Duck and lingonberry sauce

When I asked my husband what his favorite thing about being married was, he (half) joked 'the food'. With the wealth of markets, there are wonderful fresh ingredients readily available, so I'm continually trying new things...and sometimes revisiting old favorites. This was a new recipe that has quickly become one of our favorites, especially with all the duck readily available here. The sauce and the duck is a prefect combination. I adapted it from a recipe I found on Epicurious, and now we have it on a fairly regular basis. It’s pretty easy, although it can be a bit messy and is sure to please!

Serves 2 with a generous amount of sauce. 

Ingredients:

2 duck breasts

         1/2 cup dry red wine

         7 oz low-salt chicken broth

         7 oz low-salt beef broth

         2 fresh thyme sprigs

         1 bay leaf

         3/4 tsp butter or substitute, room temperature

         3/4 tsp flour

         1/4 cup lingonberry preserves

       

For the sauce:

Bring wine, chicken broth, beef broth, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf to boil in heavy large saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 35 minutes. Mix butter and flour in small bowl to blend. Whisk butter-flour mixture into broth. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in lingonberry preserves; simmer 1 minute. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf. (Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.)

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C). Score skin of duck breasts in crisscross pattern (do not cut through to meat). Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Heat heavy large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down, to dry skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook until skin is golden brown, about 7 minutes. Turn duck over and transfer skillet to oven; roast to desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium-rare. Using tongs, transfer duck to cutting board; tent with foil. 

I like to serve it over creamy polenta with a side of haricot verts. 

Le petit chiot

We have a new addition! A sweet little miniature English Cream daschund, Lily. It took us a while to name her and find something that worked, but finally, the poor little thing has a name! She is getting bigger by the day!

When we first got her, she was quiet and timid and would cautiously follow me around. She was so fragile, weighing only 1kg (2 lbs 2oz), she felt breakable.

Now she is certainly more energetic and gets into everything, especially the laundry. But is always happy to climb in your lap for a cuddle. 

It is really impossible to resist this sweet little face. She is getting so big so fast and has such a personality. She's especially good at the "how could you possibly be mad at me?" face. Or maybe we're just suckers.

Première entreprise à Champagne

Champagne is only about a 2 hour drive from Paris. Lucky us! So, with my parents in tow, off we went to explore what this wonderful region had to offer in the unusually chilly March weather. And oh was it worth it. We started off in Reims which is the main city where all the major Champagne houses are located. We arrived ready to taste some world famous bubbly, only to find a rather deserted city. Although we'd done our research, and yes you could visit on Sundays, it turns out, we arrived around lunchtime when they had all closed for lunch. We didn't exactly get the early morning start we had planned on. 

In Champagne without champagne. What do to? We decided to follow the 'Champagne route'. Although there are some sides we found ourselves driving through the country side, trying to figure out where to go. It was a lovely drive, a nice change from Reims and a nice break from Paris. Long, winding roads alongside fields with tidy rows of vines, leading to tiny passages, so narrow at points you could touch a building if you put your hand out of the window.  Absolutely charming. Amazingly, tucked behind the walls are champagne producers. 

We kept seeing one particular sign, but weren't really sure what it was for. Mom chiming in from the backseat - 'there it is again, read it, follow it!' Problem being, the sign didn't actually say much. Was it a producer, a location, an event? No arrows, no indication of what it was, where exactly it was or how to get there. So we kept driving. Another sign, and then another. Finally, a sign with the date one it....it's today! Now to find it. As luck would have it, the signs eventually had an arrow and we found ourselves down a small road that eventually turned to dirt. We parked. Little did we know we had just stumbled on a true gem. 

We approached what seemed like someones home, with a bunch of people standing around chatting - they all seemingly knew each other. Truly feeling like outsiders, we ventured a bit further, only to realize we had stumbled on a tasting event. Lucky us! Oh the excitement. It was hosted by the champagne maker, who promptly came over to greet us, and asked if we would like to taste his champagne. Bien sûr! We tasted about 6 of his divine champagnes and Monsieur explained his family's champagne, how he made it, and the differences in each. All in French, mind you. Somehow, I understood and began translating for my parents. Who knew I actually did know some French now!? We all came to the conclusion that this was some of the best champagne we had ever tasted...yes, including Moet, Veuve, Nicolas Feuillatte (my previous personal favorite), or even Dom. 

Every month or so, Monsieur and other producers in the area get together and host tasting events, inviting producers from other areas. There were wines from Bordeaux and Provence, oysters, escargot, and fresh smoked salmon, fresh bread, foie gras and even jams. Monsieur invited us to visit the other distributors and have a picnic if we'd like...and so we did. They had set up tables on the grass and in the kitchen, providing utensils and anything else you might need - including a corkscrew! So there in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, we had ourselves a little French feast. Perfect. I'm not sure I've ever seen my dad in such good spirits! He was like a little kid in a candy store. 

Rather reluctantly, after we'd had our fill, we carried on to explore a bit more, trying to find a few more producers who might still be open. It really is best to make appointments, but we decided to try our luck. We were invited into a woman's kitchen, where she went to the fridge and opened a fresh bottle for us to try. We bought a bottle and were on our way again.We found a couple more places, but none of the champagne was nearly as good as the first. Contently, with bottles clinking in the trunk, we made our way back to Paris. 

What is there not to love about France?

Chez nous

Moving is stressful. No doubt about it. Throw a new country, new marriage, and starting from scratch into the mix and its a whole new adventure. We've had things scattered about for years, New York, North Carolina, Milwaukee and Oxford without a home to call our own. Finally, post-wedding, it was move time. And consolidate. The whole move was a bit of a challenge (Oxford-London-Paris) and finding the right apartment in Paris was no small feat. Between waiting on visas and finding somewhere to live, we were in limbo in London for a while. But we did it and found an apartment in Paris that we adore. Completely. A place of our own. Living in the same country. Together. Now....about filling it...

We opted for an 'unfurnished' place because all of the furnished ones were furnished to the point they even had plates and utensils. (Where on earth would all my lovely Le Creuset go?) Not to mention they all felt like someone else's home. So, unfurnished it was. However, 'unfurnished' in Paris doesn't just mean without furniture. No, we had to install an entire kitchen...all that we started with was a sink! 

Luckily, we're just about there now and have created our perfect home...we'll worth the effort!  Our next home will certainly have a lot to live up to. C'est la vie!

What makes it all even better is all the little adventures we had along the way...exploring les Puces (antique furniture market), Drouot (auction house), the hardware store, and even Ikea, all the while having to improve our rather non-existant French. Not to mention driving around Paris (a feat in and of itself) with furniture protruding from the car. I swore we would get pulled over and would be unable to explain ourselves! Luckily, it seems, no one gets pulled over in Paris... or so we've yet to see.

I was so thrilled we even found a home for my 'Shutters', a piece of artwork that my poor parents have been storing for the last decade or so in hopes that they would one day find a home!

And of course, I can't not forget the lovely kitchen my handy husband built for me! 

That's where we are right now. With all the little treasures to be found in Paris, I'm sure we'll be making a few additions along the way.