Thursday, November 26, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
BACK HOME
We arrived home again last night, some bags making it, some not, but thrilled to see our kitties again. We missed Martha and Ginger very much.
When we left the trees were full of autumn color and everything just on the cusp of Hallowe'en. This morning, I'm watching the pre-dawn light just before it breaks the horizon. There's no leaves now in the trees, but this early light catches the red in the grassy leaves of my neighbor's Japanese iris, and the orangey redness of the apples on our adirondack crabtree. It's a perfect November morning, a little bit strangely warm, but lovely. Just like home should be.
It's good to be back.
Pictures coming before Monday :)
When we left the trees were full of autumn color and everything just on the cusp of Hallowe'en. This morning, I'm watching the pre-dawn light just before it breaks the horizon. There's no leaves now in the trees, but this early light catches the red in the grassy leaves of my neighbor's Japanese iris, and the orangey redness of the apples on our adirondack crabtree. It's a perfect November morning, a little bit strangely warm, but lovely. Just like home should be.
It's good to be back.
Pictures coming before Monday :)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
THURSDAY-Musee d'Orsay
With the last remaining effort we had, we stopped at Mussee d'Orsay, home to lots of modern works of art. (think post 1800).
The scultures are fantastic, very emotional and fun.
We also saw some awesome impressionists.
And there was an art nouveau exhibit that was ok.
After, we stopped at a little diner filled with locals having a great time. We got cheeseburgers in t honor of our return to the states tomorrow.
The locals having a good time and laughing together reminded me how much I miss my friends back home. Maybe it's not so much the geography, but the commraderie that really makes homesickness what it is.
I loved Paris and the food and I can't wait to see you all again to tell you about it. :)
Night all! I'll post an insane amount of photos this weekend once I recover. Thanks for reading!
The scultures are fantastic, very emotional and fun.
We also saw some awesome impressionists.
And there was an art nouveau exhibit that was ok.
After, we stopped at a little diner filled with locals having a great time. We got cheeseburgers in t honor of our return to the states tomorrow.
The locals having a good time and laughing together reminded me how much I miss my friends back home. Maybe it's not so much the geography, but the commraderie that really makes homesickness what it is.
I loved Paris and the food and I can't wait to see you all again to tell you about it. :)
Night all! I'll post an insane amount of photos this weekend once I recover. Thanks for reading!
THURSDAY-Versailles
The first thing you need to understand about Versailles is it's frickin' enormous. The second is that no expense was spared in its construction. The place is fully loaded with all the options.
I tried to imagine as we approached what even a nobleman would have been thinking in the 1600s of what we saw before us. It's pretty jaw-dropping for our time; the person of the 1600s must have been absolutely convinced of the divine selection of the king and the immense power that came with it.
After a while though, one gilded room with crystal chandeliers starts to look like another, and your mind starts to wonder.
Mine wondered to the map of Paris and the location of the Bastille northeast of Notre Dame that the revolutionaries broke into to steal arms. They then trekked their tired hungry asses to the far southwest outskirts of Paris to storm Versailles, then trekked north to the guillotines at the far end of the Champs Elysees to chop the king's and queen's collective heads off.
As I sit here considering how sore my feet are from wandering the cobblestones and halls of Versailles, I reflect on the _miles_ these tired hungry people went to seize the king and queen. Those dudes were seriously angry.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
WEDNESDAY-Dinner at Boullion Racine
Just a few yards from our hotel is Boullion Racine, the location that started the first chain restaurant in Paris in the late 1800s. That chain and the rest of the Boullion chain are gone. But this one has been lovingly restored to all its art nouveau glory. The place is really amazing and probably not possible to do justice to with pictures from my cell phone.
The food and service were amazing. Jeri started with a great salad of greens, country ham, French blue cheese, tomatoes, pears, and a light vinegarette.
The ham had a very peppery tasted and all of these flavors from the pungency of the cheese to the sweetness of the pears worked together. It's one of those things I value most in cuisine, a dish that tastes like itself instead of the combination of its parts.
I had a coarsely pureed cream of cauliflower & broccoli soup. It's interesting to note, no other country in the world eats as much broccoli as the US. They just don't care for it; so I was surprised to see it on the menu.
It was very lightly creamed, the vegetables cooked just past tender (perfect for a soup I think) and really satisfying after a very cold day.
We couldn't resist and ordered a new favorite of ours we had one of the first nights here: cote d'bouef for 2 with a glass of bordeaux.
It's that same simply roasted large chunk of beef served with mashed potatoes and it was fantastic. I must learn to make this exactly as they do. It's not a roast or a steak and it's barely messed with in terms of seasoning. But it's so perfect. It is a painful ecstacy to restrain yourself to slowly eat something this fabulous.
BTW, I've not said much about the wine here. It's great and all, but the bordeauxs here taste just like the bordeauxs I buy at home.
Dessert was a molten chocolate cake for Jeri and a framboisier for me. Most of you know what Jeri's was; mine was something very akin to what we call 'jello salad' in the US. The only difference was a delightful thin layer of genoise cake in the middle. Delightful!
Night all!
The food and service were amazing. Jeri started with a great salad of greens, country ham, French blue cheese, tomatoes, pears, and a light vinegarette.
The ham had a very peppery tasted and all of these flavors from the pungency of the cheese to the sweetness of the pears worked together. It's one of those things I value most in cuisine, a dish that tastes like itself instead of the combination of its parts.
I had a coarsely pureed cream of cauliflower & broccoli soup. It's interesting to note, no other country in the world eats as much broccoli as the US. They just don't care for it; so I was surprised to see it on the menu.
It was very lightly creamed, the vegetables cooked just past tender (perfect for a soup I think) and really satisfying after a very cold day.
We couldn't resist and ordered a new favorite of ours we had one of the first nights here: cote d'bouef for 2 with a glass of bordeaux.
It's that same simply roasted large chunk of beef served with mashed potatoes and it was fantastic. I must learn to make this exactly as they do. It's not a roast or a steak and it's barely messed with in terms of seasoning. But it's so perfect. It is a painful ecstacy to restrain yourself to slowly eat something this fabulous.
BTW, I've not said much about the wine here. It's great and all, but the bordeauxs here taste just like the bordeauxs I buy at home.
Dessert was a molten chocolate cake for Jeri and a framboisier for me. Most of you know what Jeri's was; mine was something very akin to what we call 'jello salad' in the US. The only difference was a delightful thin layer of genoise cake in the middle. Delightful!
Night all!
WEDNESDAY-Light shopping and city tour
Yup, more bummin' around town this morning and we each went our own way to have some fun and shop. I spent half my time lingering over coffee in a sheltered outdoor cafe near Jardin du Luxembourg. Jeri did some shopping and had a wonderful time.
We met back at the room after I made a quick stop at the local boulangerie. I got Jeri a nice piece of chocolate cake and myself a delicious lemon tart.
I can't get a really lemony dessert in the US. I'm not sure why. It seems the only flavor we're not scared to pile on is chocolate.
After this we collected ourselves, grabbed some hot ham and gruyere crepes for lunch, and hopped on a city bus tour. It was an open air tour on the top of the bus that took us to many o the attractions we'd not seen yet like the Arch d' Triumph and the square at the other end of the Champs Elysees where everyone was beheaded in the revolution.
Other than that, it was damn cold up there and we were glad to finally get back to our room. A very fun day!!!
We met back at the room after I made a quick stop at the local boulangerie. I got Jeri a nice piece of chocolate cake and myself a delicious lemon tart.
I can't get a really lemony dessert in the US. I'm not sure why. It seems the only flavor we're not scared to pile on is chocolate.
After this we collected ourselves, grabbed some hot ham and gruyere crepes for lunch, and hopped on a city bus tour. It was an open air tour on the top of the bus that took us to many o the attractions we'd not seen yet like the Arch d' Triumph and the square at the other end of the Champs Elysees where everyone was beheaded in the revolution.
Other than that, it was damn cold up there and we were glad to finally get back to our room. A very fun day!!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
TUESDAY-Dessert
We grabbed some dessert on the island next to the island that Notre Dame is on. This is a seriously high real estate district, being on an island and all. I really want to emphasize the word island in this post. Island.I checked off another French food item! Jeri got her much beloved crepe with nutella (I'm gonna have to make these now) and I got... (wait for it) floating island!
It's a delicate vanilla flavored liquid, a lot like creme anglaise, and there's a big hunk of meringue floating in the middle of it. This is one of my fav desserts, but you almost never see it on the menu. It's delicate, light, sweet, and it sort of forces you to eat it slowly and enjoy every bite. Yummers!Night all!
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