Tarte au citron

I set a goal at the beginning of February: to learn how to make the perfect tarte au citron comme en France.  I also gave myself a roughly two-month time limit in which to accomplish this task.  This goal was partially inspired by an apparent manque de Paul.  While I'm sure there were better bakeries and pâtisseries, Paul offered the comforts that all chain stores do: those of availability and dependable quality.

I used David Lebovitz's recipes for both the pie and crust.  I followed the recipe for the crust exactly, but diverged slightly when making the lemon curd.  I doubled the recipe, except for the sugar; I felt there was enough sugar already, and I wanted it to taste more natural than sugary.  When I later tried the pie, after having refrigerated it, I found it to be much more sour than when the curd was warm.  Lebovitz advises that the curd should be strained as it is poured into the pie shell; I did not feel this was necessary, as I had strained the lemon juice after squeezing it.  I decided to decorate my pie with candied lemons, following this recipe, but again, not adding the full recommended amount of sugar.

I used six organic Meyer lemons, plus half of a regular organic lemon for the juice.  I candied the seventh Meyer lemon.  I would recommend using organic citrus because, as a former room mate of mine pointed out, citrus peels absorb pesticides and this recipe calls for zest.  More helpful tips on cooking with citrus can be found here, including that the fruit's juice yield can be maximized by juicing it at room temperature. 

The pie, as I made it, was well received by everyone who tasted it.  While it is not exactly like the tartelettes en France as I recall them, I like this recipe, and may adjust the amount of sugar when I make it again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

When Anna, one of my best friends, was away for a year abroad in England, I sent her this Valentine's Day card with all these heart stickers on the envelope. So last year, given that I had some troubles with the postal service (pieces of mail going to or from Canada never arrived, and a Hallowe'en card that arrived in December, to name a few) I thought I'd be smart and get my Valentine's Day card to Peter in the mail extra early. I figured that it would surely arrive on time if I mailed it January 31.

February 14 arrived, and Peter surprised me by having these gorgeous flowers delivered to my front door Valentine's Day morning just before I had to leave for work.  We were chatting on Skype that morning when they arrived, and I was floating on cloud nine the rest of the day and week or so that they were in bloom (as I recall, they actually lasted a pretty long time and then dried out beautifully).  He checked his mailbox, but no card.

February 15 came and went, and still my card had not arrived.  After a few weeks of waiting, we figured it had been lost in the mail and put it out of our minds.  Meanwhile, in mid-to-late February my mom received a postcard I mailed her from Paris in December, and this gave me hope that maybe Peter would get my Valentine's Day card.

One random day in May, after I had left France and flown to Québec, Peter called me.  "Guess what I just got in the mail," he said.  "What?" I asked, having completely forgotten my Valentine's Day card and figuring he was going to tell me about something like a tax return.  It was my Valentine's Day card!

I sometimes wonder where it might have gone in between the time I slipped it in the post box in France and it arriving in his mailbox, but I'm sure the answer is neither adventurous nor romantic.  Even though it was over three months late by the time he received it, I was still as happy as I would have been if he had been able to read my heartfelt message on the right day. Because, as another one of my closest friends once said of Valentine's Day, when the roses die, the chocolates are eaten, and the cards are thrown out, I'm still going to love you.

So Happy Valentine's Day, whether you're celebrating or boycotting it, and remember to show the ones you love that you care about them every day of the year.

Twitter

When I was getting ready to go to France, one of the important things for Peter and I to figure out was how we would communicate and maintain our relationship while we were on separate continents.  One of the ways we brainstormed was getting Twitter accounts to tweet and direct message each other from. When I got to France, however, the phone I got was a basic à la carte type and Twitter via SMS was unavailable for French phone numbers.  Instead, the nine-hour time difference worked in such a way that we were able to chat on Skype twice a day, morning and night.

Have you ever been in a long-distance relationship?  How did you stay in touch with your love?  

Also, if  you look to the right side bar, you'll notice I have created a Cartes Postales twitter.  I'll post blog updates, travel tips and more.  Follow me and I'll follow you too!

2 Days in Seattle

Pike Place Market, September 2004.

I was feeling a bit down the week before last.  I considered running my frustrations out, or binging on ice cream and drinking wine by myself while watching television (how cute is this Pity Party kit found via Cup of Jo?).  But then I remembered having passed a poster on a bus stop for a Gauguin exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.  I suggested to Peter that we attend the exhibit and make a weekend trip out of it to coincide with our upcoming five-year(!) anniversary.  Planning this, and another upcoming trip, made me feel instantly better.

Almost simultaneously, I also began noticing these 2 Days in Seattle ads run by Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau all over the city.  "The promotion is part of . . . [an] off-season advertising campaign targeting San Francisco, Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia," and ties into a major interactive online component.

Seattle makes total sense for a weekend trip from Vancouver, but oddly enough I've only ever been there three times.  Once in 2004 to see Van Gogh at the SAM, again in 2005 to see Blonde Redhead and Interpol play, and lastly in 2010 when Peter and I stopped for lunch Fremont to see the statue of Lenin.

I'm really looking forward to the Gauguin exhibit, checking out Pike Place Market, and grabbing a bite at Odd Fellows Café.

Creamy Avocado Pasta

I've kept a blog of some sort intermittently for nearly ten years now.  While this blog has dealt with food primarily in the context of travel and my life in France, I follow food blogs and thought I would post a recipe "review" of sorts. 

Tonight I made Oh She Glow's 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta.  When I first read the recipe some weeks ago, my mouth watered.  While I find it was good, I think my execution of the recipe was a major factor in how it turned out. 

I followed the recipe exactly, except I added one can of Cannelini beans (drained and rinsed) for extra protein, sprinkled sea salt along with pepper on my pasta once I had plated it, and took a shortcut and used bottled lemon juice rather than real.  I feel this latter substitution probably significantly affected the taste.  I also made much more pasta as I failed to note the note that it does not reheat well, so lunch tomorrow will undoubtedly be interesting.  I feel the sauce needs to be warmed up in some way as just mixing it with the pasta straight out of the pot wasn't warm enough for me. 

This recipe was good, but I had (perhaps unrealistically) high expectations for it, and I feel my shortcuts took away from the end result.  I also feel that had I not doubled the amount of spaghetti I boiled, this would have been maybe almost too creamy.  I really like that this creamy pasta sauce does not contain dairy.  I will definitely make this again, but using real lemon next time.  

(photo from Oh She Glows)

Tastes Like Chicken

"A forager collects these wild snails in the Sierra Nevada mountains, then feeds them a strict diet of basil before blanching and packing them in basil water for shipping. When cooked, they become tender and infused with the flavor of the herb and are unlike any mollusk you've ever tried."

The description of how these snails are cultivated sounds really awesome and intense.  Before having taken the plunge last year and eaten escargots in France, I would never have believed that snails could be any good.  These, however, sound delicious!



(photo from Gilt Taste via Cup of Jo)

In My Life

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more  

-- The Beatles, In My Life

Berlin to Prague Train

When I last left off my tale of travel, I was visiting Berlin in a whirlwind.  After our quick sojourn, Jacky and I hopped a Deutsch Bahn train to Prague.  As it was my first time taking the train and riding in a compartment, and feeling very Darjeeling Limited, Jacky snapped this photo of me.

Watching the world going by the window somewhere between Dresden and Prague I took this photo.  The scenery reminded me a lot of the scenery on the drive on Highway 1 that Peter and I take when going to Invermere or Calgary.  It was then I understood why so many Germans like to visit the Rockies.  It feels like home.

Vancouver: Then and Now

Last week I was waiting for Peter to pick me up from downtown, when this bus stop caught my eye.  I started what I thought was a car ad, but soon realised that it's part of a public art program celebrating Vancouver's 125th birthday.

The piece is a postcard from 1944 addressed to a recipient who lives at the corner of Drake and Hornby streets juxtaposed with a photo of the same street corner taken in 2011.  The piece reminds me a lot of Fred Herzog's work documenting Vancouver.  There was a Herzog exhibit a few years ago at the Vancouver Art Gallery and I always thought it would be cool to go back and photograph the same locations to see how the city has changed.

I'd love to know, have you seen any more of these then/now pieces around the city? 

FAQ: What was your favourite trip?

Since I've been back, I've gotten a lot of questions about my eight months abroad in Europe.  I thought I'd answer a few of them here.

While I enjoyed all my trips, I think Amsterdam stood out.  Here are some reasons why:

1.  I put a lot of planning into this trip.  Whereas I set off for Belgium, Rome, Berlin and Prague with more vague ideas of what I wanted to see, I really put a lot of planning into this trip.  Some resources I used to plan my trip included:


Europe on a Shoestring  -- Offers a good general overview of many European travel destinations while staying budget-conscious.

Amsterdam en quelques jours -- I bought a French pocket guide to Amsterdam because I wanted to ensure I knew what I was looking at so I would get the most out of my trip.  In English the en quelques jours series is called Encounters.  They're fantastic!, I bought them for Rome and Prague too.

Frommers.com -- Prior to leaving for France, I spent a lot of time in the travel section at the bookstore.  I was drawn to the Frommer's guides, but didn't want to weigh down my suitcase with travel guides.  I found the Frommer's website super helpful for itineraries and walking tours.

2. We stayed on a canal boat.  The canal system is such an inextricable part of Amsterdam, I'm glad we got to experience it by staying on a canal boat.

3.  I made food part of the experience.  While I ate a lot of pasta and gelato in Rome, food wasn't my biggest concern during most of my trips.  I was more about seeing what there was to see.  In Amsterdam, because of its Dutch East Indian Company history, I figured it had pretty good Indonesian food.  Just as my first time trying Indian food was in London five years ago, I figured Amsterdam would be a good place to try Indonesian.  Turns out, they are renown for rijsttafel, a Dutch take on Indonesian food.

Other memorable meals included:

•  The Dutch breakfast we had on the boat -- either savory cheese, cucumber and tomato sandwiches (the Dutch historically haven't been big on breakfast foods) or, at the other end of the spectrum, Hagelslag--chocolate sprinkles eaten on peanut buttered toast.

• Gouda fondue at Dwaze Zaken, a cool café on Prinsheindrikkade across from the central train station.  Although France is renown for its cheeses, the Netherlands is home to its fair number of varieties. 

4. Amsterdam is a pedestrian friendly city.  Despite having to keep an eye out for cyclists, I found that Amsterdam is one of Europe's great cities for pedestrians.  Without necessarily having "sights" to "see," I loved just wandering around Amsterdam's canal-bordering streets and discreetly gazing through the ground-level windows at awesomely arranged and furnished apartments.

5. Amsterdam is a city of great museums.  As I have said before, there is more to Amsterdam than marijuana.  Amsterdam truly has some great museums, chief among which are the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museums, but also the Rembrandthuis (which I did not have time to visit).

6. We didn't overbook our days. We planned one major thing to do for each day.  We started off by taking a walking tour of Amsterdam (check out Sandemans' Free Europe tours, they're awesome!), then went to the Van Gogh Musem and Rijksmuseum as our main event the next two days we were there.  This left lots of time for just walking around and enjoying the city (see #4).

These are just a few of the elements that went into a great trip.  I'm not a trip-planning professional, but I'd love to answer any questions you might have.  What's a great trip you took?  What factors made your trip so awesome?

Travel Map Cork Board

Ever since I got back from Europe I've been thinking about some way to display where I've travelled to other than the map-and-pin method.  How cool is this cork board variation?  Even cooler, it's a DIY project that you can check out here.  I'd love to attempt a map of Europe.


(photo by Halligan Norris Smith via Desgin*Sponge)

I Dream of Travel

...To Saint Basil's!

If you click on over to Google today, their banner is celebrating Saint Basil's Cathedral's 450th anniversary.  I would love to one day go to Russia and visit Moscow and Saint Petersburg.  I once read of a cruise you could take along the Volga river from one to the other.  I saw a lot of churches and cathedrals while in Europe, but wouldn't it be just so breathtaking to see Saint Basil's in person?  Also, isn't this pre-1917 postcard of Saint Basil's so cool?

Where are you dreaming of travelling to?

(image via retromoscow)

Getting Controlled

In France, contrôleurs are agents who check tickets to ensure riders of trains and public transit have paid their fare. To be checked is to be "contrôlé." Being anglophones, it amuses me endlessly that we English assistants we have come to talk about it as being or getting "controlled." What amuses me further is that thought or discussion of getting controlled makes the Joy Division song She's Lost Control pop into my head.

contrôler (cont-troll-ay): to check, to inspect

Back in October my room mate Andrenne and I were controlled for the first time and we didn't have appropriate fare.  It was kind of a scary experience and my heart was racing as the police officers escorted us off the tram to write us up.  Not knowing what to do and not wanting to be fined, we told them that we were new in town and then instinctually pretended not to speak French.  I had never talked myself out of a ticket before (never before having the chance or needing to) but fortunately this time it worked and the police officers let us off with a warning. 

I was relieved, but still shaken from this brush with authority and made sure to have the required fare from then on.


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(image via IMDb)

Montgolfières

Four years ago, while working a grueling summer job, I would daydream about taking a roadtrip down the Oregon coast to San Francisco and surf the travel Oregon website. At that time, the site featured photos of hot-air balloons.

I came across these photos of the Tigard Festival of Balloons by Whitney on Frolic! and they have me daydreaming again about roadtripping to Oregon.  Aren't they magnificent?  They would make beautiful prints.  Check out more hot-air balloon photos here.

(photos by Whitney via Frolic!)

Berlin in a Whirlwind

If you're still following my adventure, after having done a tour de France, my mum and I returned to London, where she flew home from.  I stuck around Londontown a few extra days to visit an old friend and hit some of the city's great museums.  From London, I hopped a plane to Berlin where I met up with my travel buddy, Jacky, whom you may remember from my trip to Amsterdam. 

Berlin was love at first glimpse of the TV tower.  The city has a really cool vibe I can't quite describe.  Our first day there we took a walking tour and saw the sights, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Wall, and the location of Hitler's bunker.

Berlin, and Germany for that matter, has such a rich history full of upheavals, of which there are lots of commemorations throughout the city.  There is the monument to the victims of war and tyranny, the Holocaust memorial, and a monument dedicated to the commemoration of the Nazi book burnings to name but a few.  Despite this, I didn't get the impression that Berlin is a city weighed down by its history.  It's possible to relax, have fun and enjoy the city that Berlin has become.  To me, there are multiple Berlins.  It just depends which one you want to see when you visit the city.

The Tally

I've been thinking a lot about the travels I've done. I feel like I've been a lot of places. As my friend Claire said to me, "Every time I talk to you it seems like you're just coming from or going on some trip." I took every opportunity I had to travel--I travelled to nearly everywhere that was on my mental list of places to go to. At the same time, I feel that there's so much left to see.  While I'm "travelled out," I still fantasize about future travels.  I was in a bookstore the other day and found myself drawn to the travel guide section.

So in my 8 months abroad:

• I took 20 trips, including day trips,
• During which I visited 25 cities
• In 8 countries.

Tour de France, Part 2

When I last left off, my mum and I had just visited marvellous Marseille, with its beautiful harbour and sunshine-filled skies.

The next day we boarded another train, this time to Paris. We got there around the early evening and stayed in the same hotel I had stayed at when I first arrived, a little hotel well situated in the 18e arrondissement, with easy walking access to all the sights. I was really excited to show my mum Paris, as it is such a stunning city—especially your first time visiting. That evening we went for a walk through Montmartre to Sacré Coeur, down the butte de Montmartre past the Opera house and through the jardin des Tuilleries.

The next morning we woke up early and were off on a day trip to Chenonceau castle.

This Loire Valley château is impressive and surprisingly tranquil (given the number of visitors) and has an interesting history. Built at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Henry II gave it to his “préférée”, or mistress, Diane de Poitiers. After his death, Henry’s wife, Catherine de Medici, evicted Diane and inhabited the château. During the First World War, Chenonceau served as a hospital. During the Second World War was situated exactly on the dividing line between the Occupied and Free zones. As such, it was used by the Resistance.

The next few days we had in Paris were spent visiting the sights, including the Sainte-Chapelle, which I’d never seen before. Then we boarded the Eurostar back to London.

Home!

After nearly nine months away (8 months and 15 days), I am finally back home in Vancouver!

I can't wait to finish telling you about my tour de France with my mum, my two weeks out and about Québec, and my trips to Berlin and Prague.


(Photo by NASA via Design*Sponge, illustrating a Vancouver City Guide I highly recommend.)

Still Life with Suitcases

When I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, I was absolutely fascinated with the photographic quality of  the Dutch masters' still life paintings.  So, with my own recent experience juggling suitcases and fancying myself in the Darjeeling Limited, I find myself very attracted to these modern still life paintings of suitcases by Canadian artist Christopher Stott that I stumbled upon via Design*Sponge.

 

Tour de France, Part 1

After visiting London, my mom and I spent a week marathon travelling through France, visiting five cities in all. With all our luggage and train travel, I felt a bit like the Whitman brothers in The Darjeeling Limited. But it went surprisingly well.

We started in Saint Etienne, where I showed her the town I had called home for the last seven months.

The next day I took her to Lyon and showed her all the sights. Lyon being the gastronomic capital of France, we ate dinner in a bouchon lyonnais called Le Tire Bouchon.

bouchon (boo-sho(w)n): literally, a lid or plug; here meant as a traditional lyonnais restaurant

The Tire Bouchon has a great ambiance that is everything that people are trying to capture when they put up Toulouse-Lautrec’s Le Théâtre du Chat Noir print. My mom had the traditional lyonnais dish quenelles, a type of pastry or pasta served in a sauce, and I had a parmentier (shepherd’s pie).

Then the next day, Thursday, April 28, we left with our suitcases to head to Nîmes. A trivia fact for you: Nîmes is the home of denim or de Nîmes, which Levi Strauss exported to California to make jeans for the gold prospectors. Nîmes also has many Roman ruins including the best preserved Roman arena in the world.

(Clockwise from the left) A matador statue in front of the Nîmes arena;  view inside the Nîmes arena;  Jardin de la fontaine;  la Maison Carré; la Tour Magne.

While we did cover a lot of ground in train travel, our tour de France did not feel pressed for time once we got to each destination.  It actually had a relaxed and leisurely feel as we did not overbook each day. 

The following day we took a short train from Nîmes to Marseille.  Our hotel was located just one block from the Vieux Port.  As our room was not yet ready, we decided to have a coffee and admire the view of the Vieux Port.  Once allowed into our room, we happened to be able to catch a bit of the royal wedding we saw the preparations for a few days earlier.

Marseille had an amazing atmosphere, which reminded me a lot of Rome, especially in la vielle ville.  We walked along the Vieux Port, which is full of boats and protected by historic Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Jean forts on either side of the harbour’s mouth.  We also took a short passenger ferry ride to the Château d’If, made famous by Alexandre Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo.   Being an island prison-fort, the Château d’If reminded me a lot of Alcatraz, which I visited two  years ago during my trip to San Francisco.

(Clockwise from the top) Marseille’s Vieux Port;  view of Château d’If; view of lighthouse and Marseille from If island; view of Notre-Dame from Marseille’s Vieux Port; view of a street in la vielle ville.

Stay tuned for Part II.