Re-bonjour!

Hello blog.

I apologize. It's been quite a while since I've filled you up with some new stories. 

I have no good excuse. It's not that I haven't been anywhere worthy of reviewing...in fact, it's quite the opposite! I have been spending a lot of time getting used to my new city (I still get excited when I say this: Paris), exploring the wine bars and restaurants, sampling baguettes, cheeses, croissants, chocolates...

The only proper reason that I can give for not writing is that at first I think I actually found it tough to tell whether something was "awesome" because it was cool and different and Parisian, or because it was truly "WOW - Awesome!" because of the food, atmosphere, people or service.

Two specific events may mark the moment where I realized I could make the separation...After a day of perfect wine tasting in the Loire Valley, I managed to criticize a meal of delicious crab consomee and Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops) in Tours for not having enough 'atmosphere', and today I just enjoyed a delicious chocolate eclair from one of the best pâtisseries in Paris, and thought 'meh - it's ok, but I wouldn't rush back...not chocolatey enough'. I'm clearly ready to write again. 

So here it goes! To give you a taste of the past few months of fun, I'm going to start with my 'food and wine highlights', experienced in Paris and on other travels, including Avignon, the Loire Valley, Christlum (Austria), Dusseldorf, Megeve, London, Montreal and Calgary...it's been a very fun few months!  

1. A visit to 'Domaine Les Rochers' in Chinon, Vallee de la Loire, to taste their delicious Chinons in their Cave, built in the 15th century. Purchased my first case of wine!


2.  L'Office, possibly my new favourite restaurant for all of the right reasons: the chef is awesome, the atmosphere is fun and chill, it's full of french people...oh, and the food is truly exceptional.

A view of L'Office

3. Chocolate tasting volume 2 with my family over Christmas. We pitted the Parisian greats: Jacques Genin, Jean Paul Hevin, Fouquet and Michel Cluziel against Calgary favourites Bernard Callebaut, and new rogue 'Papa Chocolat'. It may have been a bit ridiculous to have 7 boxes of chocolates going at once over Christmas...but we survived. The winners? Jacques Genin, JPH and Bernard Callebaut.

4. A wine tasting night at an adorable wine bar, Avitus, in Avignon. Most people don't go to the Rhone Valley and taste 7 great Bordeaux wines - but by chance we found this wine bar and they were tasting bordeaux that night, and so we jumped in and enjoyed a 1989 Chateau Haut Briant, and a brilliant sancerre with a few Sommeliers and wine students. It was accompanied by fresh goat cheese and ham (from the village where the wine bar owner lived) - amazing.

Perusing the wines at Avitus

5. A fun Sunday night that started at L'Avant Comptoir (a fantastic wine and tapas bar serving incredible biodynamic wines), where we met some excellet chefs (from L'Office), and ended with L'As du Falafel on Rue des Rosiers - a Parisian Falafel institution.

6. Lunch with the other students from my french class at Creperie des Canottes - a group of Brazilian, Colombian, American, Irish, Korean, Taiwanese and Canadian students enjoying crepes de froment that could have been imported directly from Brittany and muddling our way through conversation in French...followed by a break in the sunshine in the Jardins de Luxembourg before heading back to class.

Class break in JdL

7. Apres Ski prosecco at the 'umbrella bar' (it's not actually called that, but it looks like one), in Christlum. Serenaded by the fun German band singing songs that seemed eerily similar to Oktoberfest (Schwim, Schwim, Schwim...)

8. Glu-wine, schnapps and Raclette at the christmas market in Dusseldorf. This was my first true Raclette, with the cheese melted directly off of the wheel of cheese, dripping onto the just-toasted bread. It was enjoyed standing up in a tiny little hut next to the skating rink, sheltered from the chilly winds. Both the cheese and schnapps helped warm our tummies.

9. Munching on warm-out-of-the-oven fresh baked baguette from an amazing bakery (Ble Sucre) in a neighborhood park in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, close to the Marche d'Aligre, complemented with some glorious sunshine, a 'cafe noisette' and some salted, handmade butter, purchased from the market. (a cafe noisette is an espresso with a tiny bit of milk - my new coffee of choice).

10. Wine tasting with friends in Montreal - we sampled 2 of my favourite South Africa wines, a Vergelegen and a Chocolate Block that I had been saving for a few years, and enjoyed on New Years Eve. We had a bit of a struggle with the cork on the Chocolate Block (a bit dried), but the wine was delicious. 

11. The best cheese fondue that I have every had, tucked away in an adorable little chalet-restaurant in Megeve. What made it so good? It had cepes (mushrooms) in it, was gooey, thick, piping hot and every bite was sooooo tasty. It also created the most delicious toasty-cheesy-crust in the pot at the end. Accompanied with some Crepy white wine from the Savoie wine region, it got us nice and ready for the next day of skiing in beautiful powder!

I'm looking forward to sharing more food and wine adventures from Paris!