Zurich

There's a back story. Maggie and I were roommates at BC our sophomore year where we quickly learned that while good friends, we can never ever ever ever ever again live together! That year we were supposed to go to Paris over Spring Break, but Mags got super sick (like hospital stay sick) the day before we were supposed to go. Jump ahead seven or so years to 2010 where Mags tells me that she will be in Zurich working for a number of months. "Come to Europe!" she says, "We can go anywhere you want on the weekend." The word "Europe" generally translates in my little mind to "Tuscany" or "Paris." Given the history, I thought it was time to finally take our sojourn to my favorite city on Earth, Paris! Besides, I thought, there will be know glorified hostels and budget meals this time around. God Bless being a working adult ;)

The plan is for me to fly to Zurich, meet Maggie, and train with her to Paris to spend the weekend.

March 2. Arrive EWR. Security a BREEZE. The airport is EMPTY. Glorious. Even more glorious? There's a legit wine bar in EWR's Terminal C now. Like lots by the glass, flights, and non-disgusting sounding food options. I order a glass of bubbly and begin reading "My Life in France" by Julia Child (appropriate choice, eh?)

Aside...... but Rachel, you say, you gave up weekday drinking for Lent! Bubbly counts, no? Yes, it counts. Yes, that's what I gave up. But I'm on vacation. And I'm a bad Catholic anyways. I figure I'll be visiting no fewer than five churches in Paris (and there are two famous ones in Zurich), so God will maybe look this over.

I next order a nice glass of Burgundy. I almost forget I'm in an airport. I glide to gate 10 minutes after scheduled boarding time to find no line and also no buildup at the entrance to the plane. The Swiss are efficient, I think to myself. Watch the Blind Side, pop an Ambien, arrive in Zurich. Follow Mags' instructions to downtown and walk around. Manage to get slightly lost in a city that (1) isn't' small and (2) has a river running through the center of it as a guide post. Woops! Find my way around and explore. At about 2:30pm, I can barely keep my eyes open. Head back to hotel for 5 hour nap. Wake up just in time for Maggie to arrive from work. Head to fondue place (invented by the Swiss - a lovely people). Fondue is GOOD. MMMMM cheese. Better yet... MMMM Gruyere cheese melted with wine.


Arrive back at the hotel and crash. Afraid when I awake at 2:30am. Feel wide awake, but magically fall back to sleep and wake up when Maggie's alarm clock goes off. Day two in Zurich next!

Restaurant Review - Marea

Last night we went to Marea, an Italian seafood restaurant on Central Park South. It was fantastic.

Wine List: organized from lightest to fullest body. I really hate when wines are organized this way. They should be organized by country, region and then type and producer. T

Amuse Bouche - a parsnip soup. It was really tasty, but I'm getting increasingly tired of soup as amuse. It seems lazy to me. Making a big pot of soup and putting it into individual shot glasses is not particularly "amusing." That said, I love soup, and generally I like the flavor of any amuse soup given to me.

Tasting of Raw Fish - fluke, mackerel and tuna. The fluke was really nice and fresh tasting. The mackerel was unreal - it was served with duck proscuitto and pomergranate seeds. The flavor combination was so good, I wanted it to linger in my mouth, so I gave both bites of the tuna to the husband.

Antipasti
Husband: lobster and butternut squash soup
Wife: crab with burrata and eggplant
Wife tried husband's soup and was very impressed. Wife is a sucker for all iterations of butternut squash soup and this was no exception. Wife's dish was innovative and excellent as well. Burrata is made by forming a hollow bowl of fresh buffalo mozzerella cheese, filling it with fresh curds of mozz, topping it with fresh cream, and covering up the bowl. It's basically a little piece of heaven on earth. It's tough to find, because it needs to be served very fresh and is therefore very expensive if actually produced in and shipped from Italy, or you have to find someone who is into making this fresh cheese locally. God Bless NYC where you can find several such persons :)

Primi:
Husband:
Wife: the best pasta I've had in 2010 (i.e. fresh fusilli with octopus and bone marrow). I could have eaten the pasta plain it was so good. More restaurants should do fresh pasta. However, I was greatful for the excellent and rich sauce.

Secondi:
Husband: swordfish. He says it's quite excellent. I do not taste as I don't particularly care for swordfish
Wife: scallops. I know. "BORING!" Scallops are like the roast chicken of a seafood menu, put there for people who aren't adventurous with food. But I like scallops, and they sounded good. They were really big and excellently seared.

Dessert:
Husband: apple thing. Because he always gets the apple thing (it is very American of him)
Wife: chocolate thing. Because wife always gets the chocolate thing (uh, it's chocolate). Wife likes the chocolate thing. It's creamy. The ice cream, whatever flavor, might have been vanilla, was gobbled up in one bite. I'm almost being serious. I think it was freshly made.

Mini chocolates:
There was a peanut butter thing. Oh my Lord, the peanut butter thing. Husband insisted he was too full. Wife, despite her better judgement, insisted he try the peanut butter thing. Husband was not disappointed. Wife was disappointed because she totally missed out on the other half of the peanut butter thing. Wife makes resolution to share less with husband.

Restaurant Review - Picholine

Well my dear 10 readers (ok ,that's aspirational). I blog when I travel, but I don't travel so much. I do, however, eat out frequently, so maybe I'll blog about that too.

Last night Husband and I went to Picholine, truly one of our favorite restaurants in Manhattan. It's always such a pleasant and memorable experience to eat there. By way of back story, we went to Picholine the first time a few years ago after seeing something at Lincoln Center (maybe Opera?). We had a great time. The next time we went back, the staff remembered us, remembered our table, what wine we had, etc. Now, I am not stupid. I realize they don't ACTUALLY remember my beautiful face - they rely on Open Table. Still, the fact that they really make the effort appeals to me. The service at Picholine is so wonderful and consistent.

Picholine had one Michelin Star when the guide first came out in New York, but was upgraded to two in 2009. We were very exited for the restaurant. Anyways, when it came to picking a place to eat for my first "real" meal post wisdom-tooth extraction, I picked Picholine, and we went Friday, January 15th. We were escorted back to the table in the corner where we have sat all but one time we visited the restaurant. It feels like home.....

Husband and I are generally 50/50 "full on tasting menu"/choose from the main menu. Sometimes, there are dishes from the main menu that really sound great, and others there are a few courses of a tasting menu that we could take or leave. Last night, we chose the five course tasting menu.

Wines:
Champagne - Pol Roger
Gevrey Chambertin, Domaine Dominique Gallois "Le Combe Aux Moines" 2002
Sherry, Pedro Ximinez
Banyuls, 2006

Amuse Bouche:
Manchego Tempura with black olive dipping sauce - nicely done. It was fried cheese, so you'd expect the texture of a mozzarella stick, but this was light as a feather (though still, FRIED cheese)
Asparagus soup with truffle foamish stuff - what a standout. This stuff was delicious. So delicious in fact, that Husband tried to steal the rest of Wife's as she was tasting the wine that we ordered. It didn't work. Wife slowly savors really good things. Husband should learn from Wife.
Gruyere something with green sauce - eh, it was ok, but gruyere is my favorite cheese, and this didn't taste very gruyere-y.
Pistachio panna cotta with a something gelee (geez, I'm good at this..... NOT) - also pretty awesome. I was definitely scraping the little saucer with my little spoon to finish the last of this one.

Course one:
Wife: Taste of winter vegetables
Husband: Game chips

Course two:
Husband: Foie Gras Torchon with apples presented in different ways (apple chips, apple reduction, etc., etc.)
Wife: Foie Gras "Shabu Shabu" in broth - the broth cooked the foie gras - it has pickled shallots in it - it was delish.

Course three:
Chestnut tagliatelle with black truffle - the most disappointing dish of the evening. This is basically the dish that was the deciding factor in the "tasting menu/off the menu" debate as both Husband and Wife desperately wanted to try this. The pasta was really bland. The chestnut piece and black truffle shavings were good though. Definitely returning to the risotto next time - we should have known to bet against the house on this one (I dream of the truffled risotto for days in anticipation of a night at Picholine).

Course four:
Lobster with yummy fried vanilla milk sauce - and I mean YUMMY. This was another standout dish. The lobster was cooked wonderfully.

Course five:
Wife: Pigeon - surprisingly good, also, surprisingly red
Husband: Lamb

Course six:
Le Fromage ;) Picholine has a great cheese cart (the best on West 64th Street!) and a very knowledgeable fromagier. They've switched fromagiers since last we went (or perhaps it was the tall guy with glasses' day off). I like the old guy better, but this guy helped us pick out a U.S. gruyere (who knew this existed), some soft cheese for the Husband, a Swiss gruyere and an English cheddar. But these are mostly hard, sharp cow's milk cheese - aren't you the least bit adventurous Wife? Uh no, not when it comes to cheese - I mean look, I'll try anything, but I LOVE the cheese that I love, so I'm not going to waste one of my four selections when there is something else on the cart that appeals to me. So if you ever feel the need to bring cheese to my house, make it moo-ey, hard and sharp. I'll love ya for it.

Course seven:
Wife: Liquid chocolate [fill in the blank]. When Wife sees "liquid chocolate" she stops reading and knows that is what she is going to order. Wife was not disappointed.
Husband: fruit something cannoli. Wife did not want to try. Wife doesn't think fruit and dessert mix.

Mini desserts:
There's this caramel thing they always bring out that Husband and Wife each secretly hope the other won't be in the mood for so Husband or Wife can have both. Never pans out that way. Also, no peanut butter fudge on this visit - which is another thing Wife and Husband look forward to.

All in all, a GREAT dining experience.

p.s., so the restaurant is quiet, and by 11 or so, when we left, it was us and this party of two girls wearing the shortest dresses I've ever seen. Husband was like "holy crap - there's skin between the napkin on their lap and the hem of the dress!" Anyways, they were visiting from Dallas and talking to the busboy about the boom-boom room at the Standard Hotel. First ladies, the busboy barely speaks English..... anyways, they must have literally overheard us talking about Dallas because they chime in with "oh Dallas is so great." Wife countered to Husband that she prefers Austin and the next words out of these labreshas' mouths were about how much they hated Austin. It was shocking, but very funny. As we were leaving, Wife must have knocked the purse off of the back of the chair of one of the girls. It really wasn't intentional (though I might modify the story later to make it intentional, because that makes Wife more of a Blair Waldorf-esque bad-ass). But Wife did not turn around, even as she heard the thud and realized what she must have done - she just kept walking without pause. Husband was amazed. Wife, 1 girls from Dallas, 0. Hope you had fun at the boom boom room ladies. Wear longer dresses next time.

Luna de Miel, Day Ten

There's no discussing where we are eating for breakfast. Our bodies simply carry us there. American Husband is so happy with the B.I.A. revolution in Parisian breakfast eating that he agrees to walk around the Marais with me in "secret" hope that we can eat at the Marais location B.I.A. for lunch. Wife sees right through this naturally, but agrees, as she wants to walk around the Marais.

A visit to the Pantheon follows breakfast. Husband and wife debate whether 8 euro entrance fee will be worth it, but ultimately decide they've spent more money on more useless endeavours. 8 euros ends up being well worth it. It's actually a really cool attraction. We see Foucault's pendulum (as well as Sassy Cat's Egyptian cousin who serves as watch-cat) and the crypt which houses the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, Dumas, Hugo and the Curies, to name a few, and as husband points out, many of Napolean's cronies.

Onto the Jardin Luxembourg. We learn that the Palais Luxembourg was built by the Medici that married the French king. It now serves as home to the useless French senate. Al Gore (our name for the internets) details just how ludicrous this governing body is. We decide to find our creperie and share one last crepe and coffee on our Paris visit.

Onto the Marais and lunch at B.I.A. Wife learns very quickly that husband didn't bother reading the lunch portion of the menu while at breakfast because he orders another hamburger. "Husband," says wife, "I thought you wanted to come here because you've been complaining about having to eat hamburgers all the time." Husband retorts, "I thought they'd have a chicken wrap or something." Because of his aforementioned limited French, husband mistakenly thought that "Breakfast in America" meant "Chipotle." Still, the fries are good, and husband's chocolate shake is even better. Perhaps the walk to the Marais was unnecessary, but husband and wife have now covered all of the arondissment that form the city center, and that's a lot to accomplish in four days (and makes us all the more impressed that we did almost as much in 2.5 days last April).

We walk back to the hotel with intention to ask reliable concierge for a bar that serves a lot of wines by the glass. Have to settle for bell-boy. This is a mistake. We make reservations at Le Coupe Chou, this really old restaurant that we went to on our last trip. He recommends two places near Le Coupe Chou.... a hotel (which has no bar) and a cafe (which isn't nearby and has only four non-descript (literally, there's no description beyond "Bordeaux") reds). Order a bottle of a slightly more descript burgundy as we have time to kill and it's pretty cheap. Strike one for bell-boy. As a note, I'm utterly dismayed at wine selections by the glass in Paris. I've honestly seen better selections by the glass at The Palm. This is France people! You are supposed to be snobs about this stuff. You've let an American girl from Wacko Texas out-wine-snob you! You should be ashamed. Wife's new plan is to open the Paris branch of Casellula in the middle of St. Germain de Pres. This might happen.

Getting back to the subject at hand - we eat a lovely meal at Le Coupe Chou with a nice 2001 Bordeaux (Chateau Clarke - by some Rothschild).

We arrive back at the hotel and spend our last moments savoring the lovely view from the balcony. We vow to return to this wonderful city soon. Wife vows to return speaking more French.

Luna de Miel, Day Nine

After two visits and many unsatisfying breakfasts in Paris, an American couple finally makes it to B.I.A., aka Breakfast in America, an American Diner in Paris. It's a restaurant that is owned by an American film industry ex-pat who, while filming a tv show in Paris found the one thing he really missed was a good 'ole American breakfast. American coffees, pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast.... you name it. Husband grins from ear to ear during the entire meal.

After breakfast, we accomplish another first... the Louvre. Don't even attempt automated ticket machines and instead opt to wait in physical line. Make a bee line for the Mona Lisa like most every other visitor to the museum. Wife is still unsure she actually saw the Mona Lisa, but she does know she saw a crowd of at least 6000 people flashing their cameras at what she believes was the Mona Lisa. Mona's behind bulletproof, fireproof, and God knows what else proof glass and is surrounded by a railing which means at best you can get within like 3 yards of her.

Both husband and wife are more impressed by the physical Louvre (former palace) itself than by the artwork. The detail on the walls and ceiling are just amazing and the place is just massive. We see the Coronation of Empress Josephine, which is much larger than wife expected. We see Louis the some number's coronation crown, which is less impressive than husband expected. We stumble upon the Venus de Milo as we are exiting the museum. The picture is telling of our experience generally at the museum.

We had back to the left bank for lunch - a crappy croque monsieur for wife (mozz cheese and wonder bread) and an "okay" hamburger for husband. We cross Pont Alexander III to the Boulevard Churchill and husband asks wife to take first picture in nine days - one of Winston Churchill. This is hardly shocking.

We've now seen several postal carriers and have determined that the concierge didn't mean the postal workers were on strike. Perhaps just Francois, the individual at the hotel responsible for mail, is on strike. The concierge did mention that this happens often, and it would just take a couple of days..... Glad we got that settled.

We view the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, which guidebook amusingly points out, is only "Petit" when viewed against it's across the street neighbor. Onto the Champs Elysees. We visit Laudree for macaroons and coffee. Dark chocolate and caramel macaroons are real stand-outs. We see a very funny poster for The Hangover. We've seen French titles of films be very different than the American ones, but this one stood out, mostly because it's in English and still not the same name... I guess there is not French word for "hangover."

We reach the Arc du Triomphe and wonder for some minutes how you access it. There is no conceivable break in traffic around it, but we see people over there, and we know some of those people can't run fast. Husband discovers underground passageway. Walk back to hotel via the Pont d'Alma.. the would be "proposal" bridge (ruined by rain - it's a theme in our relationship).

Take cab to dinner. Cab driver reminds us that Americans are not welcome in Paris (thanks, pal). Dinner with John and Delphine (husband's cousin and his wife) at [], a family style restaurant with no menu. You sit down and the appetizers are all on the table to be shared family style. Main courses are literally in pots on the stove and you help yourself. Dessert bar same way. Food is great. Wife eats what she assumes to be blood sausage pate (her suspicions are confirmed the next day in an email - husband specifically requests to not be copied on that email, he likes the dark). Other standouts are a pork rouillete, duck, ratatouille with sundried tomatoes, soup de poisson, chocolate mousse and meringue. Our table includes another American ex-pat (husband's cousin is also an ex-pat) and her friend, who are traveling to New York in October. Husband decides they must be girlfriends as clearly same-sex people can't eat together in public and not be dating. John and Delphine explain that their son is convinced he's to be the next Ronaldo, and believes it with such conviction (his contract is in the mail), that he's simply stopped doing schoolwork. John has resorted to asking son's soccer coach to explain to him that he's not all that great and will likely not sign a 630 million euro contract in his lifetime.

John and Delphine recommend that we eat at this little place in St. Germain.... Chez Fernand. You've got to be kidding us! We went their two nights ago. They appropriately react with disbelief, but digital photo taken by wife confirms that we did in fact eat at a restaurant they randomly suggested.

New Schulten family treated to dinner by established Schulten family. We say our goodbyes and we hope to see them again soon!

Luna de Miel, Day Eight

Breakfast in Japanese tea room at hotel. Too many days of bacon and pommes terre for wife, especially now that it's 32 euro a piece. Wife vows never again, and hopes to find the infamous American breakfast joint she's heard so much about (more tomorrow).

Husband is definitely a right bank kind of guy. Wife is a left bank kind of girl. I suppose they meet on a bridge and work things out. Wife's attempt to buy stamps brings her to verge of tears. Automated machine again because postal employees keep directing her to the machine. Only can insert 17 coins (random number) at a time and husband has abandoned her outside and she doesn't have enough large coinage to complete her purchase. Worse is that people are cursing at her (at least in a language she doesn't understand) to hurry up with her transaction, and when she finally receives stamps, they are are weirdly long and horizontal and won't possibly fit on some of the post cards she's purchased. Epic fail. Wife vows to learn French before next visit.

Time for lunch. We find Le Coupe d'Or which is across the street from a sandwich shop the guide book mentioned, but it had no seating. Have an EXCELLENT croque monsieur and the husband has a hamburger. Definitely a nice lunch spot, though wife needs to lay of the french fries.

We walk along the Rue de Rivoli and cross a bridge to go back to the Rive Gauche. Surprise of surprises, husband wants to keep walking! This trip it appears husband will lead the death marches. Husband wants to see Notre Dame again, so we walk towards it. Stop for two cappuccinos and one bad shared crepe. Arrive at Notre Dame. As beautiful as ever and wife is moved to say that husband and wife should go back to mass.

Walk back to hotel leads to purchase of delicious macaroons at a bakery's whose name wife forgets (regrettably). We see a demonstration in the street. Chris, shockingly, wants to go see what it's about, but quickly abandons project when he realizes it's a parade for some African country's national day. Wife gives stamped postcards to concierge upon return to hotel only to be told that it will be delayed a couple days because there is a postal strike. Wife finds this odd as she just visited a post office three hours prior, but husband thinks maybe it's the postal carriers.

Dinner at Le Carre de Feuillants, a two-starred restaurant recommended by our concierge, which serves as nice meal to replace the one that husband missed during Monaco. It does not disappoint. Translation of menu necessary for both parties, lest both would have ordered the sweetbreads - neither bread, nor sweet husband never tires (his edit) of pointing out. The bread here is amazing, including grissini that is flavored with cumin. Both husband and wife order the mushroom appetizer which is incredible - trio of mushrooms includes thinly sliced and seared not sure of type mushroom, a mushroom rouillete that is shaped like a mushroom stem and is topped with the top of a portabello to make it look like a whole mushroom, and a mushroom cream. Veal with truffles (whole shavings on top... mmmmm.....) for wife and rack of lamb for husband. Wife wants cheese instead of dessert. True to tradition, though wife lingers over cheese waiting for husband's dessert to arrive.... dessert is not served until after cheese has left the table, so end result of lingering is a 30 minute wait for husband. C'est la vie. Dinner is complimented by a 2002 Echezeaux. We see bill come to diners next to us. Apparently the restaurant can charge your card in whatever currency you want. Couple next door asks for charge in Japanese Yen. Technology.... wow.

One final drink in hotel's famous bar and off to bed, prepared to visit Breakfast in America in only 10 or so hours.

Luna De Miel, Day Seven

Glory be and the saints be praised, the boy is back to normal. Taxi driver points out how sad it is that we are leaving Monaco on the one sunny day they've had in the past week. Automated ticket machine minor disaster - picture clearly indicates direction in which you insert your passport for scanning, and yet, you are supposed to insert in the opposite way. Non-existent security line still takes forever because Australian woman in front of us has clearly never flown on an airplane. Husband and wife are not chumps and again are first on board as they game chaotic system. A smelly, smelly man sits by wife on the plane. Only really bad when he lifts his arms - he tends to do that often though. He expresses to us how happy he is to have made this flight - wife feels like explaining that we are less happy. Arrive at CDG again and walk the obligatory mile to the RER. Efforts to use automated RER ticket machine rather than stand in scary line prove difficult as, once again, our cards don't work. Luckily we've been stockpiling coinage and we have 17 euros in change.

We arrive at the St. Michel station and walk to the hotel along the Seine. Arrive at the Hotel Pont Royal at 4:45pm and are told are room might not be ready. Express disbelief at this possibility - unless they tell us some rock band stayed there the night before... nope... not even then. Room ready and wife has a very SATC moment when she realizes that you can see the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room's little balcony.

We can also see the Musee d'Orsay and the Sacre Coeur (way in the distance).

We find our creperie from our last visit and enjoy chocolate (wife) and nutella (husband) crepes. We walk around St. Germain de Pres and have a drink at the Pub de St. Germain on this little alley way that we remembered from the last time. We hear Oye Como Va for the second time in as many days... could this be the honeymoon theme song? Back to hotel. Wife requests a restaurant where she can get good bouef bourgignon. Concierge reminds wife that it is a winter dish, so not too many good restaurants will have it, but he finds one: Chez Fernand. It's packed full of locals (first good sign). Wife orders only wine on wine list they are out of as is her nature, but second wine suffices. Husband orders delicious truffled goat cheese appetizer, wife orders goat tart. Wife thought goat tart would be served warm. Wife was wrong. Wife thinks tart tastes very good, but can't get over the cold goat part of it. Husband, though he took 6 years of French half a century ago, doesn't remember the word for goat (chevre), so he is utterly aghast when, after taking a bite, wife tells him what it is (she thought he knew). Husband and wife share boeuf bourgignon. Wife literally ladles the sauce like a soup - it's to die for. Wife is in Parisian heaven.