Saturday, November 30, 2013

A Very Special Boisvert Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends!
         
     What to do for Thanksgiving when you move 1000's of miles away from your loved ones? Do you pretend it doesn't exist and head to Canada? Go to a local restaurant serving dinner for the tourists, singles, or families that enjoy the ease of having things prepared and cleaned up for them? Or maybe make a Thanksgiving dinner for two and go overboard?  Those of you who know us well already know the answer to that.  Though it's no replacement for the traditional Family gathering, we wanted to make it special and memorial.  Here is our menu:

The Cocktail:
The New England Sour
One of our favorite neighborhood bartenders, Kenaniah of www.essexbarseattle.com, makes a great version of the New York Sour (recipe here: www.food52.com/recipes/24164-new-york-sour ).  It has become a regular beverage in our home so I attempted to put a Thanksgiving/New England twist on it:


Muddled cranberries 
1.75 oz. Rye
1/2 oz. Simple syrup
1/2 oz. Fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. Cocchi Americano
Shake and Strain into a rocks glass
Top with 1/2 oz. red wine
Serve with an orange twist

It was a good attempt and very good, but I prefer the original for sure...We'll call it a work in progress.


After the introductory cocktail we scheduled some time to skype and call our family, and of course you need a beverage in you hand while skyping, otherwise you just look silly.  We opened a bottle of Local Black Currant Hard Cider by www.finnriver.com. Finn river cider is harvested and brewed on the Olympic Peninsula We really need to get out to their Brewery for a tasting.  Everything we have sampled is stellar.

First Course "The Fish"
Smoked Salmon on Mustard-Chive and Dill Butter Toasts
Paired with Chateau Ste. Michelle Sparkling Rose´ 
The Chateau Ste. Michelle winery is right outside of Seattle.  We brought my Mum there in October and bought this bottle during our visit.  


Second Course "The squash"
Handmade Pumpkin Ravioli in Browned Butter

Paired with 2011 White Burgundy of Auxey Duresses (aka Chardonnay)


Third Course "The Regal Cornish Hen"
Cornish Game Hen with a Gremolata butter, Green Beans and Truffle Mashed Potatoes

Paired with a 2010 Domaine Michel Gros Nuits Saint Georges (aka Pinot Noir).

We decided to follow a Thomas Keller Ad Hoc recipe for the Cornish Hens.   


Time for dessert......
Homemade Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie with Fresh Whipped Creme

Paired with Bodegas Dios Baco - Oloroso Sherry.


It was an epic meal and actually went off without a hitch.  There is no substitution for family and friends on Thanksgiving, but we dealt with our first solo Thanksgiving the only way we know how to;   
In the kitchen with each other
2 never empty Glasses
Fresh quality ingredients
some imagination
and lots of love and laughter. 
Thanks for reading
Love the Zilla's



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Last post of the trip! Beaune, france


We’re back on the train heading to Paris, on our second to last day.  This morning we left Beaune, drove 40 minutes to Dijon, and dropped off our rental car.  I’m happy I was able to drive competently in France, and got us everywhere in one piece.  Allison is very proud of me as well, ha ha.  Let’s discuss Beaune, shall we? 

Beaune is the capital city of Burgundy.  As you know Allison and I really like wine.  Despite how hard we try, in the scheme of things we know little about it, especially French wine.  It seems all French wine is labeled by region and town.  It’s assumed by said region what varietal the wine is.  In Burgundy the varietal is typically either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.  With that said, Burgundy is very proud of their wine, and rate them by levels, which I’m not going to get too deep into, but figure, good, better, great, the Beatles!  We didn’t have any Beatles, because that shit is owned by Michael Jackson, and we can’t afford MJ’s prices!  We did have some pretty great stuff and learned quite a bit from the few tastings we did.  All of the Burgundy white we had was very good. I suggest if you like wine, pick up any of their whites and you will like it, even if you don’t like California Chardonnay.  The reds are a little more tricky.  Here are a few towns we liked for red; Beaune, Auxey Durresses, and Pollard.   That’s about all I can type about that, maybe 10% of it was correct, but who cares.

Here’s a little about the town: it’s spotless and gorgeous.  And I mean spotless.  France has a dog poop problem.  In fact, as you get familiarized with a town, you learn where all the dog mines are and naturally step over them.  It’s everywhere, except Beaune, not one piece of dung.   All the buildings are much more uniform, mostly grey, with nice shutters and flower boxes.  It’s a fortified city and you can actually drive/walk around on the Ramparts, which make for really nice walks and views.  There is a wine shop at every turn, sometimes two or three side by side.  There are also a lot of bakeries.  On a side note, we have learned all the French names for different types of shops, but I’ve decided to keep this simple.  Vineyards surround the town.  When I say surrounded, I mean as far as the eye can see in every direction.  Yesterday we bought some sliced ham, cheese, wine, olives and a baguette, hopped in the car and started driving through the surrounding towns in search of a nice place to have lunch with our spread.  At a little intersection in the middle of slope side vineyards, we found a nice little area with a statue and picnic table.  No ordering, or attempting to use the very little French we know.  It was just nice to enjoy each other in the piece and quiet without distraction.  With all of the grand dining and sites we have experienced, that picnic was nice and low key and will be very memorable.

In closing, we went into Beaune with high expectations of wine tours and tastings, although we only did a few and felt a little overwhelmed (and very underprepared), we had a great experience there and learned some new info about French wine and how to choose a bottle.  We also had a nice romantic picnic, some amazing dinners and some beautiful sites.  We’re almost back to Paris, and we hope to end this honeymoon off with a few last days of relaxation and love, I’m not going to say anything else in fears of tempting the gods of chaos.  We miss everyone and look forward to sharing our stories in person, and hearing about what we missed while were we were away.  Thanks for following, and the feedback.  Thanks to Joe and Carrie for looking after the house and the fat cat, it means the world to us.   Thanks to Mom and Dad Boisvert for the rides to and from the airport.  I know it’s a pain even if you deny it.  Thanks to Mom and Dad Nigro for the amazing help with the wedding.  And thanks to everyone else who have been great friends and take as much interest in our lives as we do yours.  We’re so fortunate to have the friends and family we have.  Love you all…  
Au revoir!   

P.S. Thank you to my lovely wife Allison, you are the best travel companion.  You are extremely easy going and relatively low maintenance ; )…and you talk little trash about my poor grammar and spelling.  I appreciate your patience when I’m stressed out, or crabby about the locals.  You’ve been good about photography and mediocre at navigation…I love you and look forward to our next trip and the rest of our lives!

P.P.S. Get over it Jen Boisvert and anyone else who hates my sappy stuff ; ) 



   

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Saint-Remy-de-Provence

    We left off in Villefranche-sur-mer and our excursion to Menton for lunch.  Since then, we've had a few beach days in Villefranche, a 4 hour drive West to Saint-Remy-de-Provence, and another 4 hour drive North to Beaune, in the Burgundy region.  (If you know how to pronounce Beaune, no pun intended).  I'll start with St. Remy and try to keep it short and sweet.  We drove from Villefranche to St. Remy in a diesel Renault Clio.  The speed limit on the autoroutes in France is 130 kph unless otherwise posted.  That translates to roughly 81 mph.  Needless to say, it feels even faster in a little jellybean of a car.  I got used to it pretty quickly, and we had a nice safe drive, learned about the toll system and how it's illegal to use the left lane unless passing or in traffic, it's a great system.

    As we approached St. Remy we noticed some big differences.  Almost all the streets were lined with huge trees in nice straight lines, planted when the roads were paths.  Needless to say the roads are very narrow, and pretty active.  We also noticed some fields of lavender, and olive trees.  Allison has a major thing for olive trees which you can see in the pictures on flickr.  When we arrive in St. Remy it's a gorgeous little town with cobble and mortar buildings and filled with the scent of lavender.  It is bursting with bakeries, meat shops, olive oil shops, basically anything food related. This is a culinary and art based town, and it's very obvious right away.  Vincent Van Gogh institutionalized himself in St. Remy and a lot of his famous works were painted in town and the surrounding areas.  Nostradamus also lived in St. Remy.  Fun facts fun facts!!  When we arrived at our hotel we were greeted by the very friendly owner, who was very excited to ask about our honeymoon and congratulate us.  She offered us a free drink when we were ready.  She also upgraded us to the best room, which is a separate little stucco cottage, with a private patio.   It's sits under a giant fig tree (the hotel is actually called Sous Les Figuiers which translates to under the figs in English), filled with ripe figs. YUM!  We were very happy with our new place, it was just perfect.

  While in St. Remy we did a lot of strolling, walked in a few shops and did olive oil tastings, and plenty of eating.  Figs are the big thing in St. Remy at the moment, as they're in season so they were on most menus.  We had read about a chocolatier prior to traveling there named Joel Durand, who is ranked as one of the top 5 chocolatiers in France, so we had to find his shop or my wife would have had a fit.   His shop is located right in the center of town.  It has racks of hundreds of little square chocolates with letters on them.  Each letter is a different type, and there is a menu with very detailed descriptions.  These things ranged from Lavender, to Szechuan pepper, to a standard Almond.  We bought a pack of nine, and have been snacking on them now and again.  Rosemary was really good, and the coffee was also excellent. That was a great find.

    We got up our second morning and drove a few miles to some ancient Roman ruins called Glanum which are actually the largest Roman ruins outside of Italy. We walked around there for about an hour taking pictures, imagining what it must have been like.  There were artistic renderings throughout the ruins which illustrated what it would have looked like prior to the town being abandoned in 260 AD.  Really amazing stuff and some of it was really well preserved.  After that we took a scenic drive through the local villages.  This drive can't be compared. We drove up a mountain through narrow passes, with great views of the town of Beaux.  We drove through wine and olive country, passed fields of lavender and beautiful slope side villas.

    We were there for two nights and had two great meals, one in the courtyard of restaurant serving traditional yet modern food, with great service and ambiance.  The other, called Mas de L'Amarine, was off the beaten path.  It's a boutique hotel with a restaurant which was very modern but whimsical and very fairytale like.  It sounds cheesy but it almost felt like Alice in Wonderland.  The pictures don't do it justice.  The food was amazing and inspiring.  The service was fantastic, and the setting was unreal.  Oh and we found out later that the owner and our server was named Alice.

    Today we are going to explore Burgundy, maybe we'll drink some wine.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Day 9 Menton and our dining experience at Mirazur


This entry is solely based on our experience in Mauro Colagreco's two star Michelin rated restaurant Mirazur in Menton, France.  I will warn you now that if you're not into food you won't enjoy this post, but if you are, I hope you enjoy it and the pictures.  We tried to capture everything so that we can remember this wonderful and fun eating experience.    
  Menton is another beautiful Riviera town situated on the French and Italian border.  Visiting Menton and eating here was on our wish list of things to do while staying in this area and we're thrilled it actually happened.  The restaurant itself as you can see from the pictures sits above the town with spectacular views.  The chef has his own gardens on the property and his philosophy is to use what he grows along with what's currently available in the market to create his menu, a theme that's not uncommon now in the U.S.  We don't get to eat food like this EVER.  It's fancy, elaborate, over-the-top and clearly expensive so our wallets do not typically allow such indulgences.  However, since this is our honeymoon we wanted to do something really special, so we decided to do lunch there when it would be daytime and we could fully appreciate the views.  The service at Mirazur is formal but extremely friendly and the atmosphere is actually more casual than you might think.  I know this whole thing may seem pretentious but many of you know how much we love food and wine.  We just enjoy seeing what people can do with food and we like eating it even more.  So to continue, the menu is such that you can choose based on the number of courses you wish to do.  You don't choose what you're going to eat, but you can tell them if there are certain foods you don't or can't eat.  We chose the six course Degustation option and told them we'd eat anything.  We're not entirely sure what they count as a course.  It appeared to us that we had 8 courses, but apparently some of the courses must not have counted as an actual course.  So, let's begin...

Amuse bouche - We started with a glass of Taittinger Cuvee Prestige champagne (that was for you Jen) and a few little bites.  We honestly can't remember what was on the rock with the moss in the background (sorry I guess we're not off to a great start), but in the middle are baby radishes with some minced veggies inside and on either side of that are beet chips with little balls of white and yellow beets on goat cheese.  They were yummy little bites for sure.
First course - At that point we ordered a bottle of wine to accompany our meal.  We opted for a white that the sommelier said would be appropriate for all the courses.  It was a 2009 Rhone Valley Viognier by Domaine Belle.  Our first course was oysters with a shallot creme and seaweed foam.  Although we eat oysters,  I've never had a raw oyster that was removed from the shell for me and that tasted so perfect.

Second course - Carpacchio of Seam bream fish with begonia flowers and some kind of baby peach. A++

Third course - Heirloom tomatoes, mango sorbet, mint leaves, cucumber, tomato gelee, tomato water.  No joke, the tomato gelee and the tomato water actually tasted like a real tomato, in fact it was the essence of tomato.
Fourth course - Mussels, fennel, summer squash, dill, saffron sauce and coriander emulsion.  I wanted to lick the saffron sauce off the plate.
Fifth course - Fillet of John Dory fish, stew of chickpeas and red pepper broth.  The fish was perfect in taste and texture, and the chickpeas were a surprising but welcomed addition.

Sixth course - Pork belly with plum sauce and lavender emulsion.  I'm drooling just typing that.  OMG that was some amazing pig.  Single best pork product I've ever eaten.
Seventh course - They called this "pre dessert", which was carpacchio of fig with anise sorbet.  I can't really describe the flavor combination, but the figs were really fresh and delicious.
Eighth course - Dessert was goat cheese tower with goat milk mousse underneath, cucumber sorbet, meringue of verbena.  I'm honestly not a huge sorbet person.  It's good, but I'm more of an ice cream girl.  The goat milk mousse was great but the cucumber sorbet was surprisingly incredible.
Espresso:  Just thought this was a cool picture.  In France they actually drink their coffee after dessert and not with dessert
Espresso accompaniments: Chocolate raspberry truffles and dark chocolate truffles.  I love chocolate, hence I loved these truffles.
Espresso accompaniments:  Erin, these little treats were absolutely heavenly.  Lemon macarons and something that I can only describe as having a caramelized outside and a doughy, almost french cruller-like inside.  We can't figure out what it is and we should have asked because it really was amazing.  Oh well.
Something not pictured was the bread.  I know, shame on us.  At the beginning they brought us something called "sharing bread" which were little pull-apart rolls along with olive oil.  Of course, I'm sure you know by now this was no ordinary olive oil.  It was lemon and ginger infused olive oil.  I'll be honest, at first I thought it sounded like a weird combination, but after eating it, I would bathe in the stuff.  They poured such a generous amount of it onto a plate that I thought we would never eat it all, but there wasn't one drop left.  They served different types of breads, rolls and baguettes throughout the meal and we dipped it all in that oil.  So good.  It was a terrific meal from start to finish and something we will remember forever.

Blog post courtesy of Allison Boisvert
Pictures courtesy of Mike Boisvert                    

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Monaco and Eze

  Yesterday we took a train to Monaco to walk around and see the sites.  It's only a 15 min train ride from Villefranche so we figured we should go see it.  It's a pretty diverse country considering its tiny size with an old world village, a royal palace, sky scrapers and a port filled with multi million dollar yachts, oh and casinos.  Check out the pictures.
  After that we took the train to a village called Eze. It's way up a mountain side built into the rock outcrop.  It's an amazing little village.  The door ways are barely over 5 ft tall, which tells you how old it is. There are beautiful vistas of the sea. You need to be pretty wealthy to stay in one of the hotels up there as it's extremely expensive.  Our typical 4 or 5 euro glass of wine (which has been the going rate everywhere we've been) was 16 euro there.  Also plenty of pictures on flickr.  Allison and I took a 30 minute hike, (labeled 45 minutes, yeah I know we're amazing.) in complete isolation back down to the train.  It was extremely steep and all loose rocks and soft sand. It probably was not our best idea, but it was really a gorgeous hike, and it was nice to be in the peace and quite for a brief period.
 After all that walking around and hiking we headed back to our little flat in VilleFranche, showered up and had a very romantic dinner on the edge of the harbor overlooking the yachts and our little town we have really come to love.
  Today we are off to Menton to go to Mirazur, the restaurant I mentioned in the previous post. Sorry for such a short nondescript post, but I wanted to jot it down before the grapes take it all away.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Days 4 - 7 Villefranche-sur-mer and the French Riviera





  We have had little wifi in Villefranche, so my blogging has had to wait.  It's day 7 of the trip and we're sitting in our favorite drinking spot called L'X Cafe.  It has wifi, pronounced we-fee here in France,  reggae music and friendly bar staff.  They also make a pretty nice coffee.  When you order coffee in France it's either espresso or espresso with steamed milk. I'm sure there are plenty of other types, but those are the typical choices.  Last time I typed we were on the train from Paris to VilleFranche, which went very well.  It's a great way to travel.  We had to switch trains in Nice and take a local train to Villefranche. The station in Nice is very busy, and very chaotic, so it took us a moment to figure out where to buy train tickets and where to board the train. We figured it out, and eventually boarded the train, which was really cramped and a little stressful with all of our luggage, but we made it.  We arrived in Villefranche a few minutes later, exited the train squeezing through people and thanking those who helped us off.  We walked through a little tunnel and out onto the street.  Picture if you will a mixture of beautiful aqua and green sea, filled with yachts, a beautiful soft pebble beach, and a tiny cobble stone street lining the sea.  You can smell the fresh seafood, and hear the joy of the patrons in the cafes.   Although we had a long day of travel and some stress, we knew we made the right decision and picked a very charming little town to spend the week.   The last few days have been spent at the beach swimming and on foot exploring our little village, which is very hilly, with lots of steps, secret passage ways and tunnels.

 The food has been an amazing fusion of French and Italian cuisines.  From the octopus to the escargot, it's been an incredible experience.  Notably Les Garcons and Le Grignotiere have been the winners thus far.  The Scallop risotto with white truffle oil from Les Garcons is over the top good.  Risotto is a tricky one to get perfect and they make it look easy.  Villefranche has been extremely relaxing and extremely delicious.   It's exactly what we wanted, beach, food, ambiance and relaxation.  The only worry we had with our honeymoon itinerary in France, was a lack of relaxation. We found that here plus so much more.

  We decided today would be a great day to venture out of Villefranche and see Nice.  We got up early (9am) ; ) and took the train into Nice.  It's about a 7 minute train ride.  We headed straight down to the sea, and along the Promenade des Anglais to find a nice spot for a croissant and coffee.  I've been bad about making my croissant comparisons, but it's only because they are all great.  Even the bad ones are great.  The tastes are all over the board.  But the texture and buttery goodness make it the perfect breakfast. After breakfast we walked the old city. More maze-like alley ways with cafes and shops. You could really feel what it must have been like in medieval times.  After we walked to the top of a giant scenic overlook.  Allison got a picture of me  looking over the beach and city, which is in my flickr. account.  I think that is all I have for now.  Please enjoy the pictures.

  Tomorrow we head to Menton for lunch at a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant called Mirazur.  We're both really excited for Menton.  I believe I mentioned in the first post of this trip that Menton is the restaurant in Boston where I proposed, which is inspired by Menton, France.  At any rate, thank you for the comments and emails, it keeps me motivated to do this blogging business.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Days 2 and 3: Embracing the cafe life and travel by train

  On day 2 we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit before we attacked some of the sites.  We started off the morning with some coffee and buckwheat crepes filled with cheeses, meats and a fried egg,   which we both really enjoyed.  It's odd how simple things can be so exciting and fun.  Sitting in an open air cafe, people watching, drinking great coffee, and slowly savoring a meal is such a perfect thing.  The cafe is theater.  It sounds silly and mock poetic, but really I don't know how else to describe the cafe lifestyle here. You watch people walking by, chatting with a friend or partner, a lady riding a bike in chaotic traffic with high heals on.  The people traveling past are also looking at the cafe patrons and waitstaff.  Not sure how to do it justice, but I wish I could take a moment every day to cafe.


After our breakfast we headed towards the Louvre.  We decided to take the long way there and soak in as many little nooks and crannies while we were at it.  We stumbled upon a lot of public places with fountains, playgrounds, or gardens.  I love how this city is really made for the people.  I've noticed one modern "sky scraper" in the distance and it's really out of place.  It's really great to be able to see a park, school, or museum from any given spot, instead of a new high rise or office building.  That is what it's all about, the people make the city and those people should be able to enjoy it.    


We made it over to the Louvre and waited in line for about 5-10 minute then headed straight in, it wasn't overly crowded.  

Sorry, this is taking too long.  To be continued when I get a chance...

  Allison and I are currently sitting on a train in big plush seats facing each other, sipping café espresso and munching on Croissants.  We’re about 1 hour outside of Paris heading south to Nice, it's day 4.  Our 2’ by 5’ window view is changing pretty rapidly.  Train tracks and walls filled with graffiti, to flat green and beige fields filled with produce and cattle. I’m trying to embrace the experience while typing about our experiences thus far.  Hard to believe a few years back I would be sitting in a bar right now annoying a bartender or falling off a stool.  I’m not going to pretend that won’t happen again, and/or hasn’t happened within the past few weeks, but I’m really enjoying looking at my wife with the landscape of France in the background.  I’m not sure how life has led me here, and although I’m not religious, the only word I can think of is blessed.  Even the dude snoring a few seats over seems fitting, HA!  Some of these words come out sappy and cliché, but this is my life and although there are moments of drunken foolishness, emotional break through, jealousy, pride, and arrogance, I’m trying to get as much as I can out of it and I’m proud of what Allison and I have created for ourselves.  These adventures are 100% a part of the life we wish to lead, and we’re doing it, which seems impossible to me.   Enough of that back to Paris…

  Where were we... Yeah yeah, the previous few days were spent in cafes and seeing the sites, so I guess I’ll start with the sites.  On day two after strolling around different arrondissements for a bit we ventured over to the Louvre.  We pretty much bee-lined it to the Mona Lisa.  We both like art, but at the same time when it comes to the really early religious stuff, it’s incredibly grand and impressive, but we lose interest very quickly, which is why we decided to get the big gun out of the way.   I’m sure you have all heard the room she is in is filled to capacity, and she sits on the wall like a tiny postage stamp behind glass.  Yep, that’s pretty much the deal.  I will say to stand in front of the most famous and recognizable piece of art in the world is a little surreal.  This “lame brain” of mine doesn’t fully grasp what makes that painting special,  I just don’t see it,  It’s just as beautiful as the rest.  What I am amazed by, is that it was created so long ago in a time before modern luxuries, and 90% of the world recognizes that piece of art and knows her name and the creator…mind blowing.   After checking out the old lady, we strolled around looking at 1000’s of paintings and sculptures, until our legs couldn’t take anymore.  The Louvre is massive and we saw about a 10th of it, including the ancient Louvre down below.  

  On day 3 we took the batobus, which is a ferry, that has 8 stops along the River Seine.  You can hop on and off all day with one ticket.  Each stop is in a specific tourist destination such as the Eiffel tower, The Louvre, Musee d’orsay…At any rate, we hopped on at Notre Dame, the closest stop to our hotel.  It was a really beautiful way to see the city.  The bridges are works of art as you can see in the pictures on my flickr account to the right of this page.  The first stop we got off at was the Louvre stop.  We wanted to check out Musee de L’Orangerie, recommended by my sister.  On our walk to the Museum, we went through the courtyards of the Louvre.  Once again, the public spaces are incredible.  I would guess it’s a mile long strip of park, filled with fountains and statues, flower gardens, great little lounge chairs and small food stands.  People played with their dogs, children, and friends.  The atmosphere is happiness and peace, no yelling or fighting, no thugs.  Picture one of those parking lot carnivals, yeah completely the opposite.  You can try to blame drugs and booze for those carnivals, but there were plenty of people drinking beer and wine, so nope, nice try.  

We arrived at the Musee de L’Orangerie and got our tickets. We visited rooms filled with paintings by Monet, Picasso, Derain, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and more. We already liked this museum a lot.  We passed some familiar pieces, and plenty of unfamiliar, but much more our style compared to the Louvre. The highlight of this museum was the Monet water lily rooms.  Oval shaped rooms with 100% natural light from the giant glass ceiling that had a slight transparent shade covering it.  The walls were massive rounded paintings of water lily covered ponds.  Up close they looked like giant smears of paint, but as you step back you can see the details of lily pads, lilies, clouds and light sources (Moon or Sun) reflected on the water. Each painting was a different season or time of day.  We really loved them.  I wish I could stop saying “we” but so far we have agreed upon most of the art.  And disagreement is sure to follow. 

   After the museum we walked Champs-Elysees, which is the famous street you see in movies, with all the lights that leads to the Arc de Triomphe.  This area was very busy, everyone was extremely well dressed, and on a mission to get where they were going.  There were lots of high-end fashion stores and car dealerships.  Some of the dealerships have cars in their windows like dresses in Macy’s.  Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter, where we were staying, is more our speed.  We continued walking towards the Arc de Triomphe, but it was completely mobbed. It was very impressive to see from the outside, although we were told by Mr. Duclos to get to the top for a great view, it seemed too busy for us to wait.  We’ll be back in that area when we return to Paris at the end of the trip so maybe we’ll try again.

  Our last sight of this leg of Paris was The Eiffel Tower.  It’s massive and beautiful. Pictures and TV really don’t prepare you for its size.  When we return later on our visit we’ll head up it.  Lets talk about food, shall we?

  Dinner on day two was at La Petit Cour, recommended by The Nigro’s family friend.  It was a really interesting restaurant in the Saint Germain district, down a flight of stairs on a side street. When you head down stairs it’s a courtyard with a nice awning, flowers, tomato plants, and intimate little tables.  It reminded us of a place we ate at in Sorrento, Italy.  Per usual our Waitress was very friendly and completely up for speaking to us in English, although we tried to use as much French as we could.  People really seem to appreciate that. This was a prix fixe meal of three courses with about five choices for each course.  Allison ordered burrata, which is similar to a ball of buffalo mozzarella over mixed greens, with some pesto and balsamic. It had little olive oil caviar, which I have no idea how they make, but it was awesome.  I ordered Pigs ear, which they basically mash up into a paste with spices and other goodness, on a little piece of garlic bread with some tomato paste and peppers.  It was incredible… one of my favorite things so far.  For our second course, Allison ordered roast pork, which compared to the best grilled steak I’ve ever had.  It tasted and looked like a steak, but more tender. It came with cauliflower puree, and fried potato strings.  I took another risk with my second course, which turned out to be a big mistake.  I ordered veal Kidney, rare…ha ha, what a jerk, Oops!  That was way out of my league.  I did my best to attack it, but the flavor was just too organ meaty.  I can’t complain though because I could tell if organ meat is your bag, that stuff would knock your socks off…Luckily it came with white beets, which reminded us of artichokes, and a cabbage puree which was also great.  For dessert Allison got a chocolate cake and mango ice cream.  Her first pastry in Paris, and it didn’t disappoint.  It was a very soft fluffy piece of light chocolate cake, not comparable to anything at home.  I got a rice pudding maki.  It looked like a piece of sushi.  Amazing rice pudding wrapped in a green soft fruit roll-up type wrapper. It came with lychee ice cream.  Also crazy good.  Of course we had great wine with the meal, but that goes without saying.

  Sorry to jump around but I forgot about the first night post dinner fun, you'll see why.  After dinner we stopped at a tapas bar for a nightcap.  We each ordered a French beer, which was really great.  Then the bartender started making shots for his friends and offered us one, so we went for it.  He lined up 6 shot glasses and added an apple liquor, layered something that looked like blue curacao over it and then topped it with Cointreau and lit the things on fire.  Then lit the bar on fire, and handed us straws.  Ha ha!! I killed mine, and Allison smiled and killed hers.  We laughed, thanked the bar tender and sat back down to enjoy our beers.  Awesome! The French are obviously rude jerks right? No way!!  99% have been excellent people so far, which is a higher percentage than anywhere I have ever been. 

  Ok for our last dinner in Paris we at Au Port du Salut, another prix fixe meal. This place had lots of old celebrities on the wall.  The waitress mentioned the place had been around for ages, and was once the place to see and be seen.  The only problem we had at this place was the other guests.  A couple of old British tourists who had been there the night before were complaining about their meal, which was the same as the night before, but they had the chef completely strip it of sauces and sides. A slab of beef on a plate, that was it. And the other guests were Americans that only ordered an appetizer and ice water, also bitching about everything...What we had was excellent from start to finish.  Allison had Bellota ham to start.  This was pretty amazing.  It was an aged pig leg sitting at the front of the restaurant that they shave thin slices off as it's ordered... It was the best "cold cut" I've ever tasted, slightly sweet and really marbled. It's said to be the finest ham of Spain. Free range pigs that room oak forests feeding on acorns.  That was served with shaved tomato, olive oil, and baguette.  I started with beef cheek canneloni, which was sort of like a crepe filled with a shredded beef and a cheese sauce, also incredible, tasted a bit like an amazing bolognese. Second course, Allison had pan seared duck breast and peaches, perfectly cooked duck! I had what the British travellers order, except, as the chef intended. Beef over haricot vert puree and a shaved mushroom.  It was incredible.  I would have to really strain to find a complaint for that dish.  For dessert I had creme brulee, I'm not sure what they serve in the U.S. but it's not that. That's not bashing the U.S. I've had some of my greatest meals in the mighty states, but they don't make creme brulee.  Allison had a layered almond chocolate cake.  I don't think I need to explain how good a chocolate almond cake in Paris is.. I'll just say they don't mess around with Hershey, or even Ghiradelli for that matter..  Awesome meal, awesome services, shitty tourists, oh yeah and another free shot... ; )





Thursday, August 30, 2012

Day 1 The yin and yang of travel





I can't complain about the journey part of our trip, although it was exhausting it went off pretty flawlessly. The flights totaled about 10 hours with layovers, then about 30 minutes to get our bags, another 30 to get train tickets into the city, and a 40 minute train ride to our awesome little hotel, up the stairs and into bed for a 2 hour nap.  We really wanted to get a nice fresh look at the city without the lack of sleep to cloud our vision.

After our nap, we washed up and packed a bag and started walking. Right away we realized that pictures can't do Paris justice.  Although we've only seen a little piece so far, the colors and beauty of the architecture is incredible.  Cafe after cafe with great looking food, wine, and coffee drinks.  We walked down Saint-Germain, which was once an artsy college student filled area, is now a little more touristy, but still a really nice place to walk around or sit in a cafe on the street people watching.  So that is what we did, we found a little street side table to get a quick bite and a .5 liter of white wine,  (Vin Blanc).  Our french is pretty much non existent, but we tried and as many people told us, it goes a long way.  I will jump ahead and say everyone we met has been excellent, and very accepting of our lack of french. At any rate, this is a little silly, but I will embarrass us to give you a laugh.  We ordered what we thought was a cheese plate with our wine. Out comes a plate of fettuccine Alfredo.  Yes, our first meal in France was Italian... With that said, it was a great fettuccine Alfredo, four really nice cheeses, over homemade pasta.

Sorry I need to speed this up, we have exploring to do.. After lunch we walked around a bunch, walked to Notre Dame which was massive and very overwhelming inside.  We walked over a few bridges crossing the river Seine, and over to the Pantheon.  We both really fell in love with the city, right off the bat.  The architecture is just stunning.  We hit another cafe for more wine, before heading back to get dressed for dinner.




For dinner we ate at a 10 table restaurant called L'estrapade, the owner, chef, and waiter took care of us. We were the only Americans in the place.  We had 2 apps: fois gras with bread and a tomato paste type sauce, and an apple, shrimp, and avacado dish with a mayo based sauce holding it together.  Both were really great. We had a half bottle of viognier.   For our meals, Allison, the women who hate birds got her revenge on a confit pigeon stuffed with fois gras, once again amazing, I could live off pigeon.  Allison is awesome in my opinion for being so daring, and she really enjoyed it.  I got a whole sea bass, delicious, skin and all..  At the end of the meal the chef brought us to the bar for a shot calvados since it was our honeymoon.  He's a great guy and has a really great restaurant.. A++ meal

After dinner we walked along the river Seine some more and strolled around to work off that meal. Paris is a very romantic place, we made the right decision to visit, no doubt!

Monday, August 27, 2012

HONEYMOON IN FRANCE!

Here we go again, travel time.And this time back to Europe, France to be exact. Allison and I floated around lots of ideas, including a multi country adventure. We ended up deciding, we want to relax, drink wine, and eat like monsters. France seemed like an obvious choice, with 5 stops starting and ending in Paris. A visit  to the French riviera for beaching and sun. Provence for food, art, and beautiful vistas. And a stop in Burgundy for, you guessed it, wine, wine, wine.. I know we have a one track mind, but at least we're consistent.


View France honeymoon in a larger map


We start in Paris, 3 nights in the Latin Quarter. Our plan is a nice mixture of cafes and tourist fun, with the obvious major sites. We received lots of great advice from a lot of you, and we appreciate it. One of the really great ideas is hopping on one of those cheesy tourist buses that cruise around the city. After airport hell, we may be groggy and lazy, so doing one of those buses will be a great way to relax and see the city. I'm not going to be ashamed of being a silly tourist, I may even throw on a fanny pack, and the dreaded socks and sandals..


After Paris we're taking a train 6 hours South to Villefranche-Sur-Mer, which is in the French Riviera, 10 minutes East of Nice, and very close to Monaco and the Italian border. Villefranche is a former fishing village.  We're staying at an apartment rental for 7 days.  The plan is beach, lots of beach. With day trips to Eze, Nice, Monaco and a place really special to us, called Menton. Here's a little back story on that.  Menton is a town that borders Italy. There is a restaurant in Boston called Menton, which is where I proposed to Allison.




Our next stop is Saint-Remy-de-Provence, another little village, but this one is more medieval. With lots of shops, art, and food. There is some really nice hiking in the area, some vineyards, and lots of other medieval town in close proximity.





Next we have a stop in Beaune, which is in Burgundy. Obviously there is lots and lots of wine in this region. I've read it's a really great place to rent bikes, and take the vineyard trails from winery to winery, sound like a lot of fun to me, we'll see if I can convince Allison. Also there is a few wine cellars right in Beaune which people really rave about. We're packing Advil, and I expect we'll use it.




Last, we head back to Paris, and this time we'll be staying 2 nights with views of the Eiffel tower. I'm sure we'll be unwinding and trying to soak up our last few days in France. I'm not going to write anymore about that because it's depressing..

We tend to get hung up on finding specific treats on these trips, Pizza in Italy, Conch Fritters in Key West, wine in California. Although wine will play a big part of this trip, I expect bread and Pastry may be the one. I love croissants, so maybe that will be my special treat I try everywhere.  I hope I can keep this fresh and fun for all of you to follow along. It was really great reading your comments on our last trips, so please take a second to comment as we go along.

au revoir!