Mini Pizzas...

I've decided to try making mini pizzas and they were just perfect as appetizers for a little dinner we had with some friends. In fact I didn't use pizza / bread dough but instead a pate brisée - shortcrust pastry. I made some tomato sauce that we call rougaille in Mauritius. Used a glass to make nice round mini pizzas, spread some tomato sauce, fried onion, sardines-pilchard and grated cheese.
One thing about sardines is that since I'm a child I've always loved eating sardines - usually with piment confi - small pickled chili! So simple and yet delicious!!!! Only problem as I was a kid is that I didn't know how to open the cans - at the time we needed a can opener and that was too hard for me... always had to rely on my mum to open my sardines can!

Chard Gratin Tonight

After last weekend's adventure at Ferme du Sart, I set out to use all the veggies collected... Washing was already a lot of work but I didn't give up. So here's what we enjoyed this week : chard soup with the green parts, leek and potatoes quiche, and today it's chard gratin with the white part of the veggie...

It's simple to prepare. After cleaning and taking out all the stringy part, I cooked it around ten minutes in boiling water. Then prepared a creamy bechamel where I added salt, pepper, nutmeg and grated emmental cheese, then mix the chard and the bechamel and cook everything in the oven until it's crispy and golden.

Vegetable picking at Ferme du Sart

We had a perfect weekend in the north of France visiting our family. It was sunny and vegetable picking was great fun at La Ferme du Sart. You could freely pick 3 kilos of available veggies on Sunday morning, the surplus only cost 80 cts per kilo. They had carrots, chard, leek, onions, parsley, thyme and an few other veggies. Free, fun and healthy!!!!
Afterwards came the washing, the cooking... chard soup, leek and potato quiche and I haven't used all of it yet!!!

Sarkozy-Bruni, it's a baby girl...

Little baby girl Sarkozy-Bruni arrived October 19, 2011 ! No photos for the time being, baby's name's a mystery also!!! Parents Nicolas Sarkozy, 56, is father to Pierre (26), Jean (25) and Louis (14). Carla Bruni, 43, is mother to Aurélien aged 10. Best wishes to the family!!

As most French babies, this little girl will very certainly receive a Sophie la Giraffe toy!!! My two daughters both had their Sophie's and found it fun to play with.

Ambalaba, Mauritian Sega

I wanted to share a sample of Mauritian sega by famous Claudio Veeraragoo in 1966. This song was taken up twenty years later by French singer Maxime de Forestier… "Ambalaba".

So here's the Mauritian and French versions from Youtube videos, enjoy!

Ambalaba by Claudio Veeraragoo
You will notice that the first image from the clip is that of "Chateau de Mon Plaisir" in Pamplemousses Gardens, Mauritius.

Maxime Le Forestier's version

If you want the lyrics, here's a site for you