder - chavez ravine
Neil Young - living with war
Neil Young - MTV inplugged
tom petty- wildflowers
weezer- blue album
paul simon- graceland
grateful dead- american beauty
miles davis - sketches of spain
anything by George Brassens
Kronos Quartet- nuevo
buena vista social club

thai PEPPER PUMPKIN and THAI BASIL SOUP (

I thought that it was going to be bad when I was preparing it. smelled pretty bad until it was cooked. turned out to be very different but great

2 soup spoons dried mini shrimp
half a teaspoon of dried shrimp paste
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 thai shallots (long garlicky shoots)
1 soup spoon fish sauce
1 soup spoon palm sugar or cane sugar syrup
juice half a lemon
300ml coco milk
12 thai basil leaves
cilantro (asian kind)
white pepper
300 g of pumpkin

cut pumpkin into 4cm cubes. bring to boil and reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes or until pumpkin is firm but not mushy.

NO NEED TO ADD SALT BECAUSE SHRIMP AND SAUCES SALTY ENOUGH

thailande: saveurs du bout du monde

just bought myself a new thai cookbook that I fell in love with. I hope I find the time to do something with it. next step is to get the wok and learn how to properly use it.
this is mainly for me to keep track of what i've made from the book

soupes
soupe au poulet, noix de coco et galanga. (tom khaa kai)
soupe epicee aux crevettes (tom Yam Kung)

salades
salade aux crevettes et au pomelo(yam som oh) 
poissons et fruits de mer
viandes volailles
porc en brochette (muu ping) BBQ
currys
curry rouge au porc et au poivre vert (kaeng muu phrik thai orn) replaced porc with pumpkin d veggies(kaeng muu phrik thai orn)

curry vert au poulet (kaeng khiaw-waan kai)
boeuf panaang

sautes
boeuf au basilic thai (neua phat bai hohrapha)
poulet au gingembre (kai phat khing)
nouilles et riz
legumes
desserts
recettes de base
des de concombre (ajat)

DESSERT INDIAN (Coconut Barfi - Nariyal Barfi - Coconut Fudge) CARDAMOM

You will love this sweet if you like coconut. It is most often made on occassions like Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights) and Christmas. My friend Helene has brought this twice to my house. (Second time upon request) 

YOU CAN CHANGE THE GHEE FOR BUTTER AND LEAVE OUT THE EXTRA SUGAR.

THIS WITH A GREAT COFFEE IS HEAVEN

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of fresh or dessicated coconut (fresh gives the best results)
• 1 1/2 cans (400gms each) of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cardamom powder
• 5 tbsps ghee
• 1 cup almonds blanched and cut into slivers

Preparation:

• Heat a heavy-bottomed pan on a medium flame and add the coconut, condensed milk and sugar. Mix well and cook till the condensed milk is reduced to a quarter of its original quantity or till you get a fudge-like consistency.
• Add the ghee and mix well. Cook till the ghee begins to separate from the fudge.
• Add the cardamom powder, mix well and turn off the fire.
• Grease a large platter, put the fudge on it and smooth out into a thick layer. Top the entire surface with the slivered almonds.
• Allow to cool a little and cut into squares while still warm.
• Allow to set, remove from the platter and store in an air-tight contain

RESTO LYON (GRENOUILLES)

Le Jardin Des Dombes (Croix Rousse)
4, rue de Nuits - 69004 Lyon - Tél. 04 72 07 67 66 

This place is for frog leg enthusiasts (I am not a huge fan but that is just personal) the other person with me said the legs were great. I had the Civet de Canard which was pretty darn good. They don't waste their time with side dishes as everyone gets the same thing (gratin dauphinois, a roasted tomato and soufflee of brocolli). The owner was super nice. The decor had some very bright points (yellow mosaics with a sort of wind in the willows frog center piece) and some less bright points (tables and chairs that look like they were taken from a hotel breakfast room) In all the decor was kind of country bumpkin and worked. For once I was kind of disappointed by the fondant au chocolat but the tarte tatin was great (both were homemade) apparently the other specialty is foie gras maison which I didn't have.

PARIS gare de lyon kebap

RESTO PARIS

ISTANBUL~LYON (KEBAP)
4 rue Michel Chasles

Have a few hours at the Gare de lyon and you want to take a load off and spend barely any money? go to this kebap joint right across from the main entrance where the owner is super nice and you can chill and stuff yourself for 6 euros. The fries are good, the meat is good and don't forget your Ayran to drink.

website for lyon salsa with soufiane

http://www.salsaddict.fr/website/