Food · Language

またキトック/ Quitoque again

今週はズッキーニを使ったレシピが多めだった。冬はニラ、春は人参を繰り返したレシピだったから旬の食材を食べていることについていちょっとうれしい。体と環境に優しいと言われているので。

This week’s recipes were centered around zucchinis. We received all those leeks in winter, carrots in spring, and now zucchinis; feels good to eat according to the season! Less carbon footprint and possibly better for my health.

ちなみに、この野菜はフランス語とイギリス英語ではクルジェットと言います。元々イタリアから栽培した野菜で、かぼちゃのイタリア語「zucca ズッカ」の小さな仲間なので「zucchini ズッキーニ」と名付けられたという。そしてフランスに輸入したら今度、かぼちゃのフランス語「courgeクルジュ」の小さなバージョンんなので「courgetteクルジェット」になった。当時はアメリカの建国のために来たイタリアの移民の影響でアメリカン英語ではズッキーニだそうだ。そしておそらくアメリカの影響で日本でもズッキーニと知られている。

By the way, zucchinis are called courgette in French and in British English. The vegetable originates from Italy and its name comes from “zucca” or squash in Italian, and “zucchini” is its diminutive (or tiny and cute version).  When it was brought to France, the French called it their version of the small squash, or “courgette”, the diminutive of “courge”. In the United States they call it zucchini probably thanks to the large number of Italian immigrants at that time. And in Japan I guess they call it zucchini too because of American influence.

マレーシアではどうだろう。両方とも呼ばれている気がする。でも一般の家庭料理や当地グルメではあまり使われていないと思う。

What about in Malaysia? I think there are people who call them courgettes, and others call them zucchinis, so I’m not sure if there’s a rule. I suspect it’s not a widely used vegetable to begin with.

ゴルゴンゾーラとエルブドプロバンス入クルジェットとクスクス
Stuffed courgettes with gorgonzola and herbes de provence with couscous

 

クルジェットグラタン。上にはペコリノ(パルメザンみたいなチーズ)がふってある。
Courgette gratin sprinkled with pecorino (something like parmesan) cheese.

ソーセージとナスのパルマンティエ
Sausage and brinjal parmentier

最後のパルマンティエだけど、18世紀にじゃがいもの食用をフランスやヨーロッパ中に普及した人「アントワーヌ=オーギュスタン・パルマンティエ」にちなんで名付けられたお料理です。じゃがいもはそれまで動物にやった食料だったらしい。パルマンティエの味は、個人的にはシェッパーズパイのようなもんだった。

ナス(エッグプラント、オーベルジーヌ、ブリンジャル)やシェパーズパイの語源は、次回の投稿で調べようかなと。

The last parmentier dish is named after the guy promoted potato as a food in France and other parts of Europe in the 18th century, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier. Before that the potato was only fed to animals. The parmentier dish reminded me of a shepherd’s pie.

I’ll look into the etymology of brinjal (eggplant, aubergine, nasu in Japanese) and shepherd’s pie in the next blog post, maybe.

Btw, courgette in Mandarin is 西葫芦 (xihulu), in Cantonese it’s 翠玉瓜 (chui yuk gua) and in Malay it’s simply zukini.

 

France · Lifestyle

And then there were treize fleurs

So France started its lockdown – or confinement in French, which is a faux ami, because in English it brings to mind postpartum confinement or 坐月 (literally sitting the month) in Mandarin – on 16 March. While stuck at home, one of the things which I found to be the most therapeutic was to take care of my plants and shower them with love. Me literally taking care of them lovingly i.e. watering them, sprinkling coffee grounds, and paying attention to them multiple times a day and E showering them with love as a concept, i.e. saying he loves them.

And I think my plants are highly appreciating it. Especially my orchid, because in return, she (yes, I decided) bloomed like 10 more flowers during the lockdown, making a total of 13 flowers for this spring season! I am so excited and proud because my green-thumbed colleague once told me it’s quite rare for orchids bought from the store (mine is from Ikea originally with 15 flowers, bought last April when Teng came to visit) to rebloom and they usually just grow more and more leaves stacked on top of one another.

But behold my phalaenopsis:

image
with a sneaky cameo of my new rose plant, yes I’m at a steady rate of 1 new plant per 1 month of lockdown

44js7j

 

Uncategorized

End of an era

No more coziness all day

No more random cuddles between calls

No more eating breakfast together

No more quick runs at lunchtime

No more occasionally grocery shopping together at lunchtime

No more eating home-cooked lunches together at lunchtime

No more strolling into my ‘office’ asking “on mange quoi a midi?” and expecting me to have an answer when it’s almost lunchtime

No more strolling into his ‘office’ for a work-time coffee chat

No more fake judgmental looks when one of us reaches for the snack cabinet

No more eavesdropping on each other’s zoom calls

No more interruptions during my zoom calls

No more “developing a crush for my coworker”

No more seeing each other immediately after clocking out of work

Because working from home for E is finally coming to an end…. While I’m sad for the reasons above, I’m glad I still get to work from home for the time being. Though I may start to feel lonely in the coming weeks and actually volunteer to go back to the office.

Sorry for the super first world problem post, here are some swan babies + their mother at Annecy last weekend. They are so furry and cute! 

swan babies