Almost a year later!!!

I can't believe I haven't written on this blog for almost a year now! Time really flies. It has been an exciting year though. Who would ever have thought last year that Barack Obama would now be our president-elect?!? I wish I could make a fast trip back to France and tell all those confused French how we really can pull a rabbit out of the hat when we absolutely have to here.

I also wish we could stop with the crisis management style!! Why do we, as a nation, have to hit bottom before we finally come through and do the right thing?

In the past year I have worked as a poll worker here in California in three separate elections. A presidential primary in February, a regular primary in June, and a general election in November. The November election was very moving. The precinct I work in is very diverse. So many voters were downright teary-eyed when casting their votes for Obama. Everyone is very hopeful even though the country couldn't be in a much bigger shambles.

Aside from that, life continues au petit train train. My father-in-law is adapting to life as a widower, although he still misses his Helen (as we all do) terribly. D is enjoying teaching more and more although he's also very excited about his research on that "other" greenhouse gas, methane. My son I is seriously contemplating buying a house in LA (silver lining to the crummy economy). My folks are doing remarkably well, still living well and independently at 84. All of our respective siblings are also doing reasonably well. So no complaints and deo gratias it will continue.

I will be fixing salmon the way M did in Aix this weekend. I will use swiss chard instead of sorrel, and will compensate for the lack of oxalic acid by spritzing generously with lemon. But the rest will remain the same.

Next week I will make my favorite provencal daube. This is a recipe I picked up in Saveur years ago and just the best:

Daube de Boeuf (Saveur’s version of a recipe by Franck Cerutti of Don Camillo in Nice)

(Serves 4, double the recipe to have more leftovers)

Ingredients:

½ oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 lbs beef chuck, cut into 2” pieces
salt
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 large plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped (ok to use canned)
1 stalk celery, diced
1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 1 sprig flat-leaf parsley, and 1 sprig thyme, tied in a bundle with kitchen string)
1 tbsp flour
2 cups dry red wine
freshly ground black pepper

Process:

1. Place mushrooms in a bowl; pour in boiling water to cover, and set aside.
2. Place meat in medium bowl and sprinkle with salt.
3. Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in batches, leaving plenty of space between pieces so they brown evenly. Transfer meat as it browns to a large dish; set aside.
4. Lower heat to medium-low and pour off all but a bit of oil and butter.
5. Add onions, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, and celery and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping brown bits from the bottom of the pot until vegetables are coated with oil, about 5 minutes.
6. Return meat to pot and add bouquet garni.
7. Mix flour and half the wine with a fork in a small bowl, making sure there are no lumps.
8. Stir into pot with the remaining wine.
9. Cover and simmer over low heat for 2 hours.
10. Drain, rinse, and roughly chop mushrooms, reserving liquid.
11. Strain mushroom liquid through a coffee filter or paper towel; add to pot with the mushrooms.
12. Simmer another hour.
13. Remove bouquet garni.
14. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I like to serve this daube with polenta, but you can use noodles or potatoes also.

I'll probably pick up a frozen dessert at Trader Joe's as they have started offering some that are very much like the one's at Picard. Now if they could only come up with frozen flaked herbs like Picard! Much too much to hope for frozen sorrel anytime soon though, and my sorrel won't thrive as long as we are experiencing this drought.

So now you have a new recipe, even if it's not Christmas dinner worthy!

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year.