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Post by lola on Jul 29, 2009 2:04:41 GMT
Nutella heaven!
I always wanted to just try a tiny bite of fois gras when in France, to see if I liked it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 2:50:20 GMT
Good to hear you did take the time as I would have as well, to relax and savor the local cuisine,your digs, and of course,time with your family. I too,love driving on country roads whereas I normally hate driving under any other circumstances. I learned how to drive on back country roads and seldom have the opportunity to do it very often. The supermarket experience sounded interesting. I would have had to be dragged away from the bakery. The cheese pictures I was a little taken aback by all the packaging. Somehow, I expected less of that there.But then, it was a supermarket,not a gourmet cheese shop. The foie gras at that price! Please pray tell,what is Nutella? Thanks for this imec. You're a prince of traveloguers(?) P.S. I am shy about photographing in public too
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Post by imec on Jul 29, 2009 3:11:47 GMT
As I said, the kids took the pictures - there were two cheese sections, the one with all the packaged, mostly pasteurized (but many still very good) cheeses and the one where you had to ask for the cheese to be cut.
Nutella is an Italian (I believe) hazelnut (I think with a bit of chocolate too) spread. My daughter is nuts about it - and actually it was very good on croissants. Apparently the European version is less sweet than the North American version and favored by many.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 3:43:38 GMT
Something I probably don't need to go looking for as it sounds divine.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 4:27:23 GMT
Your kids take excellent pictures, imec. The pastries in the baby seat of the cart are called "réligieuses" -- nuns.
Yes, Nutella is indeed of Italian origin, but I think that France eats the most of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 4:29:50 GMT
Oh, and the little puff pastries are chouquettes. They would be sort of considered the French equivalent of donut holes, but obviously they are quite different.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 29, 2009 11:38:04 GMT
No broad beans (fava beans) in Winnipeg? They are a popular summer food in Québec - we call them "gourganes". Perhaps they'd have them in St-Boniface.
We also have a government alcohol monopoly, but there is wine (as well as beer and cider) in supermarkets and corner shops called "dépanneurs". Beer and cider were always sold in shops; think wine was added in the 1970s. Unfortunately, it is only plonk - appellation contrôlée wines can only be sold in the government shops!
A couple of years ago I was staying at a "village vacances familles" in the Auvergne and the supermarket on the edge of a town smaller than Gaillac was also very well stocked indeed.
I very much approve of slow travel. Most people try to see too much. You did get to the bastide visible from your rental property, I assume?
Imec, I hope this encourages your kids in their French studies - if they can become fluent in French that will also be a help with other Latin languages and be an advantage in travel and perhaps even professionally. (For non-Canadians, all Canadian kids have to learn the opposite official language, but most don't become fluent, of course).
I'd encourage young people nowadays to learn at least one non-European language as well, but that is off-topic.
This REALLY makes me want to get back to the south of France.
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Post by bjd on Jul 29, 2009 11:43:02 GMT
Awww, Imec -- why didn't you take a picture of the cheese counter where you ask for stuff, rather than the packages? If you smile at the clerks, they often offer a sample.
I confess I feel a bit like "Imec at the cheese counter" at coldcut displays in Germany. I rarely eat French coldcuts but always buy lots in Canada (in the right shops, of course) or in Germany.
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Post by imec on Jul 29, 2009 12:18:43 GMT
kerouac, thanks, right on both accounts of course.
lagatta, we actually have about 7 private wine stores in Winnipeg, 2 of which are "Specialty Food and Wine Stores". But the licenses are restricted (they've only been offered by competition twice) so there will be no new ones in the foreseeable future. The bastide visible from the house is Caslelnau de Montmiral (see Part 2). We will visit another in Part 4. The kids are in French Immersion school so they actually learn all subjects (except English of course) in French. My daughter (14) is pretty fluent at this point - but she was a bit self conscious as the language is in fact a bit different - subtle, but enough to cause many french to ask her to repeat herself (although this is partly because she wasn't speaking loud).
bjd, I didn't even take the pics in the aisles - maybe next time I'll pluck up the courage. I actually really liked the cold meats counter - all the pates, hams etc. Also had some nice savoury pastries from that counter.
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Post by lola on Jul 29, 2009 14:25:46 GMT
casi, try nutella crepes sometime.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 17:19:27 GMT
Imec, I will be 'doing a hypermarket' either this weekend or the next and I'll try to get some of the photos that you missed. Even after all these years, I remain impressed by most hypermarkets.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 17:33:29 GMT
The term "hypermarket", is this a colloquial term or your own K2? I quite like it versus the dull sounding supermarket.
I will NOT go in search of Nutella,Ms. Lola, I will NOT.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 17:51:09 GMT
In France the 'Wal-Mart Superstore' type places have the generic name 'hypermarché' as opposed to 'supermarché'.
Actually, Schwegmann's in Gentilly, LA was the first hypermarket I ever saw. We drove there every month, particularly since my parents couldn't buy alcohol in Mississippi at the time.
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Post by lola on Jul 29, 2009 17:58:23 GMT
Casi, I feel the same way about foie gras, probably. Don't need another thing without which life is incomplete. I have also resisted developing a taste for oysters on half shell, caviar, late nights at the baccarat table, cocaine.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 18:01:03 GMT
But cocaine is wonderful!
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 29, 2009 20:46:28 GMT
Sorry K2 but Italy does have an enormous passion for Nutella. It is everywhere!!! When you get your morning breakfast bread, whatever kind there are piles of small nutella packets with some of the jam packets. In every food store we went in to buy groceries for the apartments there were piles of Nutella in quart (metric??) jars.
Someone said it is hazelnuts with some chocolate, it is chocolate with some hazelnuts and I am mad for it.!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 20:52:29 GMT
This is the 3kg jar.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 20:54:08 GMT
(There are also 5kg jars.)
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 29, 2009 20:58:29 GMT
Imec:
Your report and pictures are wonderful and even though you drank rose with the foie gras, thats ok. Kirk and I prefer Sauternes, but we try to find ones that are on the less sweet side. There is one that we have found that is wonderful and I will look for the bottle on our wine cellar list and let you know which one it is.
You have made me even more anxious for our trip; 46 days and counting!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 22:05:19 GMT
That's it! I'm going to go out looking for this Nutella tomorrow,will report back on this.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 22:13:15 GMT
I think that Nutella is hiding in specialty shops just about everywhere in the world. Beware the price, however.
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Post by Jazz on Jul 31, 2009 4:00:31 GMT
Masochist that I am, I have just reread your trip report to date. Again. Being in supermarkets and food shops is a hobby of mine, even here in Toronto. In France, I can spend hours and hours in them. Your children took some great photos and they bring back clear and sensual memories...especially the foie gras shelves and the wine. Oh my god, the wine. One late night I was in Paris, little was open for shopping but a Monoprix on des Champs-Elysees and so I dropped in, my virgin Monoprix. The second of the three floors was almost entirely devoted to wine and was larger than most of the liquor stores in Ontario! Then, like you, I came to understand the phrase 'top shelf'. It was fascinating. Your photo reminds me of this. We are ruled with an iron hand in Ontario re: liquor (the Liquor Control Board of Ontario) but we do have a few small private outlets...very few. The cheese photos made me think of cheeses I have known and loved there...not the packaged ones, although some of them are very tasty. The cheeses, meats, seafoods, vegetables that I saw in France were all so beautiful to look at and worthy of photos. They could be paintings. The eating, superbe! Which takes me to your next two beautiful photos...the foie gras, lapis blue tiles and a glass of wine. Then, the cooked foie gras. Wonderful. For me, that is one of my perfect meals, foie gras, a fresh green salad, tasty bread and wine. The pastry you mentioned, the 'religieuse' is one of my special treats. Nutella is not exotic in Toronto and I have only to walk to the corner to indulge myself. I share your family's love of slow travel. Never rush me. For me, it is quality vs. quantity and the 'who knows'? I like to leave myself open to possibility. I am enjoying your report very much, Imec and I hope that you will continue on....I am very much waiting to hear about how you felt about Paris. You have inspired me and one day I will write about my week in Provence and one of my months in Paris. Here is where I stayed in Provence, in ' Sunflower'...I loved it and I have some good photos. Their whole site is beautiful to explore. www.lamagnanerie.com/index.htm
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gyllenhaalic
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Post by gyllenhaalic on Jul 31, 2009 11:28:09 GMT
Imec: Your report and pictures are wonderful and even though you drank rose with the foie gras, thats ok. Kirk and I prefer Sauternes, but we try to find ones that are on the less sweet side. There is one that we have found that is wonderful and I will look for the bottle on our wine cellar list and let you know which one it is. You have made me even more anxious for our trip; 46 days and counting!!!!! Traveler, I, too, am counting the days until I leave for Paris on September 14. Where are you going around the same time, might I ask?
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Post by lagatta on Jul 31, 2009 12:56:49 GMT
Your rental looks lovely, Jazz. Must have been a bit of a walk UP the hill to the hamlet, laden down with bottles of wine groceries, no, though? But I guess that is how we can walk off all that great food, eh?
Is it possible to get to the village without a car?
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Post by imec on Jul 31, 2009 13:02:51 GMT
Sunflower looks beautiful Jazz! I will continue with the report - some parts will be more pictures than text, and I won't do a whole part for every day. What's taking a lot of time (and angst) is sorting through and selecting only a reasonable number of images (not that they're all great - I'm just indecisive when it comes to that). Trying to get some pics of Cordes-du-Ciel posted next.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2009 16:55:51 GMT
You can start new threads with new themes -- that way they won't get lost in the shuffle here.
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Post by imec on Aug 1, 2009 15:43:20 GMT
For Part 4, please see "Cordes-du-Ciel" in the "Europe" section.
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Post by traveler63 on Aug 2, 2009 2:04:26 GMT
gyllenhaalic:
We are leaving 16th September arriving in Paris on the 17th. We have rented an apartment near the Opera for almost a month and we will spend some day trips. We plan on Versaille, train to Champagne district, possibly an overnight to Bruge. We have a good friend in the wine business in Bordeaux so we might go there, but for the most part we will be in Paris. This is our third time and we are going to just hang out and see what each day brings for us. Kirk, my husband has a XSI Canon with a couple of lens so we will just be walking around looking for phot ops and drinking in the whole city. We will be returning to the U. S. October 15th.
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