Le hide, Paris

Le hide, Table d'étoile, Koba's Bistro

Frangelico and I were in Paris a few weeks ago, and it was a great opportunity to meet up with a friend from my school days. I've known Ratatouille since I was seven years old, and we were at the same school until we were 16. That's a mighty long time, and many years of birthday parties! 

One of the best memories from my childhood is of the birthday parties each of us would have every year. These were the highlights of our school years - fabulous gatherings of school friends just running around in the garden, playing home-made games planned and run by my sisters (Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Newspaper Dance, Musical Chairs). And there was, of course, the food. All home-made, except for the cake. My mother's special pizza was always in demand, and my friends still reminisce about them. (Amma's pizzas and her later dosai diplomacy are still paying dividends to this day.)

5 Things I Wish I Could Do

Through ~Mañana Mama, I came across Kate Takes 5, a blogger with humorous posts that have me wondering if she's Irish. She recently listed 5 things she wished she could do and invited others to come up with their own lists. Since Cinnamon and Truffle is a food blog, here are some things I'd like to learn to cook:

1. Pan-seared foie gras. This is not easy, because the foie gras has to be of good quality (and the restaurants get the best ones), it has to be at a certain temperature when you cook it, and there's some process involving an airtight plastic bag.

2. A creamy, frothy velouté of Jerusalem artichoke. Where a soup goes beyond hand blenders into sieves and beaters, I'm going to need to see it done first.

3. An authentic Italian dish (preferably something pasta- and ragú-related). I love Italy and Italian food, and I'd love to learn how to turn out something effortlessly outstanding.

4. A Valrhona chocolate fondant (which I can then eat). The best version is made so that you can't detect any separations - it's a smooth transition from crunchy exterior, to moist sponge to liquid centre. Chocolate is, sadly, a no go for me (the most unfair late-onset allergy on the planet, surely).

And because Cinnamon and Truffle isn't only about food, here's my fifth wish:

5. Ambition is a good thing - it gets you places. But if I'm always thinking about where else I want to get, when am I ever going to enjoy the places I've reached? Didn't we all, at some point in the past, want something of where we are now? So, my final wish is to be able to accept whatever talents I do have for what they are and to enjoy them right now.

(By the time I got around to writing this post, the linky widget on Kate Takes 5 had expired. Which is a sign to me that I'd better get on with Number 5!)

Would love to hear from you guys on your top 5. And if anyone would like to show me how to make any of the above, your offer would be most welcome!

Love

Truffle

Back to the Fearrington

Prince Charming and I have now been married for 10 years. We had two weddings in the year 2000 to accommodate a timely green card application. The first was in April - a small affair in San Francisco. Immediate family and a few friends gathered at City Hall in the morning to witness our legal union and we had 50 guests join us in the evening to enjoy the food, wine and the view at the Carnelian Room at the top of the Bank of America Tower. A few months and a green card application later, we had a grander get together of 1,400 guests in Chennai, India for our Hindu wedding with two receptions and that encompassed meals prepared by a famous chef of that time, Arusuvai Natarajan, and a gala dinner at the Fisherman's Cove Resort that ended with fireworks. Yes, fireworks.

You might remember that we went to the Fearrington Inn back in April to celebrate our SF wedding (see Picture! Picture! Picture!). Well, as creatures of habit and nostalgia, we decided to go back to the same place for our August anniversary too. Once again, it was perfect. The weather was a cool 73⋅F, the gardens gorgeous, and the food simply impeccable.

Everything went like clockwork, and we chose the wine pairing to go with our three-course meal again. The sommelier, Max, did a remarkable job once again and paired each dish with a nice wine. What I liked was that he chose wines that I had not heard about, but what surprised me was that they were mostly sweet! Gerwurztraminers and Rieslings! And an Austrian wine I had not heard of but whose name just rolls off the tongue - the Grunerveltliner. As we analyzed why the sweet wines went so well with our beef carpaccio with pesto creme, Charming's foie gras with English ginger cake, my lobster tortellini with lime and vanilla dressing, we realized it was because every dish had a good dose of .... sugar. Don't worry, I am not complaining (see post on sugar). Just observing. Anyway, with each glass of wine, I found it harder and harder to remember the names and vintages, and Max was kind enough to write them down for us and I have attached it here for you ... and me. I am not very good at filing paper away.

Look at the list. Who in today's fast paced lap-top tapping world writes like that? That writing is more from times past... In any case, it's going to keep us going back to the Fearrington for future anniversaries.

Cinnamon