Sunday Brunch

This Sunday we invited a few friends over to enjoy an American-style brunch. Louis and I tested out a new baked "French" toast recipe from his mom (thanks Joy!) and it was delicious. You clever readers will probably have figured out that the picture above was taken the night before while I was prepping the bread for baking the next morning. This, we are told, is a great way to host a stress-free brunch. Turns out, it's true! The French toast paired nicely with a potato and egg scramble we made and our guests brought colorful and slightly less hearty (but no less delicious) fare.


Thanks friends/guests, let's do it again sometime!

Sarah's Visit - Part 2

We're still reminiscing about Sarah's visit last month. Here's some more images from a wonderful weekend:

We began Day 2 (after un café, of course) with a visit to the Pierre Soulages exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou:

After a lunch at home of les restes of the delicious (if fraught) quiche Louis had baked the night before, we continued our day with a mid-afternoon snack at Culture Rapide: nutella crepes for me and Sarah, cinnamon sugar for Louis!

Friday evenings at the Louvre, young people under 26 get in free. Unfortunately, Sarah and I are both 26, but just barely, so we had to pay while Louis (the young'un) got in free.

Look, ma, Soulages is in the Louvre! (An American lady behind me said, disapprovingly, "And then, there's this.")

After a couple hours at the Louvre (come on, this was our second museum of the day!), we decided it was time to eat again.We hit up Kiwizine (right around the corner) because the menu sounded utterly divine:

Gambas aux tomates et basilic sur un toast

   Filet du Jour aux épices libanais avec une sauce tarator et taboulé.

   Macaron vanille avec des fruits rouges

What a wonderful day!

Couchsurfing Strikes Again

Our last night in Munich, we got dinner at a restaurant called Steinheil 16. There, we enjoyed the biggest portion of Wienerschnitzel we'd ever seen - and Maggie had the Goulasch, which was a lot like carbonade. (I capitalize German nouns on purpose.)

This was so big, we took half of it home and it was enough for both of us for lunch the next day (we made Wienerschnitzel sandwiches!).

But even more delicious than the Wienerschnitzel or Goulasch was the excuse dinner provided to see some old friends. Well, not that old. I first met Sandra in Munich in July, 2007, when she became my very first couchsurfing host. Sandra introduced me to her friends Karl and Alex, who happened to be leaving that week for a trip to the states. It turned out they were going to Boston and needed a place to stay. I wasn't going to be home, but asked if Joey could host them in my absence, and he agreed. They ended up going out for dinner with Joey, Maggie, and Becky, and seem to have had a nice time in Boston.

Fast forward to May, 2008, when Maggie and I traveled to Munich for the first leg of a two-week trip. This time, we stayed with Karl and Alex - and had dinner one night at Sandra's.

Finally, as we were preparing to leave for Paris last summer, Sandra's boyfriend's sister contacted me through couchsurfing.org, looking for a place to stay and someone to show her around Boston in the few free days she had before starting a master's program at Wheaton College, just outside of Boston. Unfortunately we were too busy with preparations to be good hosts, but Becky and Sheila agreed to host Julia and her friend, and I met them briefly at Toad.

So thanks to couchsurfing, we have all these crazy links with Sandra, her boyfriend Sebastien, Karl, and Alex. And we got to see all of them at dinner!

Sebastien, Sandra, and Karl vs. Wienerschnitzel: who will win??

Alex, Rebecca, and Moritz. And lots and lots of beer. Oh, Germany.

Couchsurfing Wins!

Technical Term

At a colloquium at the Institut de Recherche sur le Patrimoine Musical en France (part of the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique) on Henry Prunières, a French musicologist/editor who founded and ran La Revue musicale from 1920 to 1939, I encountered a technical term I've never heard before: camembert. Inspired by my learning experience, I decided to make my own camembert. Here it is:

It makes sense, right? I think we should switch to "camembert" in English, since this looks way more like camembert than it looks like pie.

(Just in case you're interested, people in 24 countries have visited Panda-à-Paris since we started keeping track in October. After Poland (thanks, Andrea!), the most hits come from Canada, Taiwan (thanks, Meredith!), the UK, Denmark (thanks, Gladis!), Germany (thanks, Rebecca!), and Israel (thanks, Talya!). If you move somewhere and it's clear that you're the only person in that country who knows us, you too will get a shout-out.)

One more camembert, just because I'm excited about being able to make them:

The First Thanksgiving

The giving of thanks (can you spot ours?):

The sacrificial bird:

The cranberry sauce apple chutney:

The enormous vat of unbelievably good mac and cheese:

The deliciously over-filled dinner plate:

The post-dinner food-coma face:

Yum.

Housewarming

In French, a housewarming party is called a "pendaison de crémaillère," or literally "hanging of a pothook," a pothook being the iron mechanism that held up the cauldron at varying heights over the fire in French homes before the advent of the oven. (There's a whole discussion of the etymology of the word crémaillère here.) From what I gather, the pothook was the last thing you'd hang in a new home, since it was crucial for cooking. Last thing hung = we're moved in = party time!

We threw our pendaison de crémaillère Sunday afternoon, and while it was a small affair, it definitely signalled the end of moving to France and the beginning of French living. For one thing, we put on quite a spread: two kinds of bread, two kinds of cheese, melon, grapes, sliced apples, LU Petit Ecolier cookies, a bottle of wine, two kinds of chips (I'm not the first to notice that the French love their potato chips!).

I can't tell you how much fun it was to visit le fromager, then le caviste (wine store), then la boulangère, and finally le primeur (fruits and veggies), getting advice from each on what to serve and how to serve it. I felt so French!

So in terms of cuisine, we're getting into the swing of things. But our houseparty also marked our first step towards reconnecting with French friends, four of whom attended. Now, we're plugged into the "scene" and already have invites to various get-togethers over the next month.

Khayam and Louis plan future get-togethers

Now that we're all settled, I guess it's time to get started on . . . research?

Addresses

Dear Family, Friends, and Foes,

If you would like to receive mail and/or luxury items from France, please email us your addresses. We might already have them, but we also might not. Better safe than sorry.

Two Weeks!!!

Shout Out

This one goes out to Becky, Celia, and everyone else who gets to this blog through links in Maggie's gmail status and mine. You are winners!!

Also, during a lovely meal of leftovers this evening, I was reminded by both Celia and Talya that they have friends in Paris they want to put me in touch with.

And you, intrepid reader? Do you have friends, foes, frenemies, or family in Paris whom Maggie and I should contact? We're hoping to meet lots of new people and have lots of opportunities to cook in our teensy-tiny kitchen. Please, if you know someone there, do tell us.

If you do, then you, too, can be the recipient of a Panda-a-Paris shout out!

Fantastic Friends

You may not think that this post is related to our upcoming trip to Paris, but it is! Read on to learn more...

My dear friend from high school, Margaret Stutt, is now the leading lady and brains/heart/soul behind the smash sensation Pezzettino. I have been listening to her bring the funk via accordion, xylophone, and vocals for the past few months through YouTube and Myspace. And now I am so happy to report that I will get to hear her live THIS SATURDAY at Cafe 929 at Berklee College of Music. [From their website: Static of the Gods, The Hollow Sound, Pezzettino. A Ryan's Smashing Life live show delivers remarkable music talent, straight from the celebrated music blog's digital pages to New England's finest live stages. This tradition of music exploration continues tonight at the Cafe 939 with three outstanding acts that promise to thoroughly entertain, reigniting your passion for exciting new music!] 

Whoo hoo!

Pezzettino has a page on Facebook, can be followed on Twitter, and watched/heard on YouTube. Margaret seems to be a master of using social media to stay in touch with fans and find new ones. In my opinion, you should definitely become a fan - you won't regret it!

In fact, once you are done reading this you should go to the event page for her upcoming Boston show and RSVP that you'll be attending! Don't live in Boston? Check out her other tour dates at her Myspace page, and enjoy the sweet (and sometimes sizzling) sounds of this not-to-be missed talent.

Photo by Kevin Groen

Sooo... what does this have to do with Paris, you ask? Well, Margaret and I took French together in high school and one time she stabbed me in the hand with a pencil (she claims it was an accident). I still have the scar today. Ok - that's not really a connection to Paris, but I wanted to be sure that this story was aired before Margaret gets really famous.