Gastronomie de Moi

Most of my friends know me as a vegetarian, or at least as someone who professes vegetarianism. Back in my 20's, I was a militant vegetarian - I ate no meat - but that was a result of the rules of the Pritikin diet more than anything else, if I remember correctly (turns out my memory is not that great, Pritikin is not a vegetarian diet!). Somewhere along the way I decided that having a little meat in my diet was a good thing, and I have moderated my diet accordingly in the years since then. Actually I have a pretty anti-American diet at the moment (don't eat chicken, nor pizza, and no popcorn or processed food generally), but I digress.

This past week I have consumed much more than usual the meats of the regions of France. Since coming to France, I have indulged my fondness for foie gras (goose liver) on several occasions, and had the opportunity to do so again at the dinner hosted by my Nice friends last week. Odette served foie gras on thick bread (slightly unusual) for an appetizer (they call them "entrees" in France) when we went to her home for dinner. It was lovely. They served champagne with our pre-dinner tastes, which was also very French (Americans tend not to know of champagne as an apéritif). I followed up that lovely foie gras with a homemade foie gras in the restaurant Le Moorea on the waterfront of St.-Laurent-du-Var the next day. My friend Erick joined my parents and me for lunch, and we all sampled different dishes. Not too big a shellfish person (the menu was mostly seafood), I opted for the foie gras entrée - with champagne, of course. It was yummy. (We ended the meal with a chocolate moelleux - a chocolate cake with chocolate fondant in the middle - served warm - luscious!)

My next adventure with viande (meat) was at Belle de Nuit, our Chambre d'Hote in Oppède le vieux. We chose to have dinner at the bed and breakfast; it was served in the restaurant located in the former bakery in the basement (cave) of the 400 year old building. Our dinner that night featured duck; thinly sliced and very red - and very tasty. It had been quite a while since I had had canard (duck), and I enjoyed it. Dessert that night was an individual apricot tart with homemade vanilla ice cream. (I gave my ice cream to Priscilla, another un-Americanism of mine - stay away from ice cream - two decades of the stuff was enough for me!).

Meanwhile, back at home in Nice, my dad and I were enjoying some German meats that my friend Christiane had brought back from her visit to her homeland. I remembered that my Dad enjoyed the German cuisine, so I asked her to bring some representative meat selections back with her. And she happily complied. She brought us some pine-cured ham (excellent competition for Italian prosciutto), some liverwurst, also pine-cured, and tasty, and some "farm spread," which is another type of spreadable ham product. The liverwurst-type spread lasted the longest, but it was also the best, from my point of view. Just a little goes a long way!

I continue to buy the inexpensive "mousse de canard" here in my local shopping market (Casino) (although Odette told me I should buy the good stuff instead), which I like on crackers with Dijon mustard and maybe a strip of brie. Add a small glass of white burgundy, et bon appétit!

The gastronomic adventure continues...