In a French Kitchen--Gâteau aux Noix

{Gâteau aux Noix}

The other day I asked Mme Bonne Amie  if she would share a favorite family recipe with all of us.

I wanted to show you around her kitchen and see what wonderful thing she would make for us; she's a notoriously fabulous cook. Plus, we do a language exchange every week and we thought this would be a fun thing to do together.

{Ingredients and Recette}

This recipe makes her father-in-law's favorite cake and though it calls for a sugary, coffee-scented icing, she prefers to skip the sweetness of that and serves it plain.

I added the sprinkling of powdered sugar. I just couldn't help myself.

When we were finished she sent me home with the whole cake, still warm from the oven, as a reward for my expert egg white folding skills. This was yesterday. It's all gone now.

{ma belle amie}

I always knew to fold gently to keep from deflating all the hard won fluff but I never knew it had to be all in the same direction.
Did you?

{fresh from the oven}

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you try it and like it. It's not too sweet and is the perfect partner to a cup of milky tea.
See how I mix my cultures?

{surprise, surprise. this guy liked it!}

Gâteau aux Noix, Walnut Cake


180g* chopped walnuts
100g flour (1 cup)
4 egg whites
175g butter, softened
175g sugar


Butter and flour a loaf pan. 
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.


Cream butter and sugar in one bowl. 
In another bowl, mix the flour and chopped walnuts. It's best if you chop the majority of them finely and leave some in bigger pieces to add texture to the cake.


Add mixed flour and nuts into the butter and sugar mixture by spoonful, mixing after each one.


Beat the egg whites until firm. Mme Bonne Amie told me that Frenchies add a pinch of salt to make them stiffen faster.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites (neige) one spoonful at at time and only in one direction. 


Pour into the prepared cake tin and put in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Check after 30 to be on the safe side. The recipe calls for 30 but our cake took 40 minutes to be completely cooked. 
Hopefully, you'll get that big, lovely crack down the middle. 





*I didn't convert the measurements on this recipe because they don't exactly work out. You should use a scale if you have one or convert if you're better at math than me. 
122g of chopped walnuts equals 1 cup
175g of butter is 35g shy of 2 sticks
175g sugar is around 1 3/4 cup sugar
 

Real Things French Men Say

This may turn out to be a theme because as I begin to understand the things that are being said to me it looks like there's something funny, odd, bizarre and sometimes slightly risque nearly every day.
Far be it from me to deprive you of these gems. I'm a sharer. It's what I do.

I went to my local boulangerie this morning because I had a craving for my favorite pastry. They sometimes have it and they sometimes don't so that makes it even more special.

In France they've a saying for a weakness, a soft spot, a craving that always beats you; it's called a pêche-mignon. Mine is a croissant aux amandes and it's a butter croissant filled with almond paste and covered with flakes of toasted almonds and a generous dusting of powdered sugar on top. It is delicious. And one of those treats you allow yourself every once in a while. We call these 'sometimes foods' around here.

{I only ate half}

This morning was a sometimes kinda morning and I went in search of my pêche-mignon.

As I ordered there was an older man there in his jogging gear ordering a baguette or some such thing of the healthier baked goods variety. My excitement at finding the rare and extraordinary croissant aux amandes must have been obvious because he took notice and felt it necessary to comment saying, 'You will get fat. Vous allez grossir.' My favorite boulangerie lady was there and stepped up in my defense saying, 'She runs so she will be okay'.
To which he excitedly continued to me, 'Oh, you run like me? It's good. It's necessary to keep your figure.' His figure could have used some more running.

I like it that she took up for me. I like it that she knows it's my favorite pastry and that I only rarely ever get it. I like it that she smiles and waves when she sees me jogging by on a Saturday morning.

{yummy almonds}

As for Monsieur Courrir, don't you think it's funny to tell a complete stranger they're going to get fat from eating a pastry? Does this help to explain the 'French women don't get fat' legend?
What do you think?

Millau Bridge--Tallest in the World

{Millau Viaduct facing South}

When there's a big gorge that causes traffic from Spain to Paris to crawl through a small village, what do you do?
You build a bridge, that's what. And you know how the French love to build a bridge.

The Millau bridge is a work of stunning engineering, daunting in scale and height, stretching across the Tarn river valley and saving the village of Millau from all that traffic from Paris to Montpellier and beyond to Spain.
At its highest point this cable-stayed bridge reaches to 1125 feet high from the base. It's said to be a reflection of the structural beauty of the Eiffel Tower in the south of France.

{view from the top}

On site work began on 14 December 2001 and the finished bridge opened to its first traffic almost exactly three years later on 16 December 2004.

There is a rest-stop and visitors center where you can stop and learn about the construction of the bridge as well buy and learn about local products. There's a small restaurant open in high season and the ubiquitous French drinks machine dispensing chocolat chaud, coffee and soup.

{kids, chocolat chaud and a big bug at the visitors center}

You can follow a walking path up to the side of the bridge for a closer look.

{on the way to the lookout}

We took a picnic and stopped off at one of the tables to have lunch after the short hike and incredibly vertigo inducing view. 

{looks like they're on the edge doesn't it?}

P-Daddy and I started off on the wrong foot and were irritable with each other as we drove over the first time but by the time we'd hiked and oohed and picnicked and swung back around to pay the 6 euro toll for a second time, we'd found our way back around to each other too.
Picnics and bridges can do that for you.

{turning my back on a make up photo, harumph!}

They close the bridge for footraces, unusual for a non-pedestrian bridge of such scale, each year.
This year's race is on 12 May and is 23.7 kilometers, roughly a half-marathon by my estimation. Registration is open and by internet only if you're interested. It would be magnificent to 'run between sky and land'. Any takers?