dining in the shadow of the eiffel tower - thank you, la bon marche!
last month, mark and i pushed our pennies into a pile and took off for a mini-break in paris. mark has been to paris many a time. this was my first time visiting. for those who have yet to visit paris, i have to tell you that it IS much more beautiful and inspiring than you could ever imagine it would be. i could expand on how amazing the architecture is and the fact that we got engaged in the post-card perfect montmartre ... but today, instead, i'd like to talk about the food.
aside from the mildly disappointing non-crispy duck confit incident(s), the food was top-tier! from fresh market cheeses at le bon marche to the gazillion star restaurants, we spoiled ourselves. mark had secured dinner reservations at the world famous taillevent (of which a book was written for). we also sampled all other forms of local delicacies in an effort to eat like the locals. i braved some dishes that i have never eaten stateside - like sweetbreads and andouillette.
i tell a lie though - i actually ordered the andouillette thinking that it would closely resemble andouille sausage - the kind you find in creole dishes like jambalaya. to set the scene: it was our last afternoon in paris and the weather was quite mild (we'd just walked the length of les tuileries) and i wanted to eat something somewhat familiar to my taste buds yet not-so-familiar. i thought i'd made a swell compromise.
after being served our respective dishes, mark peered cautiously across the table as i poked curiously at the bumpy pink sausage. i cut rigorously into one end of the andouillette and looked on in horror as steaming RANDOM ZIG-ZAG SHAPES somersaulted out of it's casing. it looked exactly like the scene wherein han solo cuts the tauntaun's belly open to keep a bordeline hypothermic luke skywalker warm on hoth. after taking two wimpy bites in the name of "trying something new", i pushed my plate to the side and draped my napkin over the crime scene - not just to cover the sight, but the intense scent. feeling slightly defeated, i asked the waiter to bring me a croque monsieur instead.
mark knew what andouillette involved, but didn't say anything because i'd been so brave with the sweetbreads two nights prior. while i inhaled my replacement meal, mark took me on a verbal tour of what andouillette is made of. i half wanted to cry, half wanted to laugh as he gave me the run-down in that busy little cafe by the tuilleries. upon further investigation on the web, i came up with this lovely run-down on the stinky sausage. mmm ... feces?
this zany adventure cost me an extra 12€, but is now proving to have been a decent investment. first of all, it provides you with tasty blog fodder and me, a reason to keep working on expanding my otherwise inexperienced american palate.
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