"Paris Holds the Key to Her Heart"... Paris Part 1

I seem to be getting some cosmic messages here. For the past 2 or 3 days, I have been constantly reminded that I haven't yet written about my trip to Paris. First I watched on TV Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations in Paris, followed by An American in Paris the next day. I've heard about Paris on the radio, in conversation, a good friend just left for a European study trip of her own, and of course, my dad keeps reminding me that I haven't written of my trip yet.

So here goes.

At the end of May I took my first trip overseas, to Paris to be exact, for a study abroad trip with the Classics department at my university. Studying the classics, mythology, history, and art, we visited a lot of museums and churches, and all that good stuff. But the real meat of the trip (pun intended!) was the food, experiencing the culture and the cuisine.

First and foremost, I can't go any further without talking about how good the city smelled. Disregarding the bathroom-like stench of some of the metro stations, the city as a whole smelled wonderful, like clean air, fresh flowers, butter, sugar, and fresh baked bread. It is that scent that I will always associate with Paris, and one that I wish I could have bottled up and taken with me. There's no other smell like it, and no matter how many cookies or loaves of bread come out of my oven, I cannot duplicate that fresh baked smell of Paris.

During the first whole day, I experienced one of the greatest culinary aspects of Paris. Crepes. Even better, crepes prepared to order on the streets. There really was nothing better than watching the crepe batter spread across the hot skillet, with the topping spread overtop; the scent of melting cheese, or of warmed nutella wafting through the streets. Yes, this street food was so much more fulfilling, and classy than what we often have back at home.

Belated 4th of July

It's pretty clear that my blogging habits are in a sad state. I am literally months behind! There is no way that I can catch up in chronological order, so prepare yourself for some very random posts.

Today's comes from 4th of July, almost a month ago!
The 4th is all about patriotism, and when it comes to food, there is some pretty standard American fare. But in Maryland, on the 4th of July, national patriotism turned to state pride, and a desperate desire to have the first crab feast of the summer.

If I remember correctly, the day was kind of disappointing in terms of weather. It was very hot, humid, and rain clouds were threatening the sunshine all day long.

My sister and her boyfriend ( whose family's house we would be celebrating at later that night) spent all morning searching for good crab supply. With crabs in high demand and low supply (check the state of the Chesapeake if you have any doubts), and jacked up holiday prices, the search was not easy. They finally arrived at seafood market in DC (I don't know the details), where they bought 2 bushels of live blue crabs. AWESOME! They brought them back home, and put them on ice for a few hours to kind of put them asleep before their imminent deaths.

Meanwhile, I went grocery shopping for ingredients for a Gooey Butter Cake. What is a Gooey Butter Cake, you may ask? Why, the answer would be ... heavenly divine. Its a St. Louis specialty, born of a cake-baking mistake. There are now a large variety of recipes, some featuring cream cheese as the gooey top filling. But in many opinions, there is none better than the true gooey butter filling. (The St. Louis Bread Co., now referred to as Panera outside of the city, has a gooey butter cake danish, which is actually the only gooey butter cake I remember for my early childhood in St. Louis.)

We made two versions, by combining 3 different recipes, which might not have been a good idea. Cake A was made with a pound cake bottom layer and a cream cheese filling on top. Cake B was made with bottom layer from yellow cake mix, and a very very very gooey butter filling on top. Any guesses which took the cake? (HA! pun intended)
Cake B, no questions asked. There is no way to beat that much butter.

The heavy storms arrived just in time for our holiday crab feast. Of course. But nothing can stand between Marylanders and their blue crabs. So we pushed on, and steamed them in both our family's turkey fryers. It was awesome. But since the weather was so crappy, we had to feast inside. Not really that much of a problem. But if you have ever been to a crab feast, you will know that the indoors is not ideal for this type of eating.

The day as a whole was great, full of delicious food and memorable moments.