Hello! Two thousand and thirteen is gradually making itself at home in our little corner of Paris and I feel the same mix of excitement for the fresh start and bafflement that it could cruise along to almost mid-January already that I’m sure everyone is feeling. So many ideas and thoughts are spinning around and I’m hoping to be able to grab onto as many as I can and love every minute of this year. The end of twenty twelve throw me for a loop with two big jobs that I pushed everything else aside to focus on. It carried through the holidays and left me feeling frustrated to not be able to really soak up the season but I wrapped up that chapter last week and now I can come back to this space and work on a better plan to keep my momentum through both busy and slow. I’ve missed it here!
So where better to start than the marché? This past weekend was our second trip there of the new year and almost all the stands are back in their reserved spots, a full landscape after the previous weeks’ patchy scene of empty spaces where sellers were on vacation. The new year is fully here.
We’ve been a bit obsessed with Brussels sprouts and they have been popping up in almost all of our weekend warm salads for lunches. At the marché, they often top up the brown paper bag of sprouts with a bit more than you asked for. “C’est trop?” Too much? they ask. “Non.” we say, Anyway, it won’t go to waste! Things really aren’t that different in the winter than they are in the summer, it turns out.
– Arianne apples
– salmon
– potimarron / red kuri squash
– orange, yellow, and purple carrots
– a little lemon
– radicchio
– celery
– pears
– leeks
– endives
-Brussels sprouts
– green cabbage
– parsely
– arugula
– thyme
– sage
– potatoes
– farmhouse bread
Which will be used for:
Cabbage & Vegetable Soup with Parmesan toasts – Salmon with Soba Noodles and Mirin Dressing – Potimarron, Pancetta, and Sage Risotto
~
And just a couple little glimpses of Belgium in the winter. We did manage to escape Paris for a short holiday with family in Belgium. I had to bring my work with me but one short walk through the garden was, of course, an obligation. My Maine heart can never get over the vivid green of winter in the middle of Europe!
xo,
A.
egg & dart 
Salmon is on my menu this week as well! I am making mine with a sweet and spicy glaze using Seville orange marmalade. Super excited! 🙂
Mmmm – sounds amazing! How was it? Do you like to serve it with anything in particular?
I did salmon last night, broiled with a dip of thousand island fat free dressing laced with horsradish to spice it up…YUM. I am however a “brussel sprout virgin”…I am trying them tonight, roasted with artichoke hearts and shaved
parmesan.
That sounds like a great way to have some ‘sprouts’! How did you like them? I have a couple great ways of doing them that you might like too. Maybe a brussel sprout post is in order 🙂
Definitely! Do a Brussel Sprout post. I liked them cause roasting them gave them a nutty flavor and the parm chesse added to that. The last two weeks I’ve been expertimenting with vegetables I either never tried or use so rarely I forget about them. Uncle Stephen and I are trying to lose weight and consequentally dumped the carbs (I’m missing baked potatoes like crazy) limited the proteins to fish and chicken (I could also kill for a big fat juicy burger smothered in cheese and french fries). Tomorrow I’m trying your Greek Salad with marinated feta!
Dont worry, New England is vividly green this season. There isn’t any snow to miss.
Oh well, miss it anyway! :p xo
What a beautiful patchwork of colour! I’ve just returned from winter in Europe & I miss it already 😦
I love laying the colors out like that. 🙂 I can’t wait to read your post on your trip to Wales – I’ve always wanted to visit!
I really hope you do someday, it’s a gem that’s relatively undiscovered. Being that my blog is food themed, most of the photos I posted are along those lines but I took so many landscape shots to try and capture both its grandeur and small charms… gosh, it is just such a stunning corner of the world!