Vive la France

So, I guess I should let you all know we're going on a little trip in a few days. Final stop is south India, with pit stops beforehand in Karlsruhe, Paris, and Brussels. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence. First of all, I am nowhere near as glamorous as it makes me sound. Second of all, I can't believe it's actually going to happen. Maybe I will believe once my feet actually touch the ground in Europe. Thanks, bro-in-law and future sis-in-law, for getting married! We get to witness the happy occasion of your wedding, as well as experience the trip of a lifetime. And eat a lot of really good food along the way, of course. Needless to say, during this month-long period, my posts to this blog may be sporadic, but I intend to do the best I can to keep you all updated, as I'm sure I'm going to have a lot (ie: way too much) to write about.

Before I go, I wanted to leave you with something I made in honor of one of the stops on our trip. You see, for the past ten years, ever since I hit the motherlode and found the entire Time-Life Foods of the World series sitting in in a musty old box in the back of a thrift store in Bremerton,Wash., a picture has been hiding in the back of my mind, in its own musty box. It is a picture of a little boy chomping into a slice of buttered baguette topped with six tiny whole radishes.*

The other day I found some pretty little fuchsia, red, violet, and white radishes in the store across the street, and ding-ding! I remembered the picture, pulled it out of the box in my mind, dusted it off, and bought a baguette to go with the radishes.

When I got home, I sliced the radishes into thin rounds, made some onion butter, sliced the baguette, and brought it all to our condo association potluck. Unfortunately, I think many of my neighbors... preferred the baked beans. Too bad I forgot the photo caption, which reads, "The open-faced radish sandwich is an acquired taste – best acquired at an early age." I dunno. Two neighbors, the husband, the five-year-old, and I thought they were pretty damn good.

* The picture is on page 44 of The Cooking of Provincial France. This and all the other pictures of little four-year-old Jean-Baptiste's Sunday family picnic will make you want to quit your life and move immediately to France. Incidentally, this is the volume written by M.F.K. Fisher.

Open-Faced Radish Sandwiches with Onion Butter
Just make some onion butter, slice some radishes, or leave them whole if they're on the tiny side, and slice a baguette. Spread your baguette slice with the butter, and top with radishes. Eat and enjoy. Vive la France!
To make onion butter: Puree about one quarter of a raw onion in a blender, then sautee the onion puree in a few tablespoons of butter until the raw flavor of the onion cooks away, and the onion softens. Let the onion puree cool a bit, then pour it into more butter (about one cup) at room temperature and mix it together. Add salt to taste. The butter is better if it has a few hours to sit before serving, and should be served at room temperature. However, it is nice if your radishes can be cold.