Ah the metric system, it still occasionally trips me up. According to the geniuses at Wikipedia, “The United States is the only industrialized country that does not use the metric system as its official system of measurement.” Which makes it oh so much fun when one of us americans moves overseas and tries to remember all those conversions learned (and long since forgotten) in 5th grade.
I spent my first few months in Germany just trying to figure out how to buy food. A Saturday morning trip to my local market was quite an adventure. I would point to some cheese and hold my fingers close together to indicate that I only wanted a little piece. I would try to buy sliced ham and find myself speechless when asked how much I wanted. Uh, no idea. Enough for two. 100 grams? How much is that?
5+ years later I’ve mostly got it figured out, but then I still find myself tripping up at the most random times. For example, when I sent my husband to the store to buy 2 kilograms of potatoes for thanksgiving instead of 2 pounds. If your own conversions are a little rusty, that’s 4 pounds of potatoes… for a dinner party of 8!
All of which explains why we finally managed to use up the last of those potatoes this week. They turned out be a great side for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Chicken, Apples, and Cream a la Normande. This is a delicious dish made with, well, chicken, apples, and cream as the title so clearly suggests. I wasn’t really convinced by the addition of mushrooms, or maybe I just added too many. But otherwise this was a great dish which earned two thumbs up in my household.
one expat's life 
Word. Maybe by the time I leave Naples I’ll know how to order…something. I’m a fan of the fingers-indicating-a-small-piece-of-cheese maneuver as I babble, “picolo, picolo.” I don’t know what army they’re trying to feed with the wedges of cheese they try to sell me. As you said, it’s always an adventure. Your dinner looks great! (especially the potatoes! mmmm). I forgot to cook it this week. I’ll try for tomorrow night.
After three years in Japan, I still don’t think I ever got the metric system figured out. I do think it’s a better system – it makes perfect sense once you learn it! But I’ve always been terrible with measurements. I don’t think my mind works that way. Anyway, you ended up with a perfectly lovely dish, and the potatoes sound like they rounded it out nicely! Lovely job!
Kudos for using up your potatoes!
You can never put too many mushrooms and metric… I remember them teaching it to us in grade school. It made so much sense to be based in 10, but they never changed anything. Logic did not win.
I’m with Diane…the more mushrooms, the better! I’m glad the potatoes are finally gone, but they paired beautifully with this dish!
I think the only way to figure it out is immersion. I used to travel to Canada every week for a year and thought I’d work it out by the end. I did OK on distance, volume, and weight, but never could master the temperature. Your meal looks delicious.
It looks delicious. We also loved this one and I will be making it often. Have a great weekend!
Oh my. Your story about the metric system had me laughing. And we Americans think our system is so simple!
We loved this fabulous chicken as well, but I served it with pancetta green beans.
Such pretty presentation. Good for you to get your potatoes used, and you are right, they were a good side for this recipe. I still have bags of potatoes to use…don’t know what Hubby was thinking except they were only something like 79 cents for 10 pounds so he must have thought we needed a year’s supply. Oh well, this is a good recipe and tastes like I worked hard, but thankfully it was quick and easy. And good for you to live outside America and get things figured out…my brain would not like to change.
Even in Canada, we still have some foibles around Imperial and metric. So many recipes aren’t in metric, especially older ones.
Fortunately, I deal with the metric system every day @ work, so I am pretty good when it comes to weight. Volumes – I am hopeless. Distance – I know that 5K = 3.2 miles and I make guesses on everything else based on that 🙂
I admire your brave spirit!
By now I almost know the conversions by heart, especially the cup measures! That is a wonderful meal you put together!
Your potatoes look like a perfect accompaniment for this dish. I think I will have to give it another try with some tweaks…just fell flat for me. I would have such a hard time switching to metrics…however, my husband keeps telling me it makes perfect sense for the US to switch over. Great looking meal, Rose!!
I feel your pain with the conversions. When I am in France, I never get it right. Krissy is dealing with more potatoes that she wants also. Something about her husband, potatoes on sale, and his buying up wayyyy to many as a surprise for her. (Whoops, I just see that she told you that.) Your meal looks delicious with the broccoli and the potatoes as accompaniments. I only cooked 3 chicken breasts and then doubled down on the mushrooms and apples, which I enjoyed. No veggies – which would have been a great addition but I was hungry and didn’t bother. Wish I’d been at your house.
Rose, your Norman chicken looks so wonderful the way you presented it – love the pretty plates and bowls- makes this dish really look even more delicious – broccoli was probably quite delicious with this recipe and potatoes as well. It all looks fabulous!
I would be absolute crap at the conversions. The only thing I’m confident of is that 5k is around 3.2 miles. Other than that, I’m lost. Your meal looks divine!
Your meal looks delicious – and I adore your blue and white napkins.