Greece

My foray into the cradle of Western civilization didn't start out so auspiciously. When I arrived in Athens on May 11, the Greeks were in the midst of a full-blown strike -- over what, no one could tell us -- and I have to say, it was ten times crazier than anything I ever saw in France (or Berkeley). People were flooding the streets, shouting and waving flags and incomprehensible signs (being in Greece gave me a small taste of what it must be like to be illiterate). At one point we almost had to dodge the rocks and full water bottles being flung at the riot police. The metro was closed and so was the archeological museum, and when tear gas began to permeate the air, stinging our noses and eyes, we had no choice but to make for the hostel just to get out of the mess.

It got better, though. Though the city of Athens itself is kind of a concrete jungle, standing atop the Acropolis and looking through the sky-windows of the Parthenon isn't really an experience you can replicate anywhere else.


And though walking amidst milennia-old ruins and beholding the the birthplace of democracy before you can certainly make you feel insignificant, the beauty and grandeur of it all is enough to inspire you to go and do something great.



The Greek islands of Hydra and Poros weren't bad, either.





And finally, the food.

Souvlaki pork and the best potatoes I've ever had.



Grilled octopus tentacle.

Olives from Kalamata.


A Greek salad. Check out that brick of feta cheese.

Today I bought four cookbooks

Okay okay I know that's excessive. But. I wanted one cookbook to have some good things to eat while I'm here, and there's this second-hand bookstore at the port right where I get off the boat, and everything's on sale, and I was looking at the cookbooks, and I was hungry...and I ended up buying four cookbooks and a stack of recipe postcards.

But listen. I am seriously excited about these books.

One is entitled Cuisine des Terroirs de France, a thin booklet with old-fashioned super condensed recipes from all the "lands of France".

Then this brightly colored spiral-bound cookbook called j'aime et je cuisine la figue caught my eye. It's a collection of recipes all incorporating figs, including for example "carpaccio de figues à la mozzarella" and "pain perdu brioché et figues panées au sésame". It was part of a series of cookbooks, all dedicated to one ingredient, like tomatoes, lemons, or tea. The tea one was tempting, but each recipe called for a different type of tea. This was the only ingredient where I could imagine myself being, "I love figs so much but I bought way too many, now what should I do?" Okay and the pictures are pretty.

And then I was just on a role. So I saw La Cuisine des Provençaux and I was like, what the heck, I'm proud of living en Provence, I might as well celebrate by mastering the cuisine of this region. I love it because there's an intro explaining the history and diversity of dishes from this area, and each recipe has little notes on where the plate comes from, or advice on pairings etc.

Finally, I was walking to the check-out counter, and was confronted with section of new arrivals. And what should one of them be but Boutiques Gourmandes à Paris. Yes, a book listing all the boulangers, épiciers, bouchers, pâtissiers, and fromagers of Paris by arrondissement, and how to find them, plus some recipes as well. How could I not? I mean, sure, I don't live in Paris, but I can dream, can't I?

I only spent 16 euro, and they're all skinny and not that heavy, so it's justifiable, right? Right?

Saint Tropez + Lunar New Year

Yesterday I went to Saint Tropez. It’s where all the stars go to hang out in summer, although right now it looks like all other Rivièra towns plus some really high-end clothes shops, minus a lot of useful things like boulangeries. But it was really nice to get away from Toulon.

Saint Tropez

More importantly, I made wontons Friday night. There is one other asian assistant in Toulon, and he is actually from San Jose. Well, we decided to get together to make an Asian food feast for some of our friends, to celebrate the Lunar New Year. I made wontons and a cabbage stir-fry. He made fried rice (I discovered that the secret is fish sauce), and this delicious delicious Vietnamese dessert made from tapioca, bananas, and coconut milk.

Some adventures: There was no microwave so to defrost the spinach I put a bowl in boiling water and covered the pot for a while. As I was wrapping the wontons, I would switch back and forth between worrying I wouldn’t have enough peels to worrying I wouldn’t have enough stuffing, and therefore all the wontons varied greatly in size. On the bright side, I succeeded in making the stuffing taste good for the first time!

Cong You Bing

Last week I made onion pancakes with my friend D, an Italian assistant who lives in the town where I teach. It was my second attempt, and this time I actually looked up a recipe (turns out they are made from dough, not batter! Oops).

Pretty successful, I would say! Considering I used a roll of aluminum as a rolling pin. Next time I would make sure to only use the green part of the green onion, so that I can roll out the dough thinner and not worry about the bits of onion sticking out and breaking the pastry. And less salt. In general I need to become better at realizing how salty salt is.

I also made questionable borscht this week, because I am still trying to get rid of a head of red cabbage I bought like two weeks ago. All I can say about my borscht though, is that it turns out it is not poisonous.