Bonjour Novembre! If you have difficulties viewing this email newsletter, you can read it in your browser. Last month, I... Hi there, it's good to see you again! Here's what I've been up to behind the scenes this past month. What's kept *you* busy, excited, and well fed? 
... made a big batch of kimchi. I am ever curious about fermented foods, and a big fan of Korean cuisine, so it was only a matter of time before I tried this spicy fermented cabbage. I loved the result -- would this be something you'd like for me to share on C&Z? ... enjoyed a delicious scoop of cacao sorbet from Scaramouche, a recently opened artisan ice cream place near me. My son had an equally praise-worthy cup of vine peach sorbet. (Related: here's the recipe I use for dark chocolate sorbet.) ... breakfasted on soft-boiled eggs served with multigrain bread soldiers (mouillettes -- moo-yet -- in French) at Cuillier, a lovely new craft coffee place a few steps from place des Abbesses. (Related: in which I profess my love for soft-boiled eggs, complete with eating instructions.) ... roasted my first batch of Brussels sprouts this season. It's by far my favorite cooking method for them: slice in two, toss with oil and salt, and pop in a 200°C (400°F) oven for 30 minutes. Roasting them alongside slim carrots is extra tasty. What do you like to do with Brussels sprouts? (Related: Brussels Sprouts with Onions and Squash Seeds.) 
... had lunch at Les Frites à Maman (Maman's French Fries), a new restaurant that offers several kinds of fries to go with their dishes. We sampled three, and while the sweet potato fries were a bit limp for my taste, I loved the other two: the crackly thin shoestring fries, and the unusual Saint-André fries with a cross-shaped section for maximum crunch. (Related: Perfect Roasted Potatoes.) ... went away for a few days in the Perche, a gorgeous countryside area two hours west of Paris that you may remember me telling you about. Among other goodies we got fresh chestnuts from the greenmarket, which we scored and roasted. We ate most of them hot from the shell but the crumbled leftovers were almost better the next day, sautéed in olive oil until crisp and caramelized. (Related: Chestnut and Chorizo Soup.) ... loved the old-fashioned lunette cookies served at the new bakery La Bossue in Montmartre. Those spectacle-shaped cookie sandwiches garnished with jam (here, raspberry) used to be available from any corner bakery when I was growing up, and I hope they are about to make a comeback. Have you ever come across them? (Related: Chouquettes, another bakery treat from my childhood.) ... relished the plumpness and flavor of the meatballs served at Balls, a meatball-only restaurant with a new location on rue de Douai in the 9th. I chose the tomato sauce to go with my spicy beef meatballs, and we shared a seasonal salad with pickled shallots and beets, and a lentil salad with zucchini and feta cheese. (Related: my Lentil Kohlrabi Salad. For more daily shots from my eating and cooking adventures around Paris, follow me on Instagram! Learning to Cook and Bake Online 
As an enthusiastic cook, I'm sure you're always seeking to improve your skills, but it can be hard to find the time and money to attend a real cooking class. Craftsy is a fabulous site for that, bringing the classroom straight to you. I am currently in discussions with them to create a class that you'll be able to follow using their advanced teaching platform, complete with videos, note-taking tools, student assignments, and live Q&As with instructors. While you wait for that one to become available, I think you will enjoy some of the existing classes that I've had a chance to check out: I've been impressed with the Complete Knife Skills (that one's free!) and Essential Techniques of French Cooking, and charmed by the Miniature French Desserts. And as an affiliate partner, I was able to get you 50% off on these last two classes! (Offer valid until November 9, 2015, midnight MT.) Doing your holiday shopping early? 
If you want to get a head start on your gift buying (very wise!), I want to make sure you know about my three latest books, perfect for your favorite cooks and francophiles. Please let me know if you have any questions in trying to figure out if they'd be a good fit for the intended recipient. There's PRESERVING, the newest Ginette Mathiot tome that I've helped revise for its English-language edition, and has just been released by the good people at Phaidon. This one is all about conserving, salting, smoking, and pickling -- in other words, capturing flavors at the height of the season, to enjoy later. Then there's THE FRENCH MARKET COOKBOOK, a book that celebrates the love story between French cuisine and vegetables, and contains 75 of my heaviest-rotation recipes for seasonal produce, such as my shocking pink pasta with a no-cook beet sauce, my Corsican turnovers garnished with squash, or my pear and chestnut cake. And finally there's EDIBLE FRENCH, a lovely book of French food-related idioms that tell you so much about French culture, and come illustrated with whimsical watercolors by my friend Melina Josserand. 
Get Your C&Z Desktop Calendar! Head over to Chocolate & Zucchini to download your November desktop calendar for your picture of red kuri squash, or Hokkaido squash, or potimarron to the French. It is one of my very favorite winter squashes, one I like to feature in soups, with pasta, and even a breakfast bowl I will tell you about very soon. On My Bookshelf Here's what I've been reading and enjoying lately. Will you check them out and tell me what you think? More reading recommendations on C&Z » (October 27, 2015) In idle moments, I love to graze through my Instagram feed and discover what everyone is seeing, cooking, and eating. This visually-oriented social network has become very popular among the Paris crowd, and it strikes me as the perfect way to experience the city vicariously, get ideas for your next […] (October 20, 2015) The story of these waffles begins with a photo that Sarah Britton, author of My New Roots, posted a few weeks ago, revealing that her revolutionary pancakes worked as waffles, too. Revolutionary pancakes? My ears perked up. What's revolutionary about Sarah's pancakes is that she makes them from buckwheat and […] (October 15, 2015) Gluten-free baking can be discouraging for those who only want to dabble at it: you often dive into a tempting recipe only to discover it calls for three different types of flour and various thickening gums. It sounds daunting, and you don't necessarily want to invest in ingredients that will […] (October 8, 2015) I have been eating green beans my entire life, mostly boiled or steamed, and it's only recently that I was turned on to the sheer magic of roasting those guys. I forget what prompted me to do so in the first place; it was probably because roasting is my method […] (October 30, 2015) A few reads and finds from this past month! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. ~ Cabin porn: who knew it was a thing? ~ Five useful lessons Cambria Bold has learned from five years of meal planning. Here are my own menu planning tips and tricks! ~ […] | 
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