Dreaming of France -- Food

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Obviously, food is a huge draw to France.
In France, I eat a lot of things that I might not at home.  American foie gras? I don't think so. I'm not even likely to eat lamb or duck when I'm in the United States, but those are my go-to meals when I'm in France.
But my all time favorite thing to eat when I'm in France is salad with goat cheese.
Usually, the salads have little pieces of toast with rounds of goat cheese on them. If I'm careful in my bite calculations, I can have a bit of toast and goat cheese with each bite of salad.

This salad had three separate kinds of goat cheese and I forgot to take a picture until I had eaten half of it. 

This salad in Marseille had wedges of deep-fried goat cheese. 

Luckily, I found goat cheese salads pretty much everywhere we went. 

How bout  you? Is there something that you look forward to eating in France?

Please leave a comment and visit each other's blogs to share more about your love for France.

Spring Break

My spring break from one job is coming to an end, but Grace's spring break begins today.
I picked her up at 8:30 a.m., after a run with my friend Noreen, and we drove through Starbucks for coffee. Then I baked the kouign amann that I had set out last night to rise. We settled on the couch to drink coffee, eat kouign amann and watch House Hunters International in France and Switzerland. We  yelled at the Americans who complained about not having American-sized refrigerators.
I love having Grace home.

I've stocked up on supplies of chocolate and wine, plus asparagus and goat cheese. I hope to really enjoy the week with her.
May all of you experience something as delightful as a daughter returning home for the week.

Culinary Adventures

While I have been busy lamenting the fact that my husband came home from France without sufficient chocolate supplies, I almost overlooked something important he brought home.
A tiny package wrapped in white paper with two small wheels of goat cheese -- chevre.
Somehow, just unwrapping that package and smelling the pungent cheese made up for the lack of chocolate.
What to do with the precious French cheese?
On Wednesday night, I cut a butternut squash in half, dribbled it with olive oil, salt and pepper then stuffed some sage leaves in the cavities. I put them face down in a baking pan for an hour then scooped out the insides. Pureed squash with goat cheese crumbled into it. That was good.
Last night, I cut thin slices of Italian bread and topped them with tomato slices, fresh basil, goat cheese and olive oil. I baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes. More yum.
This trip to France just keeps on giving. And we haven't even cracked open the wine yet.