one expat's life

I’m back from my trip to the States and looking forward to a nice relaxing day of laundry and catching up with my fellow Doristas. There is nothing else on the agenda for today. Frankly, after this past trip, I desperately need a recovery day. My time in the US was wonderful and I enjoyed catching up with friends and family. My time spent trying to get there and back was painful to say the least. There were so many issues and delays that I could fill an entire post, but the low point may have been standing in the Customer Service line at LAX, after my third rebooked flight that day had been delayed, while an ear-splitting alarm caused by someone opening an emergency exit door went off for 15 minutes straight. My nerves were so raw by that point that I might have made a dash for the emergency exit myself.

But now a deep breath and on to more calming topics. You might have noticed a slight difference between the title of this post and the title of this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Skate with Capers, Cornichons, and Brown Butter Sauce. That’s because my fish guy didn’t have any skate and recommended against ordering it this time of year. He hasn’t steered me wrong yet so I tend to listen when he gives advice. Instead he suggested a tasty substitute. Now, if only I could remember what the name of that substitute was.

Oh well, the star of this dish was the sauce and I am confident that it would pair nicely with just about any white fish or even a nice chicken breast. My husband was highly skeptical after reading the title of this recipe (pickles on fish!?) but he ended up loving it and so did I. We paired it with some boiled potatoes and fava beans and enjoyed a wonderful spring meal.

Well, after almost a month I would consider ourselves mostly moved into our new apartment. So long as you ignore the storage errr, guest room, it actually looks quite good. And I’m happy to say that we LOVE the new place. It’s so bright and airy and the balcony really is a dream. So far we have a total of 2 plants out there, one oleander and one tomato, both well-intentioned house-warming gifts. Let’s just say that the odds are stacked against these poor plants because they are being raised on an east facing balcony in a climate not known for its warm summers by two total novice gardeners. I do not exaggerate here, we have not til now owned a single house plant! It will be nothing short of a miracle if they survive the month.

We do have one complication, however, and that is our kitchen. It is apparent that when we were looking at the place originally I was blinded by the balcony and didn’t pay close enough attention to the kitchen. In short, it was clearly designed by someone who never actually cooks. There is a massive sink which blocks off all but 2 square feet of counter space. The only outlets are directly behind the sink and stove respectively. The silverware drawer is buried within another drawer, so that I have to open two sets of drawers each time I want to grab a spoon. And the stove makes odd short circuiting sounds if you turn one of the burners above medium heat. Oh, and despite the fact that the kitchen is physically larger than our old one, there is significantly less storage space and I still have two unpacked moving boxes full of things with no place to go. We have already placed an emergency call to someone who can hopefully help.

Luckily, this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Salmon Rillettes, did not require any fancy kitchen equipment. I have yet to meet a rillette I didn’t like and Dorie’s salmon rillettes were no exception. Pork rillettes are traditional and delicious. In our deli we can buy wonderful goose rillettes. And now with Dorie we’ve made three different versions of fish rillettes: first sardines, then recently tuna, and now salmon. Of the three the salmon took the most time, since it required a minor bit of cooking, but was still quite quick and easy. I decided to serve it as part of a larger “stuff on toast” breakfast menu. Good stuff, we’ll do it again.