Friday, October 16, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
A few more reasons to love Paris
My Saturday schedule:
10 am : Wake up
11 am: Re-wake up
11-3: Cavort around Le Fete des Vendages (Harvest Festival)and visit every last one of the 120 food and wine booths in Monmartre. Gorge myself on escargot, raw oysters, homemade macarons, and danish donuts.
3-5: Frolic in the most beautiful park in the world (Buttes Chaumont) and stumble upon a free piano and opera concert held in a giant cave in the middle of the park. (There was a waterfall right next to the piano. It was epic.)
8 (or 20h00 more correctly): Dinner at a restaurant that specializes in souffles. Gleefully induce food comma via foie gras souffle and vanilla raspberry souffle.
If I keep writing posts like this will someone decide to come visit me for Thanksgiving?
10 am : Wake up
11 am: Re-wake up
11-3: Cavort around Le Fete des Vendages (Harvest Festival)and visit every last one of the 120 food and wine booths in Monmartre. Gorge myself on escargot, raw oysters, homemade macarons, and danish donuts.
3-5: Frolic in the most beautiful park in the world (Buttes Chaumont) and stumble upon a free piano and opera concert held in a giant cave in the middle of the park. (There was a waterfall right next to the piano. It was epic.)
8 (or 20h00 more correctly): Dinner at a restaurant that specializes in souffles. Gleefully induce food comma via foie gras souffle and vanilla raspberry souffle.
If I keep writing posts like this will someone decide to come visit me for Thanksgiving?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tales of a delinquent blogger
Here's what you missed since my last post:
1. Le vin: Last weekend was our Bing Trip to Le Medoc (by Bordeaux). Saturday we were treated to a four-hour lecture on why californian wines are far inferior to their french counterparts. I believe one of the statements went: "Californian wineries cater to what the standard customer wants, kind of like McDonalds does." Fortunately, Bordeaux is shunning McDomination and was able to provide us silly Americans with some sophisticated wines to develop our palates. I can now scoff at those who swirl their wine before smelling it the first time (you must smell it once before you swirl it) and then I can say things like "hmmm, this 1989 Chateau Margeaux has nice red fruit and an excellent finish. I however prefer the 1990 Chateau Haut-Brion which has a better nose." (And I can say it in French!) Unfortunately given my budget, I am more likely to say "mmm, This 2006 vin du pays rose has a strong flavor of Hi-C with overtones of turpentine." Quel dommage.
2. Le Mer: The Bing Trip also brought us to the beach, where we had the culturally enriching experience of watching french women tan topless.
3. Presently, I just got back from a party at a Lebanese family's home. Random, I know. My language partner (who is Lebanese) invited me to her birthday party and I showed up expecting a group of French 20-somethings, only to find out that the party was full of her family and all their friends. I had no idea that what I was craving was vast amounts of hummus and talking to middle-aged Lebanese people, but apparently I was. It was so much fun. Who'd have guessed?
1. Le vin: Last weekend was our Bing Trip to Le Medoc (by Bordeaux). Saturday we were treated to a four-hour lecture on why californian wines are far inferior to their french counterparts. I believe one of the statements went: "Californian wineries cater to what the standard customer wants, kind of like McDonalds does." Fortunately, Bordeaux is shunning McDomination and was able to provide us silly Americans with some sophisticated wines to develop our palates. I can now scoff at those who swirl their wine before smelling it the first time (you must smell it once before you swirl it) and then I can say things like "hmmm, this 1989 Chateau Margeaux has nice red fruit and an excellent finish. I however prefer the 1990 Chateau Haut-Brion which has a better nose." (And I can say it in French!) Unfortunately given my budget, I am more likely to say "mmm, This 2006 vin du pays rose has a strong flavor of Hi-C with overtones of turpentine." Quel dommage.
2. Le Mer: The Bing Trip also brought us to the beach, where we had the culturally enriching experience of watching french women tan topless.
3. Presently, I just got back from a party at a Lebanese family's home. Random, I know. My language partner (who is Lebanese) invited me to her birthday party and I showed up expecting a group of French 20-somethings, only to find out that the party was full of her family and all their friends. I had no idea that what I was craving was vast amounts of hummus and talking to middle-aged Lebanese people, but apparently I was. It was so much fun. Who'd have guessed?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)