Leeks and Potatoes, Who Knew?

Ok, I admit in, in Greenville I was a sub-par cook, at best. I didn't enjoy cooking and found it to be a chore. Meal planning, what was that? At 5pm every evening I was starting to think about dinner which was usually served around 6pm. Will it be chicken nuggets (frozen)? Spaghetti - with jarred sauce? And, I can hardly bring myself to type it, Hamburger Helper? Honestly, I didn't know there was any other way to have spaghetti than with Prego and what else do you do with hamburger besides spaghetti and/or a little help from Betty Crocker. I loved having people over for dinner - and, for those of you that did join us for the breaking of bread I apologize and hope the company was better than the calories you consumed - and even enjoyed cooking those meals but I didn't exactly find the "Joy of Cooking" in feeding our family. Granted, at the time we had a 3 year old and 2 year old and mealtimes involved lots of work and cajoling and bribery so.. that's my excuse and I am stickin' to it. Hmm... now that I think about it... maybe there was a reason they didn't gobble up their grub.

So, fast forward to France. We arrive and find the need to go to the grocery store and you might as well had placed me in a nuclear power plant. I was so lost. As terrible of a cook as I was in the US, I was that times about 10 during our first couple of months here in France. I didn't know where anything was or what it was called. Everything in the US (besides Hamburger Helper Cheesy Noodles) calls for cream of chicken soup which is practically non-existent. Bagels are non-existent and trying to figure out the different cuts of meat while avoiding purchasing pigs brain or duck liver was enough to make us resort to eating McDonalds... a lot.

Then, I guess there is something in the air... or the non-fluoridated water of France. I became a cook! And, not just a cook that plans for and prepares nutritiously almost preservative free home cooked meals but I love it! As I was whipping out my potage parmentier (Potato and Leek Soup) in the kitchen tonight while listening (and, unfortunately for my family, singing) to Hillsong I felt like that is what it must feel like to be in heaven. All was right in my world as I chopped and diced and sprinkled a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It is like a science experiment that you can eat. And, thankfully, the subjects of my experiment have many more likes than dislikes these days.

Here is the website I used for my Potato Leek Soup. It is a great website for recipes and other tips on cooking. David Lebovitz: Living the Sweet Life in Paris

Step 1 of project Potato and Leek Soup - At the grocery store with Sophia and... drum roll... the leeks. You will have to excuse my obsession with this vegetable. I have found them fascinating ever since I stepped foot into a supermarket here. They are almost in every single shopping cart and basket. They are huge and I have had this incredible urge to cook with them ever since.

My name is Jennifer Page and I no longer have an irrational fear or dislike of french grocery stores or their clerks (even though they would not provide toilet paper for my dear Sophia in a moment of crisis during a potty emergency.. no grudge or anything, really).

Step 2: Preparing the Leeks.. a little bit of playing and a little bit of washing and a little bit of chopping and a little bit of crying - as leeks are essentially giant onions.

Wow, they are almost as tall as me!

Really Mom, enough pictures.

Can be used as weapons.

Enough is enough!

Take that Mom!

Our leek beards.


There is little more fun than playing in the sink and helping Mom with dinner.

Me and my petite chef.


My little man... he hung out with Dad while the girls cooked. I wish I could say he enjoyed the soup... Lets just say we had a good learning moment on how to compliment someone without hurting their feelings or lying.

And... the finished product. I promise it tastes more appetizing than it looks. It is a simple soup.. quite inexpensive and very easy to make but hearty and tasty. And the leeks just makes you feel all fancy cool french... well, maybe that is just me.