Paris...and a salade nicoise to kick things off

Bonjour!

It's been a while since I've posted (my sincere apologies), but I promise I have a good reason for the delay...I've moved to Paris!

A typical Haussmann Building in Paris, fresh tomatoes at the market...and wine!

It was a busy month packing up and saying so long to a lot of great friends (and awesome restaurants) in Toronto, and so unfortunately I wasn't able to get a post up. There will be a few posts coming from amazing meals I had during the last month (a tasting menu at George, l'Unita, Grace on college etc.) that I took notes on, but just couldn't get down in writing.

So for the foreseeable future, I'll be relishing and quaffing in Paris. My home base is an adorable apartment in a typical Haussmann building in the 11th arrondissement - full of crown mouldings, floor to ceiling french doors, and an adorable kitchen. I'll be living with my friend Lindsay (who has been posting about the Parisian restaurants so far,and who keeps a fantastic blog about life in Paris at www.playingparisian.com). Stay tuned for some of our Parisian food adventures!

To get things started, we went to the Marche d'Aligre on Sunday, and had a lovely stop at the Baron Rouge for oysters, fresh bread, Muscadet and a charcuterie plate (see Lindsay's last post for a more eloquent description of the BR). We then explored the market and picked out super fresh veggies for a salade nicoise - here's the recipe!

• Relish: Ingredients: mixed greens, green beans, baby potatoes, leeks, onions, eggs, cherry tomatoes, a can of tuna, pepper, mustard, plain yogurt, salt, fresh chives and basil. Instructions: Roast the baby potatoes, leeks and onions together. Steam the green beans, then pass them under cold water (to keep them crunchy), cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Hard boil the eggs, peel, then cut into quarters. Plop a handful of mixed greens in the middle of the plate, and arrange the beans, tomatoes, eggs and roasted potatoes around the sides. Sprinkle over the chopped chives and basil. Take the can of tuna and mix in a spoonful each of mustard and plain yogurt, lots of pepper, and a pinch of salt. Put a dollop of tuna mix on top of each of the mounds of lettuce. Drizzle with a mustard-based dressing (2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp white wine vinagre, 1 small spoonful of dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste and some dried italian herbs if you have them. shake together, drizzle over salad). Et voila! Une salade nicoise. 
• Quaff: We paired it with a chilled rose and it was a surprisingly delicious combination!
• Feel: This one is tougher - it was our first meal at our dining room table, only we were surrounded by various ikea boxes and suitcases...so we'll work on a more appropriate parisian feel for the next nicoise!