French 75

Tiring of the (now) ubiquitous quarantini? Feel like expanding your cocktail répertoire* without expending too much effort? Enter the French 75, a classic cocktail français* invented by Harry MacElhone from Harry's New York Bar de Paris who named his creation after a 75mm French canon, a blast from which he believed produced a similar effect.

*list | *French

Madeleines

As you may know, Deborah is on lockdown in France, and while we’ve been in regular contact and I can tell you her physical and mental health is in tact, her comportement* has undergone a radical change. Oui, tout le monde, Deborah cuisine*.

To be fair to Deborah, she did have a foray into cooking last year with the help of Hello Fresh, and quite possibly she has kept it up since her return to France, but this goes above and beyond the call of duty: baking madeleines.

These little French cakes have a literary link, as it was in dipping a buttery madeleine into tea that the adult writer Proust was able to unlock childhood memories, as he evoked in “À la recherche du temps perdu” (“In Search of Lost Time”). He must have had quite some memories to draw upon, as the work runs to 4 215 pages over seven volumes and weighs 3.9kgs. Et voilà*, some light confinement* reading ideas. Don’t say we don’t look after you.

If you’re after a more modest challenge, try translating the ingredients below, and then, if you’re feeling confident, keep going with the instructions. If you need a good dictionary, we recommend www.wordreference.com.

By the way, head chef Deborah didn’t have a madeleine moule* so she just used a muffin tin instead and she reports they were nonetheless délicieux.

Bonne cuisine*!

*behaviour | *Yes, everybody, Deborah is cooking | *isolation | *And there you go | *mould | *delicious | *Happy cooking!