34 posts Posts by julie

Food Matchmaking: Gravy Loves Coffee

by on May 18, 2012, 0 comments

I’ve become a bit of a coffee lover the last few years (thanks to a friend who gave me my first bag of Stumptown coffee beans… which was also my introduction to freshly ground beans and, later, the French press), but I still don’t often find myself cooking with it. Not long ago, I came across a recipe for roast beef–another classic dish I’ve never made and keep meaning to try–that is served with a coffee gravy. That piqued my interest, and I was further surprised to discover it to be a classic sauce in Southern cooking known as red-eye gravy. Well, now I am sufficiently intrigued, and I’m hoping to give both roast beef and coffee gravy a try in the not-too-distant future.

Have you ever tried coffee gravy? Do you make roast beef often in your home? If so, I would love some pointers before I make my first attempt!

Photos from here and here.

Food Matchmaking: Guava Loves Chili Salt

by on May 11, 2012, 4 comments

I love the fruit stands in SE Asia where you can buy cut fruit that often comes with a little package of chili salt. In my family, guava is one of those fruits we always eat with chili salt. But chili salt is basically great with any fruit that’s a bit tart, like green mango, pineapple, or grapefruit. My mom always told me that adding a bit of salt to any fruit that’s sour would bring out its natural sweetness. Or maybe spicy, sour, and salty is just the SE Asian sweet. :) When we lived in Arizona, we noticed that Mexican road stands also sold mango with chili salt, so there has to be something to it, right?

Images from here and here.

France Top 10

by on May 3, 2012, 0 comments

I just returned from a lovely two-week vacation in France, and I’m already suffering from croissant withdrawal! We spent a week in Paris and a week in the south of France. I have much to share, but for now I’ll leave you with this top-10 list of my favorite memories:

10: The perfect lazy Sunday in Aix-en-Provence.


9: Boeuf bourguignon and cozy seats next to the radiator on a chilly, rainy afternoon in Paris. Plus, hot coffee and molten chocolate cake for dessert!


8: Discovering that I love sheep’s milk cheeses. I’ve really taken to Perail as well as Tomme de brebis (brebis refers to sheep or ewe). (I didn’t happen to get a photo of one, but below is a Reblochon, usually a cow’s milk cheese.)

7: All the amazing markets!


6: La Patisserie by Cyril Lignac, our default patisserie because it was at the corner of our street in Paris. Only now am I realizing that it’s a destination in its own right.


5: Sunday picnic brunch from Marche Richard Lenoir: anchovy-stuffed olives, St. Marcellin cheese, bread, Portuguese custard tarts, and oysters from Normandy.


4: Our landlady had breakfast waiting for us when we arrived in Paris. It was the sweetest welcome, topped off by the fact that the pastries were from La Patisserie.


3: Bistrot Paul Bert, where we had our favorite meal of the trip. (More on this in another post.)


2: Our neighborhood in Paris. We lived in the 12th [update: make that the 11th, aka the Bastille Quarter] and loved it. It was out of the way of the usual tourist sights and was more residential, which is what we wanted. But there were still lots of gems here, as we learned during our stay.


1: Our apartment in Paris. I think I could’ve stayed in the whole week and still felt like I was in Paris. It was my very favorite thing out of the entire trip.


More details to come!

Food Matchmaking: Fried Egg Loves Maggi

by on April 6, 2012, 1 comment

How do you eat your fried egg? Do you eat it with salsa? Tabasco sauce? Ketchup? Simple salt and pepper?

We grew up eating fried egg with Maggi sauce. :)

If you’re not familiar with Maggi seasoning sauce, it’s kinda like soy sauce with extra umami oomph. It seems to be popular in SE Asia, though the brand is Swiss, and in Europe it’s known more for its bouillon cubes and seasonings. I haven’t done a taste test, but I currently have the German Maggi sauce, mostly because I didn’t want to buy the one made in China. And, yes, it only came in the large size, which was $15 and has surprisingly gone faster than you would think (yikes). I basically stick to soy sauce for cooking and reserve Maggi for topping off things like steamed egg, banh mi, and sticky rice.

Have a happy Easter weekend! He is risen!

Images from here and here.