Pic of the Day - Dîner

La simplicité est la sophistication suprême



Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication 


- Leonardo de Vinci




Living on a language assistant's salary is definitely teaching me a thing or two about how to budget my money. It's also causing me to completely change my cooking style in order to avoid starvation.


You know, I was just too damn spoilt back home. That's the problem.  And now, instead of being able to reach in to Mummy's well stocked cupboard and throw toute bagai into my dishes, I have to watch what I use. Talk about pressure! So my new method is to try and pull as much flavour as I can out of as few ingredients as possible. Which, I am told, is actually the entire philosophy behind French cooking. Interesting, non?


Well that fab' dinner you see on top consists of sauteed sweet potatoes, baby lettuce served with mozzarella and a drizzle of truffle oil, and some kind of fish (can't remember what it was) that was cooked in its own juices and flavored with garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.  Talk about yummy. And believe it or not this gourmet dish cost me the grand total of da da dum - 1.50 Euros! No joke. Seriously, if you do it right, groceries in France are ridiculously cheap. Not too mention the wonderfully affordable outdoor markets that they have here on the weekends. 


So, voila, there's some good news for anyone considering coming to France to do the Assistantship program - you won't starve.