June 2015 archive

Salade Compostée

Last night I tried a duck gizzard salad that Julian had found on the web. It’s a rather involved recipe for a weeknight. First you blanch julienned carrots and marinate them in a red wine vinegar brine. Then you sauté some leeks. Following that, you make a vinaigrette with pears. You wash some greens and …

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The Circle of Compost–and Cash

Seattle and several suburbs in the area offer yard/food waste collection along with trash and recycling. One pays for this service. The yard and food waste go to a composting company, which sells the former leaves and lettuce back to residents for a profit. Such a deal!

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/21/the-circle-of-compost-and-cash/

Saturday in Bellevue

Bellevue is the second largest city in King County after Seattle. The downtown area reminds us of Dallas, only with better weather. Conspicuous consumption is rampant. We had to return an item to the Sur La Table store, in a shopping center called the Bravern. A Ferrari and a Bentley were parked at the entrance. …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/20/saturday-in-bellevue/

Seattle Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice! In Seattle, that means one thing: The Fremont Solstice Fair and Parade. Fremont is the polka-dotted sheep of Seattle neighborhoods and proud of it. Where else will you find a larger-than-life-sized statue of Vladimir Lenin, which gets strung with lights every Christmas? There’s also the Fremont Troll, clutching a VW Beetle underneath …

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Final Stop

The last two days of our trip were spent in Lyon, the third largest city in France. Unlike the bastides, the architecture of Lyon dates to the Renaissance and later. Unlike in Paris, more modern skyscrapers have encroached closer to the center city. However, it’s a vary charming town. We stayed in a hotel on …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/19/final-stop/

To the Bastides, Parte Deux

Bastide #5 was Cordes-Sur-Ciel. As with the other towns we visited, tourism is the main industry. The city was much more touristy than the other bastides. However, our accommodations here were probably the best of those outside Paris. We stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast called Le Secret du Chat. Alain and Marie are …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/19/to-the-bastides-parte-deux/

To The Bastides!

We visited several hilltop villages in southern France called bastides. The peasants could retreat behind their walls when under attack during the Hundred Years’ War. The walls have crumbled, but the towns have survived. Accessing these towns is not easy for modern tourists, even though nobody’s pouring boiling oil on you from the ramparts. The …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/17/to-the-bastides/

Man at Work

This juxtaposition was too good to resist.

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Words from the Wiseacres

The trains in Europe are great. However, they don’t serve some of the smallest towns in France. To visit those, you’ll need to rent a car. We’ve rented cars to travel around Europe twice, and here is our collective wisdom: Rent the smallest model that will fit you, your traveling companions, and your luggage. If …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/15/words-from-the-wiseacres/

More on Rest Stops: The Millau Viaduct

“Why a duck? Why a no chicken?” (Chico Marx, The Cocoanuts) The Millau Viaduct is the highest bridge in the world, and the tallest structure of any kind in France. It opened for traffic in 2005. It’s an amazing bit of engineering and good-looking to boot. We had lunch at the rest stop/visitors’ center just …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/06/13/more-on-rest-stops-the-millau-viaduct/

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