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09/03/2004 Entry: "Thinking of my vacation"

Deux jours et je serai à Paris.. I've had a craving for French food for the past two days but
have had to stop myself from going to a French restaurant so I can savor each and every euro I spend on food. I've listed down some restaurants I'd like to try, some of which are:
Kayser, Pinxo, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, L'Astrance, Guy Savoy, and some repeats, Carré des Feuillants and La Casa Olympe. I'm also excited to taste Pierre Hermé's Summer Collection, I wonder what new macaron flavor he's come up with. Mmm.. can't wait.

We'll only be in Paris for a week, so I'm not sure how many of these we'll be able to try. My mom and dad, as well as my brother and sis-in-law, will be meeting us there. I hope my dad won't force us all to eat Chinese food every night. As far as I know, there are no good Chinese restaurants in Paris. I've noticed that Chinese food in Paris all have the same style, but I never see that 'style' anywhere else. I guess we can call it French Chinese food. It's not very good, but my dad would rather have that than foie gras.

One exception though, is Steak Florentine, which is one non-Chinese dish that got my dad's approval and that my family can't stop talking about. I wanted to find out what all the hoopla was about so I shared one with my mom when we were in Florence last year. I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe it was just a bad restaurant. I'm willing to give it another try when Garry and I visit Florence this time around.

My friend Dave is taking the Basic Cuisine course at Le Cordon Bleu right now, and he's started an interesting blog chronicling his experiences. Reading it makes me want to try my hand at making Poulet Sauce Supreme (poached chicken in white cream sauce) again. Speaking of cooking, ever since Garry and I moved to the Peninsula, we've been eating in more. We've cooked dinner every night this week. Some of the dishes on this week's menu:
Gnocchi with Butter and Sage, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Fleur de Sel, Porterhouse steak, Roasted Cauliflower with Truffle Butter, Gnocchi with Porcini and Morel Cream Sauce (we made too much gnocchi the first time), Peaches in Ice Wine, Almond Raspberry Tea Cakes, Pot au Feu.

I have to find a way to use up all my zucchini before I leave. The zucchini in my garden has been growing like crazy. I always dread harvesting them because their leaves and branches are somewhat thorny and they hurt! I'm an amateur when it comes to gardening and the only reason why we have zucchini, tomatoes, parsley, strawberries, lettuce and cucumber is because my mom hired a real gardener to plant them there... Hence, I do not have the proper tools for the job. It feels good to eat something out of your own garden though -- no need to go grocery shopping. Just harvest and voilà, dinner is served!

Replies: 1 Comment

hmm... that home garden sounds so country-fied, i love it! Our HK flat has no room for a potted plant, what more a garden. dunno if you love roasted veggie sandwiches, but i would roast the zucchini, add eggplant, tomatoes, capsicum, fresh basil, fontina , drizzle some olive oil..and stuff it in a ciabatta... you know how it works:) Hey answer my mail ha, the long one. Enjoy Paris!

Posted by dawn @ 09/08/2004 12:31 AM PST