Walking
around Paris as the season changes can catch you
off guard. Even with dappled sun, as the leaves
fall, the temperature 
drops. My friends,
Michelle and ML (ML is the
world's best shopper!) and I
tried to keep the cool weather at bay by window shopping. As we walked by a boulangerie, Michelle made a quick stop and brought out two steamy, cru
sty baguettes. Brilliant! Warm bread in chilly hands is the perfect hand warmer. The added bonus is that it tastes
oh so good, but the disadvantage is that it disappears too quickly. We
tore off handfuls as we meandered toward a second hand clothing store, lamenting
that we should have gotten more. Oh well....dinner would be soon.
If we were sitting down respectfully at a table, a good smearing of butter would have been ideal. The
problem with buttering
yummy, crusty bread is that the butter is too
often cold and hard. Last week that issue was solved when I bought a French
butter keeper. It is the answer to the dilemma of
keeping butter at room temperature while preserving it.
The premise behind French butter keepers is simple. Butter at room temperature quickly turns rancid when exposed to oxygen, so chilling preserves it. Mainly what's needed is to keep air away from the butter. The butter keeper does the same thing, but in a slightly different way. It uses water to form a seal between the butter and the air, a similar process was used by the Ancient Romans while making wine. The keeper comes in two parts. The first is a small basin to hold the water and the second piece holds the butter suspended in the water. You fill the top up with butter, put water in the larger bottom container,
and
invert the top into the water. Butter is an oil and it won't mix with the water, and as long as it's not too
hot, it will stay in
the top, surrounded by water. Voila! Now you can safely keep butter preserved at room temperature and ready to cover that warm, crusty baguette.
Written and photographed by Diane
drops. My friends,
Michelle and ML (ML is the
world's best shopper!) and I
tried to keep the cool weather at bay by window shopping. As we walked by a boulangerie, Michelle made a quick stop and brought out two steamy, cru
sty baguettes. Brilliant! Warm bread in chilly hands is the perfect hand warmer. The added bonus is that it tastes
oh so good, but the disadvantage is that it disappears too quickly. We
tore off handfuls as we meandered toward a second hand clothing store, lamenting
that we should have gotten more. Oh well....dinner would be soon.
If we were sitting down respectfully at a table, a good smearing of butter would have been ideal. The
problem with buttering
yummy, crusty bread is that the butter is too
often cold and hard. Last week that issue was solved when I bought a French
butter keeper. It is the answer to the dilemma of
keeping butter at room temperature while preserving it.
The premise behind French butter keepers is simple. Butter at room temperature quickly turns rancid when exposed to oxygen, so chilling preserves it. Mainly what's needed is to keep air away from the butter. The butter keeper does the same thing, but in a slightly different way. It uses water to form a seal between the butter and the air, a similar process was used by the Ancient Romans while making wine. The keeper comes in two parts. The first is a small basin to hold the water and the second piece holds the butter suspended in the water. You fill the top up with butter, put water in the larger bottom container,
and
invert the top into the water. Butter is an oil and it won't mix with the water, and as long as it's not too
hot, it will stay in 
the top, surrounded by water. Voila! Now you can safely keep butter preserved at room temperature and ready to cover that warm, crusty baguette.
Written and photographed by Diane
