I MADE COFFEE CAKE AVEC MYRTILLES

26 Février

Life is interesting every day here...we usually begin the day with fruit and yogurt and a baguette with jam (yes, I used some of the local so sweet strawberries and made a simple batch of confiture) which I put in a used Bonne Maman jam jar. Then we catch up with news, social contacts and plans for the day on the internet.  

Then off walking Nice for daily finds for mid-day meal. Besides small intercity groceries, there are many small pop-up fresh veg and fruit stands and stores, some only 2 meters wide. Along our walks we can find fresh fish, entire roasted chicken (a la Costco but cooking on spits wafting that lovely welcome roasting breeze), inspired salads with couscous and other grains and veg, sausage and or pasta dishes. Not to forget the many patisserie, Greek and Arabic sweet shops and boulangerie, where we get a fresh baguette every other day.

Our wanders all depend on the weather, but so far, even the rain has been polite, as it has had major showers after 5pm through the night, and stayed sunny most of the day. 

Since I had purchased a cake/quiche pan and les myrtilles (blueberries) looked luscious, I thought I'd make a cake. I suppose with so many patisserie (pastry) shops, the people that use "our" apartment do not bake sweets while on vacation here as there are no measuring cups or cooking pans/ instruments of any kind. I used a glass that looked like a cup for measurement and I mixed together the 2 cups of farine T45 (flour) or all purpose flour, a pinch of sel (salt), and the levure chimique (baking powder) packet that was exactly 2 tsp as needed. In another large bowl, I used a fork to whip together the 2 eggs, (beautiful brown shelled bio oeufs). I had let le buerre (butter) get melty warm on the counter, and then with a fork whipped in the 1/2 cup du sucre (white sugar), then the approx 4 Tbs du buerre (butter) and le yaourt (yogurt), then my vanille (a vanilla bean that I cut in pieces and left to macerate in a few tablespoons of scotch). Then I added the dry ingredients and mixed it all together until it resembled cake batter. I had reserved about 1/3 "cup"farine and some lemon zest with which to tumble the washed blueberries then gently stirred them into the batter.. My 8" cake pan was buttered, including sides (no parchement paper as yet), and poured into my pan, adding a few reserved berries in the open spaces and sprinkled more white sugar on the top. Then I put the cake in the oven at 350F (177C) for 40+-min or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle. All of the ingredients were readily available in the baking/cooking aisle of the the main food stores - U Express, Intermarché, Carrefour City and Monoprix (which has so much more).

Today we will walk down to the local electronics store, Darty, where we have ordered a printer...very well priced as it comes directly from manufacturer with no tariffs or import fees of note. Everything is connected here via internet and French phone number, so we have just gotten our French number and small local mobile phone. Of course, when the printer arrives, we (Steve) will hand carry it to our apartment...an 8 minute walk.

One very interesting side of moving to another country is finding things you want/need. Everything from cooking pans to hair products to makeup to light bulbs is usually in a small store somewhere in the neighborhood. Pharmacies on almost every corner carry medicines but also face creams and an assortment of other health related products, and dispense medicines and antibiotics.  

And yes, walking - each day we walk from 3-5 miles to explore, go to the beach (8 minutes), find an interesting place for lunch or meet friends, new and old. We do keep the many patisseries with crunchy  croissants and milk and butter filled pastries to a minimum treat.

And of course, we try NOT to get too deep into US political sites, as it is all depressing and distressing! God Bless America!

A Bientǒt (see you soon)