Madeleines

They reminded me of a submarine when I was small :P

Madeleines, are small vanilla flavored French cakes. They are very easy to make and very tasty. The shape of these small cakes are very crucial to their identification. They look a little bit like sea shells. The mold you should use for this recipe resemble like this:

One important thing for this recipe is to have the appropriate mould. I’m sure you could make them in a non madeleine shaped one but I feel like it would lose something and they wouldn't be madeleines anymore :P Up to you to try though! 

My mum used to make them for me as an afternoon snack for when I came back from school. I remember drowning them into my chocolate milk until no more bubbles would appear on the surface (yes I was an evil child). 
They are simple to make (20min preparation and cooking time) and delicious to eat so I decided I would try making them myself with my mama’s recipe.

Here is my mum's recipe! :)

Ingredients for 8 madeleines:

•          1 egg
•          40 g sugar
•          60 g flour
•          30 g of butter
•          1 pinch of salt
•          1 pinch of baking powder
•           Few drops of vanilla extract

 Preparation:

1. Preheat the over at 200-210 degrees
2. Beat the egg with the sugar
3. Add a pinch of salt and a few drops of vanilla extract
4. Add flour and mix
5. Add the melted butter and mix until you get a homogenous paste
6. Fill the moulds and immediately bake it in the oven for 10 min!

What my mum told me to do is use the back the spoon to make sure that the mixture is filling the molds so you get a nice madeleine shape J  

Make sure your little madeleines tan a lot and become golden brown! The first time I made them I didn't bake them enough and they looked rather pale and unhealthy :( 

Personally, I think the madeleines are best when they are fresh out of the oven. The smell of warm madeleines is just amazing and they feel extra soft! *drool*

フワフワ！so sooooft!

I used salted butter when I made them the first time and you could feel bits of salt in them. In case you don't like the savory-sweet mix, you can use regular unsalted butter as well :)

The preparation time is so short that it is also perfect to make them when you have unexpected guests and no snacks to offer!

This is how they look like underneath! 

Recipe also available in french and spanish! :)

Recette pour environ 8 Madeleines

Ingrédients:

• 1 oeuf
• 40 gr de sucre
• 60gr de farine
• 30gr de beurre
• 1 pincée de sel
• 1 pincée de levure
• quelques gouttes de vanille

Préparation:

1. Préchauffer le four a 200-210C.
2. Battre l’oeuf avec le sucre
3. Ajouter le sel et les goutes de vanille
4. Verser la farine et mélanger
5. Ajouter le beurre ramolli
6. Remplir les moules et faire cuire immédiatement pendant 10 min

A déguster tiède ;)

Receta para 8 madeleines:

Ingredientes:

• 1 huevo
• 40 g de azúcar
• 60g de harina
• 30g de manteca
• sal
• algunas gotas de vainilla

Preparación:

1. Calentar el horno a 200-210 grados
2. Mezclar el huevo con el azúcar
3. Agregar la sal y la vainilla
4. Agregar la harina y mezclar bien hasta obtener una mezcla homogénea
5. Agregar la manteca ablandada
6. Llenar los moldes y meterlos en el horno inmediatamente durante 10 minutos.

Para que tengan una linda forma de madeleines, se puede usar una cuchara para llenar el molde.

A disfrutar cuando todavía están calentitos y/o con un vaso de leche!

Cancale Oysters

Oyster stand 

On my trip to France, I also went to Cancale, a commune in Brittany (North West of France). 

It is known for its fresh oysters, grown and collected there. You can buy them at stands and eat them right by the sea! (Freshness guaranteed!) It is also very cheap there, costing only 50 cents to have them opened. Many people just buy them and munch them away, throwing the shell away on the sand.

Oysters munched by everyone

I could obviously not go there without eating oysters... I hadn't eaten them in about 10 years and was not sure I would like them... 

I ordered 6 of them for lunch as a starter and turns out I LOVED THEM. It was so fresh and you could really taste the salt of the ocean. For those who don't like sea food, I wouldn't recommend though... :P
You eat them with a small special fork.


They were accompanied with some sliced bread, salted butter, lemon and a shallot based vinaigrette. Some people like to eat oysters by putting the shallot or lemon juice but I was always told that it kills the real taste of the oyster. It has such a special flavor that it would be a pity to drown the poor creature in lemon juice!
As a drink, the best would be some white wine (as I did) or pour the leftover sea water from your oyster into a glass and chug it at the end (apparently very healthy)!

How to spot a good Eclair au Chocolat

Eclair is, in my opinion, one of the most well-known French dessert. As a Nomster, I have tried a high amount of different eclairs (mainly chocolate flavor) in different countries and heard the criteria for a good Eclair many times throughout my life via my (French) mother. There are a variety of signs that can tell you if the eclair is going to be good. Here are a few tips:

1. Creme patissiere: this is the cream that fills the eclair. It is very important that it is chocolate/coffee flavored depending on the eclair of your choice and most importantly that the creme is NOT white. I have had many disappointments upon buying or finding those shaped like and called eclairs but filled with whipped cream. If you see white cream in the inside, remember, it is an impostor.  
2. Chocolate icing on top of the eclair. On a good eclair, the chocolate icing should be shiny. I find it aesthetically more appealing and it also shows that it is not the same cream used for the filling and the covering. 
3. Dough: this is something that can only be tested once in your mouth. The eclair dough has to be soft and moist. If it is too chewy and dry, it means the dough was left on the fire for too long. 
4. The filling: the filling inside of an eclair is called creme patissiere. This cream should be filling the eclair generously. If not, the eclair may feel rather dry. 
5. The taste of creme patissiere: a good one will obviously taste like chocolate or coffee. Sounds obvious but I have come across some that were rather tasteless! 
6. Consistency of creme patissiere: the cream inside should neither be too liquid or too thick. If too liquid, eating it without any spill will be a challenge and if too thick, it will make the eclair heavy. 

Below is a chocolate eclair from a French boulangerie that opened in West London. As you can see the icing in very shiny and dark and the filling tasted like chocolate with a good consistency. The only minus point was the dough that could be softer. 

The next eclair is from Maison Blanc at Chiswhick. This one was absolutely delicious: the dough was light and the filling was exceptionally good. It was pretty thick and you could really taste the chocolate (you can also see it's pretty legit by the colour of the filling as well!). The only minus point was that they were a little stingy on the chocolate icing on top.

Filled with deliciousness!

Hope this will help you identify more authentic eclairs :)

Omelette de la Mere Poulard

I went to France end of September and I visited Mont Saint Michel for the first time. It is an island in Normandy (North-West of France) where an abbey has been built on a rock! The weather was very nice considering the season. and it was very beautiful and interesting to visit!

But getting to the important moment of the day for a NOMster: Lunch.

In Mont Saint Michel there is one very very famous restaurant: La mere Poulard. It is right at the entrance of the Mont, on the left hand side.

Its most famous dish is their fluffy omelette, omelette de la Mere Poulard which costs 65 euros T.T

A little too expensive for my taste, we looked for another place to have lunch in. Turns out most cafes/restaurants on the little island do have the omelette for much cheaper! So here it is I had the omelette similar to the one from La Mere Poulard.

The omelette was very fluffy on the inside; it was like mousse. The secret is to whip the egg for a long time, until it becomes all fluffed up. Taste wise, it didn't have that much... It just tasted like a normal omelette. It doesn't fill you up very much and it's a little bit boring... Overall a little bit disappointed with this overrated dish and I think home made omelets can be much tastier and way cheaper.

All the fluff! 

It also came with fries!