Our main source of Vitamin D is exposure to sunshine, so during the winter months it’s not uncommon to suffer from a lack of this key vitamin that keeps bones, teeth and muscles healthy. But instead of popping a supplement pill, there’s a natural way to do it. Mushrooms are the only plant-based food that’s rich in Vitamin D. If you put a mushroom on a sunny windowsill, it will absorb even more.
It’s now the season to go foraging for ³¦Ã¨±è±ð²õ. In our nearby Forêt de Tronçais, on a good day we get a basketful, worth a small fortune as they are over 40 euros a kilo in the Paris markets. Lightly fried in butter and with a sprinkle of fresh parsley, they’re a meal fit for a king. When we find too many, we brush off any dirt and pop them in the freezer. They make a magnificent soup.
Arguably, the champion of champignons are morels which grow in the Spring. Following in China’s footsteps, a few entrepreneurial growers in France are harvesting morels but so far there are no signs of commercial ³¦Ã¨±è±ð²õ.
From time to time, near our wood pile, a huge puffball suddenly pops up, the size almost of a football. You can eat them too. Of course, the French are renowned for eating everything. Only the other night, at a dinner party, I learned from a highly cultured lady that you can eat coypu. Ragondin, she claimed, was a bit like lapin (rabbit). I might pass on that, but as for puffballs, slice them into three-quarter inch wedges, and fry in butter. Delicious.
Belly full of Frenchness
Terminus Nord in Paris offers affordable luxuryTerminus Nord Brasserie
If you happen to be taking Eurostar from Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras and have a last-minute desire to fill up on a feast of foodie Frenchness to keep you going, then the brasserie is the place to go.
It’s bang opposite the entrance to the station, a mere 50 yards across the road. Originally, back in 1863 it was the bistrot of the Hotel Terminus Nord which boasted 800 rooms and 100 bathrooms, but in 1925 it was transformed into a grand Art Deco brasserie. It’s vast, made even more so by its mirrored walls. It’s also extremely traveller-friendly.
Once through the door, the maître d’hôtel grabs your luggage, leads you to a table and parks your bags nearby. All the waiters and waitresses wear bow ties; there are proper linen napkins. Service is brisk but considerate. There’s a cosmopolitan aura with locals, mothers with babies, or dogs, families, and travellers from all over, everyone enjoying a very traditional menu.
Plenty of ‘fruits de mer’: oysters, prawns, crab, langoustines, lobster; soups – fish or onion; choucroute; rognons de veau, tartare de bœuf; noix de Saint-Jacques, etc. Or if you just want to grab a quick bite ‘sur le pouce’, there are baguettes and croque monsieur or madame, or good old fish ’n’ chips (€19.50).
