Food is pretty much my favorite, non-human thing in the world. I've posted about a few meals here before, and I've been wanting to start a regular post about my cooking/baking/eating adventures/disasters for a while now, but always thought it was a little weird to post about. I don't know why. Maybe because nowadays more than my mom and sister are reading my blog (thank God because then I wouldn't have any friends), and although it might intrigue them to know what we're serving for dinner chez nous (my love for food is a genetic thing, I suspect) some unknowing person might not be so interested.

But, then I remembered that the whole point of my blog is to archive events and topics that are important to me and to communicate to my loved ones (and a few random peeps here and there) the daily happenings in my life, however mundane they may seem. Not to mention that I live in FRANCE now and let's face it, who doesn't associate this country with something food-related (escargot, frog legs or cheese, anyone)? So, voila, the first of what I anticipate to be a fairly regular, and mostly visual post about food.

I've discovered my new favorite fruits. Thanks to my preferred local celebrity food-blogger I've discovered so much about my new city - things that I'd never know to see, do or visit, and these Reine Claudes and mirabelles are a favorite among my discoveries. They are filled with the sweetest flesh that's seriously like candy - I ate nearly this entire bowl in one sitting. Love 'em!

Ahhh, iced tea. There really is no better summer drink.

Lentil and red bean soup that I've made twice already. I really am in love with this soup and expect it to make a weekly appearance at our dinner table as winter approaches.

I was dying to make stuffed peppers for some reason but nearly died when I was asked to fork up 6 euros (read: nearly 8 bucks) for four of these babies at the marché!

In the end, they were worth their price. We had two delicious stuffed peppers one night and I simply grilled the others with shallots in olive oil another night.

Martha's mac 'n cheese. I took the recipe from Smitten Kitchen and tweaked it a bit, changing the pasta and adding parmesan to the mix of yellow cheddar we found at Auchan (it was really good and really cheap, too) and soft gruyère. I made entirely too much, but it went really well with a leafy salad and was perfect Sunday food.

It was so cheesy and insanely good.


Barbecue chicken, Ranch-style beans and salad. Texas night chez nous!

I even made my own barbecue sauce, and it was super easy, too! After a Google search, I found this basic recipe and now I'm going to make it more often. After this meal, Gui told me he was really lucky that I was his wife. He quickly clarified that it wasn't just because of the food but for all the other stuff, too (I was flattered enough with the initial compliment, but I won't tell him that).