Have you started taking all your warm clothes, Winter coats, long soft scarves and blankets out of the closet? I definitely have started my annual ritual of layering my clothes before leaving the house. Goodbye cold salads and ice creams, hello comforting hot dishes and soups!

I am stocking up on soup recipes for the colder months so we get to try various things: different types of vegetables, sometimes some fruit added, spices or not, cream or coconut milk, and many many types of toppings. When making a simple plain soup or velouté, it is always a good idea to prepare a few toppings to make it less boring: croutons, toasted nuts, crumbled or grated cheese, bacon bits, etc.

One of my favourite soups to make is butternut. I just love how creamy it is and its colour is so pleasing, it is like sunshine in a bowl!

I sometimes get strange food memories from my childhood in France. When I do, I end up wanting a taste of the specific dish, cake, biscuit etc. Most of the times, it is really difficult because I can either only get it in France or it does not exist anymore (insert my favourite Prosper soft gingerbread mini cakes that had apricot jam or chocolate in the centre, sigh...). And other times, I just find ways to make it myself.
One of those odd memories recently included beurre de sardine. Yes, sardine butter... It doesn't sound super exciting when you put it like this but it is actually quite delicious. I am not speaking about the lumpy one we had to eat at the school canteen but the one made at home with great care and the nicest canned sardines (I used to live on the Atlantic seaside where there were lots of local cannery factories then).
I guess at the time it was the school and our parents' own sneaky way of making us French kids eat oily fish by blending it into a fine paté style consistency.

Don't you just love the scent of tomatoes that have absorbed plenty of sunshine! With raspberries, this is possibly my favourite thing to smell in a garden during Summer time. My grandfather used to grow a few vine tomatoes many years ago when gardening all day long was his favourite activity (with age, he has had to make the garden a little smaller hence not growing certain things anymore). They were the nicest tomatoes I have ever eaten: juicy, sweet and the aroma, oh the aroma! To me, they just smelled of sunshine. I still dream of them to this day and I think the closest I have found in terms of similar flavour and sweetness was bush tomatoes in Australia.

What I love about a good tomato is that you can eat it as you would an apple or a peach. Pick it fresh from the garden and bite into it, no need for seasoning. And then use a few for your favourite Summer recipes. In my case, it would be a tomato and mozzarella salad, ratatouille or even better: des tomates farcies (stuffed tomatoes)! Just imagine the smell of baked tomatoes with a filling of meat and fresh herbs. It is so fragrant!

Sometimes, I wish I would spend the entire Summer eating only salads, chilled soups and fresh fruit. Alas, an Irish Summer does require a few hotter dishes here and there for cooler days. Fortunately, there are plenty of recipes using Summer fruit and vegetables. One can dream of a wonderful ratatouille tarte tatin for example or just heating that chilled courgette soup and topping it with fried bacon bits and croutons, and then finish with delicious apricot halves with almond crumble. A croque-monsieur is also an easy way to go. But what about adapting it to the season? 
I already shared my version of the croque-monsieur (with Irish ingredients) on the blog but I thought I would reuse it, this time with different cheeses and roasted courgette slices in lieu of ham.

Crepes season is on, starting with the French celebration of la Chandeleur (candlemas) on 2nd February.
I absolutely love crepes and galettes (a buckwheat type of crepe from Brittany). I already shared a couple of ideas for them over the years such as with caramelised apples, passionfruit and tonka white chocolate sauce or a savoury version with ham and garlic crème fraîche.
They are also such a great thing to serve for a dinner party. Imagine stacks of delicious crepes and galettes accompanied by many types of ingredients to fill them, the possibilities are endless!

Summer has been punctuated with more cold and rainy days than usual this year. But on the few actual sunny days we got, it was the occasion to quickly whip out salads and barbecue dishes before it all went away once again. This year, I have been particularly fond of chilled soups. There are so many delicious ingredients to use during Summer time that I tried my hand at various options and came up with my own recipes that I will be able to use the next time we get some warmer weather (hopefully sooner than later since I am headed somewhere nice and hot soon).

I remember having courgette soup (usually mixed with a bit of creamy cheese) during the Summer back in France. It was usually served warm and I thought it would be a good idea to have it cold instead as a more refreshing option.