The Legend of Zelda

For Valentines Day, I bought tickets to go see this concert in Paris. It is a concert composed of an orchestra based on the music from the video game franchise: The Legend of Zelda. It was probably Germain's favorite video game every since he was little and the music plays a huge role while playing the game.

With only three stops in Europe, we definitely took advantage of them being in our city.

While the orchestra played music from this beloved game, the back screen would play clips from the games. We were a little far, but this was more of a listening event than a seeing event anyways.

Blurry pictures of the orchestra playing.

Aux 2 Olivier

The other night we met up with some friends to grab dinner. Most of the time, Germain and I will look online before hand and book a restuarant on a specific website. By doing so, it allows us to get a special discount. Sometimes we find really good deals, others it's a miss. This particular place that we went to was just in between. We got a good amount of food for the price, but none of it was amazing. Probably won't go back. But still, it had potential.

Aux 2 Olivier:

Crème brûlée au foie gras chutney de pommes et pain d’épice toasté

A creme brulee foie gras mousse with a side of apple and onion perserves and gingerbread toast. I liked the idea; it was original. However, it was wayyy too sweet for an appetizer and I barely even tasted the foie gras.

Magret de canard purée grand-mère et sa poire au vin

Duck Breast with a side of "grandmother" style mashed potatos and a slice of wine soaked pear. Eh...it wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. The wine sauce, I thought, was a little bitter, but other than that was typical.

On a similiar note, a Vietnamese restaurant opened in the neighborhood. It's not as cheap as NY Chinatown, but it's not too expensive and so far, it's pretty good. Will definitely grab take out a couple more times before we leave Paris.

Last two weeks

I've been super lazy about updating. Frankly, there's not much new going on. So, other than pictures of my apartment, here's my last two weeks in a nutshell.

Pink Magnolias

A raven hunting

I see butts!!

Black swans

Little ducky family

Cherry Blossoms

Pretty

Don't know what these are, but they're pretty

Late blooming Sakura tree

Germain figured I would like this more than flowers, He was right....un Fraiser

Happy May 1st!

During the month of May, the French celebrate several holidays; the first being the 1st of May. It is the equivalent of Labor Day. On this day, people give each other Lily of the Valleys (a type of flower) or Muguets in French. It's suppose to bring good luck.....so....

Happy First of May!

Dinner

The other day we had a deliciousss dinner. Nicolas (the best man from our wedding) is getting married this summer. We're not able to attend the wedding (since it's in the middle of the summer and we purchased our Miami tickets already) so we treated them for dinner when they were in town last weekend.

It was a trendy looking place in Le Marais that we found online. We had a set menu where we had no clue what we were receiving....it was completely up to the chef. The menu included an amuse-bouche, 2 appetizers, a fish entree, a meat entree and 2 desserts! None of them were very big so it ended up being a good amount of food.

The Amuse-Bouche: A small verrine of lentil soup with a slice of toasted bread

This was pretty good. Well seasoned and not too heavy. "Amuse bouche" literally translates to amuse the mouth. So it is a small amount of food to trigger your senses and get your mouth ready for the meal.

Appetizer #1: Rabbit pate with mustard mousse, home baked bread and a slice of peach

I'm a big fan of pate and things like that anyways.....So I definitely enjoyed this dish. The bread was surprising good and not as dry as I expected it to be. The mustard packed a little too much heat for me, but everyone else at the table licked the bowl clean. And the peach, it was probably my favoite part. I don't remember what it was marinated in....

Appetizer #2: Foie gras ravioli with mushroom foam, crispy noodles and alfalfa sprouts

Mmmm this was yummy. As you know, I'm a huge fan of foie gras and mushrooms to begin with. The mushroom foam was not really foamy to me, but more like a soup with a layer of foam on top. It was delish! And the foie gras wrapped in a sheet of pasta was soft and silk which was perfectly balanced by the crunch of the crispy noodles and alfalfa sprouts.

Fish Entree: Salmon wrapped with bacon over a bed of cauliflowers and a pickled vegetables with a side of thai soup

This was probably not my favorite dish of the night, but it was still good. The salmon was cooked to a perfect medium. There was a nutty flavor somewhere in the dish....couldn't really pinpoint it tho. The soup was like a curry soup. It was good, but nothing too special.

Meat Entree: Moussaka with a slice of deep fried rice cake and soy bean salad

This was not your typical moussaka, but it was perfectly seasoned and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It took me a while to figure out what the fried slice was, you can't really tell that it's rice, but anything fried is good. =P

Dessert #1: Baked pear over Philadelphia cheesecake foam, Philadelphia cheesecake icecream over caramelized walnuts and a citrus sauce

I really enjoyed the first two elements....especially the icecream. Cream cheese icecream....it works! However, I'm not a huge fan of citrus desserts (or even adding citrus to entrees, like fish) so I didn't enjoy the last element too much....too sour for me.

Dessert #2: Carrot meringue over a bed of rice pudding and a scope of citrus sorbet

We had to crack the meringue globe before eating so all the different elements could be mixed together. I enjoyed the meringue, surprisingly. And with the rice pudding it worked. However, once again, when I reached the citrus sorbet, it was a little much for me. Still, if you like citrus, it was pretty good.

This place was definitely on the pricier end of a weekly meal out, but it really wasn't that bad! We booked the reservation on a website that gave us a discount so it was 20% off. And it was the early wedding gift to Nicolas and Frederique, so it was worth it (a present where we get to eat too!) We will probably have to treat ourselves to this again before leaving Paris!

Fontainebleau (More pictures!)

The other day we decided to take a break from the craziness of the city and take a mini trip right outside the city. We took the train right outside the city to the castle of Fontainbleau. Kings would go to the castle in the summer to go hunting in the woods. It's a place we've been to already, so we didn't visit inside the castle, but we walked around in the gardens and in the woods. The sky was rainy and gray, but we were lucky....we didn't get rained on, really, while out in the woods.

Enjoy!

In the gardens of the castle

"quak"

Swan taking off

Arch created by the flowers

The castle of Fontainebleau

In the gardens

It's a swan nesting!

In the woods of the Fontainebleau

Even in the woods......haha

Beetle

View over the lake

Le Crillon - un palais

The other night, we were invited to visit the Crillon. It is consider a "palace" or a really fancy, highly ranked, extremely expensive, 5-star hotel. They are selling everything inside and completely remodeling the place. And since Germain and his class of notaraires are future rich people, they were invited to go visit the place and potentially auction on some of the furniture and art pieces. I tagged along =P

I didn't take many pictures, but here is a glimpse of the inside of this palace:

View of the American Embassy from a guest room

Pretty chandelier....in a guest room

Cocktail room

Here are some pictures from the guy who was incharge of taking pictures that night.....just to give you an idea of how the place looks. It's a little much for me, personally, but I can understand why movie stars would want to stay in a place like this. It really resembles a palace in which French kings would live in.

This is the common room in a guest suite! Yes, that's a piano....

One of the bedrooms

In the lounge

This was also in a guest room.....