Epicurean In Edinburgh

So Edinburgh was a delight for a foodie. The city was very non-chaotic and not very busy the entire time that I was there, it also seemed like a very safe city even late at night. My last full day there I decided to try out a couple restaurants that I got a recommendation on that were to serve good food. The first was for lunch - a specialty shop named Valvona and Crolla. It was a good thing that I had read about this place, because it was a store in the very front that sold all sorts of delicious and rare looking foods from Italy. I had to wind my way into the back to get to the cafe. It was a small place, maybe seating for 40 people, and luckily I was one of the few there that day. I sat down and ordered a ham panini and a tomato salad. The salad was by far the star of the meal. It was amazingly fresh for being February, and the light dressing that was on top didn't over power the freshness of the lettuce. The panini bread was good as well (obviously freshly made there), but it wasn't anything special unfortunatly, even though the ham was delicious. It wasn't as fatty as normal hams and it was slightly cured, but not too salty. It would have been made better with a slight bit of cheese or something to break the taste of the ham.
After lunch I wandered around for a bit of time, shopping and window shopping. I finally stumbled into a very hippee coffee shop. There was no delineation between the bar and the seating (even the customers were making their own espresso). I ordered a hot chocolate and went to sit in the back and knit. Little known to me, the barista was an artist! The foam in my hot chocolate came back with a beautiful flower design in it. It was amazing and I almost didn't want to drink it. But the delicious smell over powered me, and the dark chocolate with some steamed milk mixture was delicious.
A little while later I went on to go out to dinner. I found a French inspired restaurant that was a little walk from my hotel. This restaurant was the best find ever. The small restaurant (9 tables) filled up quickly while I was there, and the menu (which changes daily) was explained to everyone with painstaking detail by the only waiter, and assistant chef. I started with a glass of white wine (from the Loire Valley) and a squash and roasted red pepper soup. The soup was delicious, and very warming on such a cold night. I then had the halibut which was pan seared with rosemary, and some roasted potatoes. Every table had steamed fresh vegetables served with their meal. I ate all of the vegetables! But the halibut was good too - slightly undercooked, but that is much better than over cooked. Finally I had the toffee pudding cake, which had a caramel syrup over top, and a coffee for dessert.
This meal was the best meal that I had in quite some time!
Peace, Love and Caramel!!

Scotland, Beer Quest, Haggis among other things!

So having arrived in Scotland later at night, finding my hotel, taking a quick nap then getting out to explore the city I had found out that another American who is also staying in the same city ran into more K kids in her hostel! It was pretty crazy, but all of us went out to dinner together. We ended up going to a chain restaurant, which was loud, crowded, and dark - everything a French restaurant is not! But after eating some fish and chips, I went back to my hotel and went to bed early. The next morning we decided to tag along for a free tour that was leaving the Starbucks in the middle of the city. It was a really good tour (3 hours!) and the guide was really amusing, even though it seemed a little rehearsed. After wards we went to lunch at a pub down the street, and the food and atmosphere was a little more subdued than the night before. That night we decided to do a ghost tour after dinner. Basically Edinburgh is the most haunted city in the world (or so they claim), but it was cool to hear all about the traditional folklore in the area, and the reasons behind it. Finally after another pint of beer we turned in for the night and got a good nights sleep before shopping and walking around on our own today.
Now my quest for this Scotland/Ireland adventure is to not drink a single beer that I can get in the states. And thus far I have been more than successful and everything has been delicious! I always like the look in a barman's eye when you say you want to try something that's brewed locally - they always seem so proud of their city and what it can produce. The best that I have tried so far is at a small pub called Kay's Bar. I got recommended it by a cabbie that I took into town from the airport. We had a little trouble finding the place - but nothing too bad. It was a small establishment (maybe 8 tables total) and it had wonderfully cheesy red velvet all over the place. Everyone was friendly, but mostly stuck to themselves as it was a locals joint.
This was also where my friend ordered HAGGIS! She insisted that she could not leave Scotland without trying some. And honestly it wasn't that bad. It tasted a little grittier than I would have liked, but nothing disgusting. I had the Scotch Pie, which was delicious with chips and a dark local Edinburgh brew. All in all a very good adventure into the quieter pub life of Scotland.
Tonight's adventure has not yet been decided because it is raining outside and that might damped some plans (oh haha too funny!).
Peace, Love and Sorry for the bad joke!

Last Supper

Tonight was the last super with all the Americans together, the first person will be leaving on Monday - it's very sad! But I don't leave Europe for a little over a week. Anyway, our program director invited us all out to a restaurant for dinner. As per usual dinners in France, this lasted quite some time. But it was really nice to have everyone together at the same moment so that we could all chat (in both English and French) to each other about our experiences and different things that have happened recently. We went to a really nice restaurant (which is actually a chain in France) and we got to order what we liked, thanks Kalamazoo!
Anyway, I started with the escargots, because I had not had them yet in France, and they were quite good, less buttery than I expected, but bread dipped in the sauce was delicious! After I had the scallops and what I believe were cooked endives. They paired the endives with sun dried tomatoes which helped cut the bitterness of the endives, it was really ingenious. Finally for dessert I split a cream stuffed pretzel and a tiramisu. Also during this dinner someone had marrow on their plate and I was really excited that I was able to try it! I found it didn't have much taste but the texture didn't both me that much. After a really long dinner of talking we finally said good bye to everyone and walked home.
Today I also made a day trip to Thiers where I was able to buy some artisan knives. I was very excited because that was one of my goals when I had heard about Thiers, as a city though it is very depressing and there isn't much to do there. All in all, I would recommend going there to buy a beautiful knife, then get right back on the train and go home!
Peace, Love and Leaving on a Jet Plane

Meeting the Extended Family!

So last night when the doorbell rang right before dinner I knew something was up. Aperently without telling me, my host mom and dad had invited over all the cousins (from both sides of the family) for dinner! It just so happened that this random Wednesday in January all the cousins were in Clermont at the same time. What better time then for a cheese party? We started with appetizers and drinks around 7, and dinner and dessert didn't finish until about 10:30 at night! It was really fun to listen to other people my generation talk, and even though I didn't say much it was a good time over all.
We started with pistachios and kirs (a white wine drink mixed with flavoring like Cassis) in the living room all of us talking to one another. Then my host mom asked for my help in the kitchen to make sure everything was ready, we went into the kitchen and we were slicing up HUGE bricks of cheese, there were about 4 platters of cheese, and another 2 of ham, and a bowl of pickles! There was so much food - this is when she announces we would be having Raclette tonight for dinner. Now raclette comes with it's own little apparatus to make table side. There is a large heating system, that is covered with open slots all around. Into these slots you put small pans that you have filled with cheese, or bacon, or whatever you want to cook.
For this meal there were two raclette machines on the table, with about 9 pans to each machine. It was chaos and as always way too much food. You melt the cut cheese in the pans until it is gooey, then you pour it on your plate (with the help of a wooden spatula), you then pair it with ham or potatoes, or both as my host dad did. After wards you can munch on pickles to clear the taste if you so desire to change cheeses. There were 5 different types of cheese on the table that you could choose from. Honestly I couldn't tell much of a difference between them all other than one had herbs in it.
After cheese and potatoes (yum!) we had salad, now in a normal french meal this is the part where you would serve the cheese, so my host mom made the joke that she was going to go get the cheese platter from the kitchen and everyone groaned!! It was hysterical! After some salad, we all got ice cream cones (the pre-fabricated kind) and oranges for some dessert. At this time the younger cousins either left to go to the movies or to go home or to go do some homework, and all the older people (me included) went back into the living room with my host parents to talk over a tea.
Finally, everyone left because everyone was quite tired, and it ended the very long night by me helping my host parents and one host sister clean up the dishes. It was a fantastic evening meeting everyone, and also listening to everyone talk. The food wasn't bad either! Although I don't think I will be eating again for a week!
Peace, Love and FROMAGE!

Last Week Here

So it's my last week here, and because I thought i had a lot more work than I actually did I'm finished with all my final papers! It's very exciting, but it's also making for a very boring last week. That being said, I've been home and had nothing to do so I've been helping my host mom make dinner the past few nights. Last night she showed me how to make poached eggs, now I have never eaten a poached egg, let alone made one. It was an interesting experience especially when she said "now you put it in the microwave", wait what? Yes that is correct, she cooks her poached eggs in the microwave. Her secret is to put boiling hot water into a microwave safe bowl, add some vinegar, crack the eggs in and put them in the microwave!
We had this with pasta and a tomato cream sauce, considering I had pasta that day for lunch it was still pretty good. Although the egg had a strange texture, I was able to eat it the same time as some tomato pieces and it wasn't that bad, I might even try this method in the states to put it on some bruchetta!
In other French-y news, I am planning on what to bring home from France in terms of food. I have already decided to being home an entire wheel of cheese from this region (TSA says it's ok!). Also I'm going to try and smuggle two loafs of bread into my luggage. I am not sure how this is going to fare and if there will be crumbs everywhere in my clothes, but I figure I'm going to be washing them as soon as I get home anyway, so no big deal - right?
If any one has any other requests for French goodies please let me know!
Today is a relaxing day and right now I'm just trying to decide where to eat lunch - I'm thinking Indian?
Peace, Love and Spices

Pate Aux Choux - Cabbage Pastry?

My host mother, who now officially has a broken elbow (deemed by the doctor she waited 4 hours to see today) asked me to help her make dinner tonight because I was just watching the T.V. So I said sure, what are we making? Pate aux Choux was the response, and my first translation was cabbage pastry? But no, this delicious french treat does not include cabbage, nor a real pastry sense either!
So to make Pate Aux Choux:
Boil 2 cups of water with a GENEROUS amount of butter and a small amount of salt.
Once boiling, turn off the heat, but keep on the burner and add 2 cups of flour.
Beat well until it is all combined and it forms a sticky ball in the middle of the pan.
Add 3 eggs, one at a time and beat well in between each egg. At this point it will get a gross consistency, but you keep beating and it will come back to normal.
Add some more salt (if you want salty Pate Aux Choux, for sweet add sugar at this point).
Then add GENEROUS amount of cheese and beat again until well mixed.
Butter a circular pan (a pie dish will do) and create very large balls of the Pate and put them in the dish (it's O.K. if they touch).
Put them in the oven at 200 celcius for 45 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160 for another 15 minutes.
They will balloon up!
For salted, serve with tomato sauce mixed with creme fraiche. For sugared serve with ice cream or a chocolate sauce I've heard is good.
They are very light and airy, but also very filling so be warned!
Peace, Love and not-Cabbage

Two out of Three Stars

So for this week I was in a elective class called Cuisine and Tradition. The first two classes were based around opening a restaurant in France, what types of cuisines work, which don't and finally what kind of education is needed to open a restaurant and make it successful (hint: none!). The third day was canceled due to the person being sick. Day four was presented by an old Michelin worker who helped write all the Michelin guides for several different countries, that included giving starts out to restaurants and finding new restaurants in many cities all over the world. It was very interesting to talk to him for a while, but after two hours he got a little repetitive. Finally today was the best day of the week. We got invited to go to the fanciest and best rated restaurant in Clermont-Ferrand: Emmanuel Hodanq, don't worry I don't know how to pronounce it either. But it's on the second floor, above a permanent farmers market. We got to visit there all morning while the chef was there preparing for the lunch crowd. First we talked to the owner and manager about the restaurant, what it takes for upkeep, why she went into the restaurant business. Then she pulled the head chef out of the kitchen for us to talk to. It was a really good experience, and one of my favorite quotes from him roughly translates to: If the beginning isn't good, you can't make it better by covering it up, it's the same in food as it is in life.
After several minutes of asking him questions he invited the class back into the kitchen to see the professional kitchen. And boy did it smell good! They were pan frying guinea hen and wow it made the entire place smell amazing. The chef talked to us a little about kitchen set up and how to be efficient in professional kitchens versus private kitchens, and that was very interesting to hear from a French point of view.
After talking with the chef for some time, we went back out into the main restaurant where the French students asked about internships etc. and the piece of information that I found most interesting is that they serve a menu for very cheap during lunch time. This way people can eat well, eat good produce, but at a lower cost. I thought that idea was amazing. Now if only I could find someone to go with, because without someone there it's just food - it takes conversation to turn it into a meal.
Peace, Love and Delicious Food