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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Welcome to La Cocotte! The tastiest bookshop in Paris. Based in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on rue Paul Bert we add another flavour to the already quite ‘gourmande’ street. Le Temps au temps, Unico (I had a delicious dinner there this week), Bistro Paul Bert…are just a few of the excellent restaurants on the same street.

La Cocotte [kɔkɔt] 1 nf A cute, slightly cheeky combination of a bookshop, a boutique for unique household objects and a tea salon.

The shelves are laden with various different books from all the big French names: Escoffier, Ducasse, Bocuse, Sophie… to the more unusual titles (Food manga anyone?) you’re find it here. You’re also find beautiful books on design/photography/architecture, fiction…the list goes on. Each book always ‘taste’ related though.

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After my Monday night out at Djoon, where I made a fool of myself dancing (dancing to house music is all about ‘jumping around, moving your feet’ rather than ‘shaking your arse’ hip hop style) I felt quite peckish.

I’m somewhere in the photo, I think I’m behind the girl waving her hand in the air, well my friends are.

Unlike London or New York it’s pretty hard to come by any sort of fast food in Paris. (I’m sorry, but no matter how ‘gourmande’ you are, after a night out clubbing there’s only one type of food that hits the spot and it’s not the healthy kind).

So I had to resort to what I had leftover in the fridge. I’m rather ashamed to admit that my fridge was looking pretty sad with the only half decent contents being some eggs (what would I do without them), spinach (I Spinach. Eat your heart out, Popeye!), cheese, onion and a lonely looking potato. So hey presto @ 3 in the morning I whipped up this.

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So the sunshine has been out in Paris for what seems forever. Rain and clouds are a long distant memory. What better way of celebrating the sunshine than with a simple sunny Granita.

On a more serious note I thought it would also be great to participate in ‘A Taste for yellow‘ food blogger event in aid of Lance Armstrong’s cancer foundation. Cancer affects everyone these days in some form, it knows no boundaries when it comes to age, sex or race.

Barbara from Winosandfoodies (a great little blog gem from downunder in NZ) is hosting it. Check out the round up on ‘Livestrong day’ on the May 16th.

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Something (or someone) eating you? Fed up of letting your problems eat away at you? Well here’s my solution: Biscuit poppets.

Poppets are an old English folk version of voodoo dolls. The idea is that you write the problem on the biscuit poppet and consume. And hey presto, your problem has vanished.

So instead of your problem eat away at you, you eat away the problem.

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So it’s party time. I’m off to some friends tonight for an apperitif and then I will be busting some serious moves (to my friends horror) on the dance floor at our regular bar. To kick the night off to a good start. I’ve decided to make some champagne lychee jellies. These little mouthfuls have a nice surprise in the middle, namely ‘Champagne jelly’. You can eat as many as you like without the guilt feeling. It’s fruit, isn’t it ? See for health benefits. Have a super New year’s eve ! See you’re all next year.

Champagne lychee jellies

3 gelatine leaves
125g sugar
290ml Champagne
2 tins of good quality lychees
Fresh lychees for decoration optional
3 or 4 ice cube trays

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes or until softened. Meanwhile, heat 125ml of water and the sugar in a medium saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Meanwhile drain lychees of juice. Place one lychee in each ice cube compartment, hole up.
Squeeze out any water from the gelatine leaves and add the leaves to the sugar syrup. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Stir in the Champagne, then pour into trays. Leave to set for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove litchis from tray. Clean off excess jelly around outside. Top up holes with the excess jelly, if necessary.