Paris 2009: We Have Arrived!

Until we arrived in Paris this morning, I could still hardly believe we were REALLY coming....and here we are, in a lovely apartment in the Tuileries Quarter near the Louvre. Taking the red eye over-seas is always our preference since we both have no issues falling asleep on the plane. Two movies and a nap later, we were landing at CDG! We wasted no time of course wandering the city.

Day 1:
One of the things I love about Europe is that you can always find your way via public transportation. Taking the RER into city center from the airport has 0 difficulty. Our apartment is as good as we had anticipated - clean, convenient and comfy. I spotted the first restaurant we would end up trying for a late lunch as we made our way from the train station to our apartment, duck confit was on the menu! We also had an assorted platter of cheeses and meats. yum! I have a feeling we're going to be eating alot of duck and alot of cheese while we're here!

We decided to have an easy day wandering Tuileries and on to Champs Elysee. Our first stop was the Louvre - truly breathtaking and I had almost forgotten how beautiful the architecture is. We walked through the Tuileries Garden towards Arc de Triomphe, passing Place de Concorde, sight of the guillotine from the French Revolution, and Palais Royale, another beautiful building. Along the way, we stumbled upon an exhibit of French Vogue covers through the years - it was amazing and such a nice surprise! I never knew how many times Linda Evangelista (Canadian!) had been featured!

Champs Elysee is like no other shopping district in the world. From the LV flagship, to primo car dealerships (do people ever buy cars there?), and cafes galore. We stopped in the Adidas store and discovered Mi - you can customize your own shoes!! The store also featured all their feature collections like Stella McCartney, Y3, and SLVR. Even a plain old Adidas store is not so plain! And speaking of the LV flagship, we were approached twice by questionable Asians looking for someone to buy a bag for them. Has it happened to you? They offer you CASH to buy a bag for them because the store limits # of bags per passport to help fight counterfeits (so I've been told). Clearly sketch, but it makes me wonder, what if I happened to be tremendously wealthy and wanted to buy 3 or 4 LV bags? In any case, an interesting operation. If there are 4 people asking on the street, I wonder how many "hits" they get in a day, or in a week, and how many and what bags do they need?

After a quick photo op of the Arc de Triomphe, we decided to make our way back to the apartment for a rest before dinner. On the way back, we veered to the original Chanel store at 31 rue cambon in honour of all the Chanel movies we have seen lately! Actually, we stopped in 3 along the way before we actually found the "right" address. We also stopped in Hermes...and it was INSANELY busy, 2, 3 deep at the scarf counter. I guess when in Paris, you can buy any design you have ever wanted but could not find!

After being in drenched in rain, we decided to stay close to home for dinner. Lucky for us, there were options galore even at 10:30pm after our short rest turned into a 2 hour nap :P Who knew walking all that way would be so tiring right? I guess I don't normally walk 10km a day. We had a wonderful meal at Cafe Coup d'Etat: duck carpaccio to start served with arugula and mozzarella, rosemary lambchops (came with 3!), and prawn risotto with cream anise. My risotto was one of the best I haev ever had, I can still taste the wonderful sauce and delicious prawns it was served with. Normally, prawn/shrimp dishes has little taste, so I was worried, but how silly that was! We couldn't pass up dessert: I had mango panacotta, probably the best I have ever had - not too sweet, with a firm yet silky finish topped with mango and surrounded by coulis; Tony had a strawberry tiramisu, which was also not too sweet, served in a cup and incredibly fluffy. This is what we were looking forward to in Paris - lovely food where-ever we end up. And of course, cheap wine. Our glass of wine at dinner cost less than our bottle of coke at lunch - it's wine from here on in!

Not bad for day 1. We have no idea what we are doing day to day, but am sure it will be filled with more delicious food and wandering through various neighbourhoods.

PS. Stella I had a pain au chocolat from Paul for you today!

Paris 2009: Prepping for Travel

In 2 weeks time, Tony and I managed to narrow down our many options for a holiday that had no destination and find ourselves 3 days from hopping on a plane to Paris. Life could be worse, right? This is by far the fastest holiday I've booked (Japan last year was booked 8 months in advance!). So what have our last couple weeks been like?

Destination: We had no destination in mind, which can open the door to many deals and options, but also made it incredibly hard to research - East, West, Sun, Adventure....the options were endless. With only a week, we did not want to be flying too far (Japan and Maui were out), and did not want to be in North America (we can do that on any given long weekend), and did not want to spend more than $1500 each on flight and hotels, since all-inclusives are a dime a dozen at under $1000. We toyed with the idea of several European locations - some we had been, some we had not; in the end, it came down to a balance of cost and practicality. Although I have seen most of the major sites in Paris, I really only spent 4 days in the city of love while backpacking and have been keen to spend more time just enjoying the city, culture and food (you can't eat very well on a student budget!). I was also looking for a low key holiday, but also with things to see and do - Paris was perfect, since we have both been before, eliminating the need to strategically plan out our days and ensure we don't "miss anything," but the city is also so diverse and amazing that there is plenty for us to do. Ultimately, understanding your budget and "objectives" is important in narrowing down options and ensuring the best location for a holiday!

Tips for last minute deals: subscribe to travelzoo, travel alerts and the like if you are flexible in dates and location; expedia still boasts some of the best hotel and flight deals around; we love kayak.com for flight tracking and comparisons.

Where to stay: my last trip in Paris was with a backpack and in a hostel. The key, I recall, was to be close to a metrostation. We obsessively looked up hotel and flight deals on expedia, keeping in mind that hotel standards in Europe are not the same as North American standards. Clean is all I ask for! Our go-to site, of course, is tripadvisor.com, which I sometimes feel is more hindering than helpful. Aggregate reviews and real-life photos are key to the review, but the divergence in opinions ranking accomodations from 5* to 1* can be stressful to navigate. Tony sticks to the worst reviews while I like to read the most recent. My only rule is if any review includes bed bugs - OUT. We have also tapped into our many well travelled friends for tips and ideas. Our friends Stella and Jon found a nice apartment to stay in Paris, an idea that appealed to us as well (although we are not expecting to use the kitchen much). And further, our friend Marissa recommended a great vacation rental site: www.vrbo.com. We had NO IDEA what a big industry vacation apartments were, and were immediately excited to find lovely apartments at reasonable costs in great locations. In the end, we landed a great apartment a stone's throw away from the Louvre for less than a 3* hotel would cost us in the same area. Anyone want to join us at our 2 bedroom apartment next week??

What to do: I used to consider myself an avid researcher, but ultimately, I am lazy and prefer to just show up and decide. In far off places, as long as I am safe, everyday is an adventure, planned or unplanned. But my favourite guidebooks are Eyewitness Travel. I love the inset pictures and short explanations, along with maps (street and subway) and suggestions galore. I usually ignore the restaurant and accomodation recommendations since they can fast become outdated, but love the area reviews with highlights not to be missed. I consider it the one-stop book and can thank my friend Jen for introducing them to me when we were backpacking. I delved into my book this past weekend, looking this time more for local markets and shops than must-see attractions. Reading the book gave me a great overview of the city and excited to cross the Ocean this week! lonleyplanet.com is another great site I have used in the past for sample itineraries and ideas of things to do. For food, we have often relied on chowhound.com for local recommendations; but in Paris, we will be happy to eat where-ever we end up :)

Logistics: Tony has become a google maps expert in all our vacation planning. You can quickly find the proximity of hotels/hostels to public tranportation by layering on multiple maps, and of course, google earth can show you exactly what the areas look like. Seeing it all laid out is a good way to get oriented.

With 3 days to go, Tony is populating our "map" with places we want to visit while I go the old fashioned way and tab my travel book and highlight key subway stops. After all our research and thanks to the tips of friends, we feel great about the plans we have made so far, and are looking forward to a nice, relaxing holiday in Paris. Vive la france!

PS. with free wifi in our apartment, stay tuned for holiday updates. what food can be better than in Paris??In 2 weeks time, Tony and I managed to narrow down our many options for a holiday that had no destination and find ourselves 3 days from hopping on a plane to Paris. Life could be worse, right? This is by far the fastest holiday I've booked (Japan last year was booked 8 months in advance!). So what have our last couple weeks been like?

Destination: We had no destination in mind, which can open the door to many deals and options, but also made it incredibly hard to research - East, West, Sun, Adventure....the options were endless. With only a week, we did not want to be flying too far (Japan and Maui were out), and did not want to be in North America (we can do that on any given long weekend), and did not want to spend more than $1500 each on flight and hotels, since all-inclusives are a dime a dozen at under $1000. We toyed with the idea of several European locations - some we had been, some we had not; in the end, it came down to a balance of cost and practicality. Although I have seen most of the major sites in Paris, I really only spent 4 days in the city of love while backpacking and have been keen to spend more time just enjoying the city, culture and food (you can't eat very well on a student budget!). I was also looking for a low key holiday, but also with things to see and do - Paris was perfect, since we have both been before, eliminating the need to strategically plan out our days and ensure we don't "miss anything," but the city is also so diverse and amazing that there is plenty for us to do. Ultimately, understanding your budget and "objectives" is important in narrowing down options and ensuring the best location for a holiday!

Tips for last minute deals: subscribe to travelzoo, travel alerts and the like if you are flexible in dates and location; expedia still boasts some of the best hotel and flight deals around; we love kayak.com for flight tracking and comparisons.

Where to stay: my last trip in Paris was with a backpack and in a hostel. The key, I recall, was to be close to a metrostation. We obsessively looked up hotel and flight deals on expedia, keeping in mind that hotel standards in Europe are not the same as North American standards. Clean is all I ask for! Our go-to site, of course, is tripadvisor.com, which I sometimes feel is more hindering than helpful. Aggregate reviews and real-life photos are key to the review, but the divergence in opinions ranking accomodations from 5* to 1* can be stressful to navigate. Tony sticks to the worst reviews while I like to read the most recent. My only rule is if any review includes bed bugs - OUT. We have also tapped into our many well travelled friends for tips and ideas. Our friends Stella and Jon found a nice apartment to stay in Paris, an idea that appealed to us as well (although we are not expecting to use the kitchen much). And further, our friend Marissa recommended a great vacation rental site: www.vrbo.com. We had NO IDEA what a big industry vacation apartments were, and were immediately excited to find lovely apartments at reasonable costs in great locations. In the end, we landed a great apartment a stone's throw away from the Louvre for less than a 3* hotel would cost us in the same area. Anyone want to join us at our 2 bedroom apartment next week??

What to do: I used to consider myself an avid researcher, but ultimately, I am lazy and prefer to just show up and decide. In far off places, as long as I am safe, everyday is an adventure, planned or unplanned. But my favourite guidebooks are Eyewitness Travel. I love the inset pictures and short explanations, along with maps (street and subway) and suggestions galore. I usually ignore the restaurant and accomodation recommendations since they can fast become outdated, but love the area reviews with highlights not to be missed. I consider it the one-stop book and can thank my friend Jen for introducing them to me when we were backpacking. I delved into my book this past weekend, looking this time more for local markets and shops than must-see attractions. Reading the book gave me a great overview of the city and excited to cross the Ocean this week! lonleyplanet.com is another great site I have used in the past for sample itineraries and ideas of things to do. For food, we have often relied on chowhound.com for local recommendations; but in Paris, we will be happy to eat where-ever we end up :)

Logistics: Tony has become a google maps expert in all our vacation planning. You can quickly find the proximity of hotels/hostels to public tranportation by layering on multiple maps, and of course, google earth can show you exactly what the areas look like. Seeing it all laid out is a good way to get oriented.

With 3 days to go, Tony is populating our "map" with places we want to visit while I go the old fashioned way and tab my travel book and highlight key subway stops. After all our research and thanks to the tips of friends, we feel great about the plans we have made so far, and are looking forward to a nice, relaxing holiday in Paris. Vive la france!

PS. with free wifi in our apartment, stay tuned for holiday updates. what food can be better than in Paris??

Celebrating an Indian Wedding at Taj Mahal Calgary

We had the pleasure of attending a wonderful East Indian wedding of our friends Paul and Aman last weekend. It was our second experience of the traditional ceremony at temple and of course, the amazing food. We're not well versed in all the do's and don'ts, but the celebration is always colourful and spirited, and we certainly appreciate how friendly and welcoming everyone is. We had to cover our heads and remove our shoes as we entered the temple, and men and women were seated separately. This particular temple in NE Calgary also had projectors translating the entire ceremony, allowing us to understand the blessings and prayers by the gurus. Ceremonies at the temple included a snack in the morning - delicious mixed pakora and veggie samosas and a buffet lunch...yum!

We were invited to join a smaller group for dinner at the Taj Mahal in Calgary. The restaurant has been around for 38 years, and I only recall driving past the giant Taj Mahal facade on the front and never thought to try it - always seemed so cheeseball! I still can't tell you much about what the restaurant looks like inside because the reception was held in a small event space on the third floor...but I can tell you that the food was absolutely wonderful!

Snacks:

Fish pakora with hot mint jelly - I think I could have hot mint jelly with everything and I just love fish pakora.
Crisps with chick pea salsa, yogurt and tamarind sauce - a unique snack that I had not had before, thankfully there was someone to show me the way. The crisps reminded me of the crisps we put in our congee :P

Main:

Saffron rice/naan

Goat curry - this was my first time having goat curry and my favourite dish of the night.
Chicken makhni (butter chicken) - if you have never had butter chicken you are missing out on one of my all time favourite dishes, it is boneless chicken simmered in a rich butter/tomato sauce.
Gulnar paneer (Indian cheese) - was delicious and served with yet another flavourful sauce.

Although our gracious hosts tried to appeal to everyone by offering both an Indian buffet and a "North American" one that boasted roast beef and vegetables, it was of course the Indian buffet that was lined up and enjoyed by all. Tony and I were stuffed and found it hard to prevent ourselves from refilling again and again because we could simply fit no more of the delicious food in our stomach.
Indian weddings are a wonderful experience - a unique celebration embraced by the entire family, young and old, and celebrated through food, music and dance. We were happy to be a part of our friend's wedding and have the opportunity to indulge in such amazing food.

Seafood Galore at Adega Portugese Restaurant

One of the greatest things about living in Toronto is the variety of ethnic food. From Little Italy, Greek Town to Korea Town, there are plenty of authentic coves of food to be found. We have driven through Little Portugal many times but bewildered by the number of restaurants, never made the stop to indulge. On a whim, I looked up Portuguese food in the city tonight, and was surprised to find that there was a restaurant just off Yonge on Elm Street that seemed promising.

There is a cute row of restaurants on Elm Street, including the famous Barbarian's steak house, mostly targeted to tourists. We must have walked by Adega many times and never noticed that it served Portuguese cuisine. As a seafood lover, the menu was heaven! We started with a seafood bisque that perfectly hit the spot and an octopus carpaccio served with mild chili sauce. I was more interested in our neighbour's amazing looking squid appetizer...next time I suppose! For mains, we had a seafood saffron risotto, which was surprisingly light for a pasta. I was expecting a bit more flavour, but found it delicious nonetheless. I was pleasantly surprised by the Cataplana Fish Stew, a rich spicy tomato broth with a generous amount of fish, shell fish and other seafood and vegetables served in a brass pot. Yum! Although stuffed, I found some room for dessert, a unique lychee creme brulee with mango sorbet - the lychee was understated complimented by the flavourful mango sorbet.

Adega doesn't compare to some of our best Portuguese food experiences in other cities, but was sufficient to satisfy my craving for flavourful seafood. I think we still need to make our way to Little Portugal, but in the meantime, am happy to have something close to home. There are definitely some other items on the menu I'd like to try, and the specials, including lobster, tenderloin and grouper, were all tempting as well - overall, a solid restaurant, and a worthwhile try for something a little different.

Good Pub Food: Three Brewers

The Three Brewers opened several months ago near Dundas Square and we didn't have a chance to check it out until this weekend. Our friends Denis and Abby has recommended it as a good place originating from Quebec. Actually, Denis had referred to it in French, les 3 brasseurs, and I "heard" 3 brothers....as a result, for months, I have been telling people to go try "Three Brothers."

Regardless, we went with friends visiting from the West this weekend, hoping to catch-up over some good food and watch tennis. The good part is that the food was excellent and the place is much bigger than it looks (4 floors) so we had no trouble getting a table. The bad part is that they were unable to change selected tv's to tennis - not sure why watching a random screen saver was better than the US open at a PUB....but whatever.

Tony had a tasting of 4 beers, which seemed to be pretty popular. I had the blonde ale, which was perfect for a hot summer day. Food, as I mentioned, was delicious. I had the house special, a beer braised pork shank, served with sauerkraut (surprisingly yummy!) and a large baked potato...more than enough food for me and was seriously satisfying. Tony had a flam, think pizza on a super thin crust - almost pita like. We were also happy the poutine had good cheese curds. We're happy to have tried this great casual and inexpensive dining spot so close to home - the menu has a wide variety of options and comes quick! The vibe is good - nicer than a typical pub, but casual enough to stop by on any given night. The front windows also open like garage doors so you have the option of enjoying patio- like weather right on Yonge. If you're ever in the core and want something quick, casual, yet GOOD....Three Brewers is a good choice.

Sushi in the Prairies at Zipang

Sushi Bar Zipang is one of few good Japanese restaurants in Calgary, a place we frequented when we still lived in the city. It's located just off Edmonton trail in up and coming Bridgeland neighbourhood. It offers a good mix of small cooked dishes and sushi/sashimi. Some of our favourites in addition to their fresh sashimi include gyu tataki (beef), cold soba with seaweed, miso paste on grilled eggplant, and salmon belly. The special menu often has exotic items worth trying. Last night, we went to celebrate my friend's birthday - lucky we had a reservation as it was packed, no surprise for a Friday night! We tried the squid with spicy cod roe for the first time, and the red tuna sashimi with quail egg. The squid was crisp and fresh, the tuna was a bit bland. Zipang also offers one of my favourite drinks, Calpico! I literally drank litres of it while we were in Japan, so I am always happy to have it whenever we indulge in good sushi.

Zipang is a worthwhile experience with good cooked dishes and traditional fresh fish. They offer an assortment for the adventurous or conservative, and some good value set meals as well. If you are in Calgary and crave good Japanese food, I think Zipang is a good bet.

Gastronomic Heaven at Colborne Lane

We've had many amazing food experiences in Toronto, from affordable cultural fare to phenomenal fine dining. One of our favourite places to splurge is Colborne Lane; in fact, it's not nearly as expensive as say Susur or Rain ever was, but the food is truly outstanding. We had decided to stop in last year after reading about it in Toronto Life's best new restaurant list, an excellent source for foodies for any of you who don't follow/subscribe but live in the city!

Colborne Street itself is a quaint location, almost secretly tucked near King and Church, a cute brick strip with oldish charm. On one of our first visits, we saw a wedding party doing photos outside - I can definitely see the attraction. We've had nothing but great service at Colborne Lane, and luckily, we've also walked in and taken a seat at the bar before - does not take away from the amazing food experience at all. On a previous visit with my friend Surina, we were spoiled with delicious food, drinks and even some complementary ice wine as we waited for our dessert (apparently it was a slightly long wait, but our dessert actually arrived as the wine did). Tony says it's a benefit reserved for ladies dining out - whatever the case, I appreciated the effort!

All the food at Colborne Lane is complemented with clean and simple sauces/drizzles - while these are typically visual embellishments, sauces here are a critical part of the meal. We would try to maximize the different accompaniments on each small morsel of food. We had 4 tapas to start, with our favourites being a delicious scallop with a selection of light sweet sauces and fruit that I can't name but can still taste in my mouth. We also tried the prawn ceviche, much better than we expected and accompanied by dabs of butternut squash/roasted red pepper/black squid ink sauce.

For mains, we had miso glazed black cod with sesame panna cotta. On the weekend, I had not-so-eloquently described to Amber that panna cotta was "a white custard-like thing"....not quite right and doesn't do it justice; but truly, I have had different iterations of panna cotta at different restaurants so I really couldn't say for sure how it would be served! The point here is that the sesame panna cotta was delicious - and the best I have had - uniquely served as a part of the main course! It sort of looked like tofu, but a fairly firm texture, and not overpowering in taste, and of course very complementary to the black cod. The lamb loin was no less amazing, exceptionally tender and served with quinoa. We were ecstatic about our all our savoury dishes so far, but more was to come!

The highlight of the night was dessert: warm doughnut + nitro creme fraiche + pineapple. The experience started with the manager bringing a giant mixing bowl table-side flowing with liquid nitrogen (really!) . Next, he mixed in fresh made cream with no preservatives or even eggs and other blenders. We couldn't see what was going on IN the bowl, but as the liquid nitrogen evaporated we eventually saw the cream start to turn into ice cream, looked something like cookie dough. He invited us to dig our spoons in - it was SOO AMAZING! I'm not even one to typically like whipped cream, cookie dough etc, but THIS...heavenly! It was light and fresh, truly a taste like no other. The dessert is delicate and time sensitive - a warm doughnut (think fluffy fried sugar doughnut ball) was the main served with the ice cream, which quickly started to melt as it cools to room temperature. Not to worry, we didn't waste anytime inhaling the doughnut and the cream! This was a splurge worth every penny!

Colborne Lane is on both our top 3 lists in Toronto. Tonight we were out on a mini celebration, so I couldn't have been happier to make a visit. Looking back at the pictures, I wish the restaurant had more light so I could have fully appreciated how beautiful the food was!