Weekend food

People seem so interested in our suppers, so I took pictures. Above you see Friday night's which was sliced roast beef, asparagus and salad. I was surprised from the last post that so many have not prepared an artichoke before. It's so easy too. You put it in a pot with an inch of water and, crap I can't remember what it's called in English, put in a "marguerite" to keep the artichoke elevated above the water, cover and steam the thing for an hour to 75 minutes. (You'll probably have to add some water a couple times during the steaming.) Then to eat it, you pluck the leaves (you know it's done when they are easily pluckable) and scrape the soft flesh off with your teeth from the bottom of the leaf. I like to dip it in a bit of mayo, but butter is also good. Then once you've done all the leaves, you get to the best part, the heart, which you moan in an orgasmic way while consuming.

Last night's supper was far less amenable to photography, but here you see Serge acting all sinister while he prepared something he had learned from the chef at his work. (There is a cafe as part of the complex where he works.) It had chicken and potatoes and onions and lots of cream in it. This morning I can say that there was too much cream, because although delicious, it doesn't seem to have progressed very far down the pipeline. By the way, the filthy ashtray is not mine, spouse has been very good about smoking at the stove with the vent fan on (incidentally called a "hotte" in French) which he will do for another month or so until it warms up a bit and he goes back to smoking outside.

It was that stupid made-up holiday yesterday, so I snapped a pic of the two of us. Winter complexion, bah. We sat down to dinner and watched Vicky Christina Barcelona which I think I liked even better the second time around. Woody has aged his craft well. Since it was Saturday and all, dessert was a possibility (now I'm thinking maybe that's what clogged the pipeline) and I whipped up this microwave brownie in a cup thing that I saw in the paper a couple weeks ago. So easy, fast and yummy. If you want hot cake in a flash, all you do is:
Mix 4 tbs flour, 4 tbs sugar, 2 tbs cocoa and dash of salt in a coffee mug. Then add 2 tbs oil, 2 tbs water and 1/4 tsp vanilla and mix. Microwave on high for 1 -1 1/2 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes. Enjoy.