Comfort food, French style

This post appears in the second issue of the Seventy Fifth magazine, published in April 2015.

Growing up in Bradford our comfort food was corned beef hash. I can't claim that it's a Yorkshire tradition but in the Binns household we ate this stew on a regular basis during the cold and dark winter months. Boarding school dinners didn't make the grade in comparison and there was no Jamie Oliver campaigning for us back then, we just had to battle with all the starchy food and overcooked vegetables.

At university I managed to do the opposite of most students: I slimmed down and ate pretty healthily (the drinking is another matter but hey, youth). I was also incredibly active, walking from student halls to lectures and fitting in a gym session most days. Then I moved to France where I promptly embarked upon a love affair with cheese and we have been on-off for the past five years.

Hard cheese, soft cheese, creamy cheese, blue cheese, raclette, tartiflette and fondue: a whole universe of fromage opened up to me and I have now swapped the corned beef hash for tartiflette. It's very easy to make - I can say that with confidence because it's often JB making it - and is great during the winter if you have last-minute guests or just fancy cheese and potatoes in the same meal.

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes (sliced fairly thinly - peeling and potato type at your discretion)
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 handfuls pancetta
• 1 reblochon cheese
• olive oil
• salt
• oz freshly ground pepper
• 1 splash of white wine (optional but really it's mandatory)

1. In a pan, fry the chopped onions in a small amount of olive oil until soft then add the thinly-sliced potatoes. Constantly mix everything around on a low heat.
2. Add the smoked pancetta to the pan. Continue to stir until the pancetta is cooked.
3. Add the wine and stir everything together so it can soak up the wine. Add salt and pepper.
4. When the potatoes turn golden, take your baking tin and smear garlic all over the base.
5. Add a layer of the potato/onion/pancetta mixture then take half the reblochon cheese (cut through the middle) and place it on top.
6. Add another layer of the potato/onion/pancetta mixture and top it off with the other half of the reblochon.
7. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes at gas mark 5.
8. Serve and imagine that you’ve spent a day on the slopes getting a full body workout.

My good friend Maryana painted the image - isn't she talented? It was so kind of her to oblige me, thank you Maryana! xx

Youth

Earlier this month, I boarded a Thalys train headed to Amsterdam for a weekend away with Flora. The main purpose of our trip was to unite for the Nike 10k “We own the night” - a tiny little race which you may not have heard much about (haha) - but it was also an opportunity to rediscover the city, spend some time together and have a break from our respective cities: me Paris, Flora London.

All the conversations we had over the weekend helped me realise how important it is for us to look after ourselves: not only on a physical level but also on a mental level. Doing what makes us happy has an overall positive effect on our health. Surrounding ourselves with people who make us happy has an overall positive effect on our health. I realised for example that my inconsiderate office-mate / work colleague has a negative effect on me (on a daily basis) and that I dread the idea of having to collaborate with her in the future. I realised that I’m a sensitive person, who has a physical reaction to stress or upsetting situations. By opening myself up to Flora and sharing how I sometimes feel, I was finally able to understand that being sensitive shouldn’t carry the negative connotations that we are fed through the media and society. This article focuses on hyper-sensitivity especially, which I’m not sure I’m in a position to diagnose myself with, but I can say without any doubt that I lean towards the more sensitive side of the scale.

For the past few months, I’ve been experiencing some very minor health issues that I have never had to deal with before. Not to make any of you jealous out there, but I don’t even suffer from seasonal colds. Yet whenever JB goes on holiday or leaves Paris for a few days, he always always always develops a cold. I respect that his body shows him a sign that he needs to slow down and get some rest. Me? My shoulders tend to fall just below my ears these days and I honestly can’t tell you how long that has been going on. The things that I worry about, consciously and sub-consciously, now cause my stomach to be incredibly sensitive and even led to a phase of panic attacks back in February. I started some orthodontic treatment 6 months ago without thinking of the potential consequences this could have on my body.

So what’s the message here? Amsterdam helped me to reassess my lifestyle. The hustle and bustle of a big city might not necessarily be a good idea in the long term for JB and I. And that’s OK. Amsterdam reminded me of the more holistic approach to health. Therefore with no immediate plans to leave Paris, what can I do to stay healthy and sane in the city?

Thank you Amsterdam, for not only did you provide Flora and I with beautiful weather and delicious food and drink – qualities that I consider essential for a weekend away – but the spirit of your city also made me remember the importance of being at ease in my own skin.

And Flora wrote an excellent piece on what running means to her, inspired by our Amsterdam 10k, if you’d like to check that out.

I'd love to hear how you take care of yourself in a big city with a stressful job.

Lou xxx

There's nowhere else like London. Nothing at all, anywhere*

"Thank you, Mr. Rochester, for your great kindness. I am strangely glad to get back again to you: and wherever you are is my home - my only home".  Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

I'm not someone who has a family home to go back to so, for me, home tends to be wherever I am with my friends. London is starting to feel more and more like a second home to me.  I don't originally hail from there, I'm a northener by birth, but whenever I go back to England, it's London that I visit. My sister has lived there for the past few years, and the majority of my friends are also based there.

 

When I was younger, I remember watching a crummy TV show called "Where the Heart is". It was about a small Yorkshire community, centred around Skelthwaite Health Centre, and starred well-known soap stars who first started out in Eastenders, Emmerdale or Coronation Street. As I went to boarding school, I didn't have friends in Bradford, and the goal was always to leave the city far far behind me anyway. By the way, WTHI lasted 9 years and 10 seasons, so clearly people in England love community and soap stars!

I remember feeling really unsettled when I first moved to Paris. I'm sure this is a feeling most people experience when they move to a new city, especially if they are also moving to a new country. I'd moved into JB's apartment, which was great from a rent point of view, but it wasn't my space and it was almost 2 years before it felt like home. This was partly due to problems I was experiencing with my family but I do believe that, family drama or no family drama, it would always have taken me time.

It's now been one year since we moved into our new apartment, just the two of us, and we spent some time today shopping at Merci, buying things for our home. I'm contributing to the organisation of our space, I'll share some photos with you soon, and it's a really nice feeling because I now truly consider Paris my home. It takes time - please remember that when you move to a new place.

So I feel incredibly privileged to be in the position of having two places that I can call home: Paris and London. They're both quite different, but I get to pick and choose the best of these two places. This past weekend in London was a great weekend celebrating the diversity of the city. Wait, people don't dress the same way here / there's more than one body-shape to be found on the streets / Boots has a 3 for the price of 2 offer on, let's go mad!

We ate so much good food, at Dishoom, La Fromagerie, Café Bohème and Ottolenghi to name but a few. I spent very happy moments with Maryana, Ryan, my sister, her friends, JB, Katya and Flora (I even got to meet The Accidental boyfriend which was a delight!) It's always so sad to leave friends, that never gets any easier and so I allow myself a day or two to ease back into Paris. The blow is cushioned however by the fact that I know I'm coming back home and the thought of my friends visiting me here.

Lou xx

P.S. My sister bought JB a great birthday present - a HintHunt session! Designed for groups of 3-5 people, you're locked in a room full of clues and have one hour to get out by solving the clues and completing various puzzles. It did take us the full hour, and the last 5 minutes consisted of me shouting (incorrect) suggestions at JB whilst my sister just went quiet (I think she was a little overwhelmed)! BUT we made a great team and all contributed in different ways. There's even a HintHunt in Paris, if it grabs your fancy.

* Vivienne Westwood

Blackburn Coffee

This Saturday I went for coffee and a catch-up with Lauren at the recently-opened Blackburn. There's a new wave of cafés opening up in Paris, such as Blackburn, Holybelly and Lockwood, which do excellent food, have excellent coffee and understand what good service consists of. And have excellent design. Blackburn is just the type of place I would have loved to frequent as a student: it's stylish, peaceful and the owners, Sofiane and Sarah, are so friendly and easy-going it's like going round to a friend's (super-swish) apartment.

To continue that conversation about good service in Paris...well, to be quite frank with you, good customer service is sparse in Paris. As a Brit, I know how to queue, and I will never understand the French who form the most confusing queues - basically they're just all trying to push to the front! In Paris it is not uncommon for someone, who is being paid to provide a service, to behave as if you are bothering them, such as French waiters. I can never adapt to it, it will never be charming for me, and I even see Parisian friends bothered by this poor service.

Coffee, a fresh juice and this delicious plate, all for EUR 19.

Expectations seem to be changing though. Parisians are travelling abroad, coming back to Paris and opening their own places, combining French charm with good service. I'm not saying that I want the Parisian bistros to disappear. I admire and respect history and tradition, but there is space in Paris to cater to everyone's needs given that it attracts around 27 million tourists per year. Some days I can handle bad service if it comes with excellent food : ) Most days however, I would like my coffee and eggs served with sides of smile and friendly chit-chat.

So go in and say hello to Sofiane and Sarah, they'll be more than happy to have a chat whilst you sample their delicious coffee.

Lou xxx

Gelato in Rome (this post comes with a happiness warning).

On our recent trip to Rome, as a reward for all the walking that we did, JB and I ate gelato every single day. Food tourism at its finest you could say.

I hounded JB about going to Gelateria del Teatro, the place I had come across on many of the Rome blogs I’d perused in the name of research. On our first day, it was my equivalent of many a little person’s favourite question when travelling: “Are we nearly there yet?” Jon was a gentleman and (finally) obliged, discovering his own favourite Roman gelateria at the same time. What a happy ending!

Via di San Simone, 70, 00186 Roma

I don’t believe you can visit Rome and not sample the gelato from San Crispino. I went for some nutty flavours and JB went for his usual fruity, tangy combination. The service at San Crispino is impersonal, and I am under the impression that only tourists go there (probably like most gelateria) but hey it was in Eat, Pray, Love and was all in the name of (my own personal) research.

There are several locations throughout Rome.

Finally, if you’re looking for a soy option, Gelarmony is the gelateria for you my friend. I went for soy gelato only (again, containing nuts) and it was delizioso.

Via Oderisi da Gubbio, 201, Roma,

It’s a very simple equation, Gelato = Happiness.

I'll only be too happy to return to Italy and do some more gelato-testing for you in the near future.

Lou xxxx