The Pho Cookbook, by Andrea Nguyen

The Vietnamese food is a relatively latest addition to my Asian food preferences - with Japanese food as number 1. It took me a long summer to get used with the special taste of herbs and spices added at the spring rolls and the vegetables soups, but the cold coffee was a love at first sight. I keep trying new and new foods but I feel that probably, until I will go to Vietnam and enter the spirit of the place and see the original ingredients, I will still not be a faithful lover. 

The Pho Book, by the Vietnamese food expert Andrea Nguyen brought me closed to this special Asian cuisine. 'Rice is the dutiful wife you can rely on, we say. Pho is the flirty mistress that you slip away to visit'. With such a description is hard not to want to know more, including about how to make your own Pho at home - not as difficult as one may think.

What I appreciated about the book in the first place, is the careful research, including in Vietnam, and the anthropological investigation about this meal. Based on a deep knowledge and years of practice - her mother has a Pho restaurant too - the reader is offered more than a cookbook, but a rich food story book. Useful - particularly for a reader outside the Pho-realm - it is also that there are many details about preparations and possible meal matches. 

Surprinsingly for me, Pho can be eaten any time of the day, in various combinations, including meatless, a variant which 'seemed surreal, if not as absurd as a drone aircraft'. However, instead of meat one can use tofu or seitan variants. Anyway, the 'ultra' traditional Pho has: broth, noodles and cooked beef. 'A bowl of steamy pho and a glass of ice coffee is an unbeatable Viet food pairing'. The author also recommends coffee with coconut milk, which I tried once but was not happy with. 

I recommend this book to anyone interested in Vietnamese food, and for any foodie writing lovers in general.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher via NetGalley.com

Foodie reading: Anya von Bremzen, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

It was a long time since I've read an interesting food memoir and blame me - not the scarcity of publications - for this situation. Luckily, my reading return was in full style, as Anya Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking resonated greatly with my own although peculiar, culinary experiences. 

Living in a totalitarian regime means that food and history and political evolutions are always going together. The modest opening of the regime may mean a dramatic change on the menu, as more ingredients become available thanks to the Party's gratitude, for instance. Being born in such a system gives you a certain ability to seize the right moment and eventually, improve the recipe. Thus, it is hard to say how much history and how much food you can find in this well-writen memoir. Biographical details and cooking skills are going together and the result is an extensive journey through the Soviet life - and kitchens. From tsarist Russia to Putin's nouveau riche, Anya von Bremzen covers with a journalistic attention all the details. You can feel the longing and imagine the smells going out of the kitchen in this Proustian Russian translation - and adaptation. 

Although enjoyed the story telling from the first part, the travel and writing part dedicated to the discovery of various regional cuisines of what used to be once Soviet Union was very appealing for me.

Fortunately, the book also has a couple of recipes at the end and I am curious to try some of them too - Cornbread for Khrushchev, anyone ?

Foodie tour in Nantes

Any trip is an opportunity to learn more and, of course, to taste more interesting and healthy foods. While in France, do what French people do: go local, talk with people from the bakeries and ask for food directions. Very often, we speak a lot about 'national' cuisines, ignoring the pleasant flavours of the regional cookbooks. At least in the case of France, there it is a lot of challenge in discovering local menus and so was Nantes for me: a very interesting experience not only in terms of culture and nature, but equally for the lovely galettes I tasted as often as possible. 

My food started at a local bakery: meeting and talking with people, but also having the eyes wide open to catch as many food as possible. For the beginning, I spotted the chocolate baguettes.

A perfumed meringue for 1.50 Euro looks as a good investment, enough for a tasty and calories full breakfast.

My choice was more local though: a heart-shaped Bottereau, the typical doughnut in Nantes. 

After my first hour of discovering Nantes, before going to spend a good amount of time at Jardin des Plantes, I stopped by a small bakery around and had a good looking coffee - exactly my style, genuinely strong - and a tartelette au citron. The basis was a bit too hard, but the combination between the lemon cream and the coffee was excellent. If looking for a fancier place for a breakfast around Jardin des Plantes - and the central train station - Salon du thé has generous breakfast menu.

Other sweetness were inviting me to stay more, but my diet concerns and my time management obsessions kept me away from the temptations for a good couple of hours.

More than four hours later and many interesting things seen, curiosity - and not hunger - brought me together with the first macaron of the day - a bit of caramel and some fruity jam, too sweet for my tastes but interesting with a glass of cold water or a coffee. 

Discovering interesting fruit juices is part of my mission when on the road. The superstores in Nantes offer a lot of apple and tomato juices, as well as different usual combinations - strawberries, kiwi. Many are based on the local production. Fruits and vegetables from French territories are completing the variety of treats. Cidre and 'jus de pommes' are the specific drinks made in Brittany

Wherever I went, the smell of food on the street was distracting. Either flying from the kitchen of the various restaurants - the Cambodian and Laotian ones were the new entered on the list of ethnic cuisines, together with the classical Chinese, Japanese and Thai and of course, a huge variety of French restaurants. No German cuisine, as far as I remember. The main destination for foodies can be found around street Copernic and Cassini. You may find special fish shops and cheese shops and numerous wine shops. An impressive number of chocolateries, of course. Expect to talk with people welcoming and keen to help you to combine the right meals and flavours. This is France, after all.

The exquisite macaron experience followed later in the day: pictures from a tasty exhibition of products by Vincent Guerlais, rightly branded as 'agitateur de papilles'.

This boulangerie is recommended for breakfast or for a late meal in the evening. For regular foodie tours, everyone go at least once.

You can pick up your own fish, find what something you did not know you were looking for or simply have a professional talk with someone from the shop. Everything is possible and done with the highest professionalism.

Vincent Guerlais shop has also a special corner at the famous Talensac market, a local attraction for tourists from everywhere. 

Time for some serious food. The final decision was not very easy, as there are a lot of local places many of them very busy after 7pm. St Leonard looks quite cheap at the first sight and was not sure that I really want to go there. However, after tasting my first meal: galetter Provencale - blended tomatoes, egg mirror, aubergines, zucchini and hot goat's milk cheese - I was extremely impressed. A lot of food, a good glass of Rosé, many calories and the pleasure of being in Brittany. It is recommended to eat it hot. The galette base is very discrete and add to the ensemble the correct pinch of goodness. 

The next stage of my meal: Crepe Broceliande at St. Leonard in Nantes: caramel with salt of Guérande, gingerbread ice cream banana and Chantilly cream. Unforgettable. I went completely lost in the combination of sweet and sour, hot and cold, all melting together. The dough of the pancake was sweet and delicate. 

No more food till I was in my hotel room. I was tempted to have a coke at Brasserie d'Europe before taking the tram, but after waiting 10 minutes for someone to talk with me and another 5 minutes for the menu, I decided that it is not worth my time. I know the place is highly recommended, but my direct experience matters always more.

The macarons from Vincent Guerlais that I bought for testing were a bit affected by my wandering of the last 5 hours. A good sign for me of their delicacy and quality. Before starting the tasting I was sure that everything is done, and a glass of cold water is on my desk. Between tasting a macaron I waited around 10 minutes, to be sure that I got the right taste and impression. As the framboise macaron - the red one -looked the most affected, I started my tasting with it: a very full sweet taste, but feeling too much sugar for my taste. Next on the list - after the 10 minutes, of course - the figs macaron - the brownish one: a mysterious taste, hard to describe precisely. The biscuit side is very strong and is invading the mouth completely. I think it goes very well with a good tea. The green pistachio macaron was next: with a lot of caramel feeling and a specific sweet individuality. It looked as each piece was at its place working together to guarantee a perfect taste. The last macaron - salted caramel - made me feel sorry that the testing is done: the perfection always came at the end: the last is lost in the sweetnest of caramel. After a long trip and so much sweetness, was about time to go to sleep some nice dreams.

The next day started in a very light way: a French croissant from a bakery followed by a strong coffee in the welcoming ambiance of La maison Bertille. Did some more tours to discover new hidden gems of the Brittany cuisine and had a nice discussion about quality products at Atelier St. Michel.

I was told that the products do not contain any palm oil, are very healthy, without any animal ingredients. The madeleines were not only delicious, but also very fresh, even after one week. The pancakes were relatively good, better combined with honey or a fruity jam. I tried it with some goat's milk cheese and was not extremely impressed. The salty caramel cake was the most disappointing, but also because I had so many good special pieces of salted caramel macarons before and the competition is very unfair. 

When I am at home, I cook a lot of pasta but during my trip to France, was too much focused on different products. Spontaneously, I stopped at Mezzo di Pasta, wich offers special prices for students and had a good and fast simple meal of cheese pasta with a Pepsi Max. 

Back on the track of documenting the best foodie places, I stopped at the famous Talensac market, an attraction for tourists visiting Nantes. Maybe it was too early - around 11 o'clock, in the middle of the week- not too much action around. However, I was charmed by the diversity of local fruits and vegetables, especially the Senegalese mango I will hunt after later in London.

 Other local cuisines in France were also well represented.

 Wish I can be able to prepare such good pasta one day.

 The choices of cheese are difficult to count.

 My already old friends from Vincent Guerlain were here too. French markets are a clean and elegant place to be, after all.

The more I think about my trip there, the more I want to be back. I am sure that one day I will do a perfect food tour of France. At least once. 

Bon Appetit!

Looking for inspiration (in predictable places)

Between cooking and travel, I will always chose travel. I can be happy with a nice piece of black bread and a simple coffee, but if I don't travel for one month, or one week went away without I discovered some nice corner in my city, I am sad and lacking the necessary energy to survive the daily chores. Thus, I try to focus for the moment on my travels, with a modest creativity in the kitchen. However, wherever I go I keep an eye for the food products and local cuisine and as much as the time allows me, I will do my best to share some of the recipes and local insights about food and eating habits that I learn about during my travels. 

My problems in the last days are a relative lack of inspiration. I do have a couple of books to read and review, I have some new recipes that I tested lately, but because of the summer and holiday mood, I don't succeed to spend too much time in the kitchen. And my ideas of salads are as regular as possible, without creating anything outstanding. 

What you can do in such cases, when the cooking inspiration left you? Very often, I do make a tour of my favourite food bloggers. As I am on Twitter, I have access to lots of ideas and good food writing. When I want to leave my computer and get out in the real world, I am reading carefully the menus of the restaurants that I pass by. I am interested especially in the Vegetarian/Asian options. My latest passion is the Vietnamese cuisine: my first encounter was not extremely pleasant, as I did not enjoyed too much carrots in the veggie spring rolls, or some of the tofu combinations. However, I was invited recently to taste a coconut milk+peanuts+rice+tofu+beans+carrots+lemongrass and I loved the taste and the fine combination of vegetables. The spices were  As most Vietnamese restaurants I've seen are not exactly Vietnamese, the cooks being mostly from China, maybe I should pack and visit Vietnam for a real flavour of the local cuisine. And, most probably, when I am out of inspiration, I should consider taking more cooking classes or watching more food videos. For now, writing again on the blog was enough to boost my creativity for the next days.

Keep in touch!

Instagram on your plate

Social media diversified amazingly our ways to see the world but also the ways in which we address food. Here it is an example of how we can use Instagram to share and reviews our food options and recommendations!
Bon Appetit and don't text too much while eating!

Food and writing consulting with Monica Bhide

Monica Bhide has an amazing story of what does it really mean to be a writer: a lot of work and ambition and the perseverance of never considering that you are too good for not learning something new every day. 

She writes on her blog, is very active on social media, writes and teaches regularly food writing classes. Now, she is decided to make a step further by offering mentoring and one on one consulting services. Anyone with a passion for food writing should try to book at least once a meeting with her in person or virtually. If you are passionate about good books about food, you can participate to her very active and interesting Book Club on Facebook.