Back From France
I wonder if it’s possible to come back from France and not be incredibly inspired to immediately race to the market so that you can jump into the kitchen and start creating food that is even half as incredible as what you saw and ate. Further fueled by the four cookbooks that I brought with me, I have such plans and cravings for the rest of this summer…. sweet tarts, savory tarts, puff pastry, bread, tomatoes, cheese, peaches, plums, sorbets, ice creams, sandwiches, ice cream sandwiches…
We started out with a week in Paris. In addition to patisseries and boulangeries, I also wanted to visit restaurants that had interesting cuisine without ridiculous prices or too much formality. This led to a glimpse into the celebrity chef phenomenon in France, since many of the restaurants that we went to were the more casual restaurants of chef-owners like Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon, Alain Senderens, Guy Savoy, and Christian Constant. On the one hand, I didn’t want to be beholden to famous names, but on the other hand, why pass up a meal at a Joel Robuchon restaurant because of some vague reverse snobbery/mass commercialization ideas? And with two eligible mealtimes during the day, we also had time for restaurants without conspicuous headliners.
There were usually 7 of us at dinner, so I liked seeing all the variety of foods that restaurants, especially since I had something of an ordering jinx. So many times, my meal would be average while someone else’s would be amazing, as if we were at totally different restaurants. If only I could go back in time, I’d order so brilliantly…
We then went to Provence for a week, to a town between Aix-en-Provence and Marseilles, so we were able to spend time on the coast and inland, in villages, cities, farm stands, wineries… We also had the good fortune to be guided by wonderful friends of the family who helped show us just how special the region is.
And somehow, however much my weight may have fluctuated during the trip, I came home with only 1 pound gained (this is especially great b/c there’s a pork, chorizo, bacon, manchego, rouille, and romesco burger that I can’t wait to make very soon), but um… don’t mention the number “10″ to Chad.
With 6 other people taking pictures that can be easily shared, I focused on food pictures during the two weeks. I just imported about 700 photos from my camera… I have a lot of blogging to do. 
July 26th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Did you actually get to do any cooking while you were there?
July 28th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Unfortunately, no. There were just too many restaurants in Paris that we wanted to try. We did eat at out gite in Provence a few times, but it was picnic-style, with things like proscuitto, bread, and tomatoes from local grocers… So, at least we managed some assembly.