Pictures Worth Thousands of Calories

Potatoes baked on the grill then drizzled with garlic butter and garnished with fresh sage, parsley, rosemary, and chives from the garden. For a finishing touch I added freshly grated parmesan and served with a side of creme fraiche.

I initially planned to serve this dinner with grilled asparagus drizzled with truffle oil, but it vanished into thin air mysteriously well before dinner time never to be heard from again. I replaced it with these crisp green beans tossed with butter, tarragon, and garnished with fried shallots.

Dessert was New York style cheese cake with a Speculoos crust (those little brown cookies you get with coffees sometimes in France) and made a fresh strawberry-rhubard compote for the topping.



Whole mushrooms sauteed in gras de canard (duck fat) garnished with fresh parsley and sprinkled with sel de Guérande.



American-French fusion cote du boeuf with homemade BBQ sauce and grilled until it was so tender the meat fell off the bone. I was surprised a mass of angry French people didn't invade my garden because I cooked it until it was well done, because I'm pretty sure cooking a cote de boeuf that isn't red (bleu) or medium rare (saignant) in France is illegal. It was worth a possible prison sentence though.

I've been really enjoying the whole little house in the forest thing. It's nice being able to get away from the city. More mosquitoes though!