Paris Dining In
Many Parisians prefer to invite friends to dine at home rather than in restaurants. Or maybe you would like to invite resident friends for dinner. What are the pleasures and pitfalls of dining in?
May 1st: Lilies of the Valley for Labor Day
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Today is a holiday for everyone except those in the restaurant business. This year May 1st turns out to be a double-header - two holidays wrapped into one, Ascension Thursday and the Fete du Travail,or the Worker’s Holiday. I’ve always associated this European holiday with parades in Moscow’s Red Square. Guess that’s because I’m and a product of the ‘Cold War Era’ Actually, May 1st Labor Day was inspired by an event in Chicago.
The important thing to remember about May 1st if you’re visiting …
Date: May 1st, 2008 |
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Merde, Maupassant, & Other Acceptable Dinner Topics
Although ‘merde’ may sound like a cross between Tuesday and Wednesday (mardi and mercredi), it really means ‘shit’. It also means ‘Good Luck’ when you say it to a friend who’s about to pass his driving exam.
So, if ‘merde’ comes up in a dinner conversation, don’t be too surprised, but also, don’t be too shocked if a guest asks you how to translate ‘chiotta’ in English i.e. the ‘crapper’. French dinner conversations take as many twists an turns as a country road, and depending on your openness to hilarity and …
Date: April 10th, 2008 |
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Buying French Champagne
Christmas is almost here and even before New Year’s Eve approaches, you may already be thinking about champagne. Wondering how to choose a good French champagne?
Finding a good champagne at a reasonable price is something that every champagne fan needs to know - even if you only break out the bubbly once a year - for that very special occasion.
Date: December 19th, 2007 |
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Celebrating Paris’s Ethnic Flavor
Just because you aren’t in Paris doesn’t mean you can’t recreate Paris at home, especially if home happens to be San Francisco.
Date: July 19th, 2007 |
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Hot Soup for the final days of Les Saints de Glace
“Stay in bed tomorrow. Have breakfast in bed. And don’t go out for any reason.” That was Lydie’s advice during our visit today in Caen, Normandy. You can get from Paris to Caen by train in app. 2 ½ hours. (Train station Gare St. Lazare)
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2007 Gare St. Lazare. Watch your pockets and handbags at this station!!
Many visitors come to Caen to see the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames –which were constructed during William the Conquerer’s era. A much more recent addition is the Caen Memorial, considered by many to be one of the best World War II commemorative museums in Normandy. Our reason for coming to Caen was somewhat different. I was going to Caen to find a dentist.
Date: May 14th, 2007 |
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French Comfort Food: Blanquette de Veau
It may be springtime in Paris, but there’s still a crispness in the air and you’re likely to find a ‘blanquette d veau’ or veal stew on the menu at your local cafe or brasserie.
Blanquette de veau is considered one of the few French dishes you’re likely to find in every region. The veal is simmered until it melts in your mouth. A little bit of creme fraiche is added to give the sauce that special tang. Normally this veal stew is served up with carrots, but mushrooms are also added. You start with a bechamel …
Date: April 16th, 2008 |
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French Cooking: Choucroute
Choucroute Platter served at the Brussels Cafe, 71 Blvd. Exelmans, 75016
When it comes to ‘comfort food’, nothing does it better than ‘choucroute’ (pronounced ’shoo-croot’) or Alsatian saurkraut on a cold day in March. Accompanied with a crisp Riesling, this meal will make you completely forget the howling winds and pelting rain.
The region of France most famous for ‘choucroute’ is Alsace - and I’ve been told that the best place to eat choucroute in one of Alsace’s most famous cities, Strasbourg is right across from the Strasbourg cathedral.
However, if you’re in Paris, you need go no farther than most Alsatian (as well as Belgian and German) brasseries for a good ‘choucroute’ or you can make a great dish yourself (as long as you buy the right sausages).
You can buy your saurkraut either ‘cru’ or ‘cuit’ in most delis (cooked or uncooked). The best cooked saurkraut has bits of ham mixed in. Add to that salt pork and sausages of all sorts. I bought my sausages for this dish at J. Valliot, 21 Rue Daguerre.
That’s where I came across a particular brand of sausage that deserves special mention.
This sausage is called Saucisse de Morteau. If you’ve never tried this regional specialty, you’re in for a treat.
Date: March 13th, 2008 |
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Talking Turkey in Paris
If you’ve been in Paris for longer than a few weeks, holidays like Thanksgiving might be just the thing that trigger ‘culture shock’. Culture shock can occur when you’re living far from home and can hit you when you least expect it (usually after about six months is the normal time frame). You’ve been totally immersing yourself in the culture where you’re sojourning and suddenly, you wake up thinking about mashed potatoes drizzled with butter.
Paris has a number of havens - for such flights of fancy - particularly The …
Date: November 21st, 2007 |
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Mousse au Chocolat
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2007
One of the ’simplest’ and best desserts you can order while in Paris is a ‘mousse au chocolat’. It’s light but rich at the same time. No dessert better describes the essence of French living (in my humble opinion). The ingredients are minimal. Much like the knack Parisian women have for taking a basic wardrobe and adding the one twist - an offbeat necklace, crazy socks (that’s usually men’s bailiwick), or a zebra-striped glass frames to create an extraordinary impression.
Chocolate mousse takes a bar …
Date: June 8th, 2007 |
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Good Reasons to Rethink Dining In -in Paris, or Elsewhere
Chris says that the next apartment we find will have the kitchen and the office in the same space. Blogging and cooking cannot be done simultaneously - trust me on this!
Probably all over the world at this very moment millions of what could have been very adequate home-cooked meals have gone up in smoke - this baby never had a chance.
Date: April 3rd, 2007 |
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