Eating Our Way Along the French Riviera

As part of our 3-month #ForestFeastMediterranean journey, after our month in Barcelona , we headed to the French Riviera. We met Jonathan's parent in Antibes and we all stayed in a dreamy Airbnb that my mother-in-law found us right by the sea – an old stone house that was actually part of the town's ancient ramparts. Antibes is on the southern coast of France, not far from the Italian border.

Our Airbnb in Antibes

We were just steps from the open air market which we passed through daily, picking up the most beautiful radishes, zucchini blossoms and cherry tomatoes.  We had the radishes with butter at cocktail hour several nights in a row. Once a week the socca stand was at the market-- a traditional local chickpea pancake made in fiery oven as you wait. Delicious!

The Antibes Market

Ezra with goodies we picked up at the market

Radishes from the market with butter back at our house

The Socca being cooked at the market

Socca, splashed with black pepper-- so good!

Antibes is the most adorable cobblestone town. Right on the water and a shot train ride from Cannes and Nice. We stayed in the old town and each evening we could walk to a different restaurant for dinner. We also rented a car and did day trips to the nearby towns of Eze and Saint Paul de Vence. It's a stunning stretch of coast and I can see why so many artists have been drawn to it. I loved our visits to the Matisse and Picasso museums and imagining them being inspired to make work there.

One of my favorite lunches was on the beach at Le Galet in Nice. A version of the eggplant pizza I had there (with rosé!) is going in the book.

On a day trip to Saint Paul de Vence (Ezra, 3 and Max, 10 months)

Saint Paul de Vence

We also loved our lunch at Le Tilleul in Saint Paul de Vence.

A salad inspired by this one at Le Tilleul is also going in the book! I mean, phyllo wrapped goat cheese!?!

Ez in Ezé :) At the Exotic Garden, in Ezé, France, a hillside cactus garden overlooking the water.

Cocktails outside, looking out onto the main plaza, at Cafe Clemenceau in Antibes.

Sunset from the Picasso museum in Antibes. He worked in this building for several months and the paintings that came out of that time were very much inspired by the food in Antibes.

It was so exciting to find a French Edition of The Forest Feast for Kids in a bookstore in Antibes.

*Just yesterday* a copy of The Forest Feast Gatherings in French arrived, so excited to see it!

This was such a magical little stop on our trip-- I so recommend staying in the historic/old town of Antibes if you are in this area, especially with kids. It's a lovely little village, and very walkable. We were there in November for a week and it was still nice enough to eat outside! I hear the beach scene in summer gets pretty crowded, but I'd love to go back then, too. 

Au revoir!

Stay tuned for our next stop...Italy!

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We spent 3 months in Europe in the Fall of 2017 as I was doing research on Mediterranean food for my upcoming cookbook, The Forest Feast Mediterranean (Abrams, Fall 2019). For more photos from our entire trip, check out the hashtag #forestfeastmediterranean on Instagram.

Other posts in this series:

• Forest Feast Mediterranean Begins!

• Barcelona Travel Guide

Barcelona Travel Guide!

Our month in Barcelona was amazing. We loved our neighborhood and found lots of great places to eat (with and without kids). If you're planning a trip, here are some of our favorites:

STAY:

We got an Airbnb in the Sant Antoni/Eixample neighborhood, right on the Poble Sec metro stop, which we thought was a great location, especially for an extended stay with kids. It was not touristy, but we had everything we needed within a 3 block radius. It's the area where lots of new cute restaurants are, but it's not loud. It's a neighborhood of locals. It's not in the cobblestone gothic quarter (which is very cute, but more crowded/loud/touristy) but it's still very central. We walked all over from there, or took the metro a few stops to the downtown area or other main attractions. 

at our Airbnb in the Eixample neighborhood

EAT:

We ate a lot in our neighborhood because it had so many great, cute, hip options, so a lot of these suggestions reflect that. With kids, we often opted to make lunch our main meal of the day since a lot of restaurants don't serve food until 8pm (our kids' bedtime). Not all restaurants offer lunch during the week, but most do on weekends. We tried to find restaurants that had outdoor space which makes dining with kids easier. We did get a babysitter a couple times (through 'Little Prince' agency) to have dinner out.

• Lolita Taperia: one of my favorite meals in Barcelona. We went for a weekend lunch and got there right at 1pm when they opened. Tables filled up quickly. You can sit outside with kids. Creative tapas. I loved the eggplant dish with molasses, the fava bean salad with avocado and eggs, the burrata, and the vermouth (below).

• PIcnic: super cute lunch/brunch spot closer to the gothic quarter. They serve dinner too. They have things like pancakes and sandwiches (with a tapas flair). I got some tasty avocado toast with kale on it. 
• Cafe Flanders: I liked this restaurant mostly for the location. The plaza it was in was so cute (outdoor seating), and kids can run around outside. They serve fairly basic tapas and we had a Sunday afternoon lunch here after a visit to Park Guell. There's a burger restaurant in this plaza too that was very crowded with locals.

Cafe Flanders' Vermouth cocktail

• Tapeo: a couple different people recommended this place and we thought it was great. Nice tapas in El Born neighborhood. We went for dinner (yay, babyistter!) and it was delicious. Creative twists on traditional dishes, but not too fancy. I loved many of their dishes, especially the leeks,  tomato bread and the honeyed eggplant (below).

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• Hoja Santa: (pics below) This was our one big fancy meal out. It's a Michelin star place and we did the tasting menu, which they were very accommodating to adapt for dietary preferences. This is a part of the El Bulli restaurant group which is having its revival in the Sant Antoni neighborhood where we stayed since Ferran Adria's famed El Bulli closed a few years ago (some say it was the best restaurant in the world). Tickets is sort of "the" place to go in this group of restaurants, but we couldn't get a reservation, so we opted for Hoja Santa and were very happy. Hoja Santa is a Mexican restaurant, but we were ready for something other than tapas so we loved it. It was a long meal, maybe 20 small plates and almost 3 hours... very creative and delicious. Amazing presentation! Fine dining in a somewhat casual atmosphere.

Tasqueta de Blai: (below) At least once in Barcelona I suggest you do an evening of pintxos! This is a genre of tapas bars where lots of small tapas on toothpicks are on the bar and you grab whatever you like. At the end, you pay by the toothpick (usually about 1 Euro each). Fun, inexpensive, and casual, and there were generally several vegetarian options. This is one pintxos restaurant (on a strip of many) that we enjoyed.

Pintxos (tapas that you pay for by the toothpick)

Tasqueta de Blai

• Bar Calders: We had a good weekend brunch here and sat outside for eggs, potatoes hummus and vermouth. Cute spot to sit!

VISIT:

• Park Guell: my favorite Gaudi spot!
• Cable car to Montjuic: great view of the city + a castle
• The beach near the Barceloneta neighborhood! Fun for a low-key break, especially with kids.

Buen Viaje!

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We spent a month in Barcelona in the Fall of 2017 as I was doing research on Spanish/Mediterranean food for my upcoming cookbook, The Forest Feast Travels (Abrams, Fall 2019). For more photos from our entire 3-month trip in Europe check out the hashtag #forestfeasttravels on Instagram.

Check out this post for more pics from Barcelona.

Happy Thanksgiving from France! + 2017 Recipe Roundup

Every year, we head south to my aunt and uncle's beach house in Santa Barbara for a big family celebration. They BBQ the turkey outside and we spend all day cooking together, usually with a break mid-day to swim and surf. I will so miss being there this year, but don't feel too bad for me because today we are heading from Barcelona to Antibes, France!

Our family's Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara a couple years ago

In case you are still looking for a couple Thanksgiving sides, below are some of my favorites from years past. Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate.

Butternut Deviled Eggs

Crispy Old Bay Brussels

Persimmon Salad...also good with Avocado!

And as you do your Black Friday shopping, perhaps consider a cookbook for a holiday gift (wink, wink!)...only $24.75 on Amazon! More Forest Feast gifts here.

Also...Thanks for all your suggestions on things to do/see/eat in France on Facebook and Instagram...follow along @theforestfeast. Happy Thanksgiving!!

#ForestFeastMediterranean Begins! 1st Stop: Barcelona

We've been waiting a long time for this trip and it is finally here! Jonathan is on a sabbatical from work so we decided to take advantage of it and travel. We really wanted to spend time around the Mediterranean, so I pitched the idea of doing a vegetarian Mediterranean cookbook to my publisher, Abrams, and they loved the idea! It's going to be called THE FOREST FEAST MEDITERRANEAN and it'll be 100+ vegetarian small plates inspired by food we are trying on this trip. It is slated to be out Fall 2019!!

We will be gone 3 months in all, and are hitting up 4 countries in the western part of the Mediterranean: Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. We are of course traveling with our 2 boys: Ezra recently turned 3 and Max is 9 months. They aren't in school yet, so we figured this is as good a time as any to take them on the road!

Max at our apartment in Barcelona

Our first stop is a month in Barcelona, where we are currently and we are LOVING it. Despite living in the forest, we love city life and miss NYC (where Jon grew up), so we knew we wanted a good chunk of our time to be spent getting to know a new city. He speaks Spanish, so that was a draw, and I love tapas!  The warmer, southern climate was also a draw since we are traveling in fall/winter.

We rented an apartment in the Eixample neighborhood which is central but not touristy. It's been a great location with lots of cute cafes and restaurants. We walk almost everywhere and we've had lovely warm fall weather so far. We have been doing a lot, but also come home daily for siesta  (our kids' naptimes!) which makes it feel relaxed.  We love spending evenings outdoors in different neighborhood plazas. Many of the plazas have a playground across from an outdoor cafe where we can order a cocktail and some Patatas Bravas while watching Ezra play. (Why does this not exist more prevalently in America?!)

Warm evening in a plaza in our neighborhood for drinks and tapas before dinner.

The Gaudi benches at the famous Park Guell

Park Guell detail, Barcelona

Placa Reial- Barcelona

At the Sagrada Familia Cathedral by Gaudi in Barcelona

We have done some day trips outside the city to Sitges (a beautiful old beach town), Montserrat (take a cable car up a mountain to a monastery), and Girona (a stunning medieval town full of cobblestone streets). 

The 4 of us on a day trip from Barcelona to the ancient town of Girona

Follow along on Instagram @theforestfeast where I post what we are doing daily. I'm posting additional photos on Instagram Stories and on Facebook as well.  Check out this post for my Barcelona Travel Guide with restaurant recommendations.

Until soon....Adios!

Weeknight Fall Entertaining + Kale Apple Quinoa Salad

We are just finishing up the Jewish High Holidays that run several weeks each Fall and involve lots of cool-weather cooking and feasting. We hosted a couple weeknight dinner parties and because we had a lot going on during the day, we didn’t have a ton of time to prepare. The New Seasons Market deli totally saved me! For one dinner party, I made a big lasagna ahead of time and got salads from the deli to supplement as sides. They have beautiful vegetarian offerings and just having to make one dish makes mid-week hosting much more manageable. One salad I was especially impressed by was the Kale Apple Quinoa Salad. I served it the day after I bought it and it was still deliciously fresh. I have adapted the recipe the store uses below. However, if you live near a New Seasons Market, I definitely recommend buying it.

I also bought the Beet Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese from the deli and spread it out on a platter of fresh arugula which was a quick additional salad and looked homemade. And the organic and Non-GMO Project Verified breads at New Seasons bakery are baked daily – we loved the round loaves of raisin challah. For dessert I made Honey Cake (a Jewish New Year tradition, but great for any fall or winter gathering), baked in a round bundt pan. New Seasons has beautiful produce and I picked up some incredible figs to decorate the dessert plate with. along with some fresh pomegranate seeds for an autumn feel.

Jonathan and I always talk about how hosting people in our home is something that’s very important to us as a way to connect with friends and family more intimately, but also to build community. It can be overwhelming to have people over, especially mid-week, so if supplementing the meal with store bought items from a great deli means you can actually do it, why not?!

Kale Apple Quinoa Salad

Serves 4-6

(adapted from a recipe by New Seasons Market, served at their deli)

5 stalks curly kale, stems removed, torn in pieces

2 c red quinoa, cooked and cooled

2 Fuji apples, cubed (leave peel on)

½ c chopped walnuts (toasting optional)

¼ c dried cherries (or cranberries)

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl with your favorite vinaigrette. One that includes apple cider vinegar would complement the fall flavors well.  Serve within about 30 minutes of dressing.

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This post was sponsored by New Seasons Market, a new grocery store in my community (it's in Sunnyvale, CA) that I love! Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Forest Feast going.