My Life, My Food, My Places

I love all the dishes the French prepare, ok nearly all. In this post I want to share with you my five absolute favorite dishes.  Dishes I ate so many times in restaurants in Paris and during my vacations in the South of France but I also prepared at home and enjoyed with friends and family. 1. Plateau de Fruits de Mer (Seafood Platter) A  plateau de fruits de mer  is a  seafood  dish of raw and cooked  shellfish  served cold on a platter, usually on a bed of ice. On the plateau you have periwinkles,oysters, mussels, clams, prawns, sometimes a crab and langoustines. If you are in a festive mood you can always order a plateau de fruits de mer with lobster too. The dish is always served with lemon wedges and two or three cold dipping sauces such as a garlic mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and when there are oysters on the dish, sauce mignonette. In France this is a sauce traditionally served with raw oysters and made of wine vinigar, shallots and...

My mom always told me that it was exceptionally cold for the time of the year that day in March when I was born 61 years ago. I was the first born in the family and the first grandchild. Both my parents were teachers, my mom teaching French language and my dad applied economics. Both in the same school were I would spend 14 years of my young life, from kindergarten over elementary till my high school graduation when I was 18. Detail, I got French class from my mom during 3 years and two years my dad was my economics and finance teacher. You can imagine how adventurous my high school days were (except for meeting my girlfriend when we were 16 and got married 7 years later). My grandmother, (the mother of my dad) was a World War 2 widow and lived with us taking care of the house and, most important, of the kitchen till the day she, suddenly, passed away in March 1969 only 61 years old. My grandma had a huge impact on the developing of my taste and on how to experience food. ...