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Saturday, April 30, 2011

FRENCH FOOD


My apologies for the long gap between this post and my last one. I've been through an extremely busy patch of life, as happens every now and then, but here I am again...


On my trip to France in February this was one of the best meals I ate, in a cafe with outside tables and chairs only a meter from the busy road. Sadly our very tight sightseeing schedule didn't allow for much cafe time. Don't get me wrong - I loved the sightseeing, and I thought Paris was a wonderful city. But French cuisine is famous so I  regret being able to sample so little of it.

This cheese and ham 'sandwich'  (which would be called a 'filled roll' in New Zealand)  came accompanied by a large pot of pickled gherkins for us to help ourselves to.


Normandy is famous for puffy omelet, and while visiting Mont San Michel in France, our Japanese tour group stopped at a country restaurant to eat omelet, chicken casserole and apple cake washed down with apple cider.

Unfortunately the general feeling was that large quantities of raw whipped egg take a lot of washing down! Most of the tour group couldn't eat it. Although I ate it all, I certainly didn't enjoy it. And I seem to remember making puffy omelet at Intermediate School in New Zealand. I'm sure it was actually cooked, and tasted good.

As for the rest of the meal, the chicken tasted free range which was strange for my Japanese companions. Sadly it came with the odd feather, which was a bit off-putting. The apple cake was not very inspiring. Apple cake can be difficult to make well, because it easily becomes very stodgy and even soggy.  This was both. The restaurant was very nice, with beautiful tableware and decor, so it was just too bad about the meal.