I’m here.  Here is Tunisia, Carthage, ACST,  the Mediterranean, my pretty house on Rue Kherredine.  I am at home.  I have been quiet for a few weeks, but I have been writing.  It was just that the writing was taking place in my head instead of on paper.  I actually had a writing-rich summer.  I had great talks with many different people who are writing, including my niece who just finished a MFA and is going to a writers’ retreat this fall to finish her second novel.  My brother is working on a “what if God was one of us” road trip story.   It will be strange, funny, and poignant just like him.  Another friend dedicated some of her summer to finishing Book 1 of her two part sci-fi fantasy.  I was impressed by each of them.

I also read books about writing.  I read Ensouling Language, On the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer’s Life, by Stephen Harrod Buhner,  and Katie Wood Ray’s book, What You Know by Heart on using your own experiences in writing to develop curriculum to teach the writing process to students.

Finally, I read like a writer.  To most people, this is simply reading, but I read, or rather mostly listened to audio books, mostly young adult and classics, noting ideas, and structure, and language.  I am excited to get back to my own writing, and I am grateful that I have a place to publish myself on a regular basis as opposed to just jotting entries in my writer’s notebook.  Thanks to those of you who actually read this.

One of the reasons I had to do so much writing rehearsal in my mind this summer was that I simply could not break that experience down to a manageable focus.  It was all so big and I was overwhelmed with choice, and sadness, and beauty, and responsibility.  I couldn’t choose just one thing in a day, and I couldn’t pin down my feelings on any regular basis.

On our way home from the airport last Saturday, we stopped at one of the many streetside produce vendors in our neighborhood.  Of course he didn’t have the vast array of produce I had been offered at my grocery store in Bellingham, but what he lacked in breadth he made up for in depth.  This little stand had three varieties of plums, all organic and tree ripened.  I tell you the truth that carrying my little bag of plums to the car, I felt about the first peace I had felt in weeks.  I knew I was back in my simple, but elegant life that would feed me in many ways, and I would be able to write about that.

We have had the pleasure of hosting our new staff this week.  You know how showing off your home to visitors always reinspires you about how great the place you live is and why you wanted to live there in the first place?  These are grateful souls who have worked hard the past few months to get themselves here.  It is fun to roll out the small delights of our life here, bit by bit.

Featuring the  bounty of fruit at the moment, I have two recipes that utilize the yin and yang of the egg.  One uses the egg whites and features those tri-colored plums I mentioned, and I will get to that one in my next post.  This one is all about the yolks and uses the jammy figs that are trying to burst out of their skins in crates all over town.

Fig Pistachio Semifreddo

Serves 12

Martha Stewart Living, June 2013

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted roasted shelled pistachios
• 8 ounces figs, scooped out of skins (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Steps

1.  Line a standard 5-by-9-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.  Pulse pistachios in a food processor until coarsely chopped (some will break down to a course grind).  Transfer to a small bowl;  do not wipe processor clean.  Place figs and 3 tablespoons sugar in processor;  puree until smooth and transfer to a fine sieve set over a bowl.  Stir puree, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible;  discard solids, or use a food mill to separate the solids.

2.  Combine egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Beat on high speed, or vigorously by hand, until pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.  Transfer bowl to a large bowl of ice water;  stir until mixture is very thick and cool, about 3 minutes.

3.  Beat together cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.  Whisk 1/3 of whipped cream into egg mixture, whisking until smooth, then fold into remaining cream with a rubber spatula just until thoroughly incorporated.

4.  Pour 1/2 of cream mixture into fig puree.  Gently fold together until thoroughly incorporated, then pour into loaf pan and smooth top.  Fold pistachios into remaining cream mixture and pour evenly over fig cream;  smooth top.  Fold plastic wrap over surface and freeze at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.  To serve, peel plastic from surface.  invert pan onto a cutting board.  Unmold semifreddo, remove plastic, and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick slices.

Not long ago, I received a nice comment from someone I don’t personally know, but who reads, or had read, my blog.  She said (paraphrase), “You write about your international travels without being arrogant.”  That was a nice compliment and a good reminder in one, so I am treading on slightly thin ice with this post.  You see, when we are on our way home from Tunis, we usually have to spend the first night in Paris and then catch the direct flight to Seattle the next day.  It just turns out that the flight from Tunis to Paris doesn’t get us there in time to make the connection on the same day.  Rather than stamp my feet about this perceived inconvenience, I have tried to embrace it.  It is nice to be forced to spend a night in Paris now and then, and since we are in that position at this time in our lives, we have tried to find some favorites to enjoy for just one night.  We don’t yet have “that restaurant” with the roast chicken to die for, like Diane Keaton’s Le Grand Colbert in Something’s Gotta Give, but we did discover a nice way to get around just checking into one of the hotels at Charles de Gaulle Airport to wait out our layover.

A year and a half ago, when we were concluding our grand winter driving trip through Western Europe, Allan and I discovered a B & B in a village only about 10 minutes away from the airport.  The village is Mauregard, and it is a little agricultural community that is the living definition of a bedroom community.  There is not one store or restaurant of any kind in this tiny town.  There are just quaint, shuttered houses, the B & B, and a little family cemetery.  As I said, everyone here is resting in one way or another.  This area grows wheat, sugar beets, and rape seed, from which canola oil is milled.  From within just one kilometer of the Paris Ring Road, the soil is famously fertile.  In fact, Paris is situated where it is because of the soil, the river, and the ease of defense.

We like it here because Jerome, the proprietor, has renovated the former barn of this massive, 1,000-1,500 year old estate, which was a sugar beet mill,  in an industrial/historical way.  I think it is really comfortable and interesting, and we love being here.  In summer, we can take a nice walk around the village and the multi-acre grounds.  In the winter, we can sit by a cozy fire and meet some other interesting travelers.   In the mornings, we are awakened by the church bell next door rather than a wake up call from reception.  We feel like we’ve put our feet down in France, if only for an overnight. We do have to rent a cheap car to get here and to a neighboring village for dinner, but it ends up being equal in cost to staying at the airport hotel.

Here are a few photos.  Jerome is just beginning a huge renovation, joining the original mill to this renovated barn that is now the B & B.  It will ultimately have 31 rooms, a small wine bar, and some sort of shuttle to and from the airport, so keep this place in mind.  He only works through booking.com, but it’s easy.

I have made my kebabs!  If the title of this post makes no sense, just go back one  post and read how I thoroughly mixed a finely ground chunk of plastic spatula into my first attempt at this recipe.  This time, I used my food processor instead of my blender, and I left the lid on.  This is highly advised.

Also, do make the mint sauce.  It makes the combination light, spicy, a tiny bit sweet.  Serve it over rice or over salad.  This can be a great summer recipe to keep in your repertoire.

Mint Sauce

From BBC Food Recipes

Bunch of mint

Pinch of salt

4 tablespoons boiling water

1 tablespoon caster sugar

4 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1. Strip off the mint leaves, sprinkle with salt and chop finely.
2. Place into a jar, add the sugar, and pour over the boiling water, stir and leave to cool.
3. Stir in the vinegar and taste.
4. Add more water or vinegar and adjust seasoning to suit your taste

Last weekend I confronted the cheese drawer of my refrigerator.  This is really my stash of souvenirs from the trips I’ve taken lately.  It is full of the rinds of hard cheeses that have gotten so low that I might grate my fingernails if I try to get any more off of them, but that still might have some use.  There were pecorinos from Umbria, a hard sheep’s cheese from the Isle of Pag in Croatia, and some parmigiano from Venice.  I actually held them in my two hands, my body the fulcrum, weighing if I would work with them or throw them out.  I decided to set to work trimming them up and then grated the entire batch in my food processor.  Can you believe I got 6 cups of grated, aged cheese?  It was a treasure, and the exact amount to make a triple batch of these scones to take to a friend’s going away brunch this morning.

Cheese Scones

Adapted from the restaurant Prefab in Wellington, NZ

Makes 6 large or 12 mini scones

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 75 g. butter
• 2 cups grated, hard cheese, plus a little extra for sprinkling
• 1 1/2-2 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the flour, baking powder and pepper in a bowl.  Add the butter and rub it in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the cheese.

Slowly add the milk to the cheese mix, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a dough.  Press the dough out on a floured bench and cut into 6 large or 12 mini scones.  Put on a baking tray then sprinkle with a little extra cheese and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden.  Serve with the sweet chili jam (recipe follows).

Sweet Chili Jam

Makes 2 small jars

• 250 g ripe tomatoes, cored
• 3 red chilies, deseeded if desired
• 5 cloves garlic
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
• 15 ml fish sauce
• 150g dark muscovado sugar
• 50 ml red wine vinegar

Put the tomatoes, chilies, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce in a blender and blend to a course puree.

Put the puree, sugar, and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the sauce resembles a jam consistency.  Pour into sterilized jars and store in the fridge.

Some people like this sort of thing:  a not too sweet cookie that has enough food in it that it could possibly substitute for your mid-morning handful of almonds.  When I read the process for this cookie, I was intrigued.  There is the mixing of baking soda with hot water, the addition of completely raw quinoa, plus it uses all of the dried fruits I have in my pantry:  raisins, dates, apricots, and unsweetened coconut.  I had to see what it was like.  It is a soft cookie.  You can really use any combination of dried fruit you like.  The quinoa softens a little, but not so much.  It remains crunchy, which is nice next to all that chewy fruit.  Finally, it is held together by the buttery golden syrup batter.  I thought they were nice and they packed a little protein, too.

from Ripe Recipes:  A Fresh Batch

Quinoa Fruit Cookies

Makes 35-40

• 1 cup (100 g) quick cook rolled oats
• 1 cup (150 g) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup (80 g) soft brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (100 g) quinoa, uncooked
• 1/2 cup (50 g) desiccated coconut
• 1 cup (140 g) raisins
• 2/3 cup (100 g) dried dates, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup (40 g) dried apricots, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 180 g unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup or molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, flour, sugar, spices, uncooked quinoa, coconut, and dried fruit.

In a medium-sized bowl, dissolve the baking soda with 2 tablespoons hot water.  Whisk in the melted butter, the golden syrup, and vanilla.

Pour the golden syrup mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.  Place heaped tablespoons of the biscuit mixture on to the prepared baking trays.  Allow plenty of room for the biscuits to spread.  Flatten lightly with the back of a fork.

Place in the oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until the cookies are golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before transferring them on to a wire rack.