Birthdays past (2)

In March 2008, my birthday was a stay-at-home affair. For my birthday dinner, I made a big pot of borscht. That's a kind of pot au feu (pot roast) that includes lean beef, red beets, onions, carrots, and other root vegetables like turnips or parsnips. You serve it with steamed potatoes, egg noodles, or pasta. You can serve the broth and vegetables as a soup. Cut up the the meat and put some of it in the soup, or don't eat it in the soup but save it for another use. The meat for this borscht was slow cooked beef shank, which made a good broth.

Borscht is an eastern European dish. I'm not sure, but I think the first time I ever ate it was about 40 years ago in Paris, when I was living and working there. I knew a French woman from Burgundy who had been married to a Russian émigré back before World War II. She had learned to make borscht because he liked it, I think. I liked the version she made, and she gave me the recipe (or method, really). Making a big meal like borscht for my birthday or other special occasions is one of my favorite things to do. Here's a link to my post about making borscht in 2008.

Today I'll be cooking a pot of white beans — either lingots blancs (cannelini beans) or pois du Cap, known in France as haricots de Soissons (big white lima beans). I haven't made up my mind yet. We'll enjoy them this week seasoned with with duck fat and served with duck leg and thigh pieces, along with saucisses de Toulouse (plain pork sausages, not smoked).

Here's what the weather was like on my birthday in 2008, when I turned 59. We had been here for nearly five years at that point. If I remember, it had snowed a week earlier, but all the snow had melted and it felt like springtime.