Thinking about Burgundy (bit long)

Uh oh. That was a wonderful posting, and I hate to zero in solely on the "lard" aspect, but this leads me to a personal question. I LOVE good food and wine, but being a relatively healthy eater and quite conscious of it, I began to stress out just READING the last sentence of your posting. I've only recently begun to accept the fact that I will not be able to work out for the week I am on my Southern France/Provence river cruise (no facilities). I thought I read that Southern France cuisine was more like Italy--olive oil, sun-drenched vegetables, garlic, seafood... Or is that just along the coast? Or am I just dreaming. Before and after the cruise, I will have 3 nights in Paris and 3 nights in Cannes. I'm not into butter, cream, cheese, and fatty meats. Am I doomed?

-Cherie

Cherie, you'll be fine. Here in Normandy you'd be less happy, perhaps. (Although I could promise that the butter, cream and cheese are different than you've had elsewhere, and the meat isn't necessarily fatty). "Lard" by the way just means back bacon.

Nice to meet you too, actually! :) And try a St Nicolas de Bourgueil from Nau Freres with that surf and turf, just thought of it. The Loire cabernet franc reds go as well with delicate fish and shellfish as any reds I know.

-E

Not doomed but you will have to choose carefully and if your French is marginal (when reading a menu) you may want to ask about certain preparations. While the emphasis is on the freshest foods available, there is still a fair amount of richness. Missing the cheeses in France would be as bad as missing the wines. Select small portions from the obligatory cheese table but at least taste them. They are wonderful and have a digestive effect to counter the effects of too much wine! I think that they may aid in replacing some of the normal flora and fauna that can be wiped out by alcohol. Perhaps an "old wives tale" but it always worked for me.

Bi!!

"Emery Davis" in news: snipped-for-privacy@address.com...

Moreover -- though Emery is too moderate to mention it -- if you eat too much in Normandy then customarily you call for "Le Trou Normand," a small glass of Calvados; this burns a hole (le trou) in the food and opens up space for you to again eat too much.

By coincidence the Las Vegas annex of New York's _Le Cirque,_ in the Bellagio complex, is, or has been, managed by a Norman expat, M. Fabrice Bals (just as its wine service is, or has been, managed by a Burgundian expat). On one occasion an intrepid diner, having requested whatever the kitchen was good at, demanded "time out" after the first eight courses, and hinted at recourse to "Roman methods" should the courses fail to slow down. "If you want to do that," quipped a waiter -- another French expat -- "go to Caesar's Palace, next door!" (I am not making this up.) A better alternative all around, countered the diner, would be Le Trou Normand. This perked the resonance, conceivably also homesickness, of M. Bals, who graciously conjured a couple of types of Calvados, indicating that few in Vegas employed such a good old proven remedy. At length the diner declared "j'ai la fortitude!" and the meal resumed for some time.

M.

One person I know spent around $600 there on a fairly lavish dinner for two; they then stepped outside the restaurant to a Roulette wheel where he promptly won the price of the dinner, betting on zeroes. This technique however does not always work.

Thanks for the reassurance, gentlemen. I think I will need to learn to say "sauce on the side", lord knows I use that term enough here! (de la cote? sur la cote?) Anyway, RV, I promise not to avoid cheese altogether in France, I know that would be a shame. I don't eat much of it here in the States, except for bleu cheese and chevre on salads. (The "Michigan Theme Salad" is very popular here (Michigan) which involves lettuce, bleu/roquefort cheese, pine nuts (or walnuts), and dried cherries.) Anyway, I promise to try some cheeses in small quantities while in France.

Emery, I did not know you that you reside in Normandy. Until a few weeks ago, our summer trip was to entail a French Impressionist art-themed river cruise through Paris and Normandy (instead of South of the France/Provence cruise), 3 days in Paris, and 3 days in London (instead of Cannes.) I did quite a bit of reading about Normandy (and my poor husband read a 523 page book on D-Day only to find out that our cruise was cancelled and we were going in an entirely different direction). I did see that the food was a lot heavier in Normandy. But I was looking forward to trying Calvados.

Max, I dined at Le Cirq at the Bellagio a few years ago with my husband. It was one of the best meals we have ever had. I think we may have had to skip dessert because we were too full. I didn't know about many options I had to make more room. :) But that reminds me of the time my husband informed our waitress (I think at a Charley's Crab somewhere) that we were unfortunately too full to have dessert. The waitress unbelievably suggested to me and my husband that we order the key lime pie because fruit opens up the stomach and we would be able to eat more if we ordered the pie. Sigh.

-Cherie

I did it the other way around, gambling at the casino of Rhodes in Greece, first losing money, then playing the number 22 that my wife suggested.