We are back in wet Normandie, thankfully, the cold snap we escaped a few weeks ago is over and temps are in the 50sF (10sC), so, other than the rain, it is feeling a bit like spring – Snowdrop flowers have even come up. In some cultures February is considered the first month of Spring, I agree.
We were in Peñiscola during the Festival of St. Anthony. On the closing weekend of the festival they spread sand on the main route through the castle area where we were staying. Then on Saturday there was a procession of horses and horse-drawn carts. Sunday morning we went to church at Santa Maria de Peñiscola. We exited the church and discovered a crowed lined up for a second procession of horses and carts. I am not sure of the significance of the horses but it was quite a thing to see.
We discovered that most all of the restaurants are quite similar in their offerings: paella, grilled fish, shellfish, etc. There was though quite a variety in quality, seasoning, service, and ambience. Towards the end of our stay we discovered a place so good, and a bit different, that we went there twice: Porto Rico. On our first visit we ordered too much, but we ate it all, I was sated, and then some.
On our second visit we shared croquets again as an entree, then for my main I had grilled Iberian pork marinated in spiced red wine, c’était superbe.
We only had one meal that was disappointing, and it was all our own fault for picking the place. The host was working too hard to fill the tables and the menues were quite tattered, which should always be a dead giveaway to avoid a place. Other than that the food, service, and amazing views made Peñiscola dinning a pleasure.
We have been eating well these last couple of weeks. We started off in Paris, where we met up with some friends before heading off to Spain.
A couple of the meals stand out. It doesn’t get much better than falling-off-the-bone braised lamb with sauerkraut.
Then there was this amazing meal. Three kinds of grilled fish, a shrimp, and mussels – served over sliced potatoes with a cream sauce. This one was memorable for sure.
In Spain, and particularly when near the Mediterranean, seafood is ubiquitous, with of course Iberian ham and chorizo just for good measure.
For our first meal here we went to the Taverna just next door. We shared patatas bravas and grilled veggies. I had flaming chorizo.
The next day I had grilled sardines and we shared a seafood paella.
And of course another paella on another day – both were perfect.
Yesterday, I had one of my favorites in this part of the world, grilled octopus, with patas bravas, at the taverna next door.
Add in plenty of green olives, a sip of cava, along with some spectacular views and you have the perfect place for a couple of foodies like us.
I hope your travels and meals are delicious, we are constantly reminded that the best seasoning is the people you are eating with, so gather a friend or two and eat, it just doesn’t get better than that.
On Tuesday of last week we picked up a rental car and headed north to La Conner, WA. It is a picturesque town at the mouth of the Swinomish River. A perfect place to spend our 36th anniversary.
We have been to La Conner many times over the years so it holds a lot of good memories. Some of the best memories are of when we took my mother there almost every year for her birthday, she loved it there.
We ate lunch at Nell Thorn Waterfont Bistro & Bar since our favorite place, The Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive was closed that day. It was a good time for sure. We stayed at the Channel Lodge in a room with overstuffed chairs, a gas fireplace and a view of the channel.
Wednesday we headed south toward Mukilteo, stopping first in Mount Vernon for a nice lunch with my sister and brother-in-law. It was good to get caught up.
Two of our best friends live in Mukilteo, if you follow my blog you have met them already since we joined them in October in Provence. Shirley goes all out on Christmas decorations. We were greeted with this amazing tree, which Tricia, of course, took a photo of. (Her last blog was all about trees, including this one.) They think it has 1200 lights, I can’t even imagine doing that, but it sure is beautiful.
If I had a patron of my art it would be Jim and Shirley, they have so many framed pieces of my art, even postcards that I have sent. Their home has hundreds of wonderful pieces of artwork, some quite interesting. I am not sure I want to know the story behind this one, but am honored to have my art shown in such a creative space.
They invited friends over for a couple of holiday get-togethers, Shirley put out quite a spread. Since they love France there was of course croissant.
Saturday we drove back up north for our postponed anniversary lunch at The Oyster Bar, and it did not disappoint, bien sûr. After a few oysters we shared an entree of smoked sablefish (black cod) on marinated beet with pumpkin seeds. It reminded me that the reason I detested beets for most of my life was not the fault of God creating them, nor of the poor beet itself, it was just poor preparation. This was so good.
I had the plat du jour, petrel sole roasted on a cedar plank.
After our leisurely repast we drove south to Ballard where we are staying with Tricia’s sister. Yesterday we helped out with our nephew’s birthday party at the Lynnwood Swimming pool. Oh my! A room full of eight year old boys sure do have a lot of energy.
Thanks Tricia for the photos
We have had a great time so far. We are so grateful for the folks that have taken us in and put us up. But most of all we have relished the conversations. Tomorrow we are off to San Diego for a couple of days, we have a new, well new to us, grandnephew to meet, should be fun.
When traveling we seek out good food, it is one of the most important things for us. I would rather find a good restaurant than visit most museums. Back home food continues to be a priority. We focus on vegetarian meals and seafood. Thankfully we can eat quite well here at La Thebauderie and our surrounding area. Here are a few of our meals since we returned from Norway.
Three dishes stand out as the best over the last couple of weeks. Tricia and I like to cook just as much as we like to eat, so two of the best meals were here at chez nous.
Le meilleur was the scallops that Tricia made last Sunday. Her scallops are alway très délicieux, but this time she outdid herself by creating a lemon butter sauce that is easily one of the best sauces I have ever had. She served them along with sautéed cauliflower and green beans.
Last Monday, I made a lunch of grilled anchovies and vegetables – I would have shared it with Tricia but she is not a fan of some of my grilled fish. Here in Europe canned fish are gourmet quality and considered a delight, unlike the reception they often receive in the US. These anchovies came from Brittany, don’t confuse them with the wonderful salty kind you find on a pizza, these are small whole fish.
We went to Le-Bistrot-Saint-Julien, the first restaurant we went to when we moved here in 2022, and it is still one of our favorites. It is located just a block a way from the chateau in the medieval part of Domfront. The menu-du-jour is usually my choice, this day we both chose it.
The entrée was goat cheese wrapped in a crispy thin dough and a salad.
The main was black cod and risotto, it was so good. Thankfully in France using a bit a bread to sop up the sauce on the plate is c’est normal.
We do like to eat, some of our best memories include food and friends. Tricia had a sign when we lived in Mukilteo, “If you love people cook them good food” – I think that was it. And if you don’t do the cooking then find good places to eat together.
In the movie The Big Chill, Jeff Goldblum’s character says: “Don’t knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations.” Thankfully when it comes to food I excel at rationalization.
Beef would be far easier for me to give up than fish and seafood. Well of course “meat in tube form” (a nod to Anthony Bourdain) and steak tartar are completely rational exceptions.
Steak tartar is one of the foods that I eat more frequently than I did in pre-France days. Steak tartar is made of finely chopped raw beef, often seasoned with herbs, or in France mustard. Apparently Brits are not big fans of steak tartar since I have often had servers, assuming I am a Brit, ask me if I know what steak tartar is, but this expat does like steak tartar.
One of the best steak tartars I have ever had was at Restaurant le Cerasus in Saint Savin in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. It had a lot of mustard, which in France is always Dijon, and it was served with frites, bien sûr.
Thanks Tricia for the photo.
Here are a few others, some better than others.
Another best – Basel, SwitzerlandOK, not greatGood one, can’t remember whereNot great
Grilled fish, often whole, are another of my new favorites. This Flounder in Bergen was the first time I had flounder, I am now watching for it on menues.
A waiter in Quarteira, Portugal gave me some lessons on using the fish knives they provide and showed me the technique of separating the flesh from the bones after I ordered these grilled sardines. For those in the US who only think of canned sardines, these will make you reconsider. Grilled sardines are another of my favorites.
There are plenty of other options when it comes to grilled seafood.
Octopus in HonfleurTrout in BergenIn Alta, Norway
Coming from Puget Sound we are of course familiar with oysters, but for some reason since moving to France, and all of the traveling we do, oysters are on our table far more often, and they are far more affordable here.
I have heard the term “pescatarian” used to describe someone who eats seafood and an otherwise vegetarian diet. It describes me pretty well as long as you can accept my occasional rationalizations. Let’s not talk about shortbread cookies and Scotch, OK.
After five days in Arles I can confidently say that the food here does not disappoint. Well, except for the one time I ordered a small steak cooked saignant, which in the US would be considered bloody rare, thus the name. As is common here, once they hear my accent, she said, in English, “medium”, I replied, “non, saignant”. It came with just a touch of pink, medium-rare at best by US standards. Thanks to the multitude of folks here from the UK, who tend to like their meat cooked well done, the restaurants often try to compensate, c’est la France.
Our first meal was at Bistrot de Pitchounet, located in a restaurant filled square in the heart of old town.
I chatted with the lady in the photo, not only does she work there, but her father is the owner. All of the staff were wonderful, and the food was just as good. I started with a bit of smoked herring, so different than the smoked herring in Norway. This had a much stronger smoke flavor and I liked it better than what I had in Tromsø a few months ago.
My main was tuna steak, just lightly seared, bien sûr.
Saturday we ate at Gaudina, a small place on a narrow street with service and amazing food. For my entree I had roasted eggplant with olive oil, almonds, tomatoes, and parsley.
My main was grilled octopus. As I have said before octopus must be prepared perfectly or it ends up rubbery, when done right the outside is charred a bit and the inside is moist, this was perfect. The sauce had a bit of spice and it was served on the black rice that is ubiquitous to this region. I have no idea what the crispy, golden accompaniment was, but it was delightful.
Yesterday I had a wonderful wood fired pizza at Bistro Arlésien. How can you go wrong with a wood fired pizza? They are one of my all time favorites. This one had ham, anchovies, olives, onions, and cheese with a light tomato sauce. I don’t think anyplace in Naples could do better.
Today, we went back to Le Pitchounet, this time I was able to chat a bit with Nikola, the lady in the photo. We started with oysters, the third time this week we have had them. One of the servers told us about the part of the oyster that they call “the foot”. It is the dime-sized, round disk that is usually left connected to the shell after the rest of the oyster is eaten. I have never thought about eating it. He cut it out with a knife so I could taste it. His description was that it was like a sea scallop, and he was right. Why have I never heard of this? We lived and ate oysters for years in one of the top oyster regions of the world, Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Well now we know.
For my main I had a tartare of tuna and salmon. It was interesting that they brought me a bottle of Tabasco, which did in fact work quite well.
Eating is one of the main reasons we travel. This week the food in Arles has resulted in a totally enjoyable time. The Roman remains, sights of Vincent Van Gogh, and a huge market day are just icing on the cake – well, ok, the olive oil on everything, we don’t eat much cake.
Last Friday, 18 August, was my birthday – don’t even think of asking how old. We planned a trip to Honfleur. This was a dual-purposed journey – celebrate another trip around the sun and a dentist appointment in neighboring La Havre. Before you send sympathy comments regarding a dentist visit and joyeux anniversaire, remember that we are foodies and teeth are tools of the trade, so it was all good.
The dentist was on Monday, just before we drove home. Our dentist spoke some English, and we some French, so it went quite well. We both really like her. The dental office and procedure was similar, yet different, than in the US – it seemed more casual, which I liked. She repaired a filling of mine, part of which fell out while we were in Reykjavik. No anesthetic was needed. Now to the important stuff.
Honfleur is a port town on the mouth of the Seine. The heart of the city is built around a small harbor. It is a city for food folks, especially if you like seafood as much as we do.
Friday we ate lunch, our main meal of the day, at Restaurant Le Sainte Catherine. Tricia, ever alert for things I like, spotted grilled sardines on the chalkboard, so the search was over. Sitting at a table next to the harbor was a bonus. Sadly, I was so in a rush to eat them I did not take a photo.
One friend already commented that sardines did not seem like a very good birthday meal. If your only exposure to this wonderful fish is the small, flat cans that you see in most grocery stores, I can understand. As an aside, seafood in those cans is quite different in Europe. There are stores that specialize in canned seafood, and it is all amazing.
Sardines are plentiful in any poissonnerie here in France. They are between six and eight inches long, sold cleaned, with the head on. The most common preparation is grilling, until the skin is browned, and best when over charcoal. To eat you cut across at the tail, then peel the top half toward the head, leaving the bones behind. Then the bones and head are easily discarded, leaving you with a delightful fillet. Here is a stock photo from the internet of how the sardines look.
On Saturday we visited Sainte Catherine’s church, the largest wooden church in Europe, and composer Erik Satie’s museum. Watch Tricia’s blogs for a post in the near future about this eccentric fellow.
Churches and museums work up quite an appetite, so it was time for lunch. We found a table right on a pedestrian street at Homme De Bois. We shared raw oysters for an entree. Langoustines, along with lobster, are never high on my list, but I decided to give the langoustines a go, and it was well worth it.
Sunday we wandered through a couple of parks, then headed for lunch back near the water – Cote Resto. After another plate of oysters, I had grilled octopus. Octopus is a delicate thing to cook just right, you want it charred, but if it is cooked too long it gets rubbery. This one was perfect.
Yesterday we drove home, about a two-hour drive. For lunch, we stopped at one of our favorite French amenities, the aire de repos. These wayside stops are placed every 20-40 kilometers on the Autoroutes, so you do not have to leave the toll road for gas, food, or a break. Since it is France, coffee is available either from machines (yes plural, lots of machines) or from a counter complete with enough baked items to make many boulangeries proud. But our choice is usually a packaged chicken salad sandwich, and if we are feeling decadent a bag of chips. It is a simple fare, but quite enjoyable as we head out down the 130k/hour Autoroute for home.
It was a memorable weekend. Fortunately the dentist found a small cavity, so we will get to go back for a day or so at the end of October. Oh darn.
La Rochelle is located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine on the Atlantic coast, about a four hour drive southwest of us. Though rich in history and reputation, thanks to the Dick van Dyke Show, my enthusiasm did not match Tricia’s though I never said anything. Every time she would mention going there, reminding me of the city’s frequent mentions in the book “A Bite Size History of France,” which we had both read, the first image that came to my mind was Dick van Dyke who lived in New Rochelle on his old TV show.
Well, we went to La Rochelle and I am so glad we did. It is one of my favorite places in France, hard to make a list of better places, and of course one of the criteria for a great place is the food, La Rochelle has some of the best we have had.
The Pont de I’le de Ré takes you to I’le de Ré. It is 19 miles long and 3 miles wide, with a number of small communities. We ate lunch at La Marine in the village of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. We ate outside next to the harbour and of course had seafood. Tricia had hake, which she said was great, I stole a bite and do agree. I had Cocotte de la Mer, a seafood stew of mussels, shrimp, langoustines, and shellfish, in a cream sauce all baked with a puff pastry crust. (You get just a peek of Tricia’s hake in the distance.)
A wonderful meal for sure, the sauce was so rich and the seafood perfect.
The next day we ate near the old harbour in La Rochelle. We had heard that Andre’s restaurant was the best in the area, but we passed by it as a bit touristy. Just a few yards down the street we stopped in front of Le Bistrot d’la Chaîne,greeted by the delightful owner we took a table, and we are so glad we did. Other bistrots around us and the crêperie across from us had more people, but I know none of them, including the patrons at Andre’s, had a better experience than we did.
We both had one of the best meals ever, the kind that makes it difficult to recall any other meal that was ever more enjoyable. The service was perfect, she helped us with our French, we watched a parade of people walking by, and spent a pleasant couple of hours on a warm but not hot day.
After an entrée of raw oysters our mains came. Tricia had scallops, I had grilled shrimp and risotto.
Thanks to Tricia for the photo
Travel is about learning and of course food. Two lessons from this trip. First off don’t let old blurry mental images prevent you from visiting a place you really have no sharp image of. The second lesson, which I have mentioned before, is to not rely too much on guide books or other bloggers, yep that includes me, for your decisions. You might go to Andre’s and have the meal of your life, or you might go to d’la Chaîne and wonder why we raved. All I know is we loved La Rochelle, and really loved the two meals we had there – we are pretty sure we will return.
So keep trying new places and tastes, you will discover the wonder of the world along the way.
Been There, Eating This 