Farmer's markets are back!

Huge weekly markets have been one of the things I have been missing a lot since I arrived to the US. In France, they take place all year round. Therefore, I was very happy today to be able to go to the market again. There were plenty of strawberries, freshly picked. And, and... I tried a goat cheese which is delicious: they sell several sorts, with pepper, with basil and garlic or marinated with herbs in olive oil. All of them are very good. Enjoy them on a slice of good French or Italian bread, with, of course, a glass of red wine.

Simply pleasure!

Cooking Rendez-vous aprons for sale

Aren't they sweet? Yes, of course, both my kids... and the Cooking Rendez-vous aprons!

I just received my second order, ready to sell. The first one has been used for the classes. I can tell you, the quality is great: made in the US, easy to clean and iron with the spoons and the logo embroidered. Aprons for adults are available at $35 each and the kid size is $30 each. If you're interested just send an e-mail to marie@cookingrendezvous.com with your names and address, the number of aprons and sizes you would like. We will send you a paypal invoice and send your order to your personal address.

I love crostinis, do you?

When the time comes to welcome friends for barbecues, I like to share with them simple appetizers with a glass of wine. Here are the last ones I made:

- Mix together 1/2 lb of antipasto pitted olives, with 4 anchovies and a bit of lemon juice and olive oil. Spread this tapenade on crostinis and put on top half a cherry tomato.

- Spread on a crostini a tablespoon of ratatouille and put on top a little piece of mozzarella di buffala

- Spread on a crostini a little bit of pistou and then baked tomatoes, and a piece of mozzarella di buffala.

Mix them on a big plate with all the different colors. Enjoy!

A very nice article in Arlington patch

We were very happy to welcome Leah, a journalist from Arlington patch, for one of last weeks' classes. The theme was Spring and Summer vegetables and we were cooking our ratatouille, when Leah arrived to take pictures. The atmosphere was nice and warm and Leah was asking questions and talking with our customers. So nice!

Then, her picture were great, she wrote a very nice article in Arlington patch. Thank you Leah! You're welcome any time.

http://arlington.patch.com/articles/cooking-rendezvous

Baked tilapia filets on the deck for lunch

I love Tilapia, its subtle taste and firm and smooth texture. You can make so many recipes with it.

One of the simple ideas is to bake the filets for 10 min in the oven (400F): just put each filet on a square 15 in piece of foil (or parchment paper). Season with raw salt, pepper, lemon juice, one tablespoon of olive oil, a little piece of butter and 5 olives. Close the foil or the parchment paper in order to make what we call in French a "papillote", which means the fish will cook with its own steam inside the foil. Serve this filets with boiled fingerling potatoes, fried asparagus and pistou. Enjoy!

A great dinner with eggs in 10 min?

Oeufs cocotte: this is a very French one, indeed!

A very simple idea: pour an egg in a ramekin, add 2 tablespoon of heavy cream, salt and pepper and whatever additional ingredient you have left in your fridge: I love to add 2 tbsp of cooked mushrooms, or 1 tbsp of parmiggiano or 1 tbsp of spinach or 5 pitted olives and slices of dried tomatoes or slices of ham. Cook them in the oven for 8 min with the ramekins put in a pan filled with warm water (you have to preheat the oven for 15min at 400F with the pan filled with 2 inches of water so that the water is really warm when you put the ramekin in it).

You know it is cooked when the white is white and not transparent any more but be carefull not to overcook them. Enjoy them with green salad and thin slices of French baguette.

My Mom used to do that when she was running short of ideas for dinner and we loved it. I used to prefer them plain with a lot of bread but, please don't tell my kids. Yummy!

Your comments are welcome...

New themes for classes for Spring and Summer

Three new themes are now available, blooming like flowers in my yard:

- Spring and Summer vegetables with very nice recipes to bring home of Ratatouille and Chicken Crumble and a Swiss Chard and Salmon gratin. I finalized them last week and it has been a big success in my family. You would enjoy during the class a great stew of Asparagus with Olives and Bacon.

- The Onion, two delicious recipes to bring home: Pork Filet Mignon Orloff Style, which is a very old recipe, adding cheese and bacon to the Filet Mignon and a Shrimp and Tilapia Curry. If you like onions, you'll love the pissaladiere we'll taste during the class, again a traditional French recipe I adapted with onions, tomatoes and anchovies.

- Spring and Summer fruits, with two recipes to bring home for a whole dinner, an Apricot on Almond Paste Tart and a Chicken Tagine with Plums. The recipe for your meal with us, will be Raspberry Crumble. Of course, a savory treat will be served before.

If this is enough mouth watering and you feel like booking a class... http://www.cookingrendezvous.com/classes/bookRDV.php