What's for dinner?

Today’s market haul

Mint

Coriander

Chinese greens

Green onions

Eggplant

Fennel

Chard

Heirloom tomatoes

Mixed mini-tomatoes

Wild mushrooms

Melon

Peaches

Raspberries

Eggs

Three rounds of goat cheese

Already in the refrigerator/On the shelf

Cauliflower

Green beans

Lettuce

Carrots

Green peppers

Garlic

Lemon

Dried beans

Half a cabbage

Still to buy at the grocery store

Milk

Yogurt

Wine

A friend of mine, also on sabbatical here in Southern France, asked me what we were eating.  She said that her family was getting tired of bread, cheese and the vegetables around.  It has really got me thinking, what do we eat here?  Is it healthy?  Am I changing my cooking habits? 

We tend to buy a baguette 4-5 times a week, either regular, or cerraine (cereal).  So there is a good deal of bread and cheese going on, especially with the yummy cheese vendors in the market.  And the olive vendors have so much selection that we definitely shop there about once a week.  Micah loves the saucisson, so we get those about once a week as well. 

We also have an organic store, literally right around the corner, which apparently opened up right before we moved in.  I have to admit that it allows me to cook somewhat in the same way as I did in Toronto: tofu, quinoa, and all the bulk beans and grain that I could desire, except what I buy at the market.  And it is close enough, with no street crossings, that we can send the older boys down to the store to “practice their French!”

So, what are we eating?  Yesterday for breakfast: oatmeal with a bit of honey (and the honey here is SO good!).  Yesterday for lunch: A picnic with our friends of marinated tofu sandwiches with a pistou spread, saucisson, melon, peaches, cheese and some sliced veggies.  Last night for dinner:  noodles with a tomato sauce, cabbage salad, sliced veggies.  Less veggie-intensive than normal because we got home late.  Did I mention that I sprouted my basil from the market and planted it in the dead plant’s soil?  It is growing proudly on my kitchen counter, soon to be pruned for another sauce! 

Anyways, am I cooking differently than in Toronto?  Slightly, because I am getting my food much more frequently and I am choosing my vegetables as opposed to working with the food basket.  It allows me to meet everyone’s requests much more easily.  Julian wanted artichokes last week, Noah loves berries, Micah is all over the peaches.  And Ed, unfortunately, wants greens.  Wait another month, I told him – it is not the right season! 

We are eating a bunch of the summer veggies, but I am trying really hard to make sure that we do not only eat starches and cheese.  I love it when we do, but our bodies do not necessarily thank us when we do this too often!

The one tricky thing is eating with others, or eating out. It is easiest to make a pasta or pizza for a vegetarian, but one friend did make a frittata. And another made a Provencal pistou, a vegetable and bean soup.  I find that eating out is mostly the same.  We just are not eating out as much here, partly because of the prices, partly because it seems slightly less child-friendly, and partly just because we don’t even know where to go! 

Lunch today I will make a big salad with the leftover baguette from yesterday’s picnic and some of the goat cheese from the market this morning.  Dinner tonight I will cook up some lentils, roast the cauliflower with some of the spices I bought at the market, and probably the fennel as well and serve it over rice or quinoa.  Cut-up crunchy veggies will round out the meal.  And I am sure that the fruit that I bought today, the raspberries, melon and peaches will be all but gone by morning.

So, in short, I think I am not yet bored with our cooking and eating experiences here.  Far from it.  I think I am actually reveling in the challenge, and appreciating the flavours of the freshest of the fresh each time.  A melon is just a melon if you eat it that way, but a melon is a thing of tasty beauty if it is just picked, chosen for you by the farmer and savoured slowly, enjoying each sunny morsel as it goes in.  Yum to summer foods in Provence!