Category — Travel To Go

No, I’m not lunching in Paris today (I will be soon!) but that’s the fab title of a new memoir by an American woman who has fallen in love with Paris…and a Frenchman…and French cooking.

Mark your calendar if you are in NYC on April 7 – Elizabeth Bard will be  at Barnes and Nobles to discuss her new book, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes.

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The past couple months I’ve shared some of my favorite shopping destinations in Delray Beach; here’s where we like to eat in Delray, and why:

• Lemongrass Asian Bistro: 561.278.5050, 420 E Atlantic Avenue
  • Lobster Monster
  • Holy Snapper

  

• Kilwin’s: 561. 278.0808, 402 E Atlantic Avenue
  • churned ice creams
  • fudge
  • pecan turtle apples

  

• Vic and Angelo’s Enoteca: 561. 278.9570, 290 E Atlantic Avenue
  • pizza
  • grouper sandwiches

  

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…it was time to move in…

TBG, Mignette and I flew to Florida on a cold November morning to close on our new condo, and a couple days later, accept delivery of our scarily huge shipment of household soup-to-nuts that had been in storage up North for over 6 years. We brought a couple suitcases of summer clothes, and purchased a blow-up mattress to use until our shipment arrived. We had 10 days vacation to get organized and settled, before we had to return to Europe. As we landed at the Palm Beach airport, we waited at the baggage carousel for our new life to begin.

And waited, and waited. Moi bag did not arrive. As we prepared to head over to the claims department and try and track down my missing suitcase, TBG suddently realized he knew where the bag was: in the trunk of our car, parked at LaGuardia airport in New York City. Most of the bags had fit into our back seat, but my extra-large suitcase was stuffed into the trunk. Mignette was my carry-on. I had not one item of clothing, nor cosmetics, no books: nothing. (But TBG had both his carry-on and his suitcase, and his briefcase; even Mignette had everything she needed for the next 48 hours). Dilmena.

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You keep asking: why Delray Beach? And so I’ll tell you…

Without question one of Moi favorite getaway spots is Delray Beach, Florida. A charming little coastal village on the Atlantic shore, halfway between Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Delray attracts a wide range of visitors from the decidedly seniors-trying-to-be-forever-young to families with young children to singles looking for a hotspot north of South Beach.

This is my SoFlo for the past 6 years. While living in Europe TBG and I decided we needed a US home-base, and we Northerners decided it should be Florida, with easy international access through Miami (though my personal experiences with MIA ranks it one of the world’s worst airports), and easy connections to the rest of the US. For nearly a decade one of us had a business trip to Florida in February, most frequently Naples or Palm Beach. We had been to Disney too many times and wanted nothing to do with Orlando. My brother and his family lived near Daytona. Puppy friendly, golf, sunshine, water and year-round warm weather were the requirements. [Read more →]

I just got a tip from Moi fave pilates studio, Pilates Shop/Yoga Garage, that they’re being featured on Groupon. This is the 2nd time in 24 hours I’ve heard of Groupon: my daughter just told me I have to sign-up in NYC, she’s a member in Chicago. So, I decided to check it out. And am I glad I did!

Groupon describes itself as: collective buying power:

1. Each day we feature something cool to do at an unbeatable price.
2. You only get it if enough people join that day… so invite your friends!
3. Check back the next day for another awesome Groupon!

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Forget the t-shirt: I’ve discovered the perfect souvenir gift: small, inexpensive, and comes in all sizes and colors: Socks!

A recent weekend in Vermont yielded these adorable moose themed sockies for my favorite 2 year old niece and nephew. I even bought a pair in xlarge for one of our fave guy friends celebrating his 56th!

My trip to Holland found me wearing these hot pink delft socks

Guests visiting me in NYC love to take home these subway map patterned socks

One of my favorite gift shops is Little Miss Matched, where I can find colorful, mismatched 3-to-a-pair socks for kids of every age: and even little coin purses made out of socks

A perfect baby shower gift is this adorable boxed set of Trumpettes

And of course, what would a Notre Dame fan do without a pair of Go Irish socks

Who Knew? Sock it to me!

I grew up in the suburbs. Chicken comes cut up and wrapped in plastic; and eggs are white, and packed by the dozen in cartons.

Brown eggs? Gross! Clearly diseased.

Or so I thought. When we moved to Paris, one of my big adjustments was that all the eggs were brown. With big orange yolks. And not refrigerated.  All of them. At the marchés and the grocery stores. Hmmm….who knew? And often times they were fresh from the chicken: meaning unwashed. Gross. But, over the years, this became normal. I even spent one frantic day with bff J searching all over Paris to find a few white eggs that we could color for her childrens’ Easter baskets: yes, we finally found 6.  They were expensive.

Moi tip: I was attending a cooking class in Paris with a group of other American expats. We were separating eggs for the recipe, and bien sur, someone broke the yolk. Naturally, l’Américaine dipped her eggshell into the bowl to scoop out the yolk. Le Chef was horrified! These were typical unwashed fresh eggshells: covered with nasty chicken poop (sorry!) We Americans are used to the sanitized eggs we buy at the supermarket, the shells are white and sparkly clean. We were immediately instructed to discard the now ruined bowl of eggs. And in the future, remove yellow bits with a spoon. Good to know.

Now that I’m back in the US, do I buy white eggs at the grocery? Mais non! TBG and I buy our eggs from Knoll Crest Farm at the bi-weekly Greenmarket on Broadway outside Columbia University. And of course, they’re brown eggs (but lightly washed, we’re assured). And they have the bright orange yolks, just like we had in Paris.

The incredible, edible egg!

When we lived in Copenhagen, we became fans of ebelskiver: little Danish puffed pancakes, filled with fruit (typically apples, since the Danish word for apple slices is æbleskiver) and sold at streetstands and in many bakeries and cafes. Freshly made in the home to celebrate Christmas, and sold frozen in the grocery stores for easy treats year-round, we quickly became addicts! Our return to the US had us scouring the internet to find the ebelskiver pan, a skillet with seven round indentations for cooking these little puffs on top of the stove. hint: ebelskivers look a lot like Dunkin Donut munchkins!

Now just a few years later, the ebelskiver pan is sold at most cooking stores, and has been featured on many TV cooking shows like Rachel Ray. These shows added very American touches: the ebelskiver were filled not only with fruit, but with chocolate, cheeses, sauces and spices. I even upgraded my cast iron skillet for a lighter, non-stick pan from Bed Bath and Beyond, and now have a 2nd pan from Williams-Sonoma!

The challenge was learning how to make and cook ebelskivers. Naturally, I first turned to the internet. There are many complicated recipes out there, involving beaten egg whites, whisked yolks, buttermilk and sour cream, and lots of utensils. Then, to make the filling: chopping, sauteing, and spicing fruits. Delicious, but a lot of work! Williams-Sonoma recently started selling an ebelskiver mix, which cut down on the work, but still involved beating egg whites and whisking yolks.

Moi tip: WS even has a cookbook full of sweet and savory ebelskiver recipes!

Recently I simplified things and experimented with using buttermilk pancake mix: voila! It worked fine. The batter was light and fluffy, I was able to use it just as I used my home-made recipe, and they turned out great! Which is better: I think the homemade. Which will I make? The ebelskivers from the mix: its just so much easier and faster when I’m whipping up a batch for family or guests for Sunday brunch. Usually I just fill them with purchased jams, preserves, or chocolate sauces, followed by a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Or if I’m making savory, a bit of jarred pesto or pasta sauce and a bit of feta cheese are yummy.

Moi tip: Ebelskiver need to be turned over so they can cook on both sides. The TV shows and cooking stores make this seem alot more complicated than it is: they sell special utensils that look like chopsticks, that involve using both hands. Forget it! I just flip them over by sliding a spoon underneath the cooked side, and quickly flipping them over. I’ve also used my wooden toast tongs, which at least uses only 1 hand, but the spoon works really well!

Ebelskiver are very similar to poffertjes, little Dutch puffed pancakes. Poffertjes are not filled, and are served with different fresh fruit toppings, I like them with strawberries and whipped cream.

We’ve been hiking, Xcountry skiing, and snowshoeing a long time, all over the Northeast and Midwest US, and Europe and Scandinavia. Our winter sports bin is pretty complete: even though we hadn’t opened it for several years and several international and cross-country moves (due to all those moves plus TBG’s surgery marathon), we prepped for last weekend’s hiking, skiing, snowshoeing trip pretty quickly.

However, things have changed and we need to add a few items to our winter weekend packing list:

• studded snow tires for your feet: STABILicers Lite, $24.99 pair. These rubber thong booties slip on over your shoes or boots – they stretch, so even over your UGGS – and make walking on slippery ice safe and easy

• gluhwein bags to spice up our hot wine for the all-important après ski. My Berlin bff The Antiques Diva doesn’t ski, but she is an après ski connoisseur. Hot spiced wine is a must
• paper soap: Tampa bff T gifted Moi with two of these nifty little palm-sized packaged sheets of soap, perfect for your carry-on luggage: not liquid, weighs nothing. T bought mine at Pier 1, in lovely scents peppermint and pink grapefruit

• a pedometer. We know how long it takes us to raquette (snowshoe) up the mountain, but we don’t know how far we’ve gone. We want bragging rights!
• flask for taking away the chills as we hike: we have several, but they’re all stored with the fall football tailgating gear
• TBG’s heart monitor, so he knows what’s going on

Moi tip: keep a pair of the STABILicers rubber boot studs in your back seat all winter long so you can safely walk thru icy parking lots and slippery sidewalks. Sorry…I don’t think they’ll work with stilettos!

TBG tried. He really did. He meant well. He really did. But he blew it. He really did.

For a romantic Valentines Day / holiday weekend, TBG booked us at a charming farmhouse lodge in Vermont for 5 nights of relaxation, and days of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the Green Mountain Forest.

Except TBG forgot to read the fine print:

• no tv. fyi: we have 3 DVRs in our 4 room NYC apartment
• no cell phone reception
• no internet
• full-size bed: TBG was a college 230lb middle linebacker: Moi and Mignette are sleeping in shifts

Does he know who he’s married to? Not to mention, he was planning to do alot of school work, and for that he needs an internet connection.

I am a TV/internet addict, but I’m not totally dependent. If this was 3 days, 2 nights, no problem. Or if we were away on a desert island or Paris or Buenos Airies, we’d be happy and busy: we went to Thailand for 3 weeks and never saw a TV or computer. But TBG’s plan was an hour or 2 a day skiing or hiking – the most he can do since his recent 6 knee surgeries and quintuple bypass – and the rest of the days in the farmhouse, me reading, watching TV or relaxing, him in front of his laptop pounding out papers and researching articles. Fortunately I was warned: TBG gave me a printout of the confirmation email with driving instructions, and I immediately honed in on: cell phone coverage ends before you reach the lodge. So I had TBG email and find out what else wouldn’t be available.

No worries, there’s a cafe with wifi only 5 miles away.

Moi Note: Quelle surprise, I threw money at the problem. Thank you iTunes: we are watching episodes of 24, Damages and The Deep End that I missed while I was in India and downloaded to my laptop before we left : which I hadn’t planned to bring.  When TBG had his surgeries, I bought him The Godfather DVD collection, which we’d never seen. Finally have time to watch that. Packed another surgery gift, Star Wars Trilogy for TBG. Plus my Kindle is fully loaded. And it is a charming, rustic loft with a working fireplace and cathedral ceilings. And electricity.

Good thing TBG’s cute! btw, it is a fabulous, romantic getaway.

ps: I’m writing this post in our home away from home, Seasoned Books aka Sandy’s in Rochester. I have to type fast. They close at 6pm.