LIVING FRENCH

Daily - From 9 Février 2025

Our View

We have finally found a way to stay in France for months by leasing a furnished apartment in Nice.

I have had two major careers over the past 40 years, Real Estate sales and Photo - Journalism, often at the same time. Both careers have been incredibly interesting and rewarding, but often not at the same time. At the moment, I am on a path that I have wanted to follow ever since I went to L'Université deTours, France, many years ago. That is, I have wanted to live more immersively in the French culture. In 2025, my husband Steve and I leased an apartment in Nice, France. This blog will share some of the wonders of embedding ourselves in the French culture.

Week One...So many fun and interesting small shops and markets are within steps of our apartment on a busy yet quiet street in the hub of Central Nice ...and we are enjoying walking out the door to get what we need or want. The opening photo is the view from our apartment on Saint Valentine's Day as we shared a chocolate molleux (lava cake) and an espresso.

Home from Shopping

Like many days now begin, the first days we wandered our new voisinage (hood) to see what is there and options on shopping, food supplies, restaurants, etc. We are pleasantly surprised to find we are steps away from three or four small intercity grocers, many restaurants with French, Spanish, Asian, African, Middle Eastern foods, pharmacies, and other day to day needs. We are also located between La Gare Thiers (the main Nice train stop), and major artery tram and bus lines that cross the city and allow is access to the Nice airport and from town to town on the Riviera.

Making a Quiche - sort of

We have eaten out almost once a day as we find ourselves at lunch time (strictly 12-2:30) in many corners of Nice, including train stops going east and west. We also find purchasing food every day is not only typical but practical, as we can carry just so much and the food looks fresh daily. Also, while in France we want to enjoy the vrais baguette, and they are best daily.* Read about the Best Baguettes (https://hipparis.com/the-best-baguettes-in-paris/)

We can shop every day, but many larger stores close on Sunday or at least by 13:00 (1PM) on Sunday.

That is part of the wonder of living in the center of an international community, the fresh food. Today, a quiche sounded good. Looking through the basic cooking pans and assorted serving dishes in our modern cuisine...no quiche/pie pan nor any other baking utensils such as measuring spoons, cups. Clearly, the owners and users of this apartment are not too involved in making what they eat here with so many restaurant food choices. Hmmm, making interesting food was one of my goals in staying long term in France...to use some of the very fresh and interesting veg, meat and international products available on almost every corner.

Eggs are now as "scarce as hen's teeth", here, even here in France, due to chicken flu, cough or cold...and cost more than a steak for a dozen in the US. French eggs, even a bit high in price, were still less than their US cousins, and I thought that I could get the eggs, cheese (it is France, land of 400 types of cheese), and crème..the basics of a quiche. Side bar is that it has been years since I raised my own chickens - the last time that I have cracked such sturdy shells on such healthy, large eggs. Thinking spinach (les épinards), bacon and cheese quiche would be easy, I exhumed a rectangular serving dish in the pots drawer that would bake well and headed to the Intermarché a block away. Spinach not in season or at least today with the legumes, but super green broccoli from Spain looked enticing, but eggs, where were the eggs? I received a nonchalant answer from the clerk (in French) "Behind this case, but we are almost out." What!!? The egg case was indeed almost empty, why I had missed them in my search, and there remained only 6 boxes of 4/carton eggs (4-6 box quite typical in the intercity). I grabbed two of them along with some cream (lait entière). I did find a single serving pâte feuilletée (love these ready-to-cook puff pastry sheets at €1.3 each - at this moment but to turn quickly, the USD $ was positive on the side of € parity).

Store purchased puff pastry

At home it was easy to steam the tasteful broccoli, fry in butter - onion, garlic and lardons (small pieces of uncured or salt-cured pork fat), while I fit the pastry into the designated pan. In my US kitchen, I would have blind baked or pre cooked quiche pastry in a 9" round pan or similar held down with pie weights, but nothing like that here.

 I fit the pastry to the bottom and up the sides of the cooking dish and set it to pre-bake at 200c (400f) for 15 min but could see that the pasty was sagging in the pan like worn out tube socks on a sweaty ankle. I took the pan out of the oven early and pushed the pastry down further so it covered the bottom with a small upper lip. I laid some of the cut cheese on top as it does help to keep the bottom pasty from getting soggy while the egg mixture is cooking. Next, I added the sauteed onions, and spread the broccoli mix on top. After that, 5 eggs and 3/4 cup (I used a coffee cup) cream whipped with a fork, salt & pepper (had no other herbs that went well) and put the pan into the 200c oven for about 12 minutes. After checking on firmness, I added another 10 minutes. The egg had puffed up like a challenging hen,and the scent of fragrant quiche announced that it was done.

A simple salad of greens dressed with red vinagar, olive oil, and fresh garlic mixed in a small bowl made it a meal. Voila, bon, delicieux!

Below - six oeufs, petite déjeuner baguette, moule carré (square pan) quiche

*A bientot (see you soon).