You know how France takes pride in its bread... well it's totally warranted! The bread was sooo good! I don't know how or why it was so yummy, but yum :) I could have eaten a baguette or two on my own with only butter or cheese LOL. Here are some pictures of the bakery on my last day in France.
Look at the bread! And they don't only sell bread... the croissants and tartelettes!! I'll miss you!
Yum, cheese! I've renewed my love with La Vache qui rit!
Before I went on vacation, I really had the notion in my head that Europe was expensive - things, but also food - and I'm sure I'm not the only one. However, with the exchange rate being so advantageous for North Americans, I thought things were quite affordable... and sometimes, cheap. LOL, yes, cheap! A baguette or a croissant for 0.80€, an almond croissant for 1€?!? I'm going to miss those prices for sure LOL. But in general, when you consider that in Canada, you have to add taxes and at least 15% tips when you eat out and in Europe, taxes and service are included, then it really comes out to be approximately the same. By the way, if you get really good service, you can leave an additional tip - usually 1 or 2€, so it's more symbolic than part of their wages. Also, in my head, I thought the portions would be small... and perhaps it is in really high scale restaurants, but in general, the portions were decent sizes. Not as much as in the US for sure, but definitively enough to fill me up :)
Among the pictures above, two classics: quiche lorraine and the dessert, fromage blanc. I chose fromage blanc because R told us it was classic French. The cheese is actually quite tart, but when you add something sweet to eat like chestnut cream or honey, yum!! So glad I gave this a go :) Of course, another French classic is macaron!! Those above are actually the only ones I had ^_^; I was going to buy some to bring home from La Durée, which I guess is the most well-known macaron place, but I ran out of time. I think one of the reasons I didn't go crazy about them though is because they are becoming increasingly popular in Montreal. Of course, not popular enough to be sold in McDonalds...
Of course, that is not the only sweet we had :)
First time eating out: I had pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes, he had Quiche Lorraine and cheesecake
Dessert: fromage blanc and crème de marrons (chestnut) with some macarons
Among the pictures above, two classics: quiche lorraine and the dessert, fromage blanc. I chose fromage blanc because R told us it was classic French. The cheese is actually quite tart, but when you add something sweet to eat like chestnut cream or honey, yum!! So glad I gave this a go :) Of course, another French classic is macaron!! Those above are actually the only ones I had ^_^; I was going to buy some to bring home from La Durée, which I guess is the most well-known macaron place, but I ran out of time. I think one of the reasons I didn't go crazy about them though is because they are becoming increasingly popular in Montreal. Of course, not popular enough to be sold in McDonalds...
Macarons
Of course, that is not the only sweet we had :)
Ice cream... I confirmed that I'm not a fan of Chantilly cream, too bland
Kouignettes are a specialty of Bretagne basically consisting of butter and sugar - a bit hard ^_^;
Caramels are the new thing! And of course, I had to drink at least one hot chocolate in a café!
We also ate Vietnamese food - of course - and Greek!
Drinking coconut juice with pulp - love it! Stir-fried beef with rice noodles... Give me a doner!
What surprised me most though is that D and R ate vegetables! LOL. I'm so used to guys being such carnivore, meat-loving! But to see R eating the quiche lorraine above or D bringing us to eat salads... Mind-boggling LOL. I don't know if it's typical of French guys are just them though...
Salad and bread - yum!
Then, we headed to Germany :) German food is good, but the cuisine is definitively not as sophisticated LOL. It'd say it's more hearthy - lots of sausages, pork and potatoes.
First meal: sausage and potatoe salad with mustard, pickle and tomatoe :)
At the restaurant: salmon with salad - soya sauce and wasabi; pork with corn - mango chutney
Some homemade food we've had...
Macaroni and cheese casserole and almond cookies
Some drinks that we do not have at home...
Okay, so we do have Coca Cola LOL. But the reason I put the two pictures above is, well in the first picture, it was 0.5L of Coca Cola!! Holy sh*t! was my reaction when they gave me the glass LOL. Something that I find cool in Germany is that for drinks in the menus at restaurant, they will always indicate how much you get: 0.2L or 0.33L or 0.4L, etc. And all the glasses have a mark with the volume and they have to fill it up to that mark. Cool right?
Something I learnt about my dad during the trip is that he's a fan of cheesecake! That's news to me because he never eats a lot of sweet at home. When we went to visit his foster mother, she made him one because he likes them so much... but that wasn't his only cheesecake LOL!
Mrs E.'s cheesecake; my aunt bought him one for his birthday!
His friend's wife made one too because she knows he likes them! And he had a piece at a restaurant LOL
However, I wouldn't say cheesecake is a German specialty LOL. Instead, they have...
Pretzels; sausages
Schnitzel and french fries; Maultaschen
Goulash with spätzle (their kind of noodle); Curry-wurst
They're also very big on...
Cold meats - this was breakfast!!
Something that my dad absolutely wanted to eat in Saarbrücken were sandwiches with salmon in it. A nice remember of his university days... and I swear to you, he told us about those sandwiches at least 5 times LOL. Apparently that store, Nordsee, has been there for decades! However, when we came by, they had ran out of sandwiches... Luckily, we found some at another store. We were so full, but my dad still got two LOL. Definitively made his day - good thing too since it was his birthday!
Salmon sandwiches - yum!
Some other meals we had...
One of the most memorable meal we had was in Strasbourg :)
I decided to eat light: onion soup and goat cheese salad
My sister had schnitzel and french fries again while my aunt went for braised ham and sauerkraut
My parents went for the kill LOL. I know there's a jambonneau and sausages, potatoes and sauerkraut
And BBQ is the same in Europe, but on a smaller scale LOL.
Oh and I thought you would enjoyed these pictures. In Stuttgart, we went to Markthalle which is a bit similar to Quincy Market in Boston.
Beautiful isn't it?
Can't talk of Germany without talking about their condiments LOL. So mustard comes in tube, very similar to toothpaste... but it's not the only thing. The first picture below is a tube of ketchup/mayonnaise and they're intertwined! No idea how they do that and how it can be maintained in the tube, but it's so cool! LOL. The second picture, well that was just too funny LOL.
And at one point, my sister started craving chips. In Canada, we have ketchup chips... but we're not the only one having weird flavors LOL.
Cheeseburger! Roast chicken with thyme! Bolognese! Now tell me that ketchup chips is weird LOL...
My sister wisely decided to stick with Nature chips LOL.
What will I miss the most from Europe though?
GELATO ICE CREAM!!!
Gelato ice cream is just soooo yummy LOL. I love it. If you've never had it, well the different is really in the texture. Gelato is smoother and denser. I also like the flavors better because most of the time, it's more natural since it's usually made from fresh fruits purees or nuts pastes. In any case, my sister and I had it as often as our bellies would permit LOL. So funny because in so many occasions, my sister would scope out the stores with the best prices... but we'd be too full to have any! No! And seriously, the prices were really good - usually about 0.70€ per scoop! I wish it was this cheap and generous here, sigh.
And there you have it, food from Europe!! :) Are you hungry now?
