From the Other Side of the Pond

First, let's ignore the port-a-potties, and focus on the eiffel tower in the background.

See isn't that better?

6 times a year I have the fortune to leave my favorite city in the world to head to my 2nd favorite city in the world.  And while it goes with out saying that I absolutely love the City That Never Sleeps, let's be honest...sometimes a girl needs a nap!  Enter, the City Of Lights. 

Oh Paris...How do I love you, let me count the ways.  I love that you love butter more than I do.  You use it like Americans use salt and pepper.  I love that your oysters are far saltier than any you'll ever find in New York.  And I love that you only serve them with mignotte...none of that dumbass cocktail sauce.  And I love that you insist that no matter how tired I am after a long day of work, I wait until at least 8pm to be seated for dinner.  Your wait staffs aren't worried about how many tables they can turn over in a night, so you let me  linger for hours and hours over bottles of rose.  And you're especially kind in summer, when you make your sun stay up extra late, just so that when I'm walking for a post-dinner champagne at 10pm, it's just beginning to set. 

So I get to spend the next 7 days basking in the french sun (when I'm not stuck in a french office).  And as a matter of fact, it's been raining since I arrived, and so I'm mostly basking in french clouds, but I'll take that.  I'll be posting lots of french treats.  And hopefully I'll be finishing most meals like this...

TGIF: Thank You Grits

Dear Warm Grits,

Thank you for being the perfect soft bed on which on place all manner of slow cooked meats and saucey toppings.  Like some of my favorite people, I can't help but smile when I think of you.

xoxo...
Monica

Dreams really do come true!

And I submit as evidence, exibit A, the photograph below...

I mean, look at that thing!  Do you know how many bottles of vintage Dom Perignon you could fit in there?   I don't either.  But I bet I could have a really good time finding out.

Wait....WAIT!  WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!....

Come back!!

Lobstery Goodness

Have you ever met someone who told you didn't like babies or old people or (shudder to think) dogs?  Inevitably, we'd all give them the same look.  The look that unapologetically says "What the hell is wrong with you?  Have you no heart?  Have you no soul?!".  I too know this look.  It's the face most people give me when I tell them, I don't particularly like lobster. 

It's not that I hate it.  And if I was really hungry, I certainly wouldn't kick it out of bed.  But it's not ordinarily the first thing I would choose on a menu.  Especially not if there is other shellfish to choose from.  I would disown lobster for a king crab leg any day.

That said, as one of my dear friends always says "If there's something you think you don't like, you're wrong.  You just haven't had it prepared correctly".  So I shouldn't have been suprised when this little ditty showed up on my lunch table one day, and sent me into a food comma.  Handmade cavatelli with seasonal asparagus, english peas, mushrooms, and LOTS of lobster has a way of doing that to you.

This dish made such an impression on me that days later I still had lobster on the brain.  So I took a little trip all the way to Williamsburg to pick up one of these...