This has been a food heavy week so that makes it a good week. We have walked almost every day, which is good considering how we like to eat.

One of my current reading objectives is to read French authors. Try as I might, Dumas’s serial style does not work, so I have started Peré Goriot by Honoré de Balzac. The first pages are a captivating detailed description of Maison Vauquer, the boarding house in the Latin Quarter of Paris which is at the heart of the story. I did a painting of how it might have looked.

After posting our blogs last Friday, Tricia roasted some shrimp and mashed cauliflower for our lunch – two of my favorite things.

Saturday was pintxos day. We spent quite a bit of time experimenting.

What are Pintxos? You will see the word spelled two ways: Pintxos (Basque) or pinchos (Spanish). Both are from the word for “stabbed or poked” because originally they were bite size snacks on a peice of bread “stabbed” with a toothpick. We use the pintxos spelling since they come from the Basque region, which includes part of both France and Spain.

Pintxos are different from tapas. Tapas are small shared plates, pintxos are bitesized. Most restaurants that offer one offer both. In Donostia (San Sebastian) this was our favorite place, the pintoxs are in a display case and you point to the ones you want then take them to your table. In Helsinki we found a pintxos place called Deliberi, yes in Helsinki, and it was so good we went twice.

Saturday we tried quite a few combinations, all were good. We used slices of baguette and of a dark European thin-bread. Pintxos are certainly a fixture in our regular eating now.

We have been re-watching the Eugene Levy series The Reluctant Traveler, I often sketch.

Yesterday, Thursday, Tricia made celeriac cakes. If you have never tried this odd, gnarly looking vegetable you should give it a try.

It was hot here in The Pearl this week so staying in a lot and eating well was a good idea. When it hit 100F on Wednesday we were thankful for our AC, it was quite different just a couple of weeks ago when we were in the Paris heatwave.

I hope your summer is going well, that you are enjoying food and friends, and staying safe and cool. Thanks as always for following.