After my little trip to France and all the many blog posts about it (yes, it feels like I blogged about everything I did there ... but really, I kept a lot of my memories there for myself), here is the second edition of the food contents of my French Expat's Suitcase (the first edition was nearly a year ago).
I did not bring as much as I did the last time for many diverse reasons. One of them being that I can find most French products I love around here in Dublin, the other being that I found a cookbook with recipes of cult French products so I can reproduce them here and the other reason... Well, the price of groceries has really risen in France lately (I was actually a bit shocked seeing that) and let's be honest, there are things like fruit, vegetables and meats that I do not need to bring back here as I can easily find those products in Dublin. I do miss the lovely Challans duck meat but I cannot seriously imagine myself bringing a whole duck back in my suitcase (do I need to give any obvious reasons about that?!).

Now, let's see what I brought back this time. Some of it is purely nostalgic and some of it is not edible but will help me cook delicious things.

Since the time for foraging blackberries is here, have you thought about all the things you could do with them?
I recently spent a day cooking with this beautiful fruit in the company of Rebekah and two of the creations that resulted out of it for me were a rich and delicious savoury blackberry sauce and a refreshing autumnal blackberry fruit salad.
But the success of the day were my little blackberry bites. Sweet and crunchy, they were eaten really fast with an afternoon cup of tea. With only three ingredients, they are very simple to make.
And they would be just perfect for a small sweet thing after a rich and warm autumnal meal.

Do you like foraging for blackberries? How do you use them afterwards? Do you stick to what you know best or try something a bit different?

For the last chapter of my day in Nantes this Summer, I bring you for lunch at Le Select.
After our lovely breakfast at La Cigale, buying books and some chocolate browsing at Maison Larnicol, we headed out towards the Cathédrale de Nantes where we were meeting my cousin. I had let her decide on where to go for lunch as she lives in Nantes and knows some really good places.
She took us towards place du Pilori and her favourite street for eating out and shopping: la rue du Château. She had mentioned a place in particular that I was eager to try, cafe Le Select.

After our little breakfast expedition to La Cigale in Nantes, E. and I made our way towards la FNAC (a big retailer for entertainment, the one in Nantes is on Place du Commerce) as I wanted to get a few books (a small pile of books is more like it...).
To go from Place Graslin to Place du Commerce in Nantes, the nicest way for me is to walk down the beautiful Passage Pommeraye. And the thing about going this way is that you will evidently pass in front of the chocolaterie Maison Larnicol located at one end of the arcade. It is probably a good thing to do so after having eaten a big breakfast like we had just done. Because the temptation to buy a lot of chocolates is all over this pretty chocolaterie.
The Breton Georges Larnicol holds the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France as a chocolatier (he won the title in 1993). He started to sell his chocolates and other sweet treats in Brittany in the 1980's and eventually expanded by opening shops in more than 23 places in France.

Ohlala, blackberries everywhere! Beautiful sweet and juicy blackberries! While I was in France recently, I could see bushes full of blackberries as we drove past them and people filling their baskets with this delicious fruit. I told you last year about enjoying this activity of blackberry picking with my mother and younger brother when we were small children.

This year was different though, I did not go and get the blackberries in the bushes by myself. But instead, I enjoyed a great day cooking with them.
I was invited by my lovely blogging friend Rebekah to spend a day in Kilkenny with her and cook some delicious recipes. Rebekah is the American blogger behind Honeysuckle Life, a beautiful blog about modern vintage lifestyle, and moved to Ireland with her husband a year ago.
After picking me up at the Kilkenny train station, Rebekah took me to her lovely country house and we started cooking with a lot of blackberries, as it was the theme for our recipes. I had such a fantastic day being in a kitchen with a very different kind of scenery. And said kitchen was so much bigger than my little apartment one, I really enjoyed cooking in it! It was also really great working along with someone else as I am more used to have the kitchen to my own.

This month, we will both be sharing our recipes on our respective blogs. I start with two recipes I created for the occasion. One is a seasonal blackberry fruit salad that is lovely and refreshing after a warm autumnal meal. The other one is a savoury blackberry sauce that goes well with pork and red meats.

After a few pints of Guinness and some really good times with our Australian friends who recently visited Ireland, E. and I headed to France to enjoy a long week of family reunions, visits and food, food, food.
My parents live in Challans in the Vendée region in France. So, quite obviously, this is where I go when I visit France.
You might have heard about Challans before if you are very keen about your poultry as le canard de Challans (Challans duck) is very famous in the gastronomic world. I feel very lucky that every time I go back to France, I get to eat a lot of Challans duck in many forms: magrets, fillets, confit legs, whole roasted duck, aiguillettes de canard (mini fillets of duck), steaks and various pates and terrines.
Another thing I love doing when I go to Challans for a holiday is visit the beautiful covered food market. It is opened on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings. On Tuesdays, it is extended outside so you can also buy clothes, jewellery and various kitchen utensils and contraptions (yes, I am still dumbfounded by some of the items I see on display there every time).

It is with great delight that I woke up early on Tuesday last week to take a walk and visit the Challans market. Going there early is quite important if you are not keen on queuing for ages to buy a piece of cheese, some meat, fruit and vegetables.
The visit of the market was followed by a little stop at the local salon de thé (pastry shop) for a relaxing moment over tea, coffee and sweet treats.