Food in France

I know... I got a little carried away with the alliteration. I couldn't help it. Just bear with me.

If a weekend in London got an entire post dedicated to food, you can bet that a whole week in France deserves one, too. I ate really well while I was there. Mostly because I was staying with my mom's friends, and her friends ensured I got to experience France in my favorite way - by eating my way through it. Since I had a lot of food over the course of the week, rather than elaborate on every meal, here's a streamlined log of pretty much every meal I ate in France, with the occasional commentary thrown in.

Wednesday, 27 April:
Snack: (Nanterre) - Briochette and a petit palmier from a boulangerie; a bag of Carambar from Monoprix (Of course the first thing we did in France was go straight to a bakery.)

Lunch: (Nanterre) - Margarita pizza

Snack: (Paris) - Pain au lait and another brioche from Dalloyau (We needed sustenance after a long afternoon of walking around and buying train tickets.)

Dinner: (Nanterre) - Miso soup and salad and Sashimi with a Heineken at Antoine's house (Maik's son invited us to his place for dinner that first night, since Maik was held up at work and we actually didn't see her. We had to climb over her gate and use a hidden key to break into her house since she wasn't there when we arrived. Katie was too tired to eat with Antoine and his brother, but as soon as they told me they were ordering Japanese, I had to go eat sushi and practice my French! And oh it was so delicious... my first time having sushi in 4 months.)

Thursday, 28 April:
Breakfast: (Nanterre) - Yogurt and muesli (I discovered my love of muesli earlier in the semester in Ireland. They served it for breakfast in all the hotels we stayed at in the beginning.)

Lunch:(Nanterre) - Leftover pizza from Wednesday's lunch, reheated in the microwave (It unfortunately wasn't the best the next day... pizza is much better reheated in ovens.)

Snack: (Paris) - Berthillon! One scoop of Gianduja (which was great, except it had orange rinds in it, which I wasn't crazy about) and one scoop of Blood Orange sorbet

Dinner: (Nanterre) - Rosé, Braised chicken with onions, tomatoes, and fresh ginger with rice, baguette, and ice cream Popsicles (Maik was actually home that evening and made us quite the sumptuous meal. French chicken has so much flavor, and is so much more delicious than what you can get in the States.)

Friday, 29 April:
Breakfast: (Nanterre) - Yogurt and muesli

Snack: (Paris) - Granola bar and chocolate chip cookie (Jessie was sweet and bought me the cookie in the Gare de Lyon after she saw me crying - a dead giveaway that I was still upset about the train ticket business.)

Dinner: (Lancharre) - Quiche with bacon, steamed broccoli, red wine, baguette and cheese, and for dessert, poires au vin rouge with pain d'épice and a tisane (I warned my friends that we would eat well in Burgundy. They weren't disappointed. Jessie fell in love with the cheese course - I believe she is going to bring it back to the States and introduce it to her family - and who doesn't love eating desserts made from local Medieval recipes?)

Saturday, 30 April:
Breakfast: (Lancharre) - Black tea, toasted pain d'épice, and tartines with homemade confiture - pumpkin with lemon; blackberry; and peach (Oh my god I love their homemade jams. I really want to try making some this summer. If I do, I'll be sure to report how it comes out.)

Lunch: (Lancharre) - Stew of veal and vegetables with a light cream sauce, radishes with butter, salt and pepper, salad, baguette and cheese, red wine, and fresh strawberries and sorbet - mango and passion fruit. (I haven't ever really eaten veal, so I wasn't super crazy about the meat, but everything else was delightful.)

Dinner: (Lancharre) - Angel hair pasta with different sauces - Cream sauce from the stew at lunch, pesto, tomato with eggplant, and tomato with basil - salad, bread and cheese, red wine, and plain yogurt with the homemade peach jam for dessert

Sunday, 1 May:
Breakfast: (Lancharre) - Black tea, toasted pain d'épice, and tartines with homemade confiture

Snack: (Chapaize) - Croissant aux amandes from a boulangerie (We had taken my friends to a Sunday church service, and on the drive back to the house, Bernard needed to stop to pick up some baguette. He wound up also picking up some pastries for us to have later, as well as the almond croissants to have right then and there outside the bakery. So yummy; it tasted like the galette we have for King's Day/The Epiphany.)

Lunch: (Lancharre) - Greek salad (tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, olives, and feta cheese), radishes, fish cake (like a bread loaf with a mix of several different kinds of fish), bread and cheese, red wine, and a chocolate cake with a gilded sun on it and Greek coffee for dessert (Salonge was sweet and made the Greek-inspired meal since she knew my friends were planning to continue on to Greece after France and she wanted to prepare them for the food they could expect.)

Snack: (Lancharre) - Verveine and a slice of the gilded chocolate cake

Dinner: (Lancharre) - Pumpkin soup, salad, bread and cheese, red wine, and Millefeuille and tisane for dessert

Monday 2 May:
Breakfast:(Lancharre) - Tartine (pain complet instead of baguette) with confiture, yogurt, and black tea

Lunch:(Lancharre) - Sauteed chicken with a light curry sauce, steamed potatoes and fennel with Cancoillotte, bread and cheese, salad, red wine, and strawberries and yogurt for dessert

Dinner: (Nanterre) - Sushi (Salmon and avocado rolls) and sashimi (tuna and salmon), salad, miso soup and rosé (Maik remembered how much I love Japanese food. Ahhhh, I was a happy one.)

Tuesday 3 May:
Breakfast: (Nanterre) - Yogurt and muesli

Snack: (Paris) - myberry I stumbled upon a Pinkberry knock-off in Paris! Original with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (Not quite as good as the real Pinkberry... but I was still giddy with excitement at finding it.)

Lunch: (Paris) - Café in Montmartre with my mom's friend Cecile: Salade norvegienne - lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, lemon slices, shrimp, smoked salmon, with a cocktail sauce.

Snack: (Paris) - Gérard Mulot with Cecile: They gave me a Cherry macaroon that was slightly damaged and then we each had a tarte au citron out in the Luxembourg gardens (She told me that she and my mom often went to that bakery after school and that my mom always got an orange or a lemon tart.)

Dinner: (Nanterre) - Suze (aperitif), Tagliatelle with sauteed turkey and mushrooms in a creamy garlic and pepper sauce, rosé, and a tomato and mozzarella salad with a traditional baguette and fresh basil and olive oil from Portugal (A hearty and delicious last meal in France.)

Om nom nom.