A Few of My Favourite Things !

When we are away on holidays, I usually start missing the comforts of home after several days of suitcase-living. I miss the freedom of being able to throw a simple meal together for dinner or even to boil some hot water as many hotels do not offer tea and coffee making facilities. My preference is to stay in a self-catering place or in an apartment, but when this is not possible for whatever reasons, I like to find a hotel that provides as many of the facilities that will allow me to do most of the things that I do at home. For example, exercise goes a long way in making me feel less jet-lagged so I will try to find a hotel that has a gym. I enjoy drinking hot water first thing in the morning, so having a kettle in the room is good.

Before booking a room, I will check the hotel reviews in Trip Advisor. These are far more accurate than going by the pictures shown on a website (which can be very deceptive!) or the facilties that the hotel lists on its website.

On this trip, A. & I found a fantastic hotel in Prague that I had to write about. Designed by Eva Jiricna, Hotel Josef has a brightly-lit and very contemporary interior. We were initially given a room in the older part of the hotel but upon requesting a room at the front, our belongings were moved to a room in the newer part of the hotel while we were out sightseeing. When we asked for a kettle, one appeared at our door as soon as it was made available. We were mistakenly told upon checking in that our breakfast was included so they provided us breakfast free of charge the next morning. The service was just outstanding at this place and nothing appeared to be too much trouble. The front-of-house staff always had a friendly smile ready and greeted us upon our return.

We had quite the opposite experience in our next hotel, the Regent Petite France in Strasbourg. I don’t really like the ieda of putting out a ‘bad’ review of any place and I don’t think that I have anything really terrible about this hotel. I think it’s just that the indifferent service was so contrasting with our Prague experience that it felt like a real let-down for us.

Let me give you some examples:

1. we were watching one of their pay TV movies on night when the movie suddenly stopped playing. My husband spoke to reception and was told that the movie had finished because the video had stopped. When he explained that it had in fact not finished, the receoptionist asked ‘Are you sure?’. Well, it’s kinda obvious when you haven’t seen the end.

2. The front-of-house never greeted us once when we came downstairs or when we returned for the evening. Now, in a place where almost everyone greets you with ‘Bonjour’ when you pass in the corridors, it did make us wonder why the staff wouldn’t even bother looking at us. We did notice that they were quite good with the other guests, who generally tended to be slightly more mature with young or teenage children. Was it a case of being biased against visitors who did not look like they should be staying at a stuffy hotel?

3. I noticed that the hotel advertised a fitness centre when making the booking. On the first morning, I wandered down to the first floor for a quick workout, and well, it turned out to be a LOT quicker than I expected. I walked into a dimly lit room to see 2 deck chairs in the middle of a small room. There was a decrepit bike at one corner that had seen better days and a sauna next to it. I’m not sure why the deck chairs were there given that it was obviously not for sunbathing – the window coverings could not be open and there was barely any direct sunlight into the room. But, seeing as the bike was the only form of exercise equipment there, I hopped on. When I described it as decrepit, I really do mean it. You had to change gears by flicking a metal rod out of one setting then pushing it into the next gear setting. The best thing about it was that it started making a clack-clack sound whenm I started cycling, which increased in speed as I cycled faster. I managed about 30 or 45 seconds before almost falling off the bike ‘cos I was giggling so hard. Fortunately no one else was in the room I then called A. and told him to come down and check out the great gym

Anyway, we didn’t stress out too much about the second hotel, but it really confirmed to us what a great place Hotel Josef is. I would definitely recommend this hotel if anyone is staying in Prague and we will be staying there again in the future. Thanks to all the staff there!

View from our second room at Hotel Josef

One of my most enduring memories of Europe is the mouth-watering aroma of roasting chestnuts. Wandering through the Christmas markets of Prague and Strasbourg, we would often find ourselves gravitating towards the stands where chestnuts were being roasted over red-hot coals, drawn by their wonderful, warm and inviting fragrance. Then when you finally have a cornette of hot chestnuts in your gloved hands – ah, what bliss! Of course, my wonderful husband would then have to de-glove in order to peel the chestnuts while they were still hot.

As we find ourselves settling in for the cooler Melbourne months, our thoughts turn once again to ‘kastany’, as they are known in Prague, or ‘marrons chauds’ in french. Although our winters are not nearly as cold, I’ve noticed chestnut stands popping up around the city over the last few years. I’m not sre how well they do in terms of traed, but I’m quite happy to roast chestnuts myself at home and A. is still quite happy to peel them for me so I don’t burn my fingers

Okay, I think this is the final update on my trip. We had a brief stopover in Singapore on the way home &, of course, went in search of some good food!!! We managed to fit in kaya toast & nasi lemak for breakfast, spicy soup noodles from a halal food stall during a break from shopping and some noodles accompanied by really tender beef brisket from Lau Par Sat that was on the bland side.

Of all the meals we had though, the most memorable one from this trip was at Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant. I searched out this place after reading about it here. Despite the warning to show up either really early or really late to avoid the crowds, only two other tables were taken when we arrived. As there were only two of us, we only wanted to order the crab beehoon, however the chef/owner seemed a little put out and kept recommending other dishes that we might like to have as well. I love suggestions (which is why I like reading other people’s reviews), but when I’m made to feel like I have to order something…well, that doesn’t go down as well. We ended up with a half-dozen steamed prawns, crab beehoon and gai-lan knowing that there was no way that we were going to finish it all, with the chef himself all but admitting the same. But, hey, you don’t want to displease the guy who was going to be cooking your food, right?

The prawns were juicy and tasty and the gai-lan suitably garlicky, but the highlight was the crab beehoon, which was loaded with flavour. I did find that he was quite heavy-handed with the oil but maybe that’s why everything tasted so great. It was disappointing however to see half the meal being left behind because there was just too much of it. I was glad later on in the night that I hadn’t eaten more though because the food made us soooo thirsty!

Yes, this post is way late, but I’m still catching up on posts from our trip…

We spent New Year’s Eve in Paris but instead dining at a swanky restaurant and joining the Champs Elysee crowd for the fireworks, we chose to have an intimate dinner for two at our hotel room. That morning, we left our bottle of Veuve Cliquot to chill (the balcony was colder than our bar fridge) while we gathered our menu items from a little place located on a little side street just off Rue St Honore. They had scallops, sea urchin, prawns, crabs and a host of other delicacies to tempt us but we (only) ended up purchasing a cooked lobster, seaweed salad and some caviar.

The hotel kindly provided us with dinner plates, champagne glassess and cutlery, and we were set to go! We laid everything out on a tray and sat on the bed for a simple, fun hotelroom picnic – just the two of us.

We chatted, read and watched television while waiting for the countdown, then rushed out onto the balcony when the clock struck 12, with me wrapped in a thick blanket, to clink our glasses of champagne and gaze at the firework display.

 

Okay, I’m still catching up on our holiday adventures!

Instead of busying ourselves with tours of galleries and museums and visiting the Top 10 sites listed in guide books, this time we defiantly struck out in search of new foods to try instead. We visited La Maison du Chocolat, Laduree and Pierre Herme and tasted their intricately-decorated pastries for the first time.

Of the pastries, my personal favourite was probably the Plaisir Sucre for two reasons. One, the sensational chocolatiness minus any cloying sweetness. Two, the construction, as well as the differing textures, of the layers which consisted of a hazelnut dacquoise base topped with a milk chocolate spread, dark chocolate ganache and thin dark chocolate sheet twice over, whipped chocolate cream and finally another thin dark chocolate sheet. Maybe one day I will feel brave enough to try making it at home, as Keiko has done. The Surprise Yu dessert, stewed and raw apples with yuzu with yuzu cream enclosed in meringue and wrapped in orange cellophane, is also pictured here (back) but this really was not to my liking. The other pastry worth mentioning is the Isphahan (not pictured but you can see what it looks like here) from Laduree, fresh raspberries and lychee and rose-flavoured cream sandwiched between pink meringues – unusual and summery flavours.

Of course, we also had to try the much-heard of macarons. We picked a number of flavours from both Pierre Herme and Jean Paul Hevin, but our favourite by far was caramel à la fleur de sel (A: “I would go back to Paris just for these!”). Fortunately, A had the forethought to ask for two of these! The most unusual and strongest flavour was truffe blanche et noisette. Although the earthiness of the truffle flavour was certainly unusual and unexpected in a macaron, it did not prevent us from enjoying it.

Our first visit to Paris coincided with a conference that I was attending. When we emerged out of the train station just at the end of Rue des Acacias, where our hotel was located, we were struck speechless by our first glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe, the structure more imposing than suggested by the ubiquitous postcard pictures. We spent any free time away from the conference on the Champs Elysee, soaking in the Parisian atmosphere. Being our first time in Europe, I was eager to visit all the museums and art galleries in case I never had the chance to return, resulting in our subtly pushing into the long, sometimes 1.5 hour summer tourist queues (terrible, I know, but have you seen the lines?), speed-walking through museums and art galleries and breezing through the other major attractions Paris had to offer. The Contiki tour that we joined following the conference also did not allow us much time in each country we passed through, so we only caught tantalising glimpses of all Europe had to offer. As a direct result of our initial whirlwind tour of Europe, our subsequent visits saw us avoiding museums and art galleries like the plague. On our second trip, we attended a conference in Florence but found ourselves drawn back to what was quickly becoming our favourite city. One evening, we were exploring the St Germain area when A. decided that he wanted to select a bouquet of flowers for me from this place:

So, he made me wait on the other side of the narrow street while he choose some flowers. There wasn’t much else to do except watch people lining up and selecting their bread from this bakery:

After an age (and a half!), I was presented with a tightly-packed bouquet of pure white, gloriously-scented roses. We sat down at the restaurant next door for a meal of fresh seafood before walking across the Pont Neuf then along the Seine.

Not long after we had started strolling along the river, A. got down on one knee to propose. To be quite honest, I don’t remember a word of the speech that he made (and neither does he, nervous as he was!), but I knew without a doubt that I had found my soulmate in this wonderful man, and so overwhleming was this thought that I promptly burst into tears. Of course, the answer was yes and the last (almost) three years have been amazing!

Fast forwarding to this trip: nowadays, we prefer to limit our visits to one or two cities instead of rushing around like headless chooks trying to fit everything into a short trip. An embarrasing amount of our sightseeing takes place in grocery stores, fresh food markets, delis, pastry shops, bakeries and the like (blush). More on this topic in the next post…

This post has been a LONG time coming! I’ve been busy with work and also lazy about posting about our dinner here because these photos do not do any justice at all to the food. Let me quickly add that this is not a reflection on my photography skills although I have a long way to go in this department, but rather a problem with taking photos at close range with a disposable camera.

So, why was I using a disposable camera in the first place? Well, during one of our outings in Prague, we pulled out our compact digital to take a photo of ourselves in the snow. It was very chilly, and I can now tell you from experience that it is difficult to handle a camera when your hands are enveloped in thick, warm woolly gloves. It’s easy to have the camera suddenly slip from your hands to hit the hard, icy ground and become damaged…and for you to have to purchase a disposable camera so that you can continue taking photos on your trip…

We arrived in Paris from Strasbourg at around 6:00pm and immediately proceeded to promenade down the Champs Elysee, enjoying the ambience of this romantic city once again. After strolling around for about an hour, we started to look for a place to eat. We wandered over the Pont Royal to St Germain des Pres in search of dinner, but being Christmas night there were few people on the streets and fewer places that appeared to be open. We walked down a rather deserted Rue de Bac past one or two brightly-lit bistros that were silently waiting to be filled. As we turned onto Bd St Germain, we spotted red and white lettering on a black sign that read ‘L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon’. We crossed the road, not knowing whether we needed a reservation or even if they were serving meals that night, however we were quickly and warmly welcomed into the cosy restaurant to sit at the bar facing the open kitchen. We ordered a couple of degustation-sized meals and although the photos are not in focus, the food was certainly our main focus that evening:

La lisette sur une tarte fine au parmesan

La sardine au confit de tomates

La chataigne en fin veloute au fumet

La langoustine en ravioli truffe, au chou

L’agneau de lait en cotelette au thym

Le chevreuil, mignonette a l’aigre doux

Our waitress was most agreeable in helping us to make our choices (and relaxed about me taking photos of food & kitchen) and kept a close eye on our progress to ensure that each serving came out immediately after the previous one had been cleared. They didn’t rush our meal at any stage, but the pace at which the next dish was served was such that we wished there was more breathing space between. Our dishes were as good as you would expect from any top restaurant, but the goat was a real stand out for me as 1. it’s not something that I would normally have and 2. it was so tender and rich that it reminded me of liver, almost. This was closely followed by the langoustine ravioli and the anchovy tart.

PS – A big hello to David & Mark from the Orange County if you are reading this!

We bought a truffle in Paris. And then we wondered what we were going to have it with and how we were going to have it, given that we were staying in a hotel with no cooking facilities. Well, I knew that I wanted to try it with eggs, so we bought some organic eggs from the food emporium in Galleries Lafayette 

We nestled the truffle with the eggs, wrapped them up and left them overnight:

The next morning, I placed them gently in the kettle, filled it up with cold water and turned the kettle on. The eggs were left for a few more minutes after the water had come to a boil before being fished out with a teaspoon. Perfect soft boiled eggs with truffle shaved over the top! I left mine in for a little longer even and had hard boiled egg with shaved truffle.

Next time, I’m going to try frying an egg on the bottom of an iron

So we were driving to Colmar, just south of Strasbourg, when we saw this on the highway:

Yes that’s right, there was a little pony trotting merrily down the highway, seemingly oblivious to the traffic surrounding it. What’s more, it was travelling in the fast lane! Every car had to slow down and pull into the slower lane in order to get around it. A police car was driving behind the little pony, trying to encourage it to one side so that cars could drive past and resume their normal driving speeds of >150 – 160km/hour. A. had such a lot of fun driving at these high speeds – we normally get to do 110km/h max.

We wandered through its Christmas market and browsed the local produce. For lunch, we had a potato, saucisson and sauerkraut dish that was mixed and cooked in a large pan but I forget the name of it. We enjoyed the hot potato and sausage mix (it was a cold day) but I didn’t much like the sauerkraut. I guess I’ve only just come to appreciate olives and other pickles more recently anyway, so don’t take my word for it.

I wanted to bring home that 1.5 metre loaf of oven-baked bread that you can see at the back of this stall, but I didn’t think they would allow me to bring it on board the plane. They were also selling pain d-epice by the kilo here.

The next day, we crossed the German border to Baden Baden (I love the name!) and Karlsruhe. We met a girl in Baden Baden who had just returned from Perth and she was so excited to see some visiting Aussies that she showed us the CD of aboriginal music that she bought in Perth and also gave us a free Christmas decoration.

Look at the churros being made here. The man was squeezing the dough into the hot oil and snipping it off at lengths of around 17cm. When they turned a golden brown, they were quickly scooped up, drained and deposited in front of his wife. The churros were generously dusted with icing sugar and filled into paper cones for a line of customers waiting eagerly to get their paws on the hot Spanish doughnuts. As we had already had our fill of other Christmas goodies, we managed to tear ourselves away from this cart empty-handed.