Quark deliciousness

Sitting on the couch doing my French devoirs while enjoying a snack of dense German bread with Belgian speculaaspasta and a cup of Dutch anijsmelk after a delicious four-day Thanksgiving long weekend. R and I stayed in the city, making several daytrips to escape the hustle and bustle and take in the mildest autumn weather I've ever experienced in the Northeast. With no particular plans, we ended up in:


- Hoboken, NJ for a view of the NYC skyline and the Empire State Building lit up in Thanksgiving colors. After watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, R and I walked downtown to catch a ferry over to Hoboken, a cute little city directly across the Hudson. It has an open waterfront area with public and green spaces, tall residential buildings, and the beautifully renovated Lakawanna train station which also has the NJ Path to WTC.

Two blocks away from Hoboken's waterfront is Washington Street, a cute residential/downtown area with brownstones and shops, including an authentic German bakery. The proprietors are a German/Armenian couple from Cologne who live right above their bakery and have clearly have found their calling. Breads, pretzels, pastries—they do it all with love. Though I'm not a fan of dense German bread (being a fan of lighter French bread), I love bread that is baked with care and love.

If you're in Hoboken, stop by for a chat with the friendly owners and order the puff pastry with raspberry and quark, a light and creamy cheese that reminds me of French fromage frais. The owner/baker says everything (except for the beverages) are imported from Germany. I'm not an expert on German pastries but I thoroughly enjoyed biting into the flaky exterior that yielded into a creamy raspberry center. Perfectly tart and creamy and not too sweet. This place is a true gem which I plan on revisiting soon.

- The upper Bronx where there's a long stretch of paved cycling paths. R says there's about 60 miles up there and we may return next spring for some long rides.

- Cold Spring, NY for a hike and a bit of fresh air. For the past few months I've been starving for a bit of nature, wide open space, and quiet. Cold Spring was definitely the answer....the train ride there via Metro-North Railroad was an easy 70 minutes from Grand Central Station. We sat on the left side and had nice views of the Hudson and the mountains surrounding it. It reminded me a little bit of the countryside in France, but the Hudson highlands are much smaller than the mountain ranges in Rhone-Alpes.

The hike was listed as strenuous because of a steep 10 minute climb at the beginning. The rest of the hike was nice with long views of the Hudson and the small towns dotting both sides of it.

Being in Cold Spring made me more nostalgic and homesick for France and our simple life there. Tomorrow will mark 6 months since my move back to the States. Not a day passes by that I don't think of the amazing year R and I spent together and everything I learned on our adventures. When I daydream, I often think fondly of our house, the mountains, and the people (and animals) I came to know and love in la campagne. I count the days until our visit in February when I can see them again!

Le Puy-en-Velay: Chemin Le Puy and Restaurant Tournayre

Le Puy-en-Velay. Definitely one of my favorite cities on this Easter trip. R had visited it years ago and did not remember it being very notable. On this trip he was happily surprised to find a cute city with a pedestrian walking zone, many old buildings, a few great Saturday markets and many friendly locals. While there we noticed that there were a few backpackers..and then found out that Le Puy is a popular starting point for pilgrims in France wanting to walk the Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. Following the Chemin Le Puy to Santiago, the average pilgrim covers about 1522 km or 945 miles (and that's only one way)!

Vieux Lyon and Croix Rousse: Roman ruins and traboules

After Paris, R and I were in Lyon to complete some paperwork. While there we decided to spend the remainder of our day wandering around Lyon's old city, Vieux Lyon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For an ancient history buff like me who studied Latin for years, I was in my element and happily entertained for hours walking and "trabouling" through the old city, learning about Lyon's ancient and not so ancient history.

Roman Lyon
Lugnudum, now Lyon, was established by the Romans in 43 B.C. and enjoyed prosperity for over 300 years as one of the most important Roman cities, behind Rome of course. Using Lugnudum as a base, the Romans expanded their empire into the rest of Europe. It was not all plunder and pillage though—while in Lugnudum, the Romans built aqueducts, two theaters, and an odeon.

InCuisine in Lyon

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend—R and I started our Easter holiday on Friday, heading south in search of sun, great food, and adventures. The sun was shining, we had breakfast packed, and I even brought my knitting in hopes of finishing my curly-whirly scarf before summer begins. Much to our dismay our adventure started a bit slow...first, the French state decided to start road maintenance two days before Friday and the start of the long Easter weekend (the French work Good Friday but have today Easter Monday off). As a result, minutes after getting onto the Autoroute, we were stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour! Le bouchon (or traffic jam) was so bad that many people got out of the cars and were walking around on the autoroute! However after about an hour, traffic resumed and we were on our way.

As we drove from Ain through the different villages located in the different départements, I loved watching the scenery change as we passed from one valley into another valley. I especially loved driving through the Massif Central and the Rhone River valley, where the Côtes du Rhône wines are cultivated. Of all the cities and villages we visited, my favorites were Lyon and Le Puy-en-Velay.

Daytrips to Ambronay, Meximieux and Pérouges

This week really flew by for me. Did it for you? I've been busy lately—for times like these I stick to simple dishes that take less than 30 minutes to make but deliver on taste. Lately I've been making simple couscous or pasta dishes. Try this and let me know what you think. Take simple spaghetti and toss it with caramelized shallots, shiitake mushrooms, petit pois, and soy sauce. For a bit of heat, I add hot pepper flakes. Why is this dish so good? It must be all that umami flavor from the shiitakes and soy sauce.

So what have I been up to this week? Travels, baking, and more. On Thursday R and I celebrated a friend's birthday in Geneva at her photo studio. For that I baked chocolate chip cookies and a bacon mushroom leek quiche. Why chocolate chip cookies? Because my friend is American, and if there's one comfort food I missed when I first moved here, it was an honest to goodness American cookie, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Over the past year I've experimented with different recipes and ingredients. After many tests, I finally have a few cookie recipes made using local ingredients. The results? A crispy crust leading to a chewy interior. And the French like it because it's something new and "foreign".

Afternoon in Chambéry

After a few days of wind and clouds, we've had an incredibly beautiful and sunny week. While Boston is being buried in yet another snow-calypse, or snow-maggedon, here in the Juras, we've gotten nothing but some flocons here and there. I am praying for a bit of snow in February so we can go alpine and cross-country skiing and maybe snowshoeing too.

Anyway, I'm digressing. On Wednesday, R was seeking a study break and suggested we take a daytrip to Chambéry, a town south of Aix-les-Bains and Lac du Bourget. Even though it's only 1.5 hours away, we still hadn't visited it yet because we're always drawn to Aix and the lake and because R hadn't remembered it being such a nice town. Happily, we were surprised to find it had cleaned up really nice since his last visit 10 years ago. Chambéry is the old Capital city of the Counts of Savoie, and is now the Prefecture of the Savoie département. It's a pretty Savoyard city of 60,000 people, with many independent boutiques, and a wonderful old city dating from the 14th century.


So what will I remember of Chambéry?

I DRIVE!!!!

Feeling triumphant tonight! One of the things on my bucket list for a while has been learning how to drive stick shift...amongst others like skydiving (not sure when that will ever happen as I'm AFRAID of heights), living abroad, learning to speak another language fluently, etc.

Tonight I drove down to auto école and grocery shopping all by myself! Woohoo.

Maybe I'll drive part of the way to the Netherlands in a few weeks...anyway, R and I went to Lyon last Tuesday and had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant at Institut Vatel (a world-renown hotel management school).

Menu:

Aperitif (only R, as I don't really drink alcohol)
Amuse bouche
Entree
Plat Principal
Cheese plate (with choice of 25 different cheeses), or fromage blanc with creme and sugar on top
Followed by a chariot of desserts (but it was more like 3 chariots of desserts and another table).

By the time the chariots came out (2.5 hours into dinner), I was so full. But I couldn't resist and tried 3 different tortes. I was laughing so hard at seeing the desserts because the choice and quantity was RIDICULOUS.

On Dijon, roadtrip

On Monday R and I started our road trip to Dijon and the Burgundy area one day early. Instead of taking l'autoroute, we took the scenic route through the countryside, arriving four hours later at our bed and breakfast. If you are ever in the Dijon area, I can highly recommend Les Chambres d’Hôtes des Marcs d'Or. The innkeepers are a young gay couple, and their chambre d’hôte is immaculate and charming, situated in a park like setting with a snail pit in the back. Plenty of safe free parking nearby. We would have stayed an extra night at the inn but they were sold out, so we moved to a budget hotel in the center, near Palais des Ducs.

Un peu d'histoire
Dijon is the current and historical capital city of the Burgogne région and Cote d'Or département. You can see its splendor and richness in the old buildings, gardens and parks. Dijon rivals Lyon as a gastronomical powerhouse. I actually think Dijon has a better Les Halles—it's big, beautiful, clean. And the food is really well-priced. I was surprised how reasonable everything was. In addition to mustard, Dijon and the surrounding Burgundy region is well known for its wine and regional dishes such as beouf burguignone, escargot, and coq au vin.

Three days in Dijon and Beaune, one of the small towns on the Routes des les Grand Crus just barely whet my appetite. I left wanting to return to Dijon and Burgogne again soon.


The inn's snaillery, a large round walled space in the garden. When I inquired about it, the innkeeper said it was a snaillery a word he concocted for English-speaking tourists. Originally the snail pit was used by former owners to raise snails for escargot. Now it's just a part of the grounds at the inn. You can sit down there for a quiet moment. I almost wanted to tell the innkeeper about shrinkle a word that my friend J (who's German) made up, which is an amalgamation of shrink and wrinkles...shrinkle. As for usage, you could say "Those vegetables really do shrinkle up when they're roasted." Funny. Are there any words that you've made up which are brilliant. Please share.

Enter the wooden door and down a spiral stone staircase—a large garden opens up before us. This inn opened in 1996 but the house and old barn (where the guest rooms are located) were built in the 19th century and mainly used as a winery. The barn was totally gut renovated and is tasetfully decorated—forget the over-the-top, loud, frilly flower patterns you usually see at Victorian B and Bs. This B and Besides the beautiful grounds, rooms, the inn serves a fresh hearty breakfast. Croissants, fresh coffee, tea, Burgundy honey cake, muesli, fresh baguette, yogurt, and of course, some little pots of homemade confiture. We met a nice older couple Euli and Judith (Swiss-German and Dutch respectively) there who invited us to share in their bottle Burgundy white wine with them.


Rooftops in Dijon and much of the Burgundy countryside stand out for their graphically arranged roof tiles. I like!

R touching the "lucky owl" at the church near the Palais des Ducs. I gave it a rub too for good measure.
In Dijon my favorite place to get ice cream is at the market square in front of the Palais des Ducs. For 3€, you can get a waffle cone with two scoops of one of the best ice creams I've ever had. On a few occasions, I chose cassis (black currant berries) and salted butter caramel. I go crazy for caramel beurre sale. I didn't only eat ice cream in Dijon, I also tried beouf burguignone for the first time. It was savory, luscious, and red, having been marinated in a good Burgundy wine. The meat was so tender you could easily tease it apart with a fork and the meat just melted in your mouth.

Interesting fact:you won't believe it, but R and I found two Teo Chew in Dijon, the owners of a Chinese store/take away place near Les Halles.

Fêtes galore

This weekend marks the beginning of summer here. R and I have been seeing signs pop up along the roads like mushrooms, advertising local fêtes planned in the vicinity. At Gamme Vert and other garden stores, I see a steady stream of customers.

Our little town sits in the center of our valley and even though the town center is not big, there always seems to be things happening here. Today we had a very busy day visiting a number of events in town and Saint Claude.

Gastronomical tasting event. There was wine and food from local farmers and businesses. We tried dried saucisson from the farmer who keeps highland cattle a few kilometers from where we live. And I nibbled on crusty bread with different olive tapenades. We bought three pain au chocolate for 2€— formidable.

Palais Oriental. In France oriental usually means Middle Eastern (and North African). There were tables set up with food, tea, and drinks but the highlight of the day was the Turkish, Morroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian dancing shows scheduled for later in the evening.

Fort L'Ecluse nearby has a free Via Ferrata. I am a bit terrified of heights, so I'll happily watch from terra firma. But unfortunately we messed up on the dates and would have to return tomorrow to see the demonstrations on the actual date of the fête. Perhaps a thin metal wire will keep me tethered, but I'm not looking forward to walking a plank or traversing a tight rope with nothing below but tons of air!

Fête d'oiseau is located in another small town close to Geneva. Does this fête have anything to do with les oiseaux or birds? Pas de tout. It's just a small town carnival complete with rides and games. Again we were too early as they were just setting up the different stands.

DRIVING UPDATE
Driving lesson #7. I can pretty much start the car now without stalling. My shifting is still too slow but at least I'm not really thinking about the clutch anymore. We were in a small parking lot, with lots of turns, so I practiced turning and reversing. I want to practice again on the empty road and parking lot close to our house tomorrow.

After the driving lesson R and I visited the Asian market in Ferney-Voltaire. I hit the jackpot! The store is small but has a pretty good selection and reasonable French prices. I zoom in on big jars of sambal olek, tamarind paste, rice paper, vermicelli, ginger, fresh mangosteen, big bottles of fish sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, miso paste, nori, wasabi paste, Thai holy basil, fresh mint, fresh coriander, dried yellow mung beans, dried red beans, and tapioca pearls. They even have baking powder and baking soda, though I doubt I'll need such huge containers of them.

Leaving with my goodies, we journey to Saint-Claude stopping at le chapeau de gendarme, a rock formation created millions of years ago when layers of the earth pushed up, and split, revealing each distinct layer inside. The rock formation is so called because it resembles the triangular shape of a French gendarme's hat.

Saint-Claude is a small town home to a large abbey and some 11,000 people. I was feeling very queasy from the twisty climb up and down to Saint-Claude, so we sat outside at a cafe for a while and hung out with the locals before walking through town.

From what I could see the two main industries were devoted to smoking pipes and eyeglass frames. On our walk we stumbled upon a carnival three times bigger than the one we had initially planned on going to. We watch some teenage boys play a shooting game where they can win things like women's thongs and sexy fur handcuffs. Amused we left to find ourselves a snack and settled on doner kebabs. I got a regular kebab sandwich while R got le Americain which is a steak sandwich topped with fries. One odd thing I spotted is something called Reglisse Americain, American Licorice. The French seem to think it's very long strands of colorful, sweetly flavored licorice. I'm not a fan of licorice..so I walk on.

On our drive back I managed to stay awake (quite a feat for me, as I often get drowsy when I'm a passenger in the car). When we returned to town, we checked out the two festivals near the market square that we had visited earlier. The gastronome event was still going strong, as was the Palais Oriental.

Down the street we followed the rhythmic percussion of Arabic music and joined hundreds of people singing and dancing to the dance demonstrations. There are children dancing close to the front of the stage. And friends and families sitting together, talking and drinking out in the open. R notes that everyone's still well-behaved and there's no bawdy drunkenness. R and I find a place to sit near the front, listening and rocking out to the drums and an instrument that sounds a bit like a bagpipe. A long fine day in France.