Dec 13
What is it with the French and Marshmallow Fluff? Two years ago we saw this at the Galeries Lafayette food hall: Our hotel in Lyon overlooked a bagel restaurant. Along with the oversized bagel models, there was a large model jar of Marshmallow Fluff. We found a candy store called Lolly’s down the street from …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/13/french-fluff-fixation/
Dec 12
Yesterday we took another train from Lyon to Colmar, in Alsace. Colmar is about 45 miles (70 km) south of Strasbourg. Colmar was spared some of the wartime damage that affected Strasbourg and other cities in the area. Since Alsace has been swapped between Germany and France for centuries, the cuisine is a hybrid that …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/12/next-stop-colmar/
Dec 12
After two weeks on the road, my blood fish sauce level was getting extremely low. In addition, the heavy Lyonnais and Alsatian food was wearing on me. We’d seen a restaurant down the street from our hotel that served pho, Restaurant Chez Thuy. We went back there for lunch today. The menu was a mashup …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/12/pho-in-alsace/
Dec 10
The crowds descended in earnest on Saturday. We went to the open-air market on the quai to scrounge up breakfast goodies for two days. We picked up some tangerines, yogurt, St. Marcellin cheese, and two briks, North African pastries stuffed with meat or tuna. Both were good. We did our main shopping of the Lyon …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/10/la-fete-last-day-for-us/
Dec 10
So you want to come to next year’s Fête des Lumières? Based on our experience this year, here’s what you need to do: Book flights and hotel rooms EARLY. Julian did so back in February. The Fête is centered around December 8, so you may want to try for a room between December 6-10 next …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/10/words-from-the-wiseacres-2017-edition/
Dec 09
We didn’t get a very early start on Friday. We had a pasta brunch at the restaurant across the street, then did laundry. After that we took the tram up Croix-Rousse. Dinner options on the hilltop were spotty, but we found a Japanese restaurant, Yoshi. Most of this place’s business seemed to be in takeout …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/09/la-fete-jour-deux/
Dec 09
La Fête des Lumières started December 7. We started the day by taking the subway and tram down to the Musée des Confluences, where the Rhône River meets the Saône. There were numerous student groups in attendance. Julian took pictures of lycéens (high school students) with their teachers on the Only Lyon sign at the …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/09/la-fete-jour-un/
Dec 09
Mussels (or moules in French) are the least expensive bivalves around. We make them regularly, either with a standard French prep of white wine, garlic, and parsley, or with Chinese black bean sauce. Penn Cove, off Whidbey Island in Washington, grows the bulk of the tasty critters for West Coast consumption. One of the few …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/09/la-moule-toujours-la-moule/
Dec 06
As I mentioned earlier, we timed this trip to Lyon to coincide with La Fête des Lumières. It’s held every year around December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. As the story goes, her intercession prevented a 17th-century plague epidemic in the city. We figured that we’d have a better …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/06/lyon-pre-festival/
Dec 06
I opened the New York Times website on my computer this morning and saw that Johnny Hallyday had died. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Hallyday was a popular singer and actor in France. Most of his works were covers of others’ tunes. The Times obituary links to a 1970’s video of him …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/06/france-in-mourning/
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