Shoebox no more

Now that the shoebox-sized apartment is no longer our home, it seems only appropriate to move the blog too. Come join me here?

23-25 March

25 March: Blue cheese sandwich, pistachio nuts, chocolate

Rather than buying it at the station, I made my sandwich from supermarket ingredients. Then I celebrated my frugality with lots of dark chocolate with almonds.

24 March: Salade d’endives, poulet fermier roti at La Gare

Splashing out on a Martini Americano on my Parisian night out. Cue bright red ears and overexcited babble. But M graciously said nothing and I had a grand time dissecting life, love and a chicken leg.

23 March: Sausage-leek roll, peanuts

I am trying to work up the courage to bake some bread (leaden, underbaked and oddly fishy attempts in the past have inspired no confidence) and thought I would start with sausages wrapped in bread dough. Similar, but not nearly as intimidating because most things taste good wrapped around sausage. And the leek-sausage rolls from a year-old Delicious magazine delivered. Easy to do, even easier to eat.

The plan, 21-27 March

This week, we’ll be eating:

Saturday

Kimchi fried rice

Sunday

Honey-mustard chicken wings, broccoli salad, bread and cheese

Monday

Sausage rolls, winterpostelein salad

Tuesday

Dinner out in Paris

Wednesday

Sandwich on the train

Thursday

Thai curry with sticky rice

Friday

Salmon and braised zucchini with mint and lemon

18-22 March

22 March: Honey-mustard chicken wings, broccoli salad, bread and cheesecheesecheese

Broccoli salad, chicken wings and (let’s be honest, mostly) bread, cheese and garlic butter kept us (5 children, 4 adults) entertained through dinner time. Whether much of it made it inside was wildly variable.

21 March:Kimchi fried rice

First, the kimchi bubbled over, straight through the clasp closure of its jar. Then it exploded all over the kitchen and up my sleeve when I opened the clasp. And then the husband spent 24 hours ousting the smell from the kitchen. But I would not be deterred and stirred a few large handfuls of the stinky, fermented cabbage through our dinner. Yum. (Despite appearances, the baby did not share in the spicy stuff. Her muck from a jar just looks remarkably similar in the picture.)

20 March: Pasta rosa with shrimp, fennel salad

The baby was zonked out by 19.30hrs, so we had a quiet dinner with pasta from Nigellissima. With “quiet” being the operative word, because Friday nights are not our most energetic. these days.

19 March: Pizza al taglio at Fucina

Léa’s last day at her first daycare, and we marked the occassion with delicious pizza slices and somewhat underseasoned soup (and a pile of toys to explore) at Fucina.

18 March: Pasta with tomato sauce and sardines

Work got in the way of buying fish and prepping burgers on my lunch break, so improvisation it was. This usually means pasta with tomato sauce, and tonight was no different. But my bad-ass self added sardines and olives, so you know. Innovation.

17 March: Chinese noodle salad with roasted eggplant

The parents stayed to share noodle salad with us, and the baby had a grand time bossing her grandma around. Until we decided we’d better put her to bed before she keeled over. This part of the evening was not so popular. After much to do getting her into the crib (where she promptly conked out), we had chocolate chip cookies to soothe the nerves frazzled by all the baby wailing.