Parisian Anomaly

First time ever seeing a Parisian pick up after their dog.

Madame, I wish you good karma for all eternity, because I'm pretty sure you are the only person in this entire city who has ever done that.

No measuring cups or spoons here!

Admittedly, my posts are getting a little out of order. But these recent New York Times article was just too apropos not to share!

First order of business: How to Measure while Cooking in France.

You can imagine my hippie-foodie-healthnut-Californian delight when my first trip to Monoprix yielded this:

Organic, resonably-priced quinoa? Quel surprise!

But then, most of you American readers can imagine my confusion when I went to prepare it and saw this:

Cooking instructions

Serving for 1 person: 60g of quinoa

60 GRAMS of quinoa? How on earth was I going to measure that?

I looked up the conversion from grams to cups (obviously, this was doomed from the start, as grams are mass and cups refer to volume) so that I could then convert from cups to tablespoons - I was thinking I might approximate a tablespoon using the apartment's regular dining cutlery. All right, I gave up.

I asked the professor for his advice last night, and lo and behold, he produced a kitchen scale, on which I was able to weigh a perfect portion of 60 grams of quinoa. The funny part is, the New York times just ran an article on the superiority of cooking with such a scale, in lieu of American measuring cups and spoons. It's a convincing argument, making sense both in terms of the science of cooking and baking, as well as in terms of post-cooking mess clean-up. Mom, you may want to invest in one...

~

Second order of business: "A French Feast from a Political Pot" by Elaine Sciolino

Another apropos article appeared in the trusty Times yesterday, reporting on how one French deputy has compiled a cookbook of recipes from all the members of the French National Assembly. Among my favorite quotes, "It is our national responsibility to cook and eat well," says the deputy. What a breath of fresh air! Would an American congressman or -woman ever compile such a work or make such a statement? (Nah, that would be counter to the interests of the food lobby AND the pharmaceutical companies that make big money on treating health problems, instead of preventing them!)

Furthermore, if the US were to make such a Congressional cookbook, would it even be any good?

French romantic idealism saves USPS?

"Love letters to save the American postal service from failure"

"When all else fails, fortunately there's always love. To save the American postal service, a senator has found an easy solution...romance. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill suggested that Americans take up the habit of writing love letters, especially for holidays. "We must not abandon the idea of sitting down and writing a letter, and putting in it one's hopes, thoughts, and prayers for one's beloved" ...."

[from Le Figaro]