Bakery – Page 7

Carcassonne – FloridaBlanca, Aux Croissants des Lices, and Here We Go Again

January 15, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants, France, Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Occitania, Travel, yoso-silly

After spending the morning in La Cité and having lunch at Adelaide we realized that we still had an entire afternoon (and evening) left. So, what to do now? We decided to head into Ville Basse and take a look around. So we headed down the hill and crossed the Aude at the lovely Pont Vieux.

The view of La Cité from here is quite nice.

And we ended up walking down what I believe is one of the main streets in Ville Basse, Boulevard Barbes. Which is named after Armand Barbès, whose statue is found along the street.

What caught our attention was a bit past the monument.

It was a Christmas Fair going on.

We wandered about for a bit, then decided to walk on over to the train station to see how far it was. In the end, we decided to make the 30 minute walk to the train station the next morning.

We were also looking for possible places to have dinner, but of course we were too early for the typical French dinner time and decided to head on back to the apartment. On the way back, we crossed the larger, more modern Pont Neuf. And the view of La Cité was amazing.

Once crossing over we headed to Rue Trivalle to see if we could find somewhere to have a meal….if not, we would just head back to Le Passage. Well, there was another place open, named FloridaBlanca.

By now, there was a steady drizzle going on, so we went on in. The place was buzzing….and guess what? It was another tapas restaurant!

We managed to get a high-top for two. And along with the standard menu, the menu del-dia was presented. There was a nice, easy going, yet joyous vibe here. Folks were having fun. There was a group of folks, it seemed like employees from a company having a "very" happy hour. They asked me to take a photo of them. Of course, being American, I told them to say "cheese"….perhaps I should have had them say "fromage"?

And so we placed our order and soon enough our stuffs arrived.

This was nicely prepared simple dishes made in that tiny kitchen, prep was the key. The Aubergene Frite, was nicely fried slices of eggplant, nicely done, crisp with a creamy interior. The padrons were simply charred, just like you'd have in Spain.

And you'd play you're game of "pepper roulette" as well.

I saw the Jambon D'Agneau and just had to try it. The Server made sure to tell me; "it is lamb" twice! I just wanted to try this.

My goodness, this was so delici-yoso! Think of all the high points of lamb, good fat, mild sweet-gaminess, that "flavor of the pasture". Man, this was so good, I ordered another plate!

The Champignons Farcis, stuffed mushrooms were fine, but nothing special.

I just wanted more lamb. Look at the little leg compared to a jambon!

We got some Patatas Bravas, but it was served with the sauce on the side and wasn't as good as the frites we had the previous night.

And the Missus even got some dessert.

During our meal, the Missus and I wondered why there isn't something like this in our 'hood. It ain't hard, there are places that "claim" to do tapas, but we're not impressed. Perhaps folks here aren't really interested in these type of simple dishes? And then, we also wondered; what's up with Carcassonne and these tapas places? I know that Carcassonne is one of the stops along the route to Spain, could this be the reason?

Anyway, we had a fun time and enjoyed this meal.

FloridaBlanca
22 Rue Trivalle
11000 Carcassonne, France

As we were finishing our meal, I went and checked our train timetable using the SNCF app and found that all trains out of Carcassonne were canceled. Sigh…so here go again! So once we got back to the flat, I found out that there was a train derailment and all trains had been cancelled. And even though it said it would be for a day or two….heck, this is France….. So, I went and reviewed options and eventually booked us a bus from Carcassonne to our next stop; Toulouse.

The next morning, we cleaned up a bit and headed on out. We'd be walking to the train station where we'd (hopefully) be catching our bus to Toulouse.

We happened to come across this Boulangerie and decided to pick up some sandwiches for the trip and a croissant.

Really nice folks working here! So friendly, patient, and helpful.

Aux Croissants des Lices
4 Rue Georges Clemenceau
11000 Carcassonne, France

Getting to the train station we could see the tracks were taped off. I could also see our bus on the schedule board and confirmed with the very helpful station staff.

It was now time to have my croissant.

Decently flakey, it was a bit too doughy for my taste. I also thought it needed more butter, but it suited me fine.

We watched as a news crew arrived to interview the delayed and stranded.

Soon enough a bus arrived at the front of the station. And we started queuing up. The news team actually came over to me for an interview, but I told them I don't speak French. To bad, it might have been funny having my face on the newscast, huh? Maybe I need to work harder and learn more French?

We stowed our luggage and boarded the bus and were on our way to Toulouse. And while we would take twice as long to get there; the Missus and I were just happy to be on our way!

We had enjoyed Carassonne. Two nights and one full day was the perfect amount of time for us.

Next stop, Toulouse!

Montpellier – Antigone, L’Arbre Blanc, Dinner at Le Bouchon Saint Roch, and Maison Bonnaire

January 8, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants, France, French Restaurants, Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Occitania, Travel

As we were trying to decide what do for the afternoon it started drizzling. But that didn't deter us once we made a decision. I knew the Missus got Her fill of the Old Town, so how about checking out the "Neoclassical" side of Montpellier? We decided to take a walk to Antigone. Heading thru the Polygone Shopping Center.

Much of Antigone was designed in the Neoclassical style by Spanish Architect Ricardo Bofill. There are some pretty grand structures.

That's the huge Place de l’Europe.

It was quite grand. Though all the restaurants seemed very corporate and chain like in the area.

As we crossed the Lez River we came across the most distinctive building, which the Missus called "the White Cactus".

This "interesting" building is L’Arbre Blanc designed by Japanese Architect Sou Fujimoto. It drew the Missus and I like moths to a flame! We didn't quite know if we liked it or hated it. And it seems many feel the same way, see the comments for this article. Still, once you see it, you'll never forget it. In fact, after I got home, I watched an episode of House Hunters International. I really don't watch a whole lot of television, but I will watch some episodes of HHI to see cities that we've visited. And guess what? It was taken in Montpellier (and the couple was moving from San Diego)! Plus, Adrian Leeds cracks me up. Anyway, one of the properties shown was a unit in the white spiked bladder stone porcupine!

We headed back thru Place de Thessalie.

And Polygone Shopping Center.

Where we stopped by the madhouse of a pharmacy for some eye solution.

And then back to the apartment where we took a break. For dinner, much like our last two getaway meals in Paris, I wanted something a bit more traditional. A Boullion or Bouchon would seem like a good bet. So, of course I went to this older Montpellier post from Edible Reading, where I saw a mention of a place named Le Bouchon Saint Roch. I went ahead and made a reservation for 7pm online before we left on our trip. Of course, 7pm is almost an ungodly, early dining time….and would severely interrupt the heart of "apero time" in France!

And of course, when we arrived the place was empty.

The dining room was decorated in what we might call almost "stereotypical brasserie le cochon" as piggy posters and art was everywhere. And of course, the red checkered tablecloths and all that….

The two folks working were quite cheerful! As with the name, the restaurant's menu leaned Lyonnaise.

The Missus wanted some Escargot (9,€ ). I remember those days when the Missus (thought) She hated escargot; until our first meal in Dijon. She's been on the escargot wagon even since then!

This was decent; though we prefer a stronger garlicky-olive oil-parsley flavor. You know, because half of the enjoyment is dipping your bread into the drippings. The gastropods were on the chewy side, but acceptable. The plain salad had a decent Balsamic dressing.

We also got the "Oeuf Poché à la Crème de Morilles, Parmesan et Ses Toasts" (11,€), whew talk about a mouthful! Basically poached egg in morel creme with Parmesan and toast.

That sauce with a bit of cheese on the toasts was really nice. Good earth-slightly sweet mushroom tones, perfectly salty, the egg added an additional layer of creaminess and egginess to the dish.

We got a third starter, the Bone Marrow (10,€).

Man, this was so creamy and savory. Perfect amount of salt and the toasts and even more bread was needed to finish this!

About this time folks started arriving; several groups of students….most of them got burgers; go figure!

The Missus and I split a main; the "Quenelle de Brochet Sibilia, Sauce Nantua, Riz, Poêlée de Légumes" (19,€). The Missus really enjoyed the Quenelle we had when visiting Lyon so we ordered this.

Pike Quenelle Nantua Sauce

The darkness of the Nantua sauce threw us off a bit; but it was pretty tame with regards to seafood tones. The quenelle was a bit tougher than we like but was quite mild in flavor as is typical. The rice was on the hard side and the cooked vegetables was actually "légumes trop cuits" and really mushy.

By this time the more "French" crowd started arriving.

I've been enjoying having cheese for dessert and ordered the Saint Marcellin (7,€ ), the menu said it came with "olive oil" which I thought would be interesting for dessert.

Saint Marcellin has a somewhat fruity-nutty flavor and this was no exception; along with being so creamy. Along with the olive oil, there was a Balsamic glaze which helped things along. I'm thinking this might actually be a nice starter.

As we left the place started filling up. This was a nice meal and a great way to end our time in Montpellier.

Le Bouchon Saint Roch
14 Rue du Plan d'Agde
34000 Montpellier, France

We slept in the next morning, then I decided to get a croissant to have with my last coffee in the apartment. We had also become converts to the French way of traveling on the TGV…..having a sandwich or something similar for lunch on the train.

We had passed an interesting looking Boulangerie/Pâtisserie several times during our walks and decided to stroll on over.

The name of the shop is Maison Bonnaire.

And along with the usual baguettes and croissants, the window had many temptations, the eclairs looked especially tempting.

We got a croissant and two tartes for the train ride and headed back to the apartment.

The croissant was dark, flaky, and light. But it really lacked the butteriness I like and was on the dry side.

Maison Bonnaire
45 Rue Saint-Guilhem
34000 Montpellier, France

I did a final cleaning and bade the apartment farewell right at 11am.

We took the short stroll to the train station. Our train wasn't leaving until 1pm so we had some time to kill. Like much of the architecture in the city, the Montpellier Saint-Roch Station has an interesting design.

We found seats and relaxed, grabbing some coffee from the outlet of Paul in the station and bought some water from Casino. Soon enough we were on our train.

We had the Tartes which were pretty good, the one with the roasted tomatoes and tapenade was the better of the two. But the crusts were crisp and flaky.

And this did a good job of holding us over.

Perhaps we stayed in Montpellier a day longer than we should have; but I enjoyed myself.

But now I was looking forward to our next stop. Carcassonne!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oaxaca – Monte Alban and a Revisit to Boulenc

December 30, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Mexico, Oaxaca, Sandwiches

After having done a couple of tours in Oaxaca we decided to something on our own. We had wanted to visit Monte Alban and went to a tourist bus station and used the tourist bus system to get to Monte Alban.

Which took us to the large parking lot and main entrance to Monte Alban.

Monte Alban was an amazing site to visit. This UNESCO Heritage site has a history that goes back to 500BC. What is amazing is that this mountain was manually flattened. Yes, the top of Monte Alban was flattened and leveled by the Zapotec people over 2500 years ago!

It is estimated that Monte Alban had over 100,000 occupants at its peak. And then much like another wonderous site located on top of a mountain we visited; the city was abandoned.

There's so much to see here. Right as you enter the impressive North Platform and Sunken Patio grab your attention.

And you can see the South Platform and its pyramids in the distance.

There are many distinctive structures to see.

Along with several stela some of which were used as astronomical devices.

Near the South Platform is one of the more interesting and distinctive structures, a five-sided building that looks like an arrowhead. It is noted that based on the passageway, carvings, and orientation of the building that "Building J" was probably served a purpose as an "astronomical calendar".

And the views are quite dramatic as well.

One of the most popular and intriguing locations in Monte Alban is the Galeria de los Danzantes ("dancers"). There are stone carvings of "dancers".

While initially thought to be "dancers", later study and analysis have been inconclusive. It is theorized that the carvings are of the dead, possibly representing defeated enemies.

We went up the stairs of the South Platform, here's the view.

Yes, there's a lot to see here. So many structures, a ball court, more stela, all with "stories" and theories attached to them.

But as with most of these places, we hit our limit at around the 3 hour mark. We wanted to visit the museum, but it was still closed due to Covid policies at the time of our visit. We went ahead and had some coffee in the cafeteria, then headed to the parking lot where we got a ride back to Oaxava with one of the vans heading back into the city.

I think we'll return and do a private tour one day.

Back in Oaxaca, we were famished. The Missus had enjoyed Boulenc so much that we decided to return. The place wasn't very busy so we easily got a table.

The Missus got Her Aguacate y Cilantro. Sorry, no photo, as soon as the plate arrived at the table the Missus tucked right into it!

I was interested in something I'd seen on the menu during our earlier visit and decided to order it. Yep, it's what is called the "Banh Mi" ($121/MX – $6/US – with a fried egg). And while it did seem a bit expensive, this is what it looked like!

Of course less than five minutes after the sandwich arrived, this is what it looked like. That egg just vanished in the ether!

The bread was a crusty, yet light sourdough baguette, the roasted mushrooms earthy and delicious. The pate was made with cashew and mushroom and was really tasty. The pickled veggies were actually fermented and delicious.

This was very good!

We enjoyed Boulenc on this visit as well. And we'd return one more time before leaving Oaxaca.

Boulenc
Calle Porfirio Díaz 207
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico

We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the picturesque city.

Before heading back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Which would be another wonderful experience!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris – La Maison d’Isabelle (Yet Again), The Cluny Museum, Au Pied de Cochon, and Le Train Bleu

December 22, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, Caffeine Fix, Croissants, France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

When planning for our trips I'm careful not to over schedule ourselves. Yes, we could probably do three museums in a day, but would we really enjoy it? And especially when we return to our favorite locales, I tend to sprinkle out our planned activities, knowing that we'll probably return in the future. And since we'd be spending a good amount of time in Paris, I only scheduled or made reservations for about every other evening.

On this day, I made plans to visit the Cluny Museum whose collection covers the Middle Ages. I had always wanted to visit the Cluny for one main reason which I'll detail a bit further on in this post.

But first; did you know that there are 8 fontaine petillantes; that is, sparkling water fountains in Paris? Yes, for real, these fountains will dispense sparkling water at the press of a button. For free. There was one close to our hotel next to Les Halles so we decided to try it out.

I liked it; the Missus wasn't impressed. Perhaps if the weather was hotter it would have made more of an impact. I did think it was pretty neat though.

From here we headed off to the 5th passing all those familiar places.

And soon we were close to our destination. But first……the museum is located in the 5th Arrondissement which gave us an opportunity to revisit our favorite croissant purveyor yet again. Man, we could smell the butter a block away. And the line at La Maison d’Isabelle, which always moves quickly anyway, wasn't very long at all.

The shop is located right at one of the metro exits, just think, you'd be coming up the stairs or escalator from the Maubert – Mutualité metro station to be hit with the scent of butter in the air?

We got our croissant and headed on over to Square Samuel-Paty just like the last time to devour our croissants.

And it was a good as ever.

Crisp and flakey exterior, fluffy on the inside, great butter to salt ratio…..

Still our favorite in Paris.

La Maison d’Isabelle
47T Boulevard Saint-Germain
75005 Paris, France

And the Cluny is located basically across the street from Square Samuel-Paty. We arrived right after the 930am opening time, so the museum wasn't very busy, which made for a relaxed visit.

And while we loved the heads of kings of Judah that originally graced Notre Dame and were severed during the French Revolution ("off with their heads I say!!!!") in what is called vandalisme révolutionnaire, wonderful jewelry, Limoges Enamel, and the stunning stained glass from Sainte-Chapelle that depicts the story of Samson; there was one collection I wanted to see.

It's a series of 6 tapestries completed around 1500, famously known as The Lady and the Unicorn. Upon entering the room we were stunned; it is one of those times when seeing a renowned work was actually more impressive in person.

The 6 tapestries, made of wool and silk were amazing. It is generally accepted that each one represents one of the senses.

Though you might ask, "why are there six tapestries". The sixth work has the inscription “À mon seul désir” (To my only desire) and has been interpreted in many different ways.

As for me….well, I happened to see Frankie in the tapestry and perhaps he knew we would be visiting on this day! We'd have another reminder of F during this trip as well. We were comforted knowing he was watching over us.

Seeing this was one of the highlights of our trip….

I have a feeling we'll return; if only to see that tapestry again!

Musée de Cluny
28 Rue du Sommerard
75005 Paris, France

We strolled back to the hotel and took a nice break. We'd be headed to Montpellier the next morning. We had enjoyed our meal at Le Petit Bouillon Pharamond at the end of our last trip to Paris, a big plus was that it was very close to our hotel, that we went to see if we could get a table. Man, there was a line to get into the Boullion, even at the ungodly dining hour (for Paris) of 6pm! So, we needed a "plan B". There was a place I'd had on my "list" for a while, it seemed a bit touristy, but has quite a history. Au Pied de Cochon was founded in 1947, at that time Les Halles was still considered the "belly of Paris" and Au Pied de Cochon fed the hungry masses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We thought it might be fun just to drop by and see if the place had an open table.

And this quite colorful brasserie still had tables available. You gotta love the decor as it just oozes almost stereotypical Frenchness.

As you can figure by the name of the place, pork is king here.

The bread provided was a nice and crusty baguette.

Which came in handy since the Missus, wanting Her beans, ordered the Cassoulet de Pied de Cochon ( 27 €).

She liked the beans, thin skinned and creamy. The garlic sausage was decent as well, though all that pork was a bit over-the-top for Her. This also needed some salt as well. The Missus did a nice job of finishing this off!

I got what is possibly the signature dish of the restaurant; the Tentation de Saint-Antoine ( 27 €) – "Temptation of Saint Anthony". If you recall from a previous post, Saint Anthony de Abad is the patron saint of pigs.

In case you're keeping score at home; this consists of breaded and fried pig's feet (pied de cochon), very tough and undercooked for my taste, snout, chewy and quite meaty went well with the Bernaise sauce, ears, too hard (still trying to find a version that lines up with what we had at that little Izakaya in Hiroshima, and the winnah, that pig tail…which was fairly tender with some nice crunchy bits, and was oh so porky. Maybe all the "stuff" that stuck to that tail when in use added to the flavor????

The Missus had a taste of all of this and agreed, that tail was good. The French couple sitting next to use had two tails as appetizers. I didn't see it on the menu; but we'd definitely come back for that.

Overall, a fun meal, and service was quite good as well.

Au Pied de Cochon
6 Rue Coquillière
75001 Paris, France

Needless to say, it was a food coma evening.

We awoke early the next morning and relaxed a bit before heading off on the metro to Gare de Lyon. I will often try to schedule our trips on the metro at hours when I believe things won't be too busy, especially when we have luggage. It's not always possible, but I try. I also try to schedule and coordinate check-out times at our locale with check-in times at our destination, and our scheduled arrival by train. We got to Gare de Lyon a bit early; this was because I wanted to grab some coffee and tea for the Missus at a place I'd heard about located in Gare de Lyon named Le Train Bleu. I had heard of Le Train Bleu, but had never really given much thought to visiting the place even though we'd been through Gare de Lyon a couple of time before. However, after listening to one of my favorites Podcasts on Paris; The Earful Tower, which I started listening to when I was missing our travels during Covid and after reading Oliver Gee's post on Le Train Bleu, I wanted to check the place out, if only for some coffee and tea. And so we got to Gare de Lyon, and found the rather discreet entrance to Le Train Bleu. And you can see why you might want to have at least some coffee here……

Le Train Bleu was originally built for the Paris Exposition of 1900 in the Belle Époque style. The setting is so regal, elegant, grand, and beautiful. It transports you to a different age.

And in the morning, it is perfectly fine to have coffee, tea, and maybe some yogurt while waiting for your train if you aren't keen of having lunch or dinner here.

The prices aren't cheap, but not bad overall.

And man, I could just keeping looking at paintings for hours…..

You might also want to read this post on Le Train Bleu.

Le Train Bleu (In Gare de Lyon)
Place Louis-Armand
75012 Paris, France

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris (2022) – Chez Meunier (Rue Rambuteau), Musée Carnavalet, and L’As du Fallafel

November 19, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants, France, Israeli Food, Middle Eastern Restaurants/Cuisine, Paris, France, Travel

We had asked the owner of the AirBnb we were staying at for a croissant recommendation. He lived in the apartment part of the year, so I was interested in what he would choose. He told us that his regular spot was down Rue Rambuteau across Rue Beaubourg. An outpost of Chez Meunier.

Chez Meunier has several locations in Paris and this didn't look too promising, but I thought we should try it.

Chez Meunier
18 Rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris

After picking up the Croissant we headed to our destination for the morning heading down Rue des Francs Bourgeois. We passed this cafe, Le Voltigeur along the way. Notice anything interesting?

Notice all the Teddy Bears? Apparently, various cafes across Paris used these over-sized stuffed animals as tools for social distancing during the pandemic! And now they are just hanging around enjoying the fruits of their labor!

There was also some interesting street art along Rue des Francs Bourgeois as well.

As for our destination. I had read that the Musée Carnavalet had just reopened after renovations two months before our visit. The museum, which is dedicated to the history of Paris resides in two former mansions. And best of all; admission is free!

IMG_3157 (2)

As with many museums we've visited, we took our time. And heck, admission is free and we're sure to return to Paris and can always return.

We especially enjoyed the gallery of shop signs.

Some were pretty easy to figure out.

Others might keep you guessing. Guess the business of this sign.

According to the attached "sign" this was for a cheese maker and hung in the cheese district around Les Halles when it was Paris's central market!

We basically viewed the displays and rooms up to the 198th century and decided to leave the rest for a future visit.

The cafe area is also quite beautiful.

IMG_2742 (3)

We decided to get some coffee and got us a table in the courtyard.

IMG_3177 (2)

And had the croissant from Chez Meunier.

Which wasn't very good. Not enough butter, not light and flaky enough, and too doughy.

Oh well, at least the setting was great!

Musée Carnavalet
23 Rue de Sévigné
75003 Paris, France

Finishing our coffee we headed on out. We decided to grab something light for lunch and headed on over to Rue des Rosiers. The area around here is considered the Jewish Quarter of Paris and Rue des Rosier right before Rue Vieille-du-Temple is pedestrian only and is packed with Jewish/Kosher/Middle Eastern Restaurants. There's one place that is quite "famous" and always has a line. L'As du Fallafel. The line on this day wasn't as long as usual, So, we decided to actually try the fallafel sandwich.

The line moves quickly and it was a twenty minute wait.

The guys working here work hard and fast!

The fallafel sandwich looked quite good!

52076456308_172fd5e9c2_o

We loved the tender and warm pita and all the tasty veggies. As for the fallafel, well, even though this was better than anything I've ever had in San Diego, I guess our trip to Israel has really spoiled us. The fallafel here were on the harder, drier side and the interior was grittier than we prefer.

Still, in spite of the wait, it made for a decent lunch. And that line stretched all the way down the block as we left.

L'As du Fallafel
34 Rue des Rosiers
75004 Paris, France

We're glad we tried it.

We had a bit of shopping to do before heading back to the apartment. We had dinner reservations and one more full day in Paris. Time just seems to go so quickly when we're visiting.

2023 Rose Parade Float Road Test #5, Breakfast at Portos and Dim Sum King

November 17, 2022 Cathy Bakery, Dim Sum, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today. This blog is about food as well as reasons leading to the food.

On the last Saturday of October, The Mister and I drove up to Irwindale to observe the fifth road test of 2023 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade floats.

Link to 2023 Road Test #1

Link to 2023 Road Test 2

Link to 2023 Road Test 3

Link to 2023 Road Test 4

On this day only a few floats were being tested for mechanics and maneuverability.
284C9124-CE5A-45F2-865D-CBF1EC225F8B Here is the Elks (a fraternal organization) 2023 Rose Parade entry, which needs to collapse to go along the Parade Route. The size of the door leading to the Phoenix Decorating Barn is the exact maximum height and width to allow passage.
6CAA2CC9-1BE6-48D6-BF47-88572D047DBE It is a magnificent float when fully expanded.
284C9124-CE5A-45F2-865D-CBF1EC225F8B Fezzy Bear, the Shriners Hospitals for Children mascot, and their 2023 float, is still in its rebar stage.
B66B602C-AED2-4AA3-848B-AE1C69E50A32 Apparently this float will be highlighting the annual Shriners Golf Tournament fundraiser.

284C9124-CE5A-45F2-865D-CBF1EC225F8B
95A41D47-CB20-43F3-B66B-42B7A1BBD28B The Lions Clubs International float, "Bridging the World Through Service" was tested with weight (people) onboard for the mechanics and maneuverability as well as the ability to exit the float within 45 seconds in case of a fire.

All in all, a short day. So, we headed out to look for breakfast.
E340BA54-2B6F-4B75-AAF2-ABBF6D7642AC

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2E7D0D80-B2E7-40C6-AFC4-85F0561261C8 It is so easy to get to the West Covina Portos (six miles South on the same road as the decorating barn).
Getting here before 8 a.m., there are no crowds.
74760763-968A-4E48-89D9-12BFDEA38844 We ordered a medianoche (Midnight) sandwich ($7.19); a Cubano (pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and a mustard/mayonnaise dressing) on a sweet, dark bread (instead of a lighter Cuban roll).
Also a ham and cheese omelette sandwich ($5.95) (on a fresh, buttery croissant). A6CD4FCF-033F-43D5-9CDA-FDA41B2AC70A Of course, I had to get a loaf of bread (walnut raisin ($4.15)).
43E90251-2D02-49B4-9E95-F75C80E018DE 2C556583-D88A-48F7-9C44-94C0D13C62FC Also a few other items (apple strudel ($1.55), gingersnap cookies (0.85), a pumpkin spice danish ($2.49) and three pan de muerto ($2.45 each) along with a dozen turkey-gravy potato balls ($18.79)).
F5725651-29DB-4D56-9893-898F22D6EC9C I also noticed the guava rose cakes ($3.85) so very pretty- and delicate and delicious (guava mousse with a chunk of guava in the center on top of a thin sponge cake, topped with a white chocolate).

Of course, some of these items were shared with friends. Portos Bakery, many locations, Website

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Then I remembered our breakfast after the Fourth Road test and wanted dim sum!

Once again, The Mister was navigating via his phone, searching for "Dim Sum". Soon we were here.
4A2E2BC8-DA06-47FD-8BF6-588499596275 There is no eating area, which is fine since we were full and heading home.
Quite unassuming and very popular, this was a perfect place to pick up some Dim Sum to go.
BD6D87C9-441D-4593-BB20-8226FFCBBF3E F157FC56-F434-42F0-B05D-DD6601A53B2B There is a small interior with a small selection shown, the kitchen is behind the steam trays.
AB823682-25D1-41E2-840F-0F595DA7C24A Photos are on the front window.
Menus with pens are at the front. Not many descriptions are available.
DFD3D37E-F20A-4EF2-9112-B03AAB1B06F5 Steamed Fun Guor (ground pork, dried shrimp, peanuts, chives, mushroom and radish in a tapioca wrapper) ($3.98)
Shrimp Har Gow (only shrimp in a tapioca wrapper) ($4.38)
Baked BBQ pork pastry ($3.98)
Shiu Mai (ground pork and minced shrimp, water chestnuts, mushroom in a flour/dumpling wrapper) ($4.38)
DFD3D37E-F20A-4EF2-9112-B03AAB1B06F5 Rice noodle roll with shrimp ($3.98)
FB87E862-0740-432B-8749-2F2F18B9DE19 Everything held up well on the drive home and we had a wonderful lunch!

Dim Sum King 11230 Garvey Ave, Suite D El Monte, CA 91733 Website Closed on Thursdays, opens 8 a.m. other days.
0B4FD2FC-3FF2-42D0-817C-334AB55AC586

Paris (2022) – Matamata Coffee Bar, What’s Going with Notre Dame, Le Saint-Regis, and Still Our Favorite Croissant from La Maison d’Isabelle

November 12, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Croissants, France, Paris, France, Travel

On the morning after our previous evening's "carb-fest", we arose nice and refreshed. I had just planned for one place to visit during the day, so we could just kind of make things up as the day went by. The Missus wanted to try someplace different for this morning's coffee, so we headed over to Rue d'Argout right off of Rue Montmartre to Matamata Coffee Bar.

Man, all these boutique coffee places seemed to have popped up over the last couple of years. Anyway, the Missus ordered a pour over and I got a coffee and a scone to start my day.

The Missus thought the pour over here was a bit weaker than Motors. I enjoyed the scone. Service was quite nice.

Matamata Coffee Bar
58 Rue d'Argout
75002 Paris, France

It was a bright, sunny day and our destination for the day did not open until 2pm, so we could just do our Flânerie thing.

We stopped while crossing Pont au Change when we saw what looked like the police dive team either doing an exercise or perhaps actually searching for something?

We decided to swing by Notre Dame to see what was going on in terms of restoration and construction. Like so many, we were horrified to see and read about the fire at Notre Dame back in April of 2019.

I had read that Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen in 2024 and we were curious to see what work was going on.

Illustrations and photographs of the fire, damage, and restoration are posted on the boards surrounding the church.

And it's really difficult to determine what work is going on from where we stood.

We do hope that Notre Dame returns better than ever.

We walked the length of Île de la Cité and crossed over to Île Saint-Louis via Pont Saint-Louis. We were just here the previous day, but things seemed even more serene on the Wednesday.

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Check out this outdoor dining set-up! It's basically taking up a parking stall!
IMG_3091 (2)

We decided to take a break and grab one of the outside tables at Le Saint-Regis, which seemed to be a very popular café.

It was a great place to people and pooch watch as it was just steps from Pont Saint-Louis.

We could watch folks as they crossed back and forth, going about their daily business and routines.

The Cafe Allonge was quite good as well.

As was the service. I'm sure we'll be back to relax and people watch, possibly getting a breakfast as well. This café seemed quite popular.

Le Saint-Regis
6 Rue Jean du Bellay
75004 Paris, France

Bolstered by our caffeine fix, we crossed over to the 5th Arrondissement. We were still a bit early for our visit….so we decided to see how busy our favorite boulangerie for croissants was.

Must have been our lucky day, the line wasn't very long and unlike our previous visit, they weren't out of Croissant aux Buerre,

Things moved quickly and we were in and out in a flash.

La Maison d’Isabelle
47T Boulevard Saint-Germain
75005 Paris, France

Well, we decided to find a place to have our croissant. Close to our destination was a little park; Square Samuel-Paty.

This used to be named Square Paul Painlevé, but was renamed for teacher Samuel Paty who was murdered by an Islamic Terrorist in October of 2020.

It's a tiny park, but a nice peaceful green space, full of sculptures. We were surprised to see a copy of the Capitoline Wolf, which we had seen in Rome.

We had a seat on wall in the shade and opened up the croissant….it was every bit as good as we remembered.

Light and crisp exterior; fluffy interior, slightly moist, perfect amount of butter and salt for our taste. It's still our favorite here in Paris.

After our last disappointing visit to a old favorite of ours, we were glad that La Maison d’Isabelle still delivered. We smiled as we headed off to our destination for the day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris (2022) – Baguette Class at La Cuisine Paris, La Ferme Saint-Aubin, and a Revisit to Fou de Pâtisserie

November 11, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Cheese, Cooking, France, Paris, France, Travel

When planning out our time in Paris, I thought it would be fun to do a cooking class. We'd had such a fun time doing our cheese tasting with Le Cheese Geek during a previous visit. Now I think I'm a decent cook, but baking, well, it's really not my thing. And yet, baguettes and croissants have become such a big part of our eating lives that I thought perhaps taking a cooking class would be fun. After doing a bit of research, I settled on La Cuisine Paris and thought that the Missus and I would have fun learning to make baguettes. However, when I was in the process of booking our class the Missus decided that I should go ahead and take the class myself and She would go shopping and enjoy a cafe.

So I bade the Missus farewell at the rather discreet doorway right off the Seine on Quai de l'Hotel de Ville.

Our instructor was Segolene, she was in one word, amazing! She helped us organize things, explained each step, answered all questions, and had a great sense of humor.

And because she had worked as a pastry chef in LA, she could explain the differences between French style baguettes and what we have in America. It was ash content and protein (i.e. gluten content). Which is why many people who are gluten intolerant can actually eat bread in France!

We went thru the basic "petrissage", the kneading and working of the dough by hand and "falconnage" which is forming and molding the bread.

Along with the scarification…creating the "scars" on the bread. I'm not going to go into much more detail, other than the one trick I learned…..basically when making your baguette, and this holds true for reheating in the oven, place a pan or lipped tray in the bottom of your oven. When you reach the desired temp place the bread in a rack in the oven and pour water into the tray in the bottom of the oven to create steam. This is what I currently use when reheating my baguette and it works perfectly.

As for how my baguette turned out. Well, this isn't it, it was just a demo of how to make a baguette en épi.

These are my baguettes.

And, I even made a fougasses, the French style focaccia. Segolene said mine looked "très bon". Segolene brought ingredients from her mom's garden to use in making our fougasses, which I used along with cheese, leek, and garlic.

It was a great time and Segolene was the best! This is highly recommended, it was fun and even though I'm not quite sure I'll make baguettes at home, I sure learned a lot.

And we got to take the stuff we made with us.

La Cuisine Paris
80 Quai de l'Hôtel de ville
75004 Paris, France

The Missus wants me to take the croissant class next!

The Missus seeing that I had two baguette and the fougasse said that we wouldn't need to go out for dinner this evening. Instead we headed right over the Seine to Île Saint-Louis, that island in the Seine east of Île de la Cité to La Ferme Saint-Aubin where we bought some fromage for dinner.

La Ferme Saint-Aubin
76 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île
75004 Paris, France

On the way back to the apartment, we made a detour at Nicholas, then a revisit to Fou de Pâtisserie, that shop which sells various curated pastries from some of Paris's most well known pastry chefs.

Where in spite of the challenges presented to Her, the Missus managed to make a decision on one!

Fou de Pâtisserie
45 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

When we got back to the apartment, we relaxed, then got ready for our dinner.

The Missus enjoyed the fougasse, great acidity and sweetness from the tomatoes, but said my baguettes were too doughy and the crust too thick and hard. Still, not bad for a rookie, eh?

And before all of this we had our own little apero moment.

Where we sat at the window and watch the sun set in the horizon as Paris slowly turned into the city of lights……

Midweek Meanderings – Red Moon Noodle House and Manna Rice Bakery Closes. Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake Coming to Convoy, and the Time Helen Keller Flew a Plane

October 19, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, yoso-silly

I recently went and did a takeout revisit from Eastern Dynasty. Instead of sitting around and waiting for my order while the restaurant filled up, I went for a stroll. I do drive along Convoy quite a bit and will often see places closing and opening, but when walking you really do notice things. Another thing I noticed….perhaps it's always been this way, was how fast folks drive on Convoy. I swear, there were cars zooming by at over 50 mph! Taking turns with squealing tires! Yikes!

Anyway, I noticed a couple of things during my walk……

Manna Rice Bakery is Closed:

MM 10192022 02 MM 10192022 03 Right in the same strip mall as Eastern Dynasty I saw that Manna Bakery was closed. Man, this is an oldie. I've never posted on this place. I think my last visit was in pre-blogging days, but I know they had a very loyal clientele.

4688 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Red Moon Noodle House is Gone:

Walking to the strip mall with what I think is the worst parking lot on Convoy, I quickly noticed that all signage for Red Moon Noodle House was gone.

MM 10192022 01

This closure kinda flew under my radar.

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake Coming to Convoy:

I walked down Convoy and managed to safely cross the street at Dagget and noticed some activity in the "other" infamous parking lot off Convoy where Jasmine, Dumpling Inn, and El Viejon are located. The sign is up for Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake right next to Mochinuts.

MM 10192022 04

So, it looks like a location of this chain from Hakata, Japan is making its way down to San Diego. I know there are a couple of locations is the LA/OC area already, including one in our old stomping grounds of Hacienda Heights.

So, now with YikoYiko, Sunmerry, and Uncle Tetsu it seems we're going the way of Hot Pot and KFC in the area. When it rains, it pours, right?

4609 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

And from the Cesspool of Useless Information Files: The time Helen Keller Flew a Plane

While walking I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and the episode with the story of when Helen Keller flew a plane!

As stated in Britannica:

"In June 1946 an airplane traveled from Rome to Paris, crossing over the Mediterranean Sea. There was nothing unusual about this flight except one thing: for 20 minutes of the plane’s journey, one of its passengers became its pilot. The passenger was Dr. Helen Keller…."

And it's been verified by Snopes.

Amazing! And somewhat inspiring……

Oaxaca (2022) – Breakfast at Boulenc, Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, and La Cosecha Mercado de Organico

October 15, 2022 mmm-yoso Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, Markets & Grocers, Mexico, Oaxaca, Travel

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were pretty full after our food tour and ended up not eating dinner. The next morning we decided to grab some breakfast before heading out on our explorations for the day. There was a bakery and restaurant named Boulenc on my list and Betsy from Me Encanta Oaxaca recommended it as well. It was just three blocks up the street from our hotel and pretty much on the way to the sites we'd be visiting.

The restaurant had a few folks waiting for seats when we arrived, but things moved quickly and we got a table upstairs in about 15 minutes.

Service was efficient and the folks here work hard, running up and down the stairs. The Missus got a Machiatto and I got an Americano, both serviceable.

The Missus, who had never really enjoyed avocado toast, strangely ordered the Aguacate y Cilantro ($70/MX – $3.50/US).

This was love at first bite! First off, the toasted sourdough bread at Boulenc is outstanding, wonderful yeasty-sour balance, nice and not overly chewy bread, it's a perfect foil for the perfectly ripe and abundant avocado and the wonderful hints of chloropyllic-citrusy tones from the cilantro and microgreens. The Missus loved the inhouse fermented, pickled beets. She loved this so much that we returned two more times during our stay!

I wanted some fruit and yogurt so I got the Turkish Yogurt with Fruits ($80/MX – $4/US).

Loved all the fresh and ripe fruits, nuts, and the yogurt. A perfect breakfast for me and just what I wanted.

Like I wrote earlier; we both really liked Boulenc and ended up coming here three times during our stay. That sourdough bread is fantastic.

Boulenc
Calle Porfirio Díaz 207
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico

Here's an interesting post on Boulenc.

After breakfast we headed up to Plaza Santo Domingo. We had already checked out the Cathedral and wanted to do the same with the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

Construction on this church started in 1551, but the final construction was completed in 1666.

The interior and ceiling were very impressive!

No wonder it took so long to complete.

I was fascinated by the bas relief of the family tree of Santo Domingo de Guzman (aka Saint Dominic), who founded the Dominican Order.

Along with the temple is a structure that used to be a Convent and is now a museum. We didn't have enough time to visit, but I'm sure we'll go the next time we're in Oaxaca.

From here we headed over one block and walked past the plaza.

And came across this…..

It was a cute little organic market and food stalls.

I decided to get some cucumber-lime juice from this stand.

It was quite refreshing.

Cheers!

Mercado Organico La Cosecha
Calle Macedonio Alcalá 806
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico

Refreshed and revived we walked thru Plaza Cruz de Piedra.

To Calle de Manuel García Vigil and the aqueduct that we had seen the previous day.

We headed up the street to where it turns into Rufino Tamayo and took time to admire the street art that we had only glanced at the previous day.

And then we came across this fella' hanging out at the gate of one of the courtyards.

Little did we know that he was just the "lookout". When he spotted another pooch ambling up the street he sent out "word" and the whole "gang" appeared for a "bark session".

It was hilarious.

There was so much to see if you took your time.

I had planned checking out Xochimilco later on the trip so we'd be heading further up Rufino Tamayo then. So we cut back thru the plaza, then back down Macedonio Alcalá, taking a left down Humboldt.

And came to a park named Parque Juarez El Llano, with a Monument to Benito Juárez in it's center.

We passed folks relaxing in the nice green space as we crossed over to the opposite end. I was looking for a specific street. There is a neighborhood that I read about that was called a "secret jewel" and was named the 17th coolest neighborhood in the world by Timeout in 2019….Jalatlaco. I had seen photos of the street art and it looked so very charming. Betsy had also told us we would enjoy the street art and the "vibe". Two blocks past the park, at the corner of Republica and Miguel Hidalgo, there it was.

Barrio Jalatlaco!

So how was it? Well, you'll have to stay tuned and I'll cover that in my next post on Oaxaca!