oooh so Mexican in France!

Last night's dinner menu...Mexican, my favorite!
Chips and salsa to start, uhuh - homemade salsas, of course: a roasted onion, tomato and pepper salsa, and one I found from a TV cook, finely chopped onions, peppers and garlic marinated for weeks in Lime Juice! Hot and very tasty. We went on to savor (with many tortillas on the side) a chipotle & tomato shrimp appetizer. On the lighter side, a fish fillet cooked with honey, white wine and pepitas (mail order - no outlets here) on a bed of purple tomatilla salsa: sided with roasted, marinated potato slices, bell peppers and onions slathered with fresh raw tomato sauce. We finished our meal with a Mexican chocolate bread pudding over sauteed apples - all served with local Minervois wine!

Thank goodness for return guests who adore my cuisine and allow me to try new things!

b and b cuisine in the Minervois

Roasted tomatoes and olives, set over potatoes and topped with a Sea Bream filet. Dinner for guests the other night started off with my first home-made Soup du Poisson, complete with freshly made Rouille. Followed up with Frozen raspberry yogurt, a tart dessert perfect for finishing the meal!

This is only one of many meals I have created in my B&B kitchen. I am currently preparing a menu choice for a Family of French guests who have requested me for Christmas dinner, something exotic, of course.

One of the many things I have picked up on in the years living abroad and traveling is a passion for International cuisine, you name it and I make it, with love. Mexican, Thai, Indian, Spanish tapas, Chinese Dim sum, and the list goes on. Follow the blog and I will do my best to keep you in the food loop - and have some fun!

Food passions

Where does one go with this, where does one start? For many years, I traveled and lived abroad, shared my trials and tribulations, and enjoyed the learning of new cultures, new food, and new friends. Now that I am more settled, I am ready to write it all down, but don't know where to begin...Food seems to be the common seed!

My passion for food and cuisine begin before I was aware that it existed, the passion that is! I was cooking for friends on my 16th birthday, doing what I wanted to do on that special day, against their screams of you should be doing what you want on your birthday Natalie! It was a surprise to my very independent group of friends, as it was to me I might add.

I have since (almost 30 years later), come into my own regarding cuisine, spices and especially the infamous, Capiscum. In my earlier days, I had a nickname of the 'Garlic Queen' - then it turned into the 'Queen of Hot Peppers', there are even a few whispers of 'Chocolat in Azille' I've heard murmered. None-the-less, that is where I'll begin.

The beginning...

Although this is a beginning, it is actually a continuation of my passion for cooking and living in the South of France, enjoying the laid back lifestyle, running a B&B, sharing life with my daughter and with you, come take a peek at our lives...