Eats

Pea-mint pesto with spaghetti.

Channa masala and chapattis.

Alphonso mangoes. Although we didn't make it in time to buy a box from one of the grocery stores near Gare du Nord, a friend from India was kind enough to share a few that were shipped to her from Bombay! Yes, these mangoes are that good.

Last-minute picnic. We didn't have much at home that day but enough for a few sandwiches. Jambon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Homemade ricotta gnocchi using the same recipe I used before.

Masala omlette with onions, red and green peppers, tomatoes, chillies, and fresh corriander. With crusty baguette and Bordier butter, naturally.

Parsley pesto rice pilaf with peas, sardines, and sauteed veggies.

Lemon bars using this recipe. Very, very good but not the best.

Roasted peppers with capers and mozzarella also from Smitten Kitchen.

Almond flounder meunière (except it wasn't flounder; the fish monger recommended something else) with a side of braised fennel; from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

Treats from Aux Merveilleux de Fred. Check out David's review here.

Refashion

For several years now, I have been wanting to refashion one of my husband's shirts into a dress for me. I have a small pile of his shirts that have either shrunk in the wash or that never fit him well to begin with, slowly accumulating in India and the US. Since storage space is notably scarce in our rented Parisian apartment, there really is no room for piles of anything. So I finally gave it a go, taking inspiration from Antoinette and her clever refashions.

I was working with a large-tall Eddie Bauer shirt, so I had quite a bit of fabric to work with. I started with ripping out the collar and the shirt pocket. I initially wanted to keep the collar stand but it was much too large, and it had to go. After I cut along the side seams on the body and sleeves, I converted the box pleat on the shirt back to gathers.

I used a self-drafted pattern to cut out the shirt fronts and back, and the sleeves. The sleeves are my favourite part!

I also sewed the original pocket back on the right front of the dress.

I added small gathers to the shoulders, which you can't see very well in these photos, and I left the back of the dress longer than the front (inspired by Wiksten's Lissa dress).

I finished the entire dress with french seams, and I had enough fabric left over to make bias tape, which I used to finish the sleeves and neck. I wore it the day to wander around Paris!

Thanks to my husband for taking all the photos of me in my new, refashioned dress.

Fête de la Musique

The first official day of summer started off rather gray and cloudy but the sun made a brief appearance before the day was up. We spent the evening wandering about the city and listening to music. Without a pucca plan, we were able to stop at street corners, in front of cafés and mairies, and at various parks to listen to whatever caught our fancy. We returned home with exhausted feet, tired and weary but we had a good time! Here are a few photos from the evening:

World Wednesdays: Vientiane food edition

We enjoyed our first meal in Laos on the outskirts of Vientiane. It was a Sunday and most of the preferred noodle shops were closed, but we eventually found a bowl of steaming hot noodle soup.

This photo takes me right back - I remember perspiring from eating too many chilies, and worrying about the water used to wash the fresh herbs. I remember chasing away flies with a flick of my wrist and trying not to step on the matted dog under our table. I remember children lazing in hammocks and chicken scratching the dry dirt. I remember vividly, the excitement from being in a new place.

Thum muk hoong, Lao papaya salad. Bursting with flavour and fiery hot (by far the spiciest thing I ate on that trip). The Thai version, som tam, is much sweeter than the Lao version.

My first taste of dragon fruit, a perfect respite to all the spice.

Grilled fish along the banks of the Mekong.

We were also lucky to be part of a baci ceremony, where we got to try some expertly prepared traditional Lao dishes by our friend's family. A few food photos from the ceremony:

The spread included,

beef laap,

a delicious soup (that I can't remember the name of),

fresh vegetables and herbs, and sticky rice (that I don't have a picture of).

Of course, there were crates of warm Beerlao to wash down all of this delicious food.

The aftermath.

Thanks for indulging me as I reminisce on this especially grey day in Paris.

Eats

Croissant sandwich with comté and thyme roasted mushrooms and shallots, with a small salad.

Sautéed onions, mushrooms and broccoli with lots of garlic. I can't remember what I did with them once cooked!

Homemade roasted pumpkin gnocchi in a brown butter sage sauce, with a side of caramelised leeks.

We bought okra from one of the Indian grocery stores near Gare du Nord to make a delicious bhendi masala.

Masoor dal to go with the bhendi masala.

My first attempt at homemade yeasted doughnuts turned out rather well. Except our apartment smelt a little like a diner after all the frying, and I cut the holes a little too large! I used this recipe.

A box of Arnaud Larher chocolates to nibble on.

Crusty baguette with ripe camembert, tart apples, and a grainy mustard-balsamic spread.

Our weekly homemade pizza in the oven. My preference is for a slow-rise pizza dough but this time I tried Jamie Oliver's recipe. Tasty but a little bread-like. Also, I miss my pizza stone.

Spagetti with roasted eggplant and mushrooms in a basil and tomato sauce with buffalo mozzarella.

Chocolate ganache custard tart from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert. Easy and fantastic!

A lemon-looking clementine that we found lurking in the piles of clementines at the market this weekend.

World Wednesdays: Vientiane, Laos

Last year at this time we were in Laos. Vientiane, the capital city felt miles away from the crowds of India. We rode bicycles in the cool of the mornings, sought shelter in the shaded temples as the day warmed, and watched the sun set over the Mekong while sipping on Beerlao. I took several hundred photos on our trip as we travelled north through the country, and then beyond. Here are a few pictures from Vientiane:

If you are interested, I'll be adding more photos here as I edit them.