Fresh and Flavorful

Today it actually felt like August.. sunny, humid, crowded.. so naturally I went... (sans coat, sans umbrella!!!) to one of the many Markets in Paris. I chose Marche de la Bastille because it's big enough to have great variety but not so big that I get overwhelmed.. plus it's only a few stops from my house.

man doing a live info-mercial
for those handy-dandy kitchen scissors 

As soon as I started shopping, I realized how much money I waste per week at Monoprix. I got 3 cucumbers for 1euro.. what on earth?! At another stand I got 2 bell peppers, 3 avocados, green beans, fresh figs, onions and a sweet potato for 8 euro! I also bought a lot of fruit that I did not plan to buy.. but when someone offers a taste I can't say no.. and when it's delicious I have to buy it! There were tons of bucher stands as well.. much more intimidating because I'm not used to managing an entire animal, whether it be a fish, a turkey or a pig.. and numbers like 18 to 23 euro per kilo don't really mean anything in my mind... thus I defaulted to shrimp.. peel, devein, saute.. done

All in all the market was fabulous and so inexpensive that I had to stop shopping because my bags were to heavy, not because I was out of money! That's a first.

***

Home again, so I began playing with the ingredients to see what I could concoct....

Salad 

mango

cherry tomatoes

peeled and diced cucumbers

basil garnish

Guacamole

avocados

cherry tomatoes

lime

lemon

chili peppers

Rice

first sauteed in EVOO

onions, yellow bell pepper, and spices.

then boiled the rice and added plenty o' butter

Creamy Spicy Shrimp Sauce

sauteed shrimp 

oil and garlic

liquid cream, butter, creme fraiche, parmesan

whole basil, whole chili pepper for flavor 

let thicken

I put the shrimp sauce over the rice and it tastes a lot like that Thai food I had in London last weekend.. cool.. I just accidentally made Thai cuisine. Usually everything I make tastes Italian.. or too spicy to recognize.. this is progress!!