Thank you Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium for carrying two of my chapbooks about Asia - China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Ruth Paget is a cookbook reviewer, game developer, and freelance restaurant critic. She is the author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France.
Thank you Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium for carrying two of my chapbooks about Asia - China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Nourishing Waffles by Ruth Paget
I learned that waffles, even toaster Eggo waffles, contain protein and calcium thanks to the egg and milk in their ingredients in my health and nutrition classes in junior high and high school in Detroit, Michigan where many descendants of Dutch origin live.
According to Wonderful Mini Waffles by Catherine-Gail Reinhard and the editors at Dash, waffles are Dutch and came to what is now the United States in the 1620s when the Dutch founded New Amsterdam (later named New York).
From New York, waffles spread throughout the US especially with Dutch settlers like my teachers and classmates in Detroit. My thin teachers told us to limit ourselves to two small waffles with two tablespoons maple syrup to keep calories down. (Maple syrup was readily available to us in Michigan.)
When I moved to Europe in the late 1980s, I ate warm waffles with powdered sugar on them that I bought from street vendors in Brussels, Belgium as I toured comfortably well off Brussels that is rich on lambic beer and the income of Europe’s civil servants.
Belgium is also a famous country for waffles thanks to the country’s Flemish population. The Flemish are the Catholic cousins of the Protestant Dutch north of Belgium.
Waffles are easy to make at home with a waffle iron. You have to remember to only fill the bottom of the iron with batter. You lower the top lid on top of the base. The waffles ingredients will make the waffle rise to double its size with the heat.
I own an excellent cookbook that has recipes for both sweet and savory waffles (162 pages) that was written as a companion book to go with a Dash mini waffle iron (4-inches in diameter). The cookbook entitled Wonderful Mini Wafles, was written by Catherine-Gail Reinhard. Three sweet waffle recipes stand out to make this book a great purchase.
The stand out recipes include:
-classic recipes made with eggs, milk, flour, and batter (waffle batter is made with more butter than pancakes)
-Belgian Liège waffles made like classic waffles with the addition of vanilla, honey, and cinnamon
-banana bread waffles made with mashed bananas, buttermilk, and brown sugar
Readers who might enjoy this book include:
-young families
-college students
-baby sitters
-lacto-ovo vegetarians
For everything about sweet and savory waffles, Wonderful Mini Waffles by Christine-Gail Reinhard is an excellent purchase.
(Note: To try waffles in Salinas, California check out Waffles Breakfast and Lunch Restaurant on North Main Street by Saigon Noodle and Grocery Outlet or IHOP on West Davis Road by Carl’s Junior, Sonic, Mountain Mike’s, Vallarta Supermarket and taqueria, 24-hour gas station, and AAA.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Goat Cheese and Dandelion Greens at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget
The La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina is about 30 minutes away from Augusta, Georgia and offers visitors a relaxed atmosphere for lunch in small town America among its many touring options.
Aiken is home to a campus of the University of South Carolina, the Savannah River Site nuclear facility, and an active polo club. Its English heritage is visible in its orange brick architecture and tree-lined boulevards downtown that promote businesses that elite Englishmen prefer like French restaurants and Belgian chocolate shops.
One of Aiken’s busy restaurants is La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery located just off Chesterfield Street downtown. The restaurant has its own parking lot. You order at the counter, take an arrondisement (Parisian district) marker to your table, and wait for your waiter to bring freshly made food to you.
On our first visit to La Parisienne, I ordered the goat cheese salad served on a bed of dandelion greens. A thick slice of oven-baked toast sat in the center of the salad with a large ball of goat cheese to spread out over the dandelion greens and cherry tomato halves in the salad. The vinaigrette was made with a perky raspberry vinegar and olive oil. I could have eaten two of those delicious salads.
My husband Laurent ordered me a lemon crêpe instead that was filled with powdered sugar and freshly pressed lemon juice. That dessert was perky as well and filled me up. Both of these items were perfect for the hot and sultry weather in our restaurant located by the Savannah River.
La Parisienne has a wooden guillotine in the parking lot to remind diners that not all of French history is rosy.
Laurent and I walked through the convenient gate behind the restaurant to the Belgian chocolate shop next door – La Bonboniere. The handmade chocolate comes in a variety of flavors. I like the lemon cream filled chocolates with the head of an Egyptian women imprinted on them.
I also like the chocolate ganache filled white chocolates that have “Aiken” printed on them in chocolate. The cutest chocolates are the ones shaped like horse hooves for the polo lovers in town.
Tourists interested in a nice lunch in a nice place will love the La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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