One word can summarize my experience in Paris: Delicious.
A brief highlight of my gastronomic adventures in Paris and the rest of Europe can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010871&id=1307820301&l=3e7e7
Try not to slobber on your keyboard.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
13 March 2009
28 February 2009
I don't speak English good no more
The more French I learn, the more English I seem to forget. That's actually not entirely true. But I do find myself thinking in terms of French grammar. Instead of Lucie's father, I think, the father of Lucie. Or instead of, "I need that nutella and banana crêpe," I think, "the nutella and banana crêpe of which I have need..." etc. I hope I don't return home saying, "My shoe black on my foot left hurts much my toes."
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We cooked for five hours yesterday. BU hosted a French food class. The courses:
- Appetizer and Apéritif: tomato and dijon tartes with salt and Herbes de Provence. (I ate about twelve of them. They were so delicious.) Ate it with some cider.
- Salad: mixed greens with warm goat cheese and homemade dijon vinaigrette and walnuts, along with red wine. (Elisabeth, the instructor, bought Bergerac wine, in honor of "Cyrano de Bergerac," the play we are all going to see tomorrow as a group. Cute.)
- Plat principal: endives au jambon....sautéed endives wrapped in ham and topped with a sauce that used half a block of butter to make. I'm glad I tasted the dish, but I won't be making it any time soon. With this, we had another red wine, Buzet. I prefered this to the Bergerac. It was a bit stronger, but still smooth. Hmm. I actually sound like I know what I'm talking about. Haha.
- Dessert: mousse au chocolat! It is seriously one of the simplest desserts you could possibly make. All you need is chocolate and eggs, and a little elbow grease. We finished off the wines with this last course.
And of course, along with it all, lots of good, lazy afternoon conversation.
Left there full and satisfied. Or should I say, the lunch delicious me gave a coma of food and I had need of a train rapid to me take to the house of me to me put to sleep....
In English: All that food made me sleepy, so I went home and took a nap. Fin. (The end.)
Photos!
..............................................................................................................................................................
We cooked for five hours yesterday. BU hosted a French food class. The courses:
- Appetizer and Apéritif: tomato and dijon tartes with salt and Herbes de Provence. (I ate about twelve of them. They were so delicious.) Ate it with some cider.
- Salad: mixed greens with warm goat cheese and homemade dijon vinaigrette and walnuts, along with red wine. (Elisabeth, the instructor, bought Bergerac wine, in honor of "Cyrano de Bergerac," the play we are all going to see tomorrow as a group. Cute.)
- Plat principal: endives au jambon....sautéed endives wrapped in ham and topped with a sauce that used half a block of butter to make. I'm glad I tasted the dish, but I won't be making it any time soon. With this, we had another red wine, Buzet. I prefered this to the Bergerac. It was a bit stronger, but still smooth. Hmm. I actually sound like I know what I'm talking about. Haha.
- Dessert: mousse au chocolat! It is seriously one of the simplest desserts you could possibly make. All you need is chocolate and eggs, and a little elbow grease. We finished off the wines with this last course.
And of course, along with it all, lots of good, lazy afternoon conversation.
Left there full and satisfied. Or should I say, the lunch delicious me gave a coma of food and I had need of a train rapid to me take to the house of me to me put to sleep....
In English: All that food made me sleepy, so I went home and took a nap. Fin. (The end.)
Photos!
23 February 2009
Paris, tu m'as manqué
I crashed last night at about 3 and got up early to finish the paper. So after this is finished, I'm more than likely going to sleep until tomorrow. I don't remember the last time I went to bed before 11 pm.
Anywho, Madrid! I'll start with a summary for those who don't want to or don't have the time to read this extremely long entry.
Things I learned on this trip: 1.) Paris is awesome. Going to Madrid made me appreciate this city so much more. I think I may have even been a little homesick for this dreary old ville. 2.) Parisian food is awesome. 3.) Don't deny the bread if you want to avoid the wrath. 4.) Clubbing can be fun if done properly 5.) I think I could learn Spanish. Just give me a month.
Paris, tu m'as manqué = Paris, I missed you. I'm glad I went to Madrid, but I'm happy to be back "home." Even if my city did welcome me back in the form of cold temperatures, scattered showers, and a fresh coat of dog poop on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. Thanks, Paris. You're the top.
..............................................................................................................................................................
If you're curious for the details, read on! If you just want pictures, see the entry above.
We got in on Thursday night and hit the ground running. I was exhausted from the heaviest week of school of the semester, and was in no mood to go out. However, my friends would not let me rest up for Friday, so we all got dressed and got our first taste of night life in Madrid. The first obvious difference between Espagne and Paris: Madrid is a heck of a lot cheaper. Clubs in Paris are between 15 and 20 euros, and that's just a cover charge that doesn't include drinks or the coat check. Madrid's cover charges, if they weren't free, were only ten euros! I'm not really the clubbing type (unless it's a jazz club), but I must admit that I had a blast this weekend.
Thursday's club was called Joy. It was free for students, so we decided to check it out. Despite running on no more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep, I somehow managed to stay out until about 4am, at which point we all piled into a cab and headed back to the hotel.
But the fun didn't stop there. Friday night, we went to Kapital, which is probably the most unique place I have been in a while. I learned about it from my friend Steph, who is studying abroad in Madrid this semester. It's a seven floor club, where each floor has a different theme. The main floor was house/techno, and there were also rooms for hip-hop and Latin music, and several floors with lounges and karaoke. One floor even had a movie theatre. Ridiculous. We bounced between floors, until we discovered that the main floor has a plume of icy cold fog that shoots down on the crowd every twenty minutes or so.
The music would build up to this crazy fast pulsating beat and the lights would start flashing and people would jump around and dance and it all built up into this huge suspenseful wait until finally......WHOOSH! A chilling, refreshing blast of fog to cool the dance floor. It was like being trapped in a whirlwind for five seconds. It was pretty spectacular. Friday night was also a 5am bedtime, as we piled 5-deep into a cab at around 4. Apparently, 4am is early. Kids in Madrid usually start their nights around 2 or 3, stay out until 6, at which point they grab hot chocolate and churros and wait for the metro to start running again to take them home. That's dedication.
It turns out that we just so happened to visit Madrid in the middle of Carnival. There were festivities all over the city, and people dressed up like it was Halloween. We bought some cheap masks and wore them out on Saturday night. 'Twas quite fun.
Not to be labeled as strictly party animals, we were sure to hit up all the historic sites during the day as well. Basically, we did Madrid on about 5 hours of sleep each day, combined with a siesta in the evening before going out for dinner and clubbing. It was not a bad way to spend three days, although by Sunday I was exhausted and ready to return to my normal, calmer (and more boring?) way of life.
We purchased two-day hop on hop off bus passes that took us all around Madrid, hit up the Museo del Prado, the Grand Palais (which was AWESOME), and did some shopping. Madrid is a tiny city, and we soon discovered that we could get everywhere by walking. On the last day, we lounged around in Plaza de Mayor, this cool courtyard with tons of street performers and outdoor restaurants. Saturday and Sunday's weather was absolutely beautiful, so we basked in the sun as much as possible.
A word about food. To put it simply: I missed Paris. A lot. I will never again take for granted the crèpe stands on every corner, or the boulangeries in every neighborhood, or the free bread and free water at restaurants, or the waiters who say bonjour to you when you enter. On all levels, the food scene in Madrid was not so hot. Grab and go food doesn't exist in Madrid, and so at one point, we actually had to stoop to McDonald's take out. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a Big Mac? Years. YEARS. It was an epic fail in the lunch department.
However, on Friday night, we did go to this delicious restaurant for paella and sangria. The waitress hated us from the moment we told her that we didn't want the non-free bread, but despite her less than cheery disposition, the food was excellent. We ordered two paellas, one with everything (seafood, chicken, sausage, veggies), and one with chicken and sausage. The pans of paella were about half the size of our table, which sat 6 people comfortably. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to prove it. But if I were exaggerating, I'd let you know. We literally scraped the pans clean.
On Sunday, we tried to get tapas from a restaurant in Plaza de Mayor. We placed our order only to have the waiter return ten minutes later to inform us that they had run out of paella. How does a tapas restaurant run out of paella? That's like McDonald's running out of french fries. We did, however, have some absolutely delicious sangria. The catch: it turned out that the pitcher cost 20 EUROS! The pitcher from the night before was only 10. Another fail in the lunch department.
We finished the day with churros, which we dipped in hot chocolate, before heading to the airport to come back to Paris. And by hot chocolate, I mean pure chocolate melted and poured into a cup in a thick, rich, goopy, warm, messy, chocately delight. Believe it or not, it was actually too rich for me to finish. I could only make it about a third of the way before I had to give up the ghost.
All in all, it was a good trip. The perfect amount of time to get away from Paris for a bit and explore some place new, but also just long enough to make me realize what a great deal I've got in this lovely city of mine.
If you've made it this far, you're the bomb. Thanks for reading.
Anywho, Madrid! I'll start with a summary for those who don't want to or don't have the time to read this extremely long entry.
Things I learned on this trip: 1.) Paris is awesome. Going to Madrid made me appreciate this city so much more. I think I may have even been a little homesick for this dreary old ville. 2.) Parisian food is awesome. 3.) Don't deny the bread if you want to avoid the wrath. 4.) Clubbing can be fun if done properly 5.) I think I could learn Spanish. Just give me a month.
Paris, tu m'as manqué = Paris, I missed you. I'm glad I went to Madrid, but I'm happy to be back "home." Even if my city did welcome me back in the form of cold temperatures, scattered showers, and a fresh coat of dog poop on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. Thanks, Paris. You're the top.
..............................................................................................................................................................
If you're curious for the details, read on! If you just want pictures, see the entry above.
We got in on Thursday night and hit the ground running. I was exhausted from the heaviest week of school of the semester, and was in no mood to go out. However, my friends would not let me rest up for Friday, so we all got dressed and got our first taste of night life in Madrid. The first obvious difference between Espagne and Paris: Madrid is a heck of a lot cheaper. Clubs in Paris are between 15 and 20 euros, and that's just a cover charge that doesn't include drinks or the coat check. Madrid's cover charges, if they weren't free, were only ten euros! I'm not really the clubbing type (unless it's a jazz club), but I must admit that I had a blast this weekend.
Thursday's club was called Joy. It was free for students, so we decided to check it out. Despite running on no more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep, I somehow managed to stay out until about 4am, at which point we all piled into a cab and headed back to the hotel.
But the fun didn't stop there. Friday night, we went to Kapital, which is probably the most unique place I have been in a while. I learned about it from my friend Steph, who is studying abroad in Madrid this semester. It's a seven floor club, where each floor has a different theme. The main floor was house/techno, and there were also rooms for hip-hop and Latin music, and several floors with lounges and karaoke. One floor even had a movie theatre. Ridiculous. We bounced between floors, until we discovered that the main floor has a plume of icy cold fog that shoots down on the crowd every twenty minutes or so.
The music would build up to this crazy fast pulsating beat and the lights would start flashing and people would jump around and dance and it all built up into this huge suspenseful wait until finally......WHOOSH! A chilling, refreshing blast of fog to cool the dance floor. It was like being trapped in a whirlwind for five seconds. It was pretty spectacular. Friday night was also a 5am bedtime, as we piled 5-deep into a cab at around 4. Apparently, 4am is early. Kids in Madrid usually start their nights around 2 or 3, stay out until 6, at which point they grab hot chocolate and churros and wait for the metro to start running again to take them home. That's dedication.
It turns out that we just so happened to visit Madrid in the middle of Carnival. There were festivities all over the city, and people dressed up like it was Halloween. We bought some cheap masks and wore them out on Saturday night. 'Twas quite fun.
Not to be labeled as strictly party animals, we were sure to hit up all the historic sites during the day as well. Basically, we did Madrid on about 5 hours of sleep each day, combined with a siesta in the evening before going out for dinner and clubbing. It was not a bad way to spend three days, although by Sunday I was exhausted and ready to return to my normal, calmer (and more boring?) way of life.
We purchased two-day hop on hop off bus passes that took us all around Madrid, hit up the Museo del Prado, the Grand Palais (which was AWESOME), and did some shopping. Madrid is a tiny city, and we soon discovered that we could get everywhere by walking. On the last day, we lounged around in Plaza de Mayor, this cool courtyard with tons of street performers and outdoor restaurants. Saturday and Sunday's weather was absolutely beautiful, so we basked in the sun as much as possible.
A word about food. To put it simply: I missed Paris. A lot. I will never again take for granted the crèpe stands on every corner, or the boulangeries in every neighborhood, or the free bread and free water at restaurants, or the waiters who say bonjour to you when you enter. On all levels, the food scene in Madrid was not so hot. Grab and go food doesn't exist in Madrid, and so at one point, we actually had to stoop to McDonald's take out. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a Big Mac? Years. YEARS. It was an epic fail in the lunch department.
However, on Friday night, we did go to this delicious restaurant for paella and sangria. The waitress hated us from the moment we told her that we didn't want the non-free bread, but despite her less than cheery disposition, the food was excellent. We ordered two paellas, one with everything (seafood, chicken, sausage, veggies), and one with chicken and sausage. The pans of paella were about half the size of our table, which sat 6 people comfortably. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to prove it. But if I were exaggerating, I'd let you know. We literally scraped the pans clean.
On Sunday, we tried to get tapas from a restaurant in Plaza de Mayor. We placed our order only to have the waiter return ten minutes later to inform us that they had run out of paella. How does a tapas restaurant run out of paella? That's like McDonald's running out of french fries. We did, however, have some absolutely delicious sangria. The catch: it turned out that the pitcher cost 20 EUROS! The pitcher from the night before was only 10. Another fail in the lunch department.
We finished the day with churros, which we dipped in hot chocolate, before heading to the airport to come back to Paris. And by hot chocolate, I mean pure chocolate melted and poured into a cup in a thick, rich, goopy, warm, messy, chocately delight. Believe it or not, it was actually too rich for me to finish. I could only make it about a third of the way before I had to give up the ghost.
All in all, it was a good trip. The perfect amount of time to get away from Paris for a bit and explore some place new, but also just long enough to make me realize what a great deal I've got in this lovely city of mine.
If you've made it this far, you're the bomb. Thanks for reading.
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