A Trip to the City of Colours & Sunshine
2 days in Perpignan + a craving for golden buttery kimchi
In the middle of my road trip this summer ~ in between the week I spent looking after many animals in the Pyrenees and arriving at my month’s stay in Provence ~ I had two free days to roam around the beautiful city of Perpignan.
Perpignan has been on my bucket list since I was 21.
I remember it being a cold day in rainy London, being on google maps and searching for a my future dream city. At that time in my life my desire was for it to be on the French coast; have some local surf beaches; be within driving distance of Barcelona and have houses with rooftops. Perpignan seemed to tick all the above.
In my 21 year old mind, having a rooftop was the epitome of having made it. I had a vision of what mine would look like for when I too had made it ~ red tiles, faded red railings, palm trees in terracotta pots with lots of moroccan rugs and bean bags for friends lay around on and drink cocktails from, with the best view over the city.
I think what made a rooftop so desirable was the thought that it would make my house the house to hang out at and would mean I wouldn’t have to take the tube to travel to everyone else’s. It was the homebody’s way to have a busy social life. In the 10+ years since I turned 21 I am yet to live in a place with a rooftop covered in rugs and bean bags for friends to stop by and sip cocktails from. I hope it’s still to come….
Knowing that after visiting Perpignan I would be spending a month mostly by myself, on my self-made artist’s retreat, I found a cute airbnb with a couple and their dog for company in the middle of the city.
I arrived fresh from a sleepy week in the Pyrenees and ready for my dream city of 21 to be everything I wanted and more.
I think part of me felt like maybe Perpignan would be my place, the city that would finally feel like home and I would just know it as soon as I arrived.
The city was beautiful ~ the houses were all painted incredible colours, and there were flowers everywhere and the airbnb was so lovely. But, for some reason, I just wasn’t enamoured. I walked to get a takeaway mezze platter and sat eating it in a pretty park feeling slightly downbeat. How could the place that had been on my bucket list for over 10 years not feel like home as soon as I arrived?
I woke up the second day a little deflated, but determined to find out why I had felt so drawn to Perpignan for so long.
This trip to Perpignan was also my first time ever visiting a city solo. In retrospect, I think part of me was nervous and was using this as an excuse not to enjoy how charming the city was. In the past, I had always explored new cities with friends or a partner and this felt different somehow, I felt a little naked and exposed.
In order to add some magic and the unknown to the day, I decided to throw google maps out the window, just meander and see where my feet took me. Within 10 minutes of leaving the airbnb I ended up walking onto a square that had a fabric shop selling the most beautiful striped canvas; the sweetest produce shop on the corner and a similar vibe to Barcelona.
Three of my favourite things all in one place: fabric, vegetables and that fun, city buzz in the air. Instantly, I felt at home and was ready to take everything back I had thought about the city the night before.
I fell in love with the produce shop, Solar: it was so beautifully curated.
Everything was locally sourced and I wanted to buy and then eat everything they stocked.
If I ever move to Perpignan, my dream would be to live within 10 minutes walking distance of Solar.
A tin of olives, sardines and some beautifully packaged cacao powder were purchased, then I wandered around until I found Salty Coffee for a matcha, stumbled across the Musée d'art Hyacinthe Rigaud and caught the Jean Lurçat: Earth, Fire, Water, Air exhibition (which was a highlight and have been recommending to everyone I have spoken to ever since).
The day was finished off with a little splurge at the beautiful stationers Papeterie de la Loge.
What stood out to me most during my two days in Perpignan was how friendly everyone was, you were greeted with smiles everywhere you went.
People wanted to chat in every shop/bar/cafe. They had time, there was no rush. Everyone was interested in where you were from, asked questions and many beautiful conversations were had. I was given so many hot tips on what to see and do while I was there.
There was the lovely girl who made my gazpacho who said she liked my franglais; the woman in the face mask shop who made sure to explain exactly where the best stationers in the city was; the angel that worked at Kimchi Kimchi with her mochi recommendations and the sweet girls in the florist / basket shop that helped me pick out the perfect woven basket (so I could pretend I was a local).
The people make the place and the people of Perpignan were charming.
Through a little google search I discovered that due to all the multi-coloured buildings and having it’s own micro-climate Perpignan is known as the city of colours and sunshine. The city boasts 300 sunny days a year ~ apparently it can be cold grey in Toulouse but sunny and warm in Perpignan.
On my last day I stopped at Kimchi Kimchi for lunch before my long drive to Provence.
(Something I have learnt using google maps in France: if the drive says it will take you 3 hours, double it - it’s more likely to take 6).
A spicy, tasty, bibimbap was eaten at a little table on the side of a busy narrow street. This was followed by the best mochi ice cream of my life. It was the perfect way to leave my new favourite city.
Perpignan, je t’aime <3
A CRAVING FOR KIMCHI
The kimchi from Kimchi Kimchi had me craving for even more kimchi.
Fermentation takes time. I’ve learnt this summer that travelling and fermenting don’t really go hand in hand. With all the short stays and busyness of July, I had been missing making and eating my vegetable ferments.
As soon I arrived in Provence, I drove to the Hyper U (maybe the UK equivalent of a Sainsbury’s superstore) and scored myself a 6 pack of Le Parfait kilner jars; a basket full of vegetables and a new brand of fish sauce to try.
I came back to the place I would be staying for a month and got to work, filling my new kilners with all the ferments I had been craving the past few weeks.
In the southern French heat, I wanted to make a kimchi that would turn buttery and almost melt in the mouth. I have been returning to white kimchi a fair bit these days as I think it can be more versatile than a chilli one in some ways (for those of us with auto-immune issues, a white kimchi is also recommended over a spicy red one, as the chilli can upset our sensitive gut lining).
A spoonful of turmeric powder was added for extra immune support (which turned the kimchi into a beautiful golden colour) and I upped the amount of garlic as an extra mosquito prevention method (the mosquitos in Provence are fierce and on a mission it seems).
As with all fermented foods, the fermentation process makes it easier for our bodies to digest them, but fermenting turmeric is a hack I especially love.
When turmeric is fermented, the bioavailably of curcumin (a compound found in the spice is increased), which can be hard for our bodies to absorb naturally.
Curcumin is a a bit of a powerhouse and renowned for having particularly strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Being so hot in Provence, this kimchi was fizzy, fermented and delicious in around 3 days.
I had it on sourdough pancakes, with fried rice, in a fermentation experiment with rice paper rolls (the one with this golden kimchi in won the flavour test) and sometimes just straight out the jar as it was that good.
I forgot how buttery it was each time I opened the jar and had a delightful surprise with every new mouthful.
I finished the last of the jar for lunch today in some more rice paper rolls and have that end of summer feeling when you’re sad it’s over, but happy it happened and hope the next one will be just as good…
I hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know if you make it with the turmeric and how it tastes for you, would love to know your thoughts <3
With love,
Fleur x
(Keep in touch over on instagram or see more recipes here xx)
GOLDEN KIMCHI
INGREDIENTS:
1 x Napa cabbage
1 x thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and then grated or finely chopped
1 x handful of garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 x medium sized carrots, cut into thin fingers, grated or peeled into strips with a potato peeler
2 x spring onions, top and bottoms removed and roughly chopped along the lengths
1 x tbsp tamari or soy sauce
2 x tbsp fish sauce
1 x tbsp turmeric powder
Sea salt
+ 1 clean 1L kilner jar with a seal, mixing bowl, kitchen scales, sharp knife, wooden spoon, clean hands
METHOD:
Remove a few outer leaves from the cabbage.
Chop in half vertically and then again, vertically, into quarters.
Remove the heart / core of the cabbage (this can be done by placing your knife at an angle on the inside and slicing towards the outside base of the cabbage - like in this video).
Take the cabbage quarters and horizontally slice into strips of your chosen width (I personally like chunky kimchi strips of cabbage, but this is up to you).
Place your mixing bowl onto your scales and tare so the number is 0g.
Place the cabbage, carrot, spring onion, garlic and ginger into the mixing bowl and find the weight of your vegetables.
Find 2% of the weight ~ this is how many grams of salt you will need (if your vegetables weighed an even 1000g then 2% of the weight would be 20g. This can also be done by taking the weight and multiplying it by 0.02 on a calculator).
Add the weight of sea salt you need to your vegetables.
Mix the salt through the vegetables and let it stand for 5 minutes for the salt to draw out some of the liquid.
With clean hands, start to toss everything in the bowl and rub the salt into vegetables.
Keep mixing and massaging the salt into the veg until everything starts to get very liquidy. You can get a bit rough here and crunch and punch everything in your bowl until you get the right consistency.
You will know it’s ready when you can grab a handful of vegetables in one hand, squeeze it above your bowl and a if line of liquid runs back down into the bowl, you’re good to go.
Add the tamari / soy sauce, half the fish sauce and half the turmeric powder to the bowl and mix together with a spoon (this saves your hands from being turmeric and fish sauce stained).
Taste the veg ~ it should taste as good going into the jar as it does coming out of it.
Add the remaining fish sauce and / or turmeric if you would like.
Using the spoon, start to pack the veg into the kilner jar. Tightly pack it down with every spoonful.
Keep going until the jar is nearly full to the brim. Make sure to leave a 2.5cm / 1 inch gap at the top of the jar for breathing space.
Try and get the vegetables sitting under the liquid and if you have fermentation weights you can add these to the top of the jar. Alternatively a large rolled cabbage leaf (one you took off at the beginning) can work to help to hold the veg down.
Leave in a warm place to ferment for the next few days, opening the jar once a day to let the build up of gasses out.
Taste test on day 3 ~ if you’re happy with how it tastes enjoy and transfer to the fridge to be eaten within the next month or so.
If you would like to keep the fermentation process going, leave the jar on the side and keep opening (burping) the jar every now and then and tasting it until you are happy with the result.
