Planet Eman

Explaining Thanksgiving day to the French....

2011-11-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

A Turkey With French Dressing

(By Art Buchwald/The Washington Post. Written eons ago....)

One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant.

Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims (Pèlerins) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World ( le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their hearts' content.
They landed at a place called Plymouth (later a famous voiture Américaine) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai) in 1620. But while the Pèlerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pèlerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pèlerins was when they taught them to grow corn (maïs). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pèlerins.

In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pèlerins' crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pèlerins than Pèlerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.

Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.
It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilomètres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant:
"Go to the damsel Priscilla (allez très vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth (la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning.
"I am a maker of war ( je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar ( vous, qui êtes pain comme un étudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden."
Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable à être emballé), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow ( rendue muette par l'étonnement et la tristesse).
At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: "If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?" ( Ou est-il, le vieux Kilomètres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas auprès de moi pour tenter sa chance?)
Jean said that Kilomètres Deboutish was very busy and didn't have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilomètres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, "Why don't you speak for yourself, Jean?" (Chacun a son goût.)
And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.
No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fête and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilomètres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.

Serious blogger's block

2011-10-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I always have and always will admire those who muster the courage to fill pages upon pages of personal journal or better yet, blogs, day after day, month after month, year in, year out....

What can they possibly write about every day??? Don't they have jobs?

I have been gone out on trips for two thirds of the time and the remaining third id completely filled with restaurant insanity.... Which leaves little to no time at all to blog about just anything....

I feel empty....

Strauss Kahn case already solved!!!!

2011-05-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Click on picture...
No need for words, is there?

Customer always right? Nope!

2011-03-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Excellent article written by Diane Cardwell in the New York Times a few weeks ago...

Have It Your Way? Purist Chefs Won’t Have It

At a pea-size Lower East Side bistro known for its fries, the admonition is spelled out on a chalkboard: No ketchup. At a popular gastropub in the West Village, customers cannot have the burger with any cheese other than Roquefort.
And at Murray’s Bagels in Greenwich Village and Chelsea, the morning crowd can order its bagels topped any number of ways but never — ever! — toasted. “It’s really annoying, because a toasted bagel is kind of fierce, right?” Jamie Divine, a product designer and frequent patron, said with a hint of an eye-roll.

New York has spawned a breed of hard-line restaurants and cafes that are saying no. No to pouring takeout espressos, or grinding more than a pound of coffee at a time. No to taming the intensity of a magma-spicy dish. And most of all, no to the 21st-century conviction that everything can be accessorized to the customer’s taste.
“People just assume that every restaurant should be for everyone — I could understand that if we were in a town with, like, 20 restaurants,” said David Chang, whose small empire of Momofuku restaurants is known for refusing to make substitutions or provide vegetarian options. “Instead of trying to make a menu that’s for everyone, let’s make a menu that works best for what we want to do.”

He added, “The customer is not always right.”

This coterie of food purists — or puritans, perhaps — is hardly limited to New York. The chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant Graham Elliot does not serve decaffeinated coffee at his new sandwich shop and coffee bar, Grahamwich, because, Mr. Elliot said in an e-mail, “we decided to let our inner purists shine through and showcase coffee for what it is — a flavorful, caffeinated elixir.”
Clark Wolf, a restaurant consultant, recalled a San Francisco spot that would not supply salt or pepper because the chef supposedly seasoned every dish perfectly.

But New York has a hallowed history of persnickety cooks: Kenny Shopsin became something of a cult figure for the litany of rules — including no parties bigger than four, and no more than one order at each table of any particular dish — enforced for years at Shopsin’s diner in the West Village, now a small outpost at the Essex Street Market on the Lower East Side.
Arthur Schwartz, a food writer and historian, recalled a restaurant that the New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme opened in Manhattan more than 20 years ago that also prohibited dining companions from ordering the same dish. “It didn’t last very long,” Mr. Schwartz said, “because in those days we all said: ‘Too many rules. New Yorkers are not going to do this.’ ”
Yet in a city filled with newcomers seeking a sense of belonging, rules can be part of the attraction. “One reason people go to a particular restaurant is they want to feel part of a particular community,” Mr. Schwartz said — even if that community is based on nothing more than a shared appreciation for carefully tended espresso that never touches a paper cup.
“You’re supposed to drink espresso fast,” said Caroline Bell, an owner of Café Grumpy, explaining that paper lets the heat dissipate too quickly.
When some customers at the three outposts in Brooklyn and Manhattan became, well, grumpy over the lack of takeout espresso, Ms. Bell instituted a policy meant to be taken more with a wink than with the snarl of the cafe’s logo: Patrons can get an espresso to go, if they pay $12 to drink it from a porcelain cup they can keep. “People actually do that,” she said. “There’s a guy that comes in every day to Chelsea with that cup and gets espresso.”

Some restaurateurs say they limit choices because it allows them to serve items consistently prepared the way they want.
“Cooks are creatures of habit,” Mr. Chang said. “To do this ‘Can I get this with no olives, can I get the salad chopped, sauce on the side’ — some of those special requests are ridiculous. My personal opinion is that a lot of people say they have a special allergy or they don’t like something so they can get better service.”
April Bloomfield, who at the Spotted Pig serves burgers with or without Roquefort but refuses to substitute a different cheese, said too many deviations could overwhelm the kitchen. “I just wanted a good burger that was solid and tasty and consistent,” she said.
And at Pepe Rosso in SoHo, said Michele Costa, a partner, there was not enough space to accommodate decaffeinated coffee, skim milk and diet soda along with the regular items. “If you’re really on a diet, drink water,” Mr. Costa said, laughing. A Pepe Rosso branch in Grand Central Terminal allows Diet Coke, he said, but only because the manager does not listen when Mr. Costa tells him not to.
Some of these quirks are cultural. At Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte, a Parisian import in East Midtown that offers a set menu of salad and steak frites, diners are asked a single question: Would you like your meat cooked well, medium, rare or bleu (extra rare). Woe unto those who want it medium rare.
“We have no medium rare in France, and we are copying the French way,” said Darin Nathan, a partner in the restaurant, adding that the French rare was a close alternative. (A recent request for guidance from a waitress elicited only the statement, “Rare is red; medium is pink.”)
Some restrictions are personal. At Zucco: Le French Diner on Orchard Street, Greko Chemoul and his father, Zucco, who died last year, banned ketchup and Budweiser because they did not seem suitable accompaniments for the establishment’s food.
“If I go to an American restaurant or pub, I have my burger with ketchup,” Greko Chemoul said. “But I don’t think it looks good when I have ketchup on the side of my coq au vin or grilled lamb. It’s a question of design.”
The diner also discourages customers from participating in the Zagat guide.
For some customers, the rules seem to elevate the blood pressure or inspire subterfuge.
At Café Grumpy in Park Slope, Benjamin Anastas, a writer, said the counterman had refused to grind two pounds of espresso beans at once, expressing concern that the coffee would lose its freshness before Mr. Anastas could brew it. The solution? “I told him I was going to drink it all over the weekend,” Mr. Anastas said.
Other patrons are left bewildered. Despite the no-toasting policy at Murray’s Bagels, afternoon customers can order a pizza bagel that is warmed in the oven. (That could inspire a new version of Jack Nicholson’s on-the-edge customer in “Five Easy Pieces,” as in: “I’d like a toasted pizza bagel with butter. Hold the cheese. Hold the tomato sauce.”)
Mr. Divine has given up trying to get a toasted bagel at Murray’s. “I still have yet to understand why a not-toasted bagel is culinarily better than another bagel,” he said.
Banning condiments, however, was just fine by him.
“Don’t get him started on mayonnaise,” said his friend Daniel Bender, a student at Parsons the New School for Design, as Mr. Divine pronounced: “Condiments are weird.”

Ain't life a bitch????

2011-02-06T08:17:00.000-08:00

Poor little Marcel not only cut his little toe, he broke his nail too!!!!

Now after a week or so of licking and biting the darn thing, it sustained an infection so bad that the claw was coming off and had to be removed! Not to worry, it will grow back! Looks and sounds more impressive than it actually is.... the bandage comes off today but until the toe is completely healed, we are looking at 2 weeks of being the cutest conehead!!!!

The funniest thing is, the cone amplifies his snoring.... Now he truly sounds like a boat engine!!!! Thank God for the earplugs!!!!

Sexy in the sky: A history of the stewardess Flight attendants go from in-air nurses to sex symbols to safety personnel

2011-01-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

Great article by Aimee Lee Ball from MSNBC's travel section.....

An anonymous flight attendant recently posted an open letter “to the flying public” on the Internet: “We’re sorry we have no pillows. We’re sorry we’re out of blankets. We’re sorry the airplane is too cold. We’re sorry the airplane is too hot. We’re sorry the overhead bins are full. ... We’re sorry that’s not the seat you wanted. We’re sorry there’s a restless toddler/overweight/offensive-smelling passenger seated next to you. ... We’re sorry that guy makes you uncomfortable because he ‘looks like a terrorist. ...’ ”

This sorry state of affairs ends with an admonition: “The glory days of pillows, blankets, magazines, and a hot meal for everyone are long gone. Our job is to get you from point A to point B safely and at the cheapest possible cost to you and the company.”

We shall now observe a moment of silence for the golden age of travel, those madcap, “Mad Men” days when airplanes had piano bars and carved-at-your-seat chateaubriand, when the cabin crew was dressed by Emilio Pucci and the passengers dressed up too, when men were men and flight attendants were stewardesses. A recruiting ad from that time seems quaintly antediluvian: “To most passengers, their stewardess is National Airlines. So we are looking for young ladies who have a flair for making people happy, young ladies with just the right blend of friendliness, competence and poise.” Quite a departure from Steven Slater, the irate JetBlue attendant who famously announced “I’m done” and fled down his plane’s emergency chute last year, or the Slater manqué I encountered on a flight I took shortly after having rotator cuff surgery: I asked him to help put my carry-on in the overhead compartment and was told, “That’s not part of my job.”
The changing dynamic of airline service seems to parallel the shifting role of airline personnel, whatever they’re called. In the earliest days of commercial flight, there were teenage “cabin boys,” and the first female stewardesses had to be registered nurses. (Such know-how would have been most welcome several years ago when, en route to Rome, I cleverly gave myself food poisoning from a homemade doggie bag. It’s bad, very bad, when you hear “Is there a doctor on board?” over the loudspeaker and realize it’s for you.) Dressed in hospital whites or military-style uniforms, a “sky girl” of the 1930s not only served meals and soothed nerves but also sometimes helped refuel the plane or bolt the seats to the floor, according to the 2009 book “Flying Across America: The Airline Passenger Experience” by Daniel L. Rust.When World War II mobilized nurses, the airlines expanded their hiring parameters, but the requirements were draconian: Barbie-doll height and weight standards, girdles and heels worn at all times, and mandatory retirement by the decrepit age of ... 32.

Shedding their white gloves and raising their hemlines, stewardesses imparted a mixed message of flirtation and personal indenture. Advertising for National Airlines had Debbie/Cheryl/Karen cooing “Fly Me” (or, even less ambiguously, “I’m going to fly you like you’ve never been flown before”), and Continental claimed “We Really Move Our Tails for You.” Braniff coyly asked “Does your wife know you’re flying with us?” and Pacific Southwest Airlines stressed the advantage of an aisle seat, the better to see its miniskirted workforce. Male passengers were assumed to be overgrown frat boys: Eastern Airlines actually provided them with little black books to collect stewardesses’ phone numbers.

From a feminist perspective, it was progress when flight attendants won the right to gain a few pounds, to let their hair go gray, to be pregnant, or to have a Y chromosome: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 insisted that men could do the job, too, thus making a little full circle back to those early cabin boys. Fishnet stockings and hot pants were replaced by androgynous pantsuits. But as the dress code changed, so did the up-in-the-air experience. Air travel became democratic and accessible. The 800 million of us who pass through U.S. airports every year now comprise a remote and motley crew. We book our flights online, check in at kiosks, board in T-shirts and flip-flops, and withdraw under headsets and earbuds.
“We have no connection with passengers any more,” a flight attendant for a major American airline confided to me, sotto voce. “Everybody has an iPod or an e-book. They don’t want any conversation beyond, ‘Would you like vinaigrette or creamy dressing?’ And that’s in business class, where we still serve meals. People don’t think about the face of a flight attendant. They want a nonstop flight for the cheapest price.” We trust that these faceless, nameless people asking us to turn off our cell phones or raise our seatbacks will know what to do in an emergency (10 percent of JetBlue’s cabin crew has been recruited from police and fire departments) but their mandate is no longer the care and feeding of passengers, nor conveying the personality of the airline.

And yet ... there’s a slightly schizophrenic message from the industry these days, as if it’s taking the temperature of public nostalgia for the era of “coffee, tea, or me,” at the same time that technology is replacing the “me” factor. Continental is experimenting with subway-style “self-boarding” that bypasses an agent at the gate. The most overt sign that airlines no longer view flight attendants as personal service providers is Virgin America’s touch screen for ordering food on board; the intimate exchange with the person who brings your meal down the aisle approximates the bond with a delivery guy who brings kung pao chicken to your house. No tipping.

On the completely opposite hand, Virgin Atlantic has a new commercial featuring stunning young women in lipstick-red uniforms and spike heels pointing out the exit rows with vampy choreography and ripping open their bodices to serve ice cream. A commercial for the Russian airline Avianova shows a bevy of young women who strip down from skimpy uniforms into string bikinis to give the plane an orgiastic sponge bath. U.S. carriers seem more puritanical — or more respectful, depending on your point of view — but Southwest Airlines recently plastered an image of the cover girl for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, full length, on the Boeing 737 it flies from New York City to Las Vegas.

So what’s it to be? Androids handing out peanuts, with a hologram showing how to inflate a life vest? Or stewardesses in stilettos and Spanx? Perhaps a return to teenage boys, recruited out of the Scouts? “The way people now view air travel, it’s public transportation,” said Patricia A. Friend, former president of the Association of Flight Attendants, who started flying with United in 1966. “When my friends complain about no food on board or paying to check a bag, I tell them: Talk to me when you stop going searching for the cheapest ticket on the Internet. As long as we show up based on the price of the seat, we have settled for a particular level of service.”
Until the industry decides on a paradigm for the 21st century, better pack a sandwich and fasten your seatbelt. It could be a bumpy ride.

A T+L Time Line: The glamorous lives of stewardesses  1937: Women’s Home Companion describes a stewardess as an amalgam of “nurse, ticket-puncher, baggage-master, guide (the Grand Canyon and Boulder Dam must be pointed out to all passengers), waitress, and little mother of all the world.”

1940s: Training takes place at facilities fittingly called “charm farms,” which churn out clones with identical collar-length haircuts and teeth ground into even smiles.
1956: More than 300 “girls” compete to be Miss Skyway, marking the 25th anniversary of the stewardess. The surprised winner, Muffett Webb of Braniff, says that her job is good training to be a wife.

1965: The Braniff uniforms designed by Pucci include “space bubble” headgear and the “airstrip,” which calls for the stewardess to remove layers of clothing during a flight.

1967: The alleged memoirs of two “uninhibited” (but fictitious) stewardesses, “”Coffee, Tea or Me?” launches three sequels, a TV movie, and the fantasies of thousands of men.

1972: Stewardesses for Pacific Southwest Airlines, still wearing miniskirts and “pettipants,” return to Miami after their plane was hijacked to Cuba. The uniforms engender a protest from the National Organization for Women.

1980s: After years of lawsuits, flight attendants now have the right to gain a few pounds, let their hair go gray, get pregnant, be men, and wear polyester uniforms.

2006: Delta introduces uniforms designed by Richard Tyler — and, a few years later, a sexy safety video featuring a finger-wagging flight attendant, nicknamed Deltalina for her resemblance to the pillow-lipped actress.

Current: Chinese airlines take up the “charm school” approach to hiring. China Southern Airlines even creates a reality show competition to search for new flight attendants. Applicants race against one another lugging heavy suitcases and serving drinks to the judges.

Copyright © 2011 American Express Publishing Corporation

While the whole country is freezing

2011-01-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

View from my hotel room

While everyone's freezing their precious butt off and shivering in the snow, I am spending a week end layover in Honolulu....

Sure it is packed with white and Japanese trash....
Sure is ain't as pretty as, let's say Maui or Kauai, but at least, it is warm and there is no snow....

NO SNOW!!!!! what a concept!!!!!

A dog's Life... A bad thing???

2010-12-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

I sometime wonder why having a dog's life automatically has a negative connotation in people's mind....

In Marcel's case, it is a succession of lazy days spent sleeping, pooping, sleeping some more, playing, getting picked up, kissed and hugged all the time and...... EATING!!!!

When I first got Marcel, I went to the veterinarian and bought him a huge bag of expensive puppy food.... He ate for a couple of weeks and then inexplicably stopped one day and would have nothing to do with dog food.... Eric suggested I buy him
frozen ground meat from Valerie's holistic pet store in Park City (buffalo, venison or elk meat, ground with raw veggies, bone meal and kelp).... Seeing myself enslaved to the kitchen and cooking for my dog for the rest of my life, I dismissed the idea and moved on, thinking that Marcel was just going through a phase.... Then a few days later while I was abroad, Marcel became very sick with diarrhea and did not eat for 4 days straight.... My Mother suggested that I cook him some rice, carrots and serve him the meat along with that..... I did just that, but of course put a little spin on it, being a cook at heart.... My dog loved it! So much much in fact that I have been cooking twice a week ever since that...

Here is how it goes: I first cook (actually slightly overcook, on purpose) some rice and let it cool, then I peel some carrots and turnips and cook them until they are soft.... In the meantime, I dice raw apples and chop some parsley....

All the meanwhile, Marcel awaits eagerly, giving me a "people-are-starving-in-Africa-and-so-am-I" third world kind of look....

Then, the not-so-fun part.... I mix everything (the rice, the veggies, the apples, the ground meat) by hand in a bowl and..... voila!!! I have great homemade, balanced food that my dog loves and cannot get enough of....

And I get to wash a mountain of dishes after that!!!!!

Talk about loving my dog!!!!!

It's about time!!!!

2010-12-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal signed by Obama

'We are not a nation that says "don't ask, don't tell." ... We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot,' Obama says in a ceremony before a large crowd at the Interior Department. The policy prohibiting openly gay soldiers from serving, however, is in effect until the military certifies that lifting the ban won't compromise combat readiness.

President Obama on Wednesday signed a bill doing away with the ban on gays serving openly in the military, a milestone he said redeems the sacrifice of gay men and women who fought in every war beginning with the 18th century battle for independence.

Using 15 ceremonial pens, Obama repealed the "don't ask, don't tell'' act, beginning the transition to an armed forces in which gay soldiers no longer need to conceal their sexual orientation in order to serve.

Obama cast the issue as part of a string of civil rights struggles that beat back discrimination in favor of a more tolerant, unified nation.

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 500 military leaders, members of Congress, gay rights advocates and service men and women, Obama said, "We are not a nation that says 'don't ask, don't tell.' We are a nation that says out of many, we are one. We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes all men and women are created equal.''

It was an emotional scene in the Department of Interior, where the bill-signing took place to accommodate an unusually large crowd. As Obama appeared on stage, the crowd chanted, "Yes we can!'' -- a slogan from Obama's successful 2008 presidential race.

A smiling president said, "Thank you. Yes, we did!''

He told a story about how in a recent visit to Afghanistan, he shook hands with a female soldier who pulled him close and whispered to him that he needs to repeal "don't ask, don't tell.''

"And I said to her, 'I promise you, I will,' '' the president recalled.

For Obama, repeal is the fulfillment of a major campaign promise and a message to his liberal base that he will fight to uphold core principles. Over the past two years, some of Obama's liberal supporters were angered by compromises he made in passing a healthcare overhaul and a tax package that extended Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Yet Obama is now building a record that, in some respects, surpasses that of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton. Clinton tried and failed to overhaul the healthcare system. And he was unable to push through a policy allowing gays to serve openly. Thousands of people were forced out of the armed forces under the "don't ask, don't tell'' act passed during Clinton's first term in office.

Repeal became a focal point of the lame-duck congressional session, but the outcome wasn't clear until the Senate voted 65-31 on Saturday to lift the ban.

Though an important achievement for Obama, White House aides believe his political viability still hinges on the economy. Obama presides over an economy in which nearly one in 10 Americans is unemployed. If conditions don't improve, he remains vulnerable to a Republican challenge in the 2012 presidential election.

A jubilant crowd watched the historic bill-signing ceremony. Among the guests was Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who was the first American injured in the war in Iraq, according to the White House. In 2003, Alva lost a leg after stepping on a landmine. He received a Purple Heart and a medical discharge. Since then, Alva has been a vocal critic of "don't ask, don't tell.''

When Obama was introduced, someone in the audience showed, "Enlist us now!'' But the transition is likely to take months.

Obama did not lay out a timetable. Under the law he signed, the old policy is in effect until the military certifies that lifting the ban won't compromise combat readiness.

The president said, though, "We are not going to be dragging our feet....''

Speaking directly to gay soldiers, Obama told them they will be "role models'' and asked that they serve with "integrity.''

"And so as the first generation to serve openly in our armed forces, you will stand for all those who came before you and you will serve as role models to all who come after,'' Obama said.

Speaking of magic......

2010-12-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

Magic is everywhere these days.... including that of the wizard of Oz..... Just found a funny, alternative ending however..... deliciously funny.... and WARPED!!!!!

'Tis the season....

2010-12-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

Found this on a random site and thought it was rather funny..... most of all very apropos.....

A rather vexing winter morning

2010-12-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

A good thing I have a truck and it is parked in my driveway!!! no confusion possible!!!!

Another good thing is that the mercury took a hike up and the white stuff has seriously melted.... More to come in the forecast however....

After the storm....

2010-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Mi Casa

I just came back from Paris yesterday and landed in the middle of a major dumper..... After a night of non stop snowing, there is about 2 feet of snow on the ground in back and front yard.... Amazing!!!! Have not seen this much snow since 2004, when a single storm deprived us all of electricity for 3 days in a row!!! At least today we have power and it is nice and toasty inside!!!! And best of all, I am flying back out town in the morning!!!!

My street

Looking out from my porch this morning

My truck!!!

The Paris Bistro

Why the French don't do Thanksgiving...

2010-11-22T11:48:00.001-08:00

Any questions????

First (real) snow of the year...

2010-11-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well, winter is here alright!!!! It snowed like the Dickens last night... So much indeed that it was almost covering my little dog when I took him out this morning!!!! And to think that it is not even December yet... uuuughhhhhh!!!!

Thank Goodness I have a trip today and get to escape the frozen, white hell!

Anyway, here is a very "apropos"video about the snow and not forgetting to put on your hoodie (fous ta cagoule).

Fatal Bazooka is a spoofed rap star, played by the ever funny and CRAZY Michael Youn, a controversial French comedian.....

My Thai/Dutch brother strikes back

2010-11-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

In Amsterdam, my brother strikes back with excellent Thai cooking and really cool pics of a recipe progression.... So cool, that I had to post the pictures here..... As for myself, while it is true that I am indeed French, it is also true I have an undeniable faible for Thai cooking....

Enjoy!!!

Life is tough!!!!

2010-11-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

It's freezing cold outside!!!!!..... So much nicer and warmer inside!!!! Besides, I get aaaaall the lamb shank bones from the restaurant!!!! does not get better than that!!!!

On se les gèle les choses dehors.... C'est carrément mieux à l'intérieur!!!! Il fait bon, c'est douillet et en plus, mon papa me donne des os de jarret d'agneau du restau!!! Trop cool!!!!

And now for a musical interlude......

2010-11-14T01:49:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of my friend Didier..... I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.....

Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys Who Knows

Thai Fish Red Curry, a pictorial recipe

2010-11-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

My brother now lives in Amsterdam.... The other day, he made a Thai Fish Red Curry and sent me the pictures.... I liked them a lot because they show the recipe's progression. Although they were shot with a small camera, the images are excellent...

By the way, today is his birthday..... Happy birthday little Brother!!!! Here is to a most excellent year to come.

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

2010-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

My birthday present from Eric and Family......

Thanks you ever so much guys!!!

I Love you!!!!!

A serious case of writer's block???

2010-05-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Not really writer's block....

It has been over six weeks since my last entry and I have not felt inspired no have I have had the time to write anything, thanks to my busy schedule both at home and with the restaurant.... Sea Salt is in the process of opening and it is taking a titanic amount of work.....

Will update again soon.....

Drunken morons....

2010-03-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

St Patrick's Day in America....
An excuse for (mostly) white morons of all kinds to get wasted and puke everywhere.... not to mention they show up hungover at work the following day.... if they show up to work that is... I say mostly white because the Hispanics don't give a rat's ass about St Patrick's day.... They have Cinquo de Mayo and God knows.... it's the white trash again who wind up passing out in the gutters!!!!

Schedule of a typical moron on St. Patrick's Day:
9 am: Mom leaves the house to go to her job. Moron goes back to sleep because he has no job.
11 am: Time to start the day! It's St. Patrick's Day! Gel hair into same douche-bag style that all his friends have. Find "I'm not Irish, but kiss me anyway" t-shirt.
1 pm: Moron bar hops
2 pm: Moron is totally wasted
2:01 pm: Moron is puking in a mailbox
2:02 pm: Moron is hitting on every woman in sight
4:00 pm: Realizing that no woman wants a pathetic guy with puke-breath, Moron gets violent and starts picking fights by calling out to every short guy, "Hey look! It's a leprechaun!"
6:03 pm: Moron is slumped on the curb with his nose bashed in. His friends rush to him, cell phones in hand, to snap pictures. They laugh. They leave.

Coming soon to a terrine near you....

2010-03-12T11:28:00.001-08:00

Got a big half pig (80 pounds, organic) whole, freshly slaughtered, cut in 2 lengthwise) the other day from my egg and arugula farmer.... we had to let it age a little bit, and we butchered it yesterday morning.... Check out the entry on the Paris Journal by clicking here.

Displayed above is the reconstituted head of the pig after having cooked for 5 hours and being stripped of all meat and cartilage.... French "fromage de tête" (head cheese) coming next week!!! any takers????

Salon De L'Agriculture, Paris

2010-03-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Just came back from Paris with a God awful cold and it does not seem to be going away...

At the moment I am relaxing at home and reflecting on the two days I just spent in Paris, but more so about the amazing time I had at the Salon de L'Agriculture....

I had never been to an agricultural fair, let alone the mother of them all, the one happening yearly in Paris. I had heard many things about it, about how huge it is, how crowded, how much food there is.... Everything turned out to be true.... and no matter how much I imagined how big of an event it would be, it simply turned out to be 10 times that....

I went there with ladies from my crew: Marcie, Julie and Kerrie. Since I was under the impression that no tickets were sold on premises, I went ahead and bought tickets in advance on the internet. I must confess I am proud of myself, for, when we arrived, there were oodles of people lining up outside the entrance, waiting for a chance to buy a ticket. We could easily have waited 1.5 hour had we not thought ahead!!!!

Once inside the park, we quickly realized that there was too much to see and do in one day, so we decided to concentrate on 3 pavillions:
• The food and delights of France and its regions. I zeroed in on the Foie Gras and the Wine producers!!!
• The food and delights of the rest of the world (Switzerland, Russia, Brasil, Senegal, Japan and so many others)
• The cattle raising pavillion where we saw some impressively big horses, cows, pigs, dogs and even pigeons!

Since we ate a lot and sampled quite a bit of different things (wine, Cognac, beer and Chouchen among others), we were quite tired once we came back to the hotel. Marcie and Julie found the energy to go out for dinner.

My cold caught up with me and forced me to stay in all night... Oh well!!! It was outrageous fun! I will go back next year, but will make sure that I go at leat three days in a row....

In Paris with a dreadful cold....

2010-03-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

Spending a two-day layover in Paris, unfortunately with a dreadful cold.... Still managed to go and spend the day at the Salon de L'Agriculture.... I was drugged up, and it was an experience to be had... Saw cows, donkeys, cows, pigs, new tractors and sampled food all day.... will write more details when I feel better.... until then, au revoir!

A rocking Bud Lite commercial

2010-02-06T15:38:00.001-08:00

God know I do not care for football, let alone superbowl... One thing I like about superbowl however.... The commercials!!! check this one out, for Bud Lite....

Spectacular winter in Uah!!!

2010-01-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

Canyonland National Park

God knows I am sick and tired of the snow but let's face it.... Without it, Utah would just not be the same.... what a pretty state I live in!!! Check out these fantastic pictures.... Now visualize Flushing, New York....You'll have to agree with me that God put more energy in creating some places and totally cursed others..... I am blessed to live in such a beautiful place, no doubt.... Sorry New Yorkers!!! None of the pictures are mine, but they are just stunning and I had to share them (I love to take pictures, but I have my limits... Snow and polar temperatures are two MAJOR obstacles)

Blue Moon over Park City 12/31/10

Rural Utah

Arches National Park

Arches again

A REALLY nifty program!

2010-01-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

Today, I am using a dictation program for the first time ever! In fact, I am entering the text of this post without even touching my keyboard to type anything!

Amazing!
Unbelievable!
Mind blowing!

Over the past couple of years, I have been talking to my brother who works on the Internet and is always in need of composing lengthy chunks of text, both in English and in French... a couple of years ago, he started to use some dictation program that also controlled his computer with performing some basic functions. The program was really nice, however it required plenty of interaction from his part, especially when it came to correcting the text he was speaking into his microphone... a lot of it came from the fact that he, just like me, has a strong French accent when he speaks English. It is also important to consider the fact that my brother uses and has used Macintosh computers since the 80s... The choice for serious programs has always been less than what was offered for Microsoft Windows...

Then MacSpeech came along...

The beauty of this program is that it was built as a native Mac application from the ground up. it was inspired by the Dragon speech technology, however built as a brand-new application. It is sold with a choice of hard core noise reduction headsets, understands my accent, and even can switch and write in French and German at the flick of a button. It also controls the computer via voice commands! I am utterly baffled by what this program can accomplish and yet, it only took me about five minutes per language to train it! I would recommend it to anyone who handles a lot of text files, or who, like me types in three different languages. Check it out if you own a mac, and see why I am so excited...

A California flash trip

2010-01-14T23:03:00.000-08:00

I am much embarrassed to admit that I have not been writing too much lately... No particular excuse, besides the fact I have been very busy in SLC.... Eric has finally sunk in a bottomless ocean of to dos and phone calls and appointments all related to the imminent opening of Sea Salt.... we have virtually zero time to spare....

We both flew to Sacramento last weekend. Eric was buying an oz winebar (a very fancy device that preserves opened bottle of red and white wine and dispenses wine by the glass) for one of his new projects....

Weather was gloomy, cold and foggy... After Eric sealed the deal and pre-conditioned the unit for shipping, he suggested we drive to Napa since we were not that far, and off we drove.....

We arrived in Yountville an hour and a half later and decided to have an apéritif at Bistro Jeanty, then dinner at Thomas Keller's Bouchon....

I honestly do not see what the hype is all about.... I swear.... And it has nothing to do with my being French and chauvinistic....

This place is a joke.... an utter farce!

The nerves these people have!!!! Salmon rillette... awesome.... everything else, grossly overpriced crap, delivered with a pompous, condescending attitude. Thank goodness the staff knows the menu and the sommelier knows his turf inside out.... It was so bad that we sent half of our plates back..... the onion soup was a total abortion... it tasted like half way reduced beef demi glace.... the escargots were hiding underneath what looked like puff pastry sponges, soaked with lukewarm butter... I could go on and on , but truly, I would waste my time....

The whole thing set us back $300 and change. The only nice thing about it is that it once again enabled me to see how far we are with the Paris Bistro....

On our way back out of Sacramento, we were bumped out of our flight and had to wait almost 4 hours until the next one... Most fortunately, the Sacramento airport has a small treasure right in its terminal: a wine bar called Vino Volo, which serves small plates and wines by the glass as well as wine tasting flights... This place was an oasis of quietness,and civilization... No crybabies, no trashy folks (they congregate at the fast food joints on the other side of the terminal) what a way to get bumped!!! what an amazing way to wait for a flight...

A new decade....

2010-01-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

Not just a new year!... A brand new decade!

I have been flying a lot lately and busy with restaurant work in between trips.... I unfortunately have not had much time to write anything, but I promise I will very soon...

Happy new year to all.... May this new decade be better and less painful than the last one.... may we see the end to suffering, disease and hunger throughout the world and finally enter an era of harmony between people.....

Falalalala etc....

2009-12-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

By God, By Golly, it's time for.......

a meaningful Christmas!!!

Happy holidays to all....

--Emmanuel

Paris sous la neige...

2009-12-18T14:26:00.001-08:00

Snow covered Paris!!!

Arrived in Paris yesterday morning in the middle of a snow storm.... The weather is gray, gloomy, humid and the wind goes right through the bones.... People are bundled up and it seems Paris has been invaded by Eskimos...

The whole country has been placed under a winter storm alert and it snowed so much that some people got stuck in their cars overnight on the highways while trying to commute back home....

Unbelievable....

Le jardin des Tuileries

In front of the Église Saint Eustache

Good news!!!

2009-12-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight the Salt Lake City police called me to inform me that my vehicle had been recovered and was "drivable"....

I called my neighbor immediately and had him drive me over to Murray, about 15 miles south from my house, where my car had been found... It had been abandoned on the remote corner of an empty commuter parking lot, right between the train tracks and the highway. I was really relieved to find that it had not been stripped and that the wheels were still on.

The person who stole my truck turned out to be a complete moron and left his bag inside the cabin, complete with some of his personals, his driver's license and some of his sister's things.... Also left in the truck were a few stolen power tools... The truck has been slightly damaged on the front end and the cabin has been trashed.... There were cigarette butts everywhere and cigarette burns here and there...The cops took a bunch of pictures of the truck inside and out and then turned it back over to me...

All things considered I am a lucky bastard and am very thankful for it all.... my truck was found, is structurally intact in essence and will be drivable after a few repairs....

Everything turns out to be good!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?

2009-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Or evil, worthless sons of bitches... that's more like it....

Just came back from France the other day... while I was gone, my neighbor Kevin was working on a few of my truck's problems...

Someone had the nerves to come steal my truck that night from his driveway, right by his bedroom window, just a few yards from my house....

I was so very pissed off the entire week end that I could barely speak or act rationally..... Stayed locked inside my house....

Now that came back down to earth and the urge to shoot someone is gone, I have to go back to my everyday life and try to get a new vehicle as soon as possible....

I am still beyond pissed.... and feel utterly violated and dispossessed....

My friend Eric is so right, so spot-on.... so many people out there looking for a handout.... so many losers and second-handers.... Salt Lake City is unfortunately no exception with all its crystal meth crazed white trash and cholos....

It's appalling, plain and simply.........

Great things to to with turkey livers....

2009-11-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

Turkey livers are great.... especially when they come from birds that grew up on a local, all natural farms.... I like them pan seared, deglazed with sherry vinegar and thrown on bitter greens such as frisée and Arugula...

Or pan seared with sea salt, pepper and fresh sage, then served hot on fresh arugula with just a little bit of olive oil.... nothing else

The problem is, not everyone around me seems to agree with me when it comes to liver... Seems like people in this country have been traumatized with a bad serving of chopped liver and onions at some point of their youth..... can't blame them, really...

One cool thing to do with livers however is to make a quick liver pâté... I made one the other night, instead of wasting the livers in a classical turkey gravy (our thanksgiving gravy was made with turkey roast drippings to start with.... no livers needed), using only fresh shallots, garlic, thyme and sage, Apple Jack and of course, the infamous livers..... It was a quick 30 minute ordeal and the result is quite impressive to be honest.... Eric tried it on mini grilled tartines with caramelized quince and.... a 16year old scotch, of all things!!!!

A peaty scotch and a liver pâté tartine.... Who would have thought???

And how cool is that???

Photo By Eric... Made at home!!!!

Update on the grande dame with a facelift

2009-11-25T15:40:00.001-08:00

My dear friend Gian Carlo just sent me an email with the following quiz:

"From 1925 to 1936,an automobile manufacturer use the Tour Eiffel as a giant billboard,
putting his name in giant, luminous letters on the four sides of the monument.
Who was it? ...Citroen.....Renault....Peugeot...????"

A very good question indeed.... It was Monsieur André Citroën who, in 1925 had the "luminous" idea to advertize his automobiles by using the Eiffel tower as a humongous billboard....

The Citroën factories were located barely one kilometer from there, on the same side of the river seine... The place is now called the Parc André Citroën...

Nevermind the kick ass light show..... the light display in 1925 must have been downright stunning!

Thank you GC!!!!

Thanksgiving Madness

2009-11-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

Once again it is insanely late at night (or very early morning) and here I am facing my computer again in order to create a post that actually makes sense.... We have been very busy with my flight attendant schedule and the restaurant lately, and Eric has been literally submerged trying to face the daunting amount of work caused by our new projects....

I have been blogging lately, however but for the benefit of the Paris Bistro.... Yep, Eric and I turned our elusive Paris Bistro newsletter into a much more exciting, fun-to-create, communication tool.... Check out the Paris Bistro Blog here.... We have been cooking, shooting pictures, harvesting the very last of our garden herbs, taking more pictures, blogging...... Feedback is always much appreciated! Always feel free to comment or become a blog's follower....

Flying to Paris tomorrow and will have a bit of down time... I will be posting from there...

Time for a hot date with my bed... It is going to be a short night again!

A 120 Year Old Grande Dame with a facelift

2009-11-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Eiffel Tower just celebrated its 120 years old this year....

To celebrate the event, the "Grande Dame" is being given a new "facelift", a massive paint job as well as an updated lighting system...

In addition, every night between between now until Christmas, the most visited monument in the world is putting on a light show at the top of every hour, from 8PM to 11PM.
Check it out!

Quite a show indeed....

Paris to Honolulu to Paris in less than a week

2009-10-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Not too much to write about today.... Just got back from Paris and am dead tired after a LONG, endless flight.... going to check out shortly!

As if it was not tiring enough, I am flying to Honolulu HI tomorrow, returning thursday morning and yet flying back to Paris on Friday!!!!

Damn! I must be crazy!

Honolulu is definitely NOT my favorite place in the Pacific for a plethora of reasons and we stay in Waikiki, in one butt ugly tower hotel with a parking lot view.... quite exotic indeed!!!! Yet I must confess however that it beats staying in equally crappy hotels in Detroit, Hartford and the likes.... I have plenty of admin work for the restaurant and besides, I can go around wearing shorts to watch trashy Japanese and white middle class America max up their over-the-limit credit cards at cheesy souvenir malls and graze "en masse" at Ihop and Red Lobster!!!! HAHAHA!!!!

Feel the glamour......

Quick update while I am waiting for my flight briefing on Tuesday morning: It is snowing outside for the first time of the year... the weather outside is ungodly, the traffic on the highway is an utter mess.... Am I going to miss Utah for the next 48 hours? NAAAHH!

2009-10-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Eric!!!!

Today is your special day. This coming up year is your special year with lots of exciting projects coming to fruition!

I am very proud, grateful and privileged to know that you call me your best friend....

From the bottom of my heart I wish you the very best...

With much Love and Admiration.....

Eman

Then and now...

2009-10-17T22:33:00.001-07:00

The other day, Eric took me to the Utah State Archives where we both had the privilege to attend a lecture on the development of our neighborhood (the SLC East bench) between 1860 and the 1930's. The lecture was presented by retired paleontologist/"citizen historian" Laurie Bryant, who happens to be a neighbor of Eric's....

It was most fascinating and wonderful to find out about how our neighborhood was build around natural springs at first, then grew thanks in part to a water canal stretching from the Jordan River to the City Creek (close by downtown) and also the electric power. It was exciting to find out which houses were constructed first and which ones are still standing today. It was amazing to find out that a streetcar line was running on 1500 south, right in front of the Paris Bistro

Street Car in Salt lake City ca. 1912

Included in Laurie's presentation was a gem of a photograph.... The Folland Drugs and the East Bench Market Building as it was back in 1937 and still stands today. It houses, you guessed it..... the Paris Bistro.... Eric and I were utterly blown away....

Below this are the two pictures next to one another... In the old picture, the part that boasts an awning is the part that later became our bar some 70 years later.... also with an awning! What is even more amazing is the fact that Eric designed the Paris Bistro without having ever seen this picture before.... Also look at the mailbox and the postman collecting the mail by the corner of the building. The mailbox also still stands there after all this time.... Unbelievable!

The Folland Drug Store and East bench Market ca. 1937

The Paris Bistro as it stands today... Check out the mailbox!

My new house!!! (well, kinda...)

2009-10-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Not really a new house, but a dining and living room full of beautiful Arts & Craft / Mission style furnishings bought over the past year at antique sales and stores, and finally put together by Eric and his wonderful sense of style....

Like mother like son, I have inherited a deep love for old furniture that have traveled though time being handed down from generation to generation.... While modern style might work for some, I find it has no soul and becomes broken and worthless as time passes by. Think about modern appointments of the seventies.....

Over the past couple of years, I have been following Eric to numerous antique shows and stores and became "infected" by his passion for beautiful, early 20th century american furniture. I knew nothing about the arts and crafts style and movement (I thought it was all about mormon scrap-booking and quilting at first)

He somehow managed to strongly coerce me into saving most of my earnings from the Paris Bistro and invest them into something more durable than a couple of evenings out. I have to admit that I am very glad I listened to him for my house now looks fantastic, and very much in tune with the style of my neighborhood, which boasts quite a few centenarian American bungalows....

Click here to view a slideshow of my new antiques furniture and my dining room. I am so proud and excited!!! My next purchase will be a chandelier to be installed above my dining room table and replace the current eyesore that hangs there now....

Autumn!!!!

2009-10-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy lately....

Yes, I confess!!!! I have been busy, I have flown around quite a bit and been busy with the restaurant.... Canned more tomatoes, went to the market, did a lot of paperwork, spent some time in the kitchen.....

Eric has been busy with Tartine, our wine bar project next to The Paris, and also Sea Salt, our next Italian venture....

We have enjoyed a wonderfully warm weather up to last week.... On Monday September 28th it was 85ºF and I was going around wearing a T-shirt, shorts and no socks... When I woke up the following day, Fall had moved in overnight. It was raining cats and dogs, the wind was blowing and the temperature outside was an amazing 55ºF.

Over the next couple of days, the sun played hide and seek and Fall most definitely claimed its presence.... We saw a lot of rain and experienced much colder weather, especially at night... We sadly had to stop serving customers out on the patio at the Paris Bistro.

Eric came to my house one night, coiffed with a high powered headlamp, in an effort to salvage the last of the heirloom tomatoes. He harvested a whopping 70lbs. I must say he was very inspired to do so, for it almost froze that very night. Over the next couple of days, we cut the last of our basil. Last night was the hardest freeze to date.... My entire lawn was covered with white frost this morning....A view of 1500 South (Emerson Ave), where The Paris sits.

Fall is my favorite season.... especially here in Utah. Mother Nature displays an astonishing palette of gold, red, yellow and orange hues, and the mountains are simply superb...Check out these pictures (click here to view a collection of landscapes my friends and I have taken over the past couple of years).

Cuban Sandwiches!!!

2009-10-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

Eric and I were watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservation" on the travel channel the other day. Anthony was in San Francisco and had a humongous Cuban sandwich with his buddy at a liquor store in the mission district.

We both got excited and Eric made us his interpretation of Cuban sandwiches.... We went to Caputo's Deli and bought some ham, some mortadella, then got some pork chops from the butcher's, then used tomatoes from our garden, red gypsy peppers and jalapeños from the farmer's market....

This may very well have been the best sandwich I have ever had.... no kidding!

Check out pictures below...

Fish soup!

2009-09-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Now, here is one appetizing post...

We at the Paris Bistro make the best fish soup in the city, bar none.... Period. We started serving a "bouillabaisse style" fish stew a few months ago and the dish has proven a HUGE success.... It is a great way to accommodate odd pieces of fish that are too small to be sold as is.

Our fish stew a wonderful dish to be enjoyed anytime of the year, be it on a warm summer evening with rosé wine on our patio, or on a blustery, frigid winter night while watching the snow fall outside the window... The soup itself is a classical dish served in France by itself with cheese and garlic rubbed croutons, which one tops with rouille sauce and dunks in the soup... Ours is used as a stock to poach little pieces of fish, fresh mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops and sliced fingerling potatoes.

The other day, Eric asked me to train our chefs on making the soup.... I thought it would be a great idea to bring my camera and document the whole process in the blog....

We use fish bones (usually halibut), diced vegetables including lots of fennel, white wine, pastis (yes, pastis) orange and lemon zests, saffron... It is a lengthy process for the soup must cook for a couple of hours before being put through a food mill, then strained again before being served. Since we do not have a manual food mill and we make big batches of soup, we use a big "burr mixer" and blend the pureed soup in a high velocity blender to give it a smooth, unctuous consistency.

Click here to see pictures of the whole process.

From Paris France to The Paris Utah on a duck (confit)

2009-09-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

I did not get a chance to write about an unfortunate and painful eating experience I had while in Paris the other day, and by God I think I ought to remedy this omission.

After coming back to my hotel from the Grenelle market the other day, I decided to go and treat myself to lunch at Bouillon Chartier, one of the very last Parisian Belle Époque brasseries.... The decor is stunning, the opinions about the food are all over the place, and the service reputably "Parisian".

After a short métro ride, I found myself in front of Chartier's doors, where two very jovial hosts quickly ushered me in... Although the place is very vast, I was shown to a "two top", a table for two which already occupied by a stern looking gentleman who seemed to be well underway with his lunch... When I tried to protest to the host and asked for a table by myself, he smirked at me and said "ici Monsieur, on partage tout!!!" (In this place, Sir, one shares everything).My table "companion" looked as though he had just buried his entire family and the last thing I wanted was to include him in my lunch adventure Not wanting to start an unpleasant debate about breathing room and vital space however, I took my seat and started to look at the menu on the table.

What followed is quite possibly one of the most awful lunches I have EVER had in Paris. Not only was the food barely edible, it was just slammed on the plates with no effort in presentation whatsoever, the service was pushy, distant, obnoxious and borderline rude: "C'est tout ce que vous prenez Monsieur?" (is that ALL you're having Monsieur?). I soon realized that Chartier, although being a venerable Parisian institution, prefers to fill up with tourists and curious walk in customers rather than with faithful, local, neighborhood customers.... It is so much easier to abuse those who will be sure never to return!!!

The high note of my lunch was going to be an allegedly homemade duck confit, garnished with duck fat roasted potatoes. Since we too at the Paris make and serve our own , albeit with Puy French green lentils, I was very excited and looking forward to compare the two, apples to apples. Just like the service and the rest of the courses, the duck was an absolute abortion, dry and mutilated, topped with melted compound garlic/parsley butter. My potatoes had apparently spent the whole morning hanging out in the kitchen and were cold in the center.... I could not finish eating what was on my plate..... I quickly finished my baby carafe of rosé however, settled my bill and got out of this place as fast as I could.

As I was riding back to my hotel I could not help to think how sad it is that a place like this allows bad food and service to keep its customers from coming back for seconds.... then again, what do I know???? Maybe the Parisian restaurateurs have not heard that there is a recession out there....

I came back to Utah the following day, and of course needed to go back to work at The Paris. My dad came to visit and stayed a few days with us, and the night before he left to go back home, I organized a little apéritif which was meant to be a succession of small plates, mini foie gras tartines, cheeses and heirloom tomatoes from our garden. Giancarlo graced the house with his presence. Eric arrived a bit later and surprised us with duck confits from the restaurant... Although we were at my house and the food had been packed in to-go containers, we quickly reheated the duck and presented it on plates..... The confits were a smash hit, more especialy with my Dad, who normally does not eat them and had not had one in Eons,after having an unfortunate duck experience like mine at Chartier. In any case he had not enjoyed a confit since he came to this country about a decade ago.... The meat was wonderfully cooked, crispy on the outside and yet succulent, juicy and so tender on the inside. Every bite was a little piece of taste wonder; the crisped duck flavor of course, but also the sea salt, the thyme, the wonderful earthy taste of French green lentils from Le Puy, studded with tiny dices of carrots and beets. No cold, greasy potato sadness here, but a few slices of amazingly fragrant Cherokee Purple Heirloom tomatoes from our garden and a refreshing sprig of watercress.

Now, check out the pictures and tell me which duck you would rather eat and where.... The one in Paris at Chartier, or the one from The Paris, Utah???? Paris France with a plethora of obnoxious servers, a lousy service, a 19.6% sales tax and a forced 15% service charge, or at home, surrounded by friends and family? I think I just will let the pictures speak for themselves.....

After spending a fantastic evening and savoring every morsel of duck in my plate I must once conclude that even reheated at my house, the food we produce at the Paris utterly blows away that of the competition anytime, on any given day and despite the jabs of idiotic, self proclaimed Salt Lake City food critics and other "connoisseurs" who claim that everything in Paris is so much better..... If only they traveled and ate there as much as I and Eric do.....

A quick Parisian escape...

2009-09-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier in this blog, I do sometime "escape" my everyday restaurant reality and go to work as a flight attendant for a major airline company... I will let you guess which one since it appears "they" (the airline) tend to dislike it when their employees publish blogs.... The last one to get in trouble with upper management had the unfortunate idea to pose in a rather revealing outfit and then broadcast the photos on the internet...

Anyway, I just spent 2 days on a Paris layover... Arrived Saturday morning... After a bus ride to the hotel and a quick afternoon nap, I made my way outside of Paris, to visit the castle of Vaux le Vicomte, a superb 17th century estate that was built for Nicolas Fouquet, then the superintendent of finances of King Louis XIV... The chateau was the king's inspiration to build Versailles and the story behind it is most interesting. I visited many castles in my life, but this visit was quite special... It was a candlelight visit of the chateau, conducted after dusk. It was my first time ever visiting a historic landmark after dark, and seing the rooms in the same way its builders saw it back in the 1600's was intense, surreal and almost indiscrible.

After an endless return (I was exhausted) to my hotel and a good night's sleep, I woke up early and went to a local's street marché, a farmer's market. I spent hours there, browsing thru produce, meat and cheeses, watching local Parisians buy food, talk about politics, gossip about the neighbors. The vendors set up shop just underneath the Dupleix métro station, just 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel tower. Like our SLC farmer's market, one find a little bit of everything there, from food to clothing and huge crowds make it difficult to walk around.... Unlike the SLC farmer's market, there is no food court, no hippies, and certainly no bad, annoying musicians.... Anyway, it is a great way to spend a Sunday morning in a Parisian quartier (neighborhood)....

Check out pictures below....

Headed back home tomorrow.... got a busy week ahead... Dad & Leon's visit, a lot of work at the restaurant, and yes, another tomato canning day! Whoopee!!!!

More to follow soon!...

A day in tomato world

2009-09-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

Eric et moi have always believed that a restaurant should offer food that is seasonal, local when possible (obviously, there is nothing locally grown in Utah from November to April). We have lived by that credo ever since the beginning.... Despite the farm-to-the-table / nose-to-tail claims of some newcomers who pose as food trendsetters, we have been faithful to our philosophy since our inception....

Yesterday we once again set out to put our principles in action....
Eric spent half the day in my back yard, cleaning tomato plants, fending off bad weeds and snails ( we do not EVER use chemicals), and finally harvesting oodles of San Marzano tomatoes.

This year, we decided to can tomato sauce rather than peeled whole tomatoes, since we invariably crush the latter to make a sauce anyway. The finished product is a very simple sauce putting the tomatoes at the center of the stage.... No "adornments", no masking flavors of oregano, onion or any other vegetable; and most certainly no sugar which would tame the precious San Marzano acidity we so value. Just the tomatoes, a hint of sliced Siberian purple garlic and Italian parsley from our friend John at Ranui Gardens, et voila!!!

Sounds amazingly simple, romantique, rustique, even pastoral, dare I write???

Well, it's anything but!!!!

Preparing, blanching and peeling 70 pounds of minuscule San Marzano tomatoes is not for the impatient and/or the meek.... It takes a lot of meticulous patience and half the day before even thinking of starting the sauce itself, let alone the canning process.....

The canning process took place in my back yard, on my portable stove, a 60,000 BTU behemoth, and the result yielded surprisingly few jars, only 24 quarts altogether for 70 pounds of tomatoes (see pictures) below

It was a long day, a lot of work, but in the end and with 2 more days like this we will have many jars for the long winter ahead, both for our homes and the restaurant....

Ah the sweet (local) bounty of summer!!!

Late (night) Introduction...

2009-08-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

Bonsoir Y'all....

God only knows what possessed me tonight to get the ball rolling on a brand new blog.... It is ungodly late, I should be in bed and far away in lala-land... Instead of that, here I am in front of my computer, trying hard to write something that actually makes sense....

Maybe the best thing to do at this point is to start with introductions....

My name is Emmanuel... My beloved mother calls me Manu, my friends call me Eman....

I am a 40 something year old French guy living in Utah, the land of Zion. I came here about a century ago it seems.... Back then, culture, good food and good coffee were scarce.Things are better nowadays (Salt Lake recently experienced a renaissance era for day spas, salons and coffee shops of all kinds), but barely so. I did manage to stay here however because it is a beautiful state after all and life is quite affordable here. It is very close to civilization (L.A. , San Francisco, Seattle are only a short plane ride away), The snow is great indeed, and the landscapes of Utah are unique and breathtaking... Sadly however, one does not live on landscapes, snow and beauty alone.....

I live in Sugarhouse, which is a very nice and quaint area. I am a trained chef and have worked in restaurants longer than I care to remember. Shortly after moving to Utah, I met a young, flamboyant, downright loud and in-your-face restaurant owner named Eric Debonis... We became fast friends and I started to work for him right away. I did not know it then, but Eric became my best and most precious friend.

Here we are almost 16 years later, a little wiser, most definitely plumper (especially me) but better than ever and still kicking like it is going out of fashion. Eric owns The Paris Bistro, which in my book is the best restaurant anywhere in the state... I will come back to that later, for I will need a dedicated post for that purpose alone.

The reason I decided to start this blog is very simple.... I work at the restaurant an awful lot and travel to France on my "days off" (I also work as a flight attendant) ... I cannot think of a better way to keep in touch with my friends and family. I will try to post as often as I can, sharing travel stories, thoughts about out of town restaurants and destinations, but also bits and pieces about my everyday life, abroad, at home and at The Paris Bistro.

Anyway... it is getting even later at night and I needed to go to bed hours ago....

More to follow soon.....