red lentil soup with a spicy drizzle

This soup is always a hit and it’s very easy to make. For English-speakers, here’s the recipe on the Eating Well magazine website (originally published in Eating Well, January/February 1995).

While looking for a translation of “chicken stock” I came across the Hungry French Man website based in our hometown, San Francisco. Double-whammy nostalgia, tying my past and current lives together.

For French speakers who just want to make the soup (and not do an English exercise), here’s my translation of the Red Lentil Soup recipe into French:

galette des rois recipe – easy and delicious

‘Tis the season of the “kings’ cake” in France…starting on the day of Epiphany (Jan 6) and continuing…well, apparently until the bakers stop selling their ‘galette des rois‘. This year’s research into what this holiday is really about (in the religious sense) brought in the information that the bible doesn’t mention “3″ kings specifically, just “3″ gifts. So the number of ‘wise men’ (or kings) is uncertain. Which is just fine for the galette tradition, where in a season or at a party, the number of kings (or queens) varies greatly. The kids (the 7 year olds) argued this year about whether the person who finds the one ‘feve’ (a porcelain figurine for us) gets to keep the paper crown or has to give it to his/her queen/king, and who keeps the feve? All this became much too confusing last weekend, and thankfully, the 5-year-olds saved the day by initiating a pass-the-crown sharing game, and we all just ate the lovely galette.

What we know for certain, however, is that the PRICE of these galettes at the local boulangerie is always shocking relative to the size, and we’re always left craving just a bit more of that luscious, fatty, lovely almond filling. So

chicken mole

Here’s a luscious winter favorite. Most kids we’ve offered it to find the concept too weird—they won’t even try it—leaving plenty for appreciative adults and more adventurous young palates. Serve with roasted/steamed potatoes, rice or fresh, warm corn tortillas.

I’ve slightly modified the recipe below for my use in Paris; it’s based on one found at recipezaar. Thanks to that author, Izzy Knight, and to Rose for bringing it our way…

Chicken (or Turkey) Mole

whole wheat banana bread

Very tasty… I found this recipe somewhere on the internet a couple of years ago and have it hand-written in my big red notebook of recipes. Here it is (again) on the web to share with some friends who like ‘healthy’ snack foods.