Category: Recipes

Happy Valentines Day!!

Pucker-up!
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Recipes & Travel:
Easy baking recipes, healthy snack bar recipes, Lemon and Orange Festival in Menton, Recipes with Citrus

In France and much of Europe, hiking or randonée is a significant part of the culture. There are walking trails for all levels that crisscross the continent.  The longer trails form part of the GR system or Grande Randonée, there are over 60,000km of trails in France alone. Here is a great resource guide book.
Ginger and Nutmeg love hiking, but they never expected to start the season in January, when they were introduced to the International Hiking Group of Provence. G&N made it to as many of the scheduled Tuesday hikes as they could fit in to their busy European exploration agenda.
Each hike was unique, the scenery beautiful and weather at times unpredictable. All of the hikes offered opportunities for some laughs along the way. Some of the favorites are highlighted below:
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Recipes & Travel:
Cookies, Cranberry, Guidebooks, Hiking, International Hiking Group of Provence, Oatmeal, Provence, Randonee

The small city of Martigues is located at the point where the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Etang de Berre meet. Sometimes referred to as the Provençale Venice, Martigues is attractive. There is a series of small canals, tiny pedestrian-only streets and attractive cafes.
Thursday is market day in Martigues, and that is where Ginger and Nutmeg met up with Ghyslaine and her husband Jacques. Aside from being a lovely couple, they run a successful company focused on top quality cooking classes. Appropriately named, La Cuisine Mèditerranéenne de Ghylaine, is focused on traditional cooking and techniques from the region.

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Recipes & Travel:
French Food, Markets in Provence, Provencal Food, Travel in France

For Nutmeg this is a terrifying blog post, so it is fitting that it arrives just in time for Halloween.
Ginger and Nutmeg left Calgary on September 30, 2010. Nutmeg has quite happily not set foot on Canadian soil for 13 months. What is so scary?  They are headed back to Calgary in the darkest, coldest month of the year!
Here are some fun statistics from their time abroad:

35,000
Kilometers driven in the trusty car by Ginger

15,000
Roundabouts

8,000
Photos documenting the year

5,000
Toll booths

395 
Number of days since Nutmeg has been in Canada

395
Wine bottles consumed more or less

150
Number of times Nutmeg went to a market

150+
Bike rides

50+
Churches visited

35+
Hikes

18
Ski days at new resorts

15
Gap T-shirts

13
Provencal deserts at Christmas time

8+
Concerts

4
Ferry rides: to Corsica and Sardinia

4
Pairs of runners

3
Masks from the Venice Carnival

5
Cooking lessons

5
Countries Visited:France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, UK

2
Jars Cherry Jam by Ginger

4
New pieces of art

2
Gym memberships

1
Mountain bikes

2
Pairs of Hiking boots

1
Wedding

1
Opera – Aida

1
Kayak trip

1
Trip to the Grand Prix in Monaco

1
Trip to Paris

1
Market bag

0
Number of sessions with a personal trainer

TOTAL
PRICELESS

It has been a…

Recipes & Travel:
Provence Travel, Pumpkin Soup, Quick and Easy Soup, Travel in France, Vegeterian Recipes

France is without question a country of fabulous food, great variety in local cuisine and easy access to fresh produce.  However, France is not known for Asian cooking and Nutmeg has had the odd craving for a little curry.
One of Nutmeg’s favourite restaurants is the Crazyweed Kitchen (click to see previous blog post) in Canmore. Her friend Hot Chili also loves the restaurant and has accused Nutmeg of always ordering the same thing off the menu.  That is not 100% correct, but it is true that the Seafood Curry Bowl that is on their menu is one of Nutmeg’s all-time favorites. This delicious dish is almost a stew, perfectly seasoned and wonderful anytime of the year. Ginger and Nutmeg are currently living 8049 kilometers from Canmore, so a visit to the restaurant is not possible at present. As a result Nutmeg has taken matters into her own hands and made her variation of the Seafood Curry Bowl using local…

Recipes & Travel:
Canmore, Curry, Curry Bowl, Easy Asian Recipes, Recipe, restaurants, Seafood Curry, Travel

Due to a wedding cancellation only few days before the event, a lucky group of foodies received an email invitation, to participate in a rare Saturday morning cooking class. La Petite Maison de Cucuron is the successful restaurant run by chef Eric Sapet and his lovely wife. They offer a top quality seasonal menu and limited cooking classes.
The restaurant has been open since 2007 in the charming medieval village of Cucuron, in the Luberon. The Luberon is filled with one delightful village after another so it is difficult to choose a favourite. Cucuron although small, it is unique among the hamlets, as it has a truly distinctive shaded main square with a large water feature l’etang or pond.

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Recipes & Travel:
Cooking classes, Cucuron, Desserts, La Petite Maison, Provence, Tomatoes

Nutmeg can hardly believe that she is actually going to put this in writing; she is almost ready for the summer silly season to be over. Totally out of character, right? For anyone who knows Nutmeg, there is no doubt that summer is her favourite season.
Summer, in a Provencal village, translates into plenty of socializing. The town fills with owners who have their holiday homes in the area, and throngs of tourists enjoying the scenery. The cafés are filled at all hours of the day with clients enjoying a morning coffee, a light lunch, or a tempting beverage and bar snack in the early evening. That is exactly the problem. Apero Hour!

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Recipes & Travel:
Provencal Food, Recipes for Olive Tapanade, Recipes with Olives, Travel in France

Nutmeg is a bit embarrassed to admit that after many months in France, they have barely explored all of Provence.  The departments within Provence are all beautiful and vastly different. The departments include Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhone, Var and Vaucluse. So much to visit! Clearly a break from their holiday was in order!!  Nutmeg booked two nights in a lovely chambre d’hotes (B&B) called Les Quatre Saisons near the village of le Castellet, in the Var.  Le Castellet is a medieval village dating from 1153. It is a fairly well preserved town on a hill, so there are magnificent views from the top.  The town buildings are highly picturesque. Les Quatre Saisons is easily accessible from the major regional centres, and it is a true oasis.

The weather was smoking-hot, reaching 32C under cloudless skies. Patrice cool, calm and well practised in the kitchen. He and his partner Didier ran a small Parisian bistro for nine years and then a restaurant…

Recipes & Travel:
Cooking Classes in Provence, Easy healthy desserts, Exploring the Var, French Food, Provence Travel, Recipes with Peaches, Tiramisu with Peaches, Travel in France

Nutmeg has learned a few things about technology in the last couple months including:

It is a brilliant idea to keep back-up files
Software version updates can cause problems
The benefits of saving documents to a cloud

Luckily, there are a few loyal readers including CardaMOM, who prints everything.  Nutmeg has rebuilt the recipe database on this blog over the last few weeks, and she has been able to recover 99% of the recipes.  The new format is much better for printing.  Rather than make you search back through old posts for the French recipes, some of them are captured below (click the links) and enjoy!

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Recipes & Travel:
Easy Beef Recipes, Easy healthy desserts, Easy sweet tart recipes, Food in France, French Food, French Recipes, Recipes with Pears, Stew Recipes, Tart Tatin

Who would not be inspired by this view?

Whether your passion is art, music, food or something else it would be hard not to feel the urge to be creative.  Ginger and Nutmeg were very fortunate to spend two days with Marc Heracle in his beautifully appointed kitchen at Chateau D’Arnajon. The Chateau is located in the village of Le Puy Sainte Reparade.  Marc’s focus is on traditional Provençal style cuisine.  Traditional methods pre-1900s did not include dairy, butter or refined flours.  The cooking methods of the time used olive oil, almonds, olives, citrus and spices that were (and still are) found in abundance in the region. Marc’s style is relaxed as he shares his knowledge and practical experience.  He encourages participation and is happy to share some stories.
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Recipes & Travel:
Cooking Classes in Provence, French Food, French Recipes, Provence Travel, Recipes for Savoury Tarts, Recipes with Spinach