mise a jour

gina likes...
cupcakes
minimalism
grey and black and purple
champagne
petits fours
kitten ninja
orange blossom and fig
silver jewelry
markets
stuffed robots
poppies
daffodils
d&co
collecting shoes
macbookpro
leggings
cookbooks

Nouvel an, nouvelle vie?

This is what I would like to do in 2008

*Make decisions based on what is best for me
*Be true to myself
*Be true to my friends
*Sort out what I really want to do
*Find a job (finally) that will make me happy in a place that will make me happy
*Strengthen the relationships I already have and meet new people
*Take care of myself
*Be happy
*Accept life changes as part of life

and also...
*Write a very long thing in French
*Take up music again
*Figure out what the people who work across the street do
*Read a lot, and not only for the memoire
*Convince Ninja that clawing is not nice
*Try at least one new recipe a week
*Wash my face every night, even if I'm tired

Gratin dauphinois

If you've ever had those Betty Crocker "au gratin" potatoes, imagine that but with real ingrediants and 5 million times better. Maybe even 10 million.

2.5 or 3 pounds potatoes (choose a variety that will hold its shape well after being cut up and stuck in the oven for a while)
2.5 cups heavy cream (don't look at me like that, if you use milk it will notbeasgood!)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly (I tried using my food processor for this, and it made a mush. Maybe this is just my food processor though).
Rub the baking dish (any size that you choose, as long as it can contain the potato-and-cream goodness) with the cloves of garlic.
Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a layer of cream.
Cover the cream with a layer of potatoes, which you will then cover with a layer of cream, then salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Continue this layering until you've run out of ingredients. You need to finish with a layer of cream, though.
Throw the whole contraption into a 300 degree oven for about 2 hours. The low temperature and long cooking time allows the cream to slowly cook the potatoes, insuring that you will not end up with a mushmess or uncooked potatoes.

This gratin is typically served as a side to a meat-realated dish. We ate it with a salad.

Note 1- in French, food processor is "robot." And how can you not love something that deals with robots?
Note 2- if you have whole nutmeg cloves that you can grate yourself, use them! There really is a difference in taste.

Endives au gratin

1 or 2 endives per person
1 slice of ham for each endive
1 cup of grated swiss-type cheese (emmenthal or other)
2 cups of bechamel
-2 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-2 cups milk

For the bechamel...
Heat the butter in a saucepan until it's melted and a bit foamy. Stir in the flour and keep stirring until it forms a roux (it'll look a bit clumpy and pasty, but don't worry, it's ok). Cook the mixture for a minute or two or three, and then stir in the milk. Stir, stir, stir, until the sauce thickens and holds its shape a little.

Pre-cook the endives a bit (in a steamer or pressure cooker). They don't need to be cooked all the way through, just started. Wrap each with a slice of ham and put them in a baking dish. Pour the bechamel over the endives and sprinkle the whole thing with cheese.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the sauce bubbles and the cheese is golden.

Don't eat it right away, it's hot!