Happy Thanksgiving from Paris!

No photos yet. My camera's SD card doesn't work with Jason's laptop and I failed to bring the cable. So... Please wait a few more days. But so far, we have had some amazing meals here!

L'Ourcine for lunch (Chef Daniere trained with Yves Camdeborde, who seemed to have trained every great bistro chef in Paris. Terrific pigeon with foie gras.)
La Coupole for a midnight supper (Hemingway's old hangout is just as packed today. Not mind blowing food, but solid nonetheless)
L'Arpege for lunch (I have heard it called the most exciting restaurant in Paris right now. And it really may just be! It's AMAZING what chef Passard can do with the pristine vegetables from his three gardens outside of Paris.)
La Ferrandaise for dinner (This hidden away restaurant on a small street in St. Germain des Pres is still not discovered by tourists. Cute as a button, the Ferrandaise moo moo cows on the wall look even happier than the Californian ones from the ads back home. Chef Chaignot who previously worked at the famed Bristol sent out regional favorites from Auvergne. My partridge was a game lover's dream. The full flavored meat ranged from light to very dark pink and tasted progressively terroir enhanced by color as well. Awesome!)
Thanksgiving meal tonight is still yet to be determined as our dining companion Jenna fell sick with a stomach flu... We don't feel quite right going to the special American Thanksgiving meal she planned on our own.

We are off to Rome tomorrow. Will let you know how the food situation goes there.

Off to Paris and Rome

We travel a lot for work and are pretty good about mixing what we need to do with what we want to do on these trips. But once in a while, we also need just a pleasure trip. Taking advantage of time off during Thanksgiving, we are heading off on a 7 day fun trip to Paris and Rome. I may or may not post during this time. Enjoy your holiday!

Highlight 262: Sweet Melissa knows her pancakes

When jetlag woke Jason up early on a Sunday morning a few weeks back, I was not happy. I count on the early morning hours for myself, to drink coffee alone, to eat breakfast alone, to really just be alone! This husband of mine likes group activities when he is up and about. He saved himself by suggesting brunch out. I perked up. We never brunch out early. This was our chance to try something different. We showed up at Sweet Melissa around 9am and found a bustling room.

I need starch in the am so went straight for the pancakes. Crisped near the edges, the buttermilk batter remained fluffy and tender inside. With every bite, there was the distinct buttery taste. I splurged for the real maple syrup. There is really just no point ruining good pancakes with the one dimensional artificial stuff.

Jason likes his protein. He almost never deviates from a loaded omelet. This Cheddar cheese filled chubby thing was simple and to the point. My one bite revealed nicely salted eggs and full flavored sausage and cheese. The albino biscuit sort of looked uncooked. Despite the appearance, it was actually quite fluffy if not crusty.

Sweet Melissa

127 E Court Sq
Decatur, GA 30030-2521
(404) 370-1111

Highlight #261: Beachside eating- Restaurant: Jellyfish (Punta Cana)

I couldn't leave Dominican Republic without at least trying something local and outside of the resort. So one evening, six of us walked a mile or so down the beach to the beautifully lit Jellyfish.
As expected, the relatively concise menu focused on seafood. For starters, we ordered the calamari, fried shrimp, and a sausage hash. Everything was just fantastic.

The single most precious bite was the simple looking fried shrimp. About the size of a grown man's thumb, the piping hot flesh glowed with translucency and was super light and crunchy outside. The great shell almost felt sandy like the texture of a shortbread cookie.

I ordered the impressive looking lobster. It was good, but compared to the wonderful fish dishes the others got, it was actually the dud of the evening. The flesh was just a little too hard and the butter sauce a little too heavy.

One of the best fish dishes around the table was this Dominican preparation of a snapper. The very milky flesh needed very little else and the bright pepper accompaniment really brighten up the palate.

From the very sparse dessert menu, we selected the flan. This must be the most dense flan I've ever had. It's almost approaching the consistency of a fudge. I had no idea if that is the Dominican spin on flan. I did, however, appreciate the intensified caramelization.

Jellyfish

Here is link that shows how to get there

Highlight 260: Resort eats II

The second day, while I attended more seminars, Jason went deep sea fishing. It's not fishing season, but the boat managed to come back with one!

Then we laid around and spent the afternoon in the shade.

Occasionally we watched all the colors.

For some reason, napping all afternoon makes one hungry... By night fall, we were more than ready to hit restaurant number 2, Passion. Jason is normally game to eat anything I want to order. Everything from ant larvae to goat hoofs. But he never shares my veal, out of respect for his late brother, who did not touch the stuff. Having no one to pass some of this very tender chop to, I ate way too much. No regrets though since most of the time I don't order veal when Jason is around, knowing that I'll be stuck with all the loft over.

Someone made this truffle cake with a chocolate freak in mind. It's all dense chocolate and no fluff. For me, who needed a little contrast, the light cream center was a very welcomed distraction. All in all, another satisfying meal at the resort.

Highlight #259: Resort eating - Restaurant: Vento (Paradisus Palma Real Punta Cana)

(photo from resort website)After months of flying around non-stop for work, Jason wasn't too excited about getting trapped at an all-inclusive resort with a bunch of lawyers. He worried about having no escape.
When the sun came up and revealed the white sand beach and turquoise pool, he changed his mind.

The water was calm enough to swim without working too hard. The soft sand massaged our feet with every step.

Even at near capacity, the resort had plenty of places for him to hide from the world and read a book in the breeze, while I spent hours absorbing useful information at the seminars. :)

By nightfall, we washed off the sand and hit the Mediterranean restaurant at the resort called Vento. The menu was short but competent enough.

Not expecting too much from resort food, I was pleasantly surprised by the first course, a foie gras mousse. Light and flavorful, it went down smooth and worked just as well on its own as with the dinner rolls. I had a moment of let down when the rolls felt cold to my touch. I suppose there is no need for that in the tropic, but indulgence is never about need, is it?

I requested the duck as my main. Again, very flavorful even if the duck was just a little too cooked. The play between savory duck and tart/sweet apple kept me pretty content. In the next four days, it became apparent that flavor is the thing that this resort does very well. I hardly had a single bland thing on this trip, which, in my opinion goes a long way to counter the typical mass feeding blahs. When things can't be of the best execution, at least make them taste good. These folks knew their stuff.

Three of us cleverly ordered all three desserts to share. The lone peach tart turned out to be stellar, while the other two were also quite above average. I particularly enjoyed the very crumbly crust of the tart and the well balanced sour to sweet ratio.

HIghlight #258: Cure for rainy day blues

Rainy days such as this just feels blah, especially when it happens so early in the week. Why not perk it up with something strong yet comforting. How does a simple version of 40 cloves chicken sound?

This is normally a stove top dish, but I like to leave things in the oven to free up time for other things. As such, I've tweaked this dish for oven preparation. With oven preheating to 350, I seared up two whole chicken legs (salted and peppered). Breasts are fine also, but in this house, we like flavorful meat.

Once the chicken is seared to my liking (skin side darkened, but not charred), I remove them and add in a whole bunch of garlic cloves. There is no need to count to 40, just eyeball it. Toast the cloves to a nice golden color then drop in a bunch of thyme leaves. I like thyme with chicken so in went about ten sprigs worth of leaves. Following that, a glass of white wine was also added. At this point, it's a good idea to let it reduce a bit before seasoning with some salt and pepper. This braising liquid sounds really simple, but the garlic and thyme combo does something magical in the oven, I swear.

At this point, put the chicken back in, skin side up (the underside is much better at absorbing flavors) and stick in the oven for an hour.

In the mean time, I like to cook a veggie dish with the leftover thyme and a pot of brown rice. This time, I had mushrooms and celery on hand, so they went into a pot together with a bit of concentrated chicken stock and a splash of dashi. Towards the end, I salted and peppered the softened the veggie.

The results are super comforting and really quite good for both body and soul. And you'll be amaze how many whole garlics you can eat without taking a break.