Egyptian Food

Starting now I am about to start butchering the words of the Egyptian dishes – everywhere the translations from Arabic were differently spelled in English so I could never quite figure it out.

According to one of our guides, rice is the essential part of what makes a meal in Egypt. Our camping guide even made it out in the dessert! Often, it was a simple white rice, perhaps with a little butter added. With the kebab and kofta meats, AdS was also often served a sweeter variation filled with golden raisins. And then there is Koshary. Koshary is a staple of the Egyptian diet, a mélange of rice, small vermicelli noodles and lentils, then topped with a tomato sauce and onions. It is delicious and nutritious!

Koshary takes me to the utter shock of our guide Abdu. He just couldn’t understand why and how I could be vegetarian, thinking that humans must have meat in order to survive. It was a conversation that ended in a stalemate but in the back of my mind I thought his comments were so interesting given how healthy a vegetarian meal many Egyptians eat when they have koshary, some people eating it for multiple meals per day.

While rice is perhaps essential to the Egyptians, what was essential to me were the Egyptian tomatoes. They were amazing! In appearance, like a Roma tomato but instensely red and flavorful. At the endless hotel and cruise boat buffets, I filled my plate with them. Yes, I ate the raw vegetables despite the warnings in the books. As a vegetarian, what else am I supposed to eat? I can report that I never got sick, or as the tourists call it “Tutunkamen’s Revenge”. It would have been worth it anyways for those tomatoes.

You all know that I adore pizza so one of the first things we went out of our way to try was fatir, Egptian-style pizza. Basically, it is a stuffed pizza, with the traditional dough replaced by thin phyllo dough. It is filled with cheese and any number of ingredients (especially olives) but no tomato sauce. The vegetarian versions I tried were always filled with tomatoes, onions and green peppers. It was quite yummy, although I admit to missing the tomato sauce, since it was a bit dry without it. You can also order sweet fatirs for dessert.

It was heaven to get away from the buffets and when we did, the meals always included a variety of meze, or starters. Most of the dishes served were incredibly familiar, despite the Egyptians claiming them as their own. They included numerous tomato and cucumber salad variations, baba ganoush (eggplant dip), hummous, yogurt and cucumber sauce like tzatziki, falafel, and many other roasted or raw vegetable plates. I’d be hard-pressed to say it is Egyptian. Perhaps more appropriately Middle Eastern/Mediterranean since many of these dishes can be found in Turkish, Greek, Lebanese and Israeli cuisine. Regardless, it made for good vegetarian eating.

One dish that was new to me was fuul, a bean dish with garlic, onions and tomato sauce that I had served in several different variations, all with the beans being the common element. It was delicious and I loved the unctuous garlic and onions after the mild cuisine of France. The fuul was best scooped up by the fresh flatbread we saw baked in streetside ovens. In the picture below it is laid out cooling. On the buffets, this delicious hot bread was disappointingly replaced with puffy, flavorless industrial white breads. It was only when we were in more authentic situations that we could eat it to our hearts’ content.

I will have to leave the meat for AdS to add a comment on but let’s just say that her basic meal was composed of kofta and kebab, with rice and a side vegetable. This seems the more regular staple meal alongside perhaps some meze.

Of course, I can’t fail to mention the desserts. Like the sweetened tea, the desserts of Egypt were incredibly sweet, either filled with sugar or covered with honey or sugar syrup. Chocolate was not a part of the dessert repertoire. There was a variety of baklava, although less filled options than I am used to seeing, the basic here being just layers of phyllo covered with honey or syrup. I preferred the milk-sweet cake especially popular for Ramadan. Overall, though, the desserts were simply too sweet for my palate so although I tried all on offer, nothing struck me as an addiction (like those French macarons…). Better to stick with the fresh fruit.

Finally, an interesting point of difference in Egyptian dining etiquette was that they don’t necessarily drink while they eat, instead taking all drinks after the meal. When we were out in the desert oasis staying at an empty hotel, only the two of us with our guide and driver, we noticed that we weren’t offered drinks with our meals. Our guide saw us scrambling in the morning to have coffee with our breakfast and asked “Why do you drink while you eat?”. Wow, how do you answer a question like that? I couldn’t imagine not drinking while I eat, as usually I drink a lot of water while I eat (and occasionally wine…). We had to put that question to rest with a simple answer that it must just be a historical cultural difference.

Egyptian Drinks

As far as I know, there are no Egyptian restaurants in Minneapolis so the little we knew about Egyptian food and drinks before stepping off the plane was what we read in the short chapters on it in the guidebooks and what AdS had picked up from Anthony Bourdain (an episode I regret to have missed). So here is what I found, and found interesting, starting with the drinks:

The fresh juices were wonderful, especially the orange and guava juices, which were in season. Unfortunately we were too early in the year for mango season. A big surprise was that the guava here wasn’t the pink guava I was used to seeing in Latin American cuisine but instead a hard white guava. The taste seemed a bit milder and the raw fruit a crunchier consistency than the pink version. That’s fresh guava juice in the picture below. Despite ubiquitous fruit stands and markets teeming with inexpensive fruit and juices, several of the hotels we stayed at still managed to serve “fake juice” in the morning, to the point that I believe AdS had her very first Tang experience. Disappointing.

A drink that I just couldn’t get enough of was the Karkade, a name I still can’t figure out how to pronounce correctly. Instructions: Boil water, add hibiscus flowers, add some sugar and perhaps some lemon. Serve ice cold on the deck of a Nile Cruise Ship. It isn’t too far from the Passion Iced Tea from Starbucks but so much better, I think, in its more pure form. Just picture a tall cold glass of sweetness after a sand-and-heat-filled day of touring. Heaven. So much heaven that I bought hibiscus flowers in the market to bring back to have a go of it in Minneapolis - see below. Karkade, anyone? I bet it would be great mixed with lemon vodka.

On almost every corner of every town and many on the blocks in between sat coffeeshops filled with men (note men, not women). Here men sit and drink coffee, shishas (flavored tobacco pipes) ready at their sides, playing games or talking with friends. The coffee at the coffee shops I saw was the Turkish-style coffee that I was introduced to in Turkey, where the grounds sit in the bottom of the cup. I love this coffee, so dark and powerful. Unfortunately, the opportunity to drink it was less than I anticipated. As mentioned above, most of the coffeeshops are the zone of men in Egypt. And then at breakfasts and other coffee moments, the coffee on offer to us tourists was Nescafe instant coffee and not Turkish coffee. It has been a long time since I have had instant coffee and, honestly, I didn’t find it so bad, especially when in need of that caffeine jolt to get our (very early) mornings started (this was no sit on the beach type of trip!). On the plane ride out of Egypt I actually watched a show that talked about the production of instant coffee. Did you know that the manufacturers actually brew strong coffee and then dehydrate it to remove the water, thus creating the powder? For some reason, I had always just thought it was ground up coffee beans!

It wasn’t surprising how much Egyptians love to drink tea (even moreso than coffee), but it was a surprise that the tea was almost always Lipton Yellow Label, which everyone there proudly called “Egyptian Tea” and kept telling us it was extremely good for our health. One guide informed us that he was “addicted” and often drank at least 20 cups a day, another claimed he had 6 cups a day. AdS and I sat curiously wondering if the tea we routinely drank with our guides was the same Lipton tea we have in the United States. AdS, your job to confirm on that since you are home!

As we moved out into the Western Dessert, we were introduced to “Bedouin tea” which I think was basically the Yellow Label tea with fresh mint added to the pot. I think the mint addition is relatively common in Egypt although not as pervasive as it was in Turkey, this being based on the large quantities of mint I saw donkeys toting around the streets!

Regardless of whether it was coffee or tea (with or without mint), there was one constant, and that was the extremely heavy use of sugar. Our jaws dropped and my teeth pounded when we saw 3-4 teaspoons of sugar going in to the small cups of tea. Literally, after this tea, the entire area around my mouth would be sticky from sugar. What makes the norm on sugar usage so different from one country to the next?

Perhaps sugar is so well-loved because alcohol is not, and everyone wants a little bit of something naughty in their lives. There was no forgetting that Egyp is a heavily Islamic country, making alcohol a social taboo in most circumstances. For example, we would have felt uncomfortable drinking alcohol around all of our guides and drivers, given their faith and also that we didn’t want to come across as “easy” Western women. We did slip in a couple of drinks in the two weeks (meaning that it felt like detox after France’s wine binging). Wine was expensive, a glass of Egyptian wine at the hotels costing $10-$14 thanks to super high taxes on alcohol. I was surprised to find that Egypt made wine at all these days! It was drinkable although nothing worth seeking out ever again. The local beer, Stella, was perfectly palatable, made by Heineken and a lot cheaper than the wine. Still, this wasn’t a trip about getting wasted (see that trip to Cabo from last year) so we basically stuck to the NA drinks mentioned above and water.

Speaking of water, Dasani and Aquafina were the standard bearers everywhere, perhaps with a Nestle brand beside it. Yes, bottled water only in Egypt, which meant we were constantly buying, and thus bargaining for, water. It was exhausting, especially when we were in the South, where the high temperatures and extreme dryness meant we were often drinking up to four liters a day of water to quench our weather confused bodies. I understand bargaining but for every drop of water it just felt like too much. I think our guides thought our water consumption was ridiculous, but, to me, 20 cups a day of tea seems a little out of control too!!

Wow, who knew I had so much to say about beverages in Egypt. I think it must stem from the fact that we basically were drinking incredible amounts all day everyday, thanks to the intense weather. Now I am thirsty…

A Whirlwind Spin Through Egypt

As you can probably tell by my silence, I was in a country where my internet access was few and far between.... Egypt. When I decided to take two months off of work, I made a short list of the places and things I have always wanted to see and do. You could call it a bucket list, but that seems a little morbid so let's not and just call it an Outlook email I whipped up one day in list format. Many things fell off said list due to the weather in April and May, but seeing the pyramids was one thing that remained on the list so my final round-the-world plane ticket included a 12 day stop through Egypt. And I convinced my friend AdS to come along for the crazy ride.

I basically walked into Egypt knowing nothing about Egypt and nothing about Egyptian food. Let's see, where to start? Let's start with the trip, the next post will be focused on the food, and finally on the culture.

The trip was intense.

Cairo is a huge, loud, crazy city of arguably 20 million people, although it is likely much more since the Egyptian population grows by a million people every nine months. Families are not small; one of our tour guides had easily over 100 cousins. This also means that Cairo has a population density that is one of the highest in the world. This city is constantly crowded, loud, vibrant and swelling, stretching right to the edges of the Giza pyramids and sphinx. For two days we toured Cairo visiting the pyramids, Coptic Cairo (Coptic Orthodox Christianity is practiced by around 10% of the population, the rest is Islamic), Islamic Cairo and the Citadel, Saqqara, Memphis, and finally the poorly stored treasures of the Egyptian Museum. We literally gaped at the dusty old cabinets crammed with Egyptian antiquities in the Egyptian Museum, seeming poorly guarded and horribly underdescribed. You can easily overlook this, though, with the amazing majesty of personally seeing the treasures Tutankamen's tomb. It is just as inspiring as every Discovery Channel special attempts to describe. At the pyramids, we were awestruck by the massive construction, only truly visible when standing at the base and staring up, up, up, every block weighing 2 plus tons.

From Cairo, we headed out on the "First Class" overnight sleeper train to Aswan. Um, let's just say there is a wee bit of difference between this first class and that that I had pictured. Despite this, we survived our 12 hour plus train ride and arrived in Upper Egypt at Aswan. Here we visited Philae Temple (a Roman era Egyptian temple moved due to the building of the Aswan High Dam), the botanical gardens at Kitchener Island, the Nubian Museum, the Aswan High Dam (Not exciting, go see the Hoover Dam instead) and walked the souk and streets ever serenaded by aggressive men offering feluccas (sailing boat rides), carriages, spices and themselves as Egyptan husbands. The constant stream of yells and offers can be exhausting and patience needs to be extremely high to just walk down the street. Of course, we steeled ourselves and went exploring; many toursists just stay on their cruise boats at the pool.

Avoiding the early morning convoy (yes, they have convoys in Egypt; I had thought convoys were things only seen on the news coverage of military actions in Iraq. Who knew!), we flew south to Abu Simbel, near the Sudan border. Here on the man-made, crocodile-filled Lake Nasser, we visited the great Abu Simbel, a ancient site that the world set out to save from the Aswan dam by lifting it up and out of harms way. It is am amazing sight on its own and then a fascinating story in itself of how they moved this temple that was carved into the stone mountain. Truly awe-inspiring. That Ramses II really loved himself.

The next morning we flew back to Aswan and checked in for our three day Nile Cruise down to Luxor. In my mind, I pictured floating down the Nile, sitting on deck watching rice paddies and sugar cane fields sweep by while listening to archeaologists give lectures about the amazing sights we were visiting. In reality, we spent one night tied up at Aswan and another two at Luxor, with only one actual day out on the water. AND, no lectures but instead "forced fun", including dancing competitions, toilet-paper mummy wrapping contests, whirling dervishes and a belly dancer. Our boat was very nice but the other activities were so not my style, although I admit to enjoying the cross-cultural coopertation required to play social games when there were so many nationalities on the boat together - Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish. I relished the visits to the temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo as we floated and then the amazing sights of Luxor.

(This isn't our cruise boat - just a nice picture!)

While the harrassment was intense on the shores of Luxor, the sights made up for the constant barrage. Here we saw the largest temple in the world (claimed) Karnak, which was huge and an impressive show for the Gods. We also visited the smaller Luxor Temple with its beautiful street of sphinxes and the well tended antiquities of the Luxor Museum. Last but not least, we crossed to the West Bank to visit the Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut's Temple (the most powerful female leader of Egypt), and the Valley of the Kings. The tombs in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens were amazing, carved into the mountains and painted with Egyptian hieroglyphics and images that were so immaculately preserved we had to pinch ourselves to realize that some of these were painted more than 3,000 years ag0. We were floored but unfortunately (although good for the paintings), no pictures allowed. It has to rest in the memory.

Remember how I said I didn't know a lot about Egypt when we planned this trip? Ten days in we knew A LOT about Egypt, from the facts and figures of the ancient kingdoms, to how the temples were built, to negotiating with the taxi drivers and ignoring the men on the street. It was time for a bit of a mental break so we boarded another overnight train to Cairo and immediately set out for two nights in the Western Desert of Egypt, otherwise known as the infamous Sahara Desert. We spent one night at a hotel in Bahariyya, where we were faced quite abruptly with quite a conservative town, the women fully covered, only eye slits showing and many women fully veiled. On the streets were only men. It was definitely an uncomfortable feeling as we drove in our 4x4 on our "city tour", hardly leaving the car and then abruptly it all turned in to off-roading through the mountains and sand dunes. My heart was pounding as we clutched the handles on the SUV fearing for our seatbelt-less safety, simultaneously uggh-ing because this is not exactly the way I like to treat the environment!

The next day we headed out to camp for the night in the White Desert, along the way seeing the Black Desert and hot springs. At this point on the trip, a police escort decided to join us, which was really weird and a bit awkward as him and his machine gun climbed into the car with us, squeezing 5 of us into one SUV. Was he here to protect us as two women, as Americans? Or to intimidate us and punish us for visiting this conservative locale? In the end, it was just fine, as he totally enjoyed himself camping and helped cook dinner and set up. And all the fuss was worth it to see the White Desert as it was intensely beautiful and unlike anything I have ever seen. The limestone and chalk deposits truly made it a white flash, especially under the bright moon. The desert foxes were good fun to squeal about as well as they tiptoed up to the campfire looking for food.

So, for those of you that have been worried and wondering where I went to (yes, that's you Mom!), this is where I went and what I experienced. More soon I on what I ate and what I walked away thinking about from this country that is so very different than the streets of Minneapolis.

Burgundy

With my niece in tow we weren’t about to go galavanting around France staying in a different city every night. Instead for my last four days in France, we decided to go to Burgundy. Burgundy is easy driving distance from Paris, none of us had visited there before and, of course, it makes wonderful Pinot Noirs.

Unlike US wine regions, in France the industry is less tourist-oriented and this is especially the case in Burgundy. We quickly learned that many of the Domains (wine houses) own small acreages all over Burgundy; an acre or two here, another few over there. Unlike Napa, there isn’t simply a grand house or architecturally stunning winery surrounded by the company’s own vineyards. This chessboard of ownership is especially apparent as you gaze out over the fields, seeing row by row how vines are being treated just a bit differently, for example is the earth overturned or is there grass growing into beautiful tiny purple flowers. This makes visiting the wineries a challenge, especially if you are interested in mostly learning and tasting and not necessarily ordering large case quantities. To make an appointment here to visit a domain on your own, you had better be a pretty serious buyer.

So, then, what does one do in Burgundy? Well, you definitely do drink the wine. There was one “American-style” domain that we visited – Chateau Mersault – where we were able to tour their beautiful old home and the vast cellars holding 800,000 bottles of wine. We also tasted at the tourist-friendly Marche des Vins in Beaune, the main city of the Cote d’Or. In the summer when the tourist buses stop by, I would have to imagine that this in-town cellar would be hell, but here in off -season, it was a pleasant visit where we were able to use a tastevin to sample the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from the different AOCs of the Cote d’Or. It is quite impressive how different 100% Pinot Noir wines can taste based on only the terroir and the hand of the winemaker.

Now, don’t even get me started about AOCs and the difference between village, premier and grand crus wines. Let’s just say that the French wine system is complicated and based upon the fact that certain pieces of land have historically produced better wine than others, thus they are accorded certain special status that makes their wines more expensive. These statuses rarely change, making the whole thing seem a bit anti-entrepreneurial and even monopolistic. This complexity creates a barrier that is hard to cross for many global consumers, who find it easier to buy something with a critter name from Australia than attempt to decipher the French wine label. I have been guilty of skipping the France pages on a wine menu myself, as it is often unclear what grape is actually in the wine, the French preferring to use the location names instead. I really do enjoy French wines, though, as I find them more subtle and less alcoholic than the intense wines that California, Argentina and Australia love to produce. France is an interesting country, though, because it doesn’t seem like they care too much about trying to make things more simple for the global market. Then again, this is the same country where the best ice cream shop is closed for a significant part of the summer.

The last wine tasting that we did manage to do was at the Chateau in which we actually stayed, the Chateau Chorey-les-Beaune, which is also the home of Domain Germain. Down in the cellar, the owner walked us through their line-up of wines, produced by generations of their family. It was awfully fun to stay in a 17th century chateau. There were even towers and a real moat from the 15th century. We explored the beautiful property watching spring arrive with bursts of flowers, green grass and frolicking young dogs. Our breakfast was served in the large dining room accompanied by divine homemade jams made from the tree fruits grown right on the property. We particularly loved the Mirabelle Plum preserves, small yellow plums that were sweet and perfectly bite-sized. This delicious and new fruit to me was also greedily gobbled up at a restaurant in Beaune when it was found in a Tarte du Jour.

Much like other wine countries around the world, Burgundy is a paradise for those that love the outdoors, with beautiful walks, bike routes and quaint villages every kilometer. We wandered the roads delighting in the chateaux that would often surprise us coming into view. Northwest of Beaune, we visited Chateauneuf in the gorgeous village of Chateauneuf en Auxois. Here we toured the old castle and sat down to lunch in the village. By now, I had found Fromage Blanc Fermier, soft sweet white cheese that you cover with crystals of sugar for dessert. This was a delicious French find and perhaps something typical of the region due to its menu popularity. My brother and sister-in-law tasted their way through the Burgundian specialties, including escargots (my 20 year old niece LOVED them), beef bourginon, and coq au vin. Speaking of another Burgundy specialty, we spent a day up in Dijon where the half-timbered buildings provided an ancient feel to the old city center.

Dining out with a toddler is an experience I will never forget so it is only because it was our last night that we made the final attempt to have a great meal in France. While we had had some “okay” meals, I hated seeing the look of mediocre disappointment that kept crossing my brother’s face. Like me, he loves great food and we hadn’t truly experienced anything great in our dining. Up until this point, we had eaten where we could find food at the time that we (and especially the little one) needed it. While we didn’t have anything horrible, per se, it was just nothing worth even writing down the names of the restaurants. A bit randomly, we selected Le Charlemagne for dinner on our last night, basically because the Lonely Planet guide said it was their top pick of the region. A hugely pleasant surprise for a Lonely Planet pick, it ended up being a very nice Michelin one star establishment focusing on French-Japanese fusion. Because of our day-of reservation, the only reservation they had available was in the kitchen, which was absolutely perfect! AND, my precious niece decided to fall asleep about half way through the meal.

At Le Charlemagne, there was no weirdness at my being vegetarian, it was no problem to create a menu that paired with the tasting menus that my brother and sister-in-law both ordered. I tasted spring in an asparagus soup, crunched wasabi flavored fleur de sel with tempura vegetables, ate a variety of French mushrooms in a savory (not creamy) risotto, and filled my belly with amazing desserts including stinky melted cheese and small treats to take home. I wish I could tell you what was in all of those desserts and courses but I can’t…. the descriptions in French were all a bit too poetic for my rudimentary language skills. All I could do was breath in and enjoy the wonderful modern flavors.

Burgundy was a special place to end my month in France. It had natural beauty, wonderful wines and seemed a bit more “real” than Paris. That last meal at Le Charlemagne also has left me hungry for more… more France done in the nicer restaurants, something I wasn’t able to do for most of my stay because I was working at night (in order to play during the day), it’s not as much fun to dine alone in places like these and because the Michelin starred restaurants in Paris were so incredibly expensive, their menus two to three times the price of Le Charlemagne. I guess the simple conclusion is that I am going to have to return to France (after I work and earn some more money…). There is just so much more left to eat!

Reading about France in France

When traveling there is nothing more fun to read than books that actually take place in the countries or cities in which you are traveling. For Paris, the options are limitless - you can go to the depths of despair with Les Miserables (the title AND the length), go a bit more Hollywood with The Da Vinci Code, or instead do as I did, and typically do, and focus on food.

Patricia Wells is a very established food writer and cook who moved to Paris many years ago and now teaches weeklong cooking courses in Paris and Provence. If you want to go to cooking school with her it costs $5,000 for the week (without accomodation) which I think is quite ridiculous and, boy, do I wish I could charge people that much for my time. But, she also has written a book with her husband about their life We've Always Had Paris... And Provence which you can pick up for about $10 for your Kindle. Add on the airfare to Paris and accomodations and you still have some of your $5,000 in the bank. Regardless of my high level of emotions for the price she charges for her courses, her book was fun to read, from the quirks of moving to France to the fabulous and glamorous lives she and her husband appear to have led. I really wish I could see their homes, as the renovations they have done sound amazing.

I have already mentioned it before but here I mention it again and it is the book Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier. I think the book has about another good year of shelf life on it since it is a food guide to Paris and things are always changing so that means you have to get to Paris NOW. I think I enjoyed following her recommendations so much as she is a fellow blogger and I later realized about my exact same age, which means we probably have some generational instincts and likes that are similar. I also loved that she always mentioned whether a place was vegetarian friendly or not, always helpful for me once we exit the tempting realms of patisseries and boulangeries. If you are going to Paris, definitely pick up a copy.

On the more literative side of food writing, I also made my way through Waverly Root's The Food of France for the Paris and Burgundy regions. Here is an author writing back in the early 1960s yet his words rang as true today as they did then. The specialties he said would be on the menus were definitely there and even his descriptors of the French countryside were spot on. I look forward to returning to finish the other regions of French food that he so authoritatively (and in a very opinionated manner) describes.
The world loves French Champagne so I decided it was only right to learn a bit more myself. While I didn't make it to Champagne (guess I need a reason to return to France...), I did pick up The Widow Clicquot by Tilar Mazzeo to learn more about champagne in general and the phenomenal story of a businesswoman in a time where men dominated industry. The book is arguably a little loose on facts (and the author admits it) but it is certainly a fun story to read and I feel a lot more educated about Champagne, and more appreciative of those high prices that we pay for it.
Finally, I also polished off The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, by Kathleen Finn. This is a journalist's story of going to through the real program (not the tourist classes) at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. This book was great fun to read and I enjoyed her upbeat and humorous tone throughout. Here too I was learning about the foods of classical French cuisine and the back-breaking process of preparing many of them. It is no wonder French people love to eat out so much! Cooking is a lot of work here.

Au Revoir, Paris!

A final weekend in Paris and it was time to say goodbye to the sights. Goodbye to the Eiffel Tower, goodbye to Notre Dame (and the hordes of Easter tourists) and finally a trip out to Versailles in the hail (then sun!) to bid the Sun King a fond farewell.

What a delicious weekend, though, of having that final crepe in St Germain, another taste of Berthillon ice cream, and a last organic baguette at Moisan.

I have never spent a month abroad in one place before and it was well worth my last minute packing, the iron burn and the hell of ironing sheets. A month is just long enough to see a lot sights, repeat a bit of what I loved (um, the food!) but also still feel like a visitor and not an edgy ex-pat. A few of my top Paris observations:

- Parisians really do love to cut in line, just as David Lebovitz says. You should have seen those ladies at Versailles!

- Women (and many men!) are thin because there are very set times when you eat your meals and shop. If you miss then, then tough! So I would guess there are a lot of missed meals (and did I mention the 76 steps up to my apartment?)

- No one was ever mean to me or "Bobo" "snooty" at all but it definitely behooves you to make a dinner reservation at least a couple of hours in advance.

- Baguettes are a steal compared to everything else, running between 1-1.25 euro a piece.

- The museums in Paris are not at all over-rated but definitely try to be there on the off season. Standing in a room of art alone is magical.

- Spring arrives to Paris potentially a bit later than to Minneapolis, but they are saying this year was really odd.
- Every salad in Paris has the same dressing on it and it is clearly not what we call "French" in the United States

- Pay the price for the Macarons in Paris - they are worth it because it takes a heck of a lot of work to make them

Off to wine country...

Berthillon

If there was one thing I was going to do before leaving France, it was eat ice cream at Berthillon, perhaps the most famous ice cream shop in the world. Now, you would think that this might be easy but I beg to differ. First, they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Second, they then close for a large portion of July and August (crazy for us business types to accept). Finally, they are open from 10 until 8pm (In Minneapolis, this would be way too early considering those Little League games that go until darkness at 10pm). Given all of these limitations, or maybe partially because of them, it is amazing that Berthillon has gained the reputation that it has. Honestly, I was skeptical.

When I finally made my way to eat ice cream at Berthillon is was 11am on a Thursday. But what the heck, I have basically started eating dessert with every meal (including breakfast) so why not just start eating it before my meal as well. I am so glad that I didn't let time stand in my way and that it was such an awkward time (and cold temperature) because I was able to stand in the shop alone and stare at the flavors rather than have any pressure to choose.

The Gianduja Orange (chocolate and hazlenut with orange) and Blood Orange were a perfect chocolate citrus combination delicately perched on a homemade-style cone. My skepticism fell to its side as both of these flavors were out of this world - rich, creamy (not icy) and filled with intense flavor. As I took my cone and walked down the Ile St Louis I was in extreme delusional happiness. My last bite was had as I walked across the bridge to the mainland, where I subconciously stopped because my feet wanted to turn around and get another cone. As a queen of self-control, that has certainly never happened to me before! It says something about that ice cream. You must go to Berthillon if you visit Paris.

If I were French, I would be fat and happy

My time in Paris is coming to a close... just a few days left. With quick steps, I wanted to get to the food shops I had yet to visit.

First up, Eric Kayser, a baker known for his huge rounds of sourdough much like Poilane. But unlike Poilane, his shops have quickly spread throughout the city. I stopped in at the original but later realized that there is one about three blocks from my apartment (Guess that's big city living for you). Their famous bread was nice, but I think I simply prefer a great baguette and instead adored their brie sandwich on a sesame baguette, brought home and thoroughly melted in my microwave. Mmm... hot cheese.

The restaurant Le Relais du Comptoir is almost impossible to get a reservation for so how kindly of them to open up a crepe and to-go food shop right next door, L'Avant-Comptoir. My savory crepe was generously stuffed with gruyere cheese and mushrooms. Although, I think the mushrooms were canned. What's up with the fact that the French love canned and bottled vegetables so much? So do the Spanish. I was at the Carrefour supermarket yesterday attempting to find whole milk for my niece who is coming to visit (I failed) and noticed that the woman's cart in front of me was filled with canned fancy vegetables. Why does one want jarred asparagus when the fresh is now actually fresh?! Anyways, off of my rant, the crepe pancake, the gruyere and the generosity were great. Just not those mushrooms.

Not far from either of these shops on the Rive Gauche was an outlet of Laurent Dubois, a fromagier. I walked by once and then I turned around and walked by again. Then I gave up and went inside and bought enough cheese to feed a small army, aka my brother's family who are visiting. The presentation is outstanding and a lot less intimidating than the typical French cheese shops with high counters, little markings and a surly cheese man. My "cheese man" here was so cute I kept picking more cheeses so I could keep looking at him. Oops. I don't have any pictures but Andrew Zimmern visited Laurent Dubois and took some; check them out here. Goat cheese with peppers, sweet cheese with raising, blue cheeses.... my house smells rotten and moldy everytime I open the friedge and I love every second of it.

I think my brother and the toddler have arrived... a whole new experience of Paris avec bebe.

Museum Fatigue in the 16th

As everyone in the US keeps pinging about the 70-80 degree days, the weather in Paris has turned cold and my winter jacket has returned to use. Unfortunately, this is right when I am over the museums and simply want to walk around the neighborhoods eating and exploring. As my face freezes, despite the sunshine, I give myself small pep talks to keep me going out in the cold. I can never remember any of the yoga mantras so it is just like how I make them up in class. As everyone else chants in Sanskrit, I try phrases like "I hope I don't get fired, I hope I don't get fired". Out in the cold weather, it is more like "Toughen up Minnesota girl, this ain't nothing compared to a January in Uptown". Despite the self-talk, I gave up once and popped into the Musee Marmotten Monet and even amidst all of the unique Monets (wow, more than waterlilies!), I couldn't get myseld fired up to be looking at more art. I sat down and read my book on a bench in the warmth waiting for the cold rain shower to pass outside.

I know I obsess about macarons, but I think I found the most flavorful ones in the city. I was walking down a street in the 16th and did a double take at a window filled with the cookie gems. I ran in to Pierre Herme and bought four at the stagger price of 7 euro for four tiny eentsy pearls. They were so pretty that I behaved and didn't eat them on the street (very Paris inappropriate - only sandwiches can be eaten while walking, no coffee either!). My absolute favorite flavor was the pistachio and griottine (cherry). There was actually a cherry in the middle!! The raspberry and balsalmic vinegar was amazing too. Such creativity and boldness in the flavors. No subtle French flavor here... It was only when I got home and looked that I realized that these are the favorte of Clotilde as well. Guess I stumble upon something new after all!

In this same jaunt around the 16th, I also wandered to the Marche de Ave de President Wilson where my goal was to see Joel Thiebault's famous vegetables. He is the man that services the 3 star restaurants in Paris with their produce, what I guess we would call a celebrity farmer. Like in the US, farming and returning to artisinal products is also very popular in the UK and France. Under more rain, I stared at his four colors of carrots and many types of lettuces. In the end though, my kitchen here has no oven (I only realized that last week) and no spices at all so it seems silly to try to buy ingredients to cook because it would cost me a mint to buy the basics. Instead I stared at the vegetables and the sellers sat and stared at me. That tends to happen to blonde Americans in France (I keep getting free treats as a result). So I guess that was a pointless exercise but the carrots were pretty cool looking.