Au Revoir Paris

I cannot believe that the time has come when I would say goodbye to this amazing city. These last four months have included an endless list of new experiences and many life long lessons. Not only did I get to know Paris, inside and out, but most importantly, I go to know myself. In these four months, I changed my life and lifestyle drastically. I left the city where I grew up in and had my family and friends close by, left the comforts of my home and left my strict lifestyle behind. In these four months, I wanted to emerge myself in this new culture and totally new lifestlye.

I ate way too much bread and cheese and definitely drank too much wine. I slept past 10AM on most days where as in America I am lucky if I sleep past 8AM. I stayed out to the very early hours of the morning and would tour around different museums and exhibitions the next day. I would spend hours at a cafe drinking wine and chatting, and then change to a new cafe and do it again. I left behind my sneakers and gym clothes for heels and dresses and my "always on a schedule" lifestyle for more of a "whatever I feel like doing" lifestyle.  I overindulged and lived my life in the moment. The greatest thing I can say though is that I have no regrets.

I met people from all over the world that I can truly say will be my life long friends. I discovered a passion for art and felt like I finally understood the meaning behind it. I fell in love with history and architecture. I traveled to new cities, learned new cuisines and learned all about wine. And most importantly, I got the chance to see my relatives more in these last four months than I do in three years.

I can honestly say that these last four months have been the best four months of my life. I am full of happiness and memories. I feel refreshed and motivated to return home and I have a whole new outlook on life. I am excited to go back into my old habits but bring back some of my new habits. I am ready to be a better "me".

With that being said, Paris, its been an absolute pleasure. I can't wait for the day when I return with my loved ones and family and share all of my favorite places and stories with them. Paris, you will always have a special place in my heart. Je t'aime!

Anne

Paris-Week 2

I can't even begin to explain how much fun I am having in Paris! I have been able to visit so many new and exciting places with really amazing people. My second full week in Paris was filled with adventure and great memories.

This week I started classes and my cousin Ariane came to visit me. Not all of my classes started this week because it was only the 4th and 5th year students who started their classes so I only had two. Next week I start my full schedule which is exciting. My two classes this week were great. I had an economics class and a strategic brand management class. Both of my professors were super nice and passionate about their subject which always makes me even more interested in learning about it. My strategic brand management professor is my favorite so far though. I am so pumped about that class and I already can't wait to go to the next one.

It is interesting to see how different professors teach and how students learn from different countries.I had my hand up the majority of both classes and spoke frequently while the French students were very quite and reserved. I was talking to my strategic brand management professor after class and she told me that this is typically the norm. I find that to be so funny but I completely understand. Americans are loud and outgoing while the French keep more to themselves. What got me really excited though was that during the strategic brand management class, we talked a lot about IKEA and how they are the leader in brand management. I was basically jumping out of my chair because everything my professor was saying about IKEA, I knew and I wanted to add more. I love that I can work for a company and learn so much from within and then I can see a different point of view when I am in class. What a great experience.

So besides being in class, I was able to visit a lot of places in Paris this week. I didn't have class until Wednesday so on Monday I walked around with a few of my friends to Notre Dame and did some sightseeing around that area. I am waiting to go inside all of the monuments when it gets a little colder because I want to spend as much time outside right now because it is so warm and beautiful.

Monday night we had a meeting at ESCE so afterwards our whole group decided to do a picnic at the Eiffel Tower. We bought a ton a bread and cheese and sat under the Eiffel Tower and ate and talked. My favorite part was when they turned on the sparkling lights on the Eiffel Tower. I honestly don't think I will get sick of seeing the Eiffel Tower. Anytime I see it I get so excited and happy. It honestly is one of the most beautiful things I've seen. 

On Tuesday I went with my friend Arta to the Champs Elysees to do some sightseeing and shopping. All of the stores are so beautiful and massive. It isn't as crowded during the week as it is during the weekend so it was really nice. We had to make a pit stop at Laduree though to get macaroons. I just can't help myself when it comes to macaroons. Anytime I see them I want them. We sat on the outside part of the restaurant and I got a coffee with coconut and a nougat cake with cream and raspberries. It was fabulous! The rest of the afternoon we walked around Paris and explored.

Tuesday night a few of my friends decided to go to Sacre Coure to sit on the steps and drink wine. What a breathtaking view. At night you can see all of the lights in Paris and it is simply stunning. 

Wednesday I had school and then my cousin came that night. She arrived really late so by the time she got here, it was already 11 so we talked for a little and went to bed. On Thursday I had a class in the morning and then I met up with Ariane. We decided to go to the Luxembourg gardens and sit and tan because it was so nice and warm out. I still can't get over how great the weathers been. 

The rest of my time with Ariane was spent sightseeing, eating and going out. We went to the Moulin Rouge, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, Museum de Pompidou and I showed her my school. On her final night we went to the cutest French bistro is Montmartre. It was a simple restaurant with only a few items on the menu and there was only one waitress. We split a bottle of rose and I order the foie gras and I had Sole. It was unbelievably good! 

Ariane left on Sunday morning sadly but I know that I will see her in a few weeks. I love that we live so close to one another now and so I can just hop on a train whenever I want to see her. Next week starts my first full week of classes and I am excited to go to them all! I also want to do a lot more walking around Paris and finding little coffee shops and restaurants where only locals go. I want to just leave my house and get lost in Paris and explore!

Salut!

Anne

Paris-Week 1

So I arrived in Paris last Monday and I have been nonstop ever since. My flight to Paris was incredibly easy, it was almost too perfect. I arrived at the airport and it only took me 15 minutes to check my bags and go through security. That is so unlike USA airports. When I landed in Paris, I took the train and got off at Cite Universite which is the dorms where I am staying for the next four months. It was so great because they had my room all ready for me and all I needed was to get my keys and settle in.

Well my dorm is an International dorm where there are ESCE students from all over the world that are staying there. It's awesome! I feel like I am a freshman all over again and I am getting to meet all of these new people from all over the world. I've been able to make friends with students from Germany, Brazil, Poland, Italy, Latvia, Mexico and Holland. It's incredible!

My first night night was pretty casual, we all went to the park near the dorms and sat and drank wine. It was great to get to know everyone. The next day I spent the majority of my time shopping for things that I didn't have in my room. They don't provide any dishes or silverware for us so I had to buy all of that myself which was kind of annoying. That night though we had a huge family dinner where the German girls made Snitzle for the whole house. It was great! It was my first time having it and I really enjoyed it.

From Wednesday till Friday we had orientation for ESCE which is the school that I am studying at. It is located literally 5 minutes by foot from the Eiffel Tower. You can see the Eiffel Tower from the school which is pretty amazing. I have a feeling that while I'm in class, when I won't want to pay attention, I am just going to look outside the window at the Eiffel Tower. 

The first afternoon I begged my dorm mates to do Crepes under the Eiffel Tower. I know it's such a touristy thing to do but I just had to! We spent a couple hours around that area lounging by the park and eating our crepes. It was so relaxing. 

That night I went to see two good friends of mine in Paris. I know them from spending my summers with my family in Piriac. I haven't seen them in over two years since I haven't been to Piriac in that time and it was so nice to catch up and talk. I ended up spending that night at my friend Clotildes house because it was late and I didn't want to take the metro at night. Well I'm glad I spent the night because the next morning, my other friend Gaetan took me home on his scooter. It's not every day that you can say you toured Paris on a scooter. 

Gaetan invited me to go visit him in Lille that weekend because it was the big Braderie and the start of school so all of the students were coming back that weekend. I decided to go and I took a train that Friday. Before that though I did a tour earlier that morning with ESCE on a boat and saw all of Paris. It was really beautiful. I've been really lucky so far with the weather here. Every day has been beautiful and warm!! It definitely makes me love Paris even more. 

Later that evening I arrived in Lille and immediately met with Gaetan. We had dinner and went straight to his friends house to meet everyone. I am not used to going out like they do. They don't leave to go to the bar until 3am.. That's what time I normally get home, and usually it's even earlier! Well we left for the bar at 3am and by the time it was 6am, I had to go home. I couldn't take it anymore. But nonetheless it was a great night and I really enjoyed getting to know his friends. 

The next day we slept late and left in the afternoon to meet up with his friends for lunch. The Braderie is a huge flee market where people sell everything from clothes to dishes. It was huge! There were so many people and so many things to see. We did a short walkthrough and then left shortly after because there were too many people. It was really fun though and I am glad I went and got to experience it. 

I got back to Paris late on Sunday. In all, my first week in Paris was amazing!!! I already met some pretty amazing people and I am so excited for what's to come in the next four months. My cousin Ariane is arriving on Wednesday and staying for a couple of days so I can't wait for that!! 

Anne

Diner en Blanc

Last night Philadelphia hosted the second annual Diner en Blanc event in Center City. Thousands of people showed up at their designated meeting location not knowing where the final stop would be. The whole concept behind Diner en Blanc is that it is a pop up dining experience. You wear all white and bring your table, chairs, silverware and food. Once you arrive at the "secret location" you line up your tables, set up your food and wine and dine all night. Sais fabuleux!!

My meeting point was at the Love Park. After everyone arrived we started walking towards the "secret location" which ended up being 30th Street station. We set up or table and chairs right on JFK and enjoyed a fabulous night of eating and dancing. It definitely was the perfect event to attend right before I leave for Paris.

For my menu I decided to make a few things that were easy to transport and had a French flare to. I decided to start off my picnic with a cheese plate. I chose four types of cheeses; a soft cow/sheep milk cheese, a blue, hard cows milk cheese and a cheddar. I also paired the cheeses with nuts, dried figs and apricot jam that my mom made. For the second course I made a truffled leek and pancetta quiche with gruyere cheese and paired that with a pear and prosciutto salad. The meal was perfect and the best part was that we got to share our food with all the other guests.

Here is how I did it:

Truffled Leek and Pancetta Quiche with Gruyere Cheese:
- 4 large leeks
- 6 ounce piece of pancetta
- 3/4 cup gruyere cheese
- 6 eggs
- 3/4 half and half cream
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs butter
- 2 tbs truffle infused oil
- salt and pepper

Pear and Prosciutto Salad:
- 3 cups of arugula
- 1/2 pear sliced
- 2 slices of prosciutto
- 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 3 tbs white vinegar
- 1/2 tbs honey
- 3 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper

For the quiche, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take your leeks and cut the top green part off and discard. Cut the leeks length wise and place in a bowl with cold water to remove to sand. Place a pot on the stove with a little water. Once your leeks are clean, put them in the pot and simmer for 10-15 minutes and then drain them.

Place the pot back on the stove with 1 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter. Take your pancetta and cut it in cubes and fry in the pan. Once they are golden and crisp, remove them from the pan and drain them with a paper towel.

Leave the oil from the pancetta in the pan and place the leeks in them. Sauté under medium/low heat for 20-25 minutes until they are translucent . After that point, add the truffle oil and pancetta back in and mix together. Lightly season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs (beaten), half and half, gruyere cheese and leeks. Season with salt and pepper and pour the mixture in a 9 inch pan that is greased. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the center is firm. 

For the salad, combine to the mustard, honey, and white vinegar together. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salad and pepper. To assemble the salad, place the arugula first with the dressing and then add the slices of pear on top and the strips of prosciutto. Sprinkle the romano cheese. 

I pre cut the quiche into serving sizes and placed them in a to go container. I did this with the salad and cheese as well. I also bought white square paper plates to use as serving platters and plastic wine glasses. It was perfect! We had just the right amount of food and it tasted delicious! 

Bon Appetite!

Anne

Fathers Day Dinner

I see my dad very frequently. We typically go to lunch together almost every week. It's our time to hang out and talk. We've been doing these lunch dates ever since I started college and haven't stopped since (Even now, when I work in Conshohocken, he stays home from work to have lunch with me). I believe that my dad loves food almost as much as I do. We love to go out to new restaurants together and try new things. Food is definitely something that we connect on.

My dad embraces my passion for food. When I was younger, my dad and I would go to Wegmans and spend the whole entire afternoon perusing through the isles and looking at all of the products. My dad would patiently wait for me while I explored and got lost in all of the ingredients. I still love to go to Wegmans and walk around and explore (I'm the girl who takes hours at the grocery store). Also when I was younger, he would come home from work with special cheeses and olives from Di Bruno Brothers for me. It would always make me feel special. I know these things might sound strange to anyone but these are the special memories that I have with my father when I was growing up.

I never get the chance to cook for dad though. Typically when I see him, we go out to eat or my mom cooks, but he always asks me to cook for him. (He is also my editor for this blog and he always wants me to make the recipes that I blog about for him). Tonight since it is Father Day I told him I was going to make him a special dinner.

Since it's the summer, I decided to make a White Gazpacho as our starter. White Gazpacho is different from regular Gazpacho because it is made with grapes instead of tomatoes. My dad loves crabs so I decided to make him Crab Cakes as our entree. I paired the crab cakes with an Apple Slaw and placed it over a bed of whipped dijon and horseradish sweet potatoes.

Here is how I did it:

Crab Cakes with Dijon & Horseradish 

Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Apple Slaw

White Gazapacho: 
- 1 pounds of green grapes
- 1 large cucumber (Peel and discard the seeds)
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1/2 Marcona Almonds
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1 lime
- 1/4 tsp hot pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste

Crab Cakes: 
- 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
- 1 celery stalk chopped
- 1 tbs scallion
- 1 tbs chives
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp lemon pepper
- 2 tbs dijon horseradish mustard
- 1/2 juice of a lemon
- 1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1 cup panko bread crumbs

Dijon & Horseradish Whipped Sweet potatoes 

- 2 sweet potatoes

- 1/2 cup almond milk 

- 2 tbs dijon & horseradish mustard 

- Salt and pepper to taste 

Apple Slaw
- 1 small granny smith apple
- 3 cups chopped green cabbage
- 1 cup chopped red cabbage
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 2 tbs dijon horseradish mustard
- 2 tbs honey
- Salt and pepper to taste

For the gazpacho, wash and take of the stems of the grapes. Peel and discard the seeds of your cucumber. Chop the cucumber in large pieces so you can easily blend in a blender. Place the grapes, cucumber, and the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 

Serve chilled with a piece of toasted bread to dip in. 

For the crab cakes, place finely chopped onions, pepper, celery, scallion, chives and garlic in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients besides the panko bread crumbs and crab meat. Once the ingredients are mixed, fold in 1/2 cup of panko and the crab meat. I used jumbo lump crab meat from the store. 

Place the other 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs in a shallow bowl to dip in once you have formed your crab cakes. You should be able to make 6 large crab cakes out of this mixture. Once you have formed the crab cakes and dipped them in the bread crumbs, place on a baking dish. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes until they are lightly brown. 

For the whipped sweet potatoes, Peel and boil your potatoes in salted water until they are tender. Drain and place in a bowl. Add the other ingredients and whip with a beater or mash with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place under the crab cakes. 

For the slaw, peel and dice your apple lengthwise and add them to the 4 cups of chopped cabbage. Mix the vinegar, mustard and honey in a separate bowl and pour over the slaw. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the crab cakes.   

My dad loved everything I made for him tonight. The gazpacho was probably one of the tastiest soups I have ever made and it was so refreshing to eat on a summer night. The crab cakes were light and delicious and was the perfect dish to serve as our entree. 

By the way, like the new dishes that I got from IKEA?? They are from the new Stockholm collection, they'll be in stores in August! I'm in love with them! 

Anne 

This post is dedicated to my Father. Thank you dad for everything that you've done for me. Words can't describe how appreciative and thankful I am to have you in my life. You have always been there to support me in all of aspirations and are always the person I go to for advice. I love you daddy.

Summer Grilling

Last night after a long day of work, I went to my friend Taylor's house to lay by the pool and do some grilling. Taylor has the perfect house to grill and entertain. Last year during the summer, she hosted a pool party with all of our friends and we spent all afternoon swimming, grilling and hanging out. We even made a gigantic slip and slide and acted like 5 year olds. We covered ourselves in soap and slipped all the way down her lawn. It was one of my favorite memories from last summer.

Yesterday was just a casual night. Taylor is leaving for Europe to study abroad at the end of the month and her brother Steve just celebrated a birthday so we all wanted to get together to grill and hang out. It was such a fun and relaxing night and we all cooked!!

Grilling is the best on a summer night when your with a bunch of people. It makes cooking fun and carefree. When I talk about grilling, I'm not talking about grilling burgers and hot dogs. I'm talking about making fresh and healthy meals on the grill. Last night we started off with a fresh brown tomato and mozzarella salad with a simple garlic and balsamic vinaigrette. I spotted the brown tomatoes at Trader Joe's and was curious to see what they tasted like. I'm glad I tried them because they were probably one of the best tomatoes that I've ever had before. They were perfectly sweet and delicious.

Our main course was not something that normally comes to mind when your thinking of grilling. Pizza. Grilled pizza is 10X better than making pizza in a oven. Of course if you have a pizza oven then you clearly have the advantage but for people with only a regular oven, I would recommend ditching the oven and grilling your pizza from now on! It is so easy.

We grilled a variety of vegetables that are in season for our pizza toppings. We grilled eggplant, zucchini, peppers and fennel. We also grilled whole tomatoes and whole cloves of garlic wrapped in foil to make homemade pizza sauce.

For the vegetables, before you place them on the grill, marinate in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and chili flakes. Place the tomatoes like you see in the picture above so that you don't burn them. Grill all of your vegetables and place on a dish when each piece is done. 

For the tomato sauce, take the grilled tomatoes and grilled garlic cloves and place in a bowl. To extract the garlic, unwrap the foil and squeeze out the garlic from its shell. Add salt, pepper and oregano and add a few tbs of tomato pasta. Blend until smooth. Keep tasting your sauce to see if you need more seasoning or more tomato paste. 

Once your tomato sauce and vegetables are done, roll out your pizza dough. You can either make or buy your pizza dough. We bought our dough from Trader Joe's to save time. 

Roll out the dough and place it on a pizza dish to prevent the dough from burning on the grill. Before you place it on the grill, drizzle olive oil over the dough. Grill for 5 minutes without any toppings and then add the sauce, goat cheese and vegetables. Grill for another 5-10 minutes until your crust is perfectly crispy and your sauce is bubbling. Take it off the grill and garnish with chopped basil and olive oil. 

This meal is the perfect meal to make on a summer night. It is easy and perfect for sharing. We ended our night with Taylor's delicious berries and rhubarb crumble. It was fantastic! 

This crumble had all the elements of a flawless dessert. The sweet berries contrasted so well with the tart rhubarb and the crumble topping added that extra crunch. But we couldn't forget the most important part, ice cream. French Vanilla ice cream to be exact :) Perfect end to a perfect meal! 

I didn't provide an exact recipe for this menu because it is really up to you with what you want to grill and put on your pizza. The sky's the limit!! 

Anne 

City Food Tour: Ethnic Eats

Yesterday the Marketing department at IKEA went on its annual department outing. For our outing, we got to choose from a variety of different options such as going on a scavenger hunt to doing a food tour around Philly. Of course I chose the food tour and so did the majority of my other coworkers because the food tour won.

To start, we all had to meet on Washington Ave at this Vietnamese shopping mall. I hadn't heard of any of the locations before so I didn't know what to expect. The first location where we met was a Vietnamese specialty food store and restaurant called Pho Cafe: Viet Huong. When you first walk in, you are immediately surrounded by prepared specialty foods such as Vietnamese desserts, dried meats, dried chilies, bubble tea.. The list goes on and on. In the back, there is a full restaurant where you can get authentic Vietnamese food. This is where our food tour began.

After our introduction to our food guides (the most entertaining people I've met in a while) we took our order for our first meal. Since it was a tour, we already knew what we were getting to eat but we could moderate our order depending if we had food allergies or didn't eat some of the ingredients in the dishes. For our first stop we had roasted pork Banh Mi and a crispy spring roll. We had the option to replace the pork with tofu if we wanted. I don't eat pork very often but I told myself that I was going to get the Banh Mi the way it's supposed to be made. I made the right decision. 

Banh Mi is a Vietnamese term for bread and is typically made with baguette. When you think of Vietnamese food and baguette, your probably are like "that isn't authentic Vietnamese food, that's French food". Well the baguette was actually introduced to the Vietnamese by the French during its Colonial period and they adopted it in their cuisine. They do however use rice flour in the baguette to make it lighter and crispier than the French baguette. 

Our Banh Mi was filled with roasted pork and typical Vietnamese ingredients like cilantro, pickled carrots, cucumber and chili pepper. It was absolutely amazing! The ingredients were so fresh and crisp and the bread was perfectly light and airy. It had the perfect amount of heat and I felt like I was eating something healthy because all of the ingredients were fresh. 

For our second stop, we went to a Thai restaurant. I love Thai food. There are plenty of vegetarian options with a ton of heat and flavor. They also use coconut milk in a lot of their dishes which I am a huge fan of. For our meal, we got to try three authentic Thai appetizers. 

The first appetizer we tried was Tom Som which is a Thai Green Papaya salad. The salad is made with shredded unripe papaya with lime, chili, fish sauce, palm oil and peanuts. When you think of Papaya, you typically think it's sweet but since the papaya is unripe in this dish, it tastes more like a vegetable and it so delicious! I could eat this salad every day. 

The other two appetizers were fried tofu with a peanut satay sauce and corn fritters. I didn't know that the Thai used corn in their cuisine because I have never seen it in any dish before. The corn fritters were delicious though and I definitely am going to copy the recipe and make it for myself in the future. 

After eating all of this food, we got to take a little break and go to an Asian supermarket. I literally almost started hyperventilating when I walked into the supermarket because of how excited I was. All of the foods that I love were right in front of me and everything was so cheap!!!!!! They had all sorts of fruits and vegetables that I haven't even heard of before and rice and noodles to last a life time! I already know that I am going back there to go grocery shopping. I could literally spend an entire afternoon in that supermarket exploring. 

Our final stop for our food tour was a Mexican Restaurant. I like Mexican food but I don't eat it that often because it is typically heavy and I don't crave foods like rice, beans and a lot of meat that often. I do love salsa and guacamole though but not the main meat dishes that much. We got to try the Tacos at this restaurant. I don't eat red meat so I got the vegetarian option which had rice, beans and some queso fresco which is a Mexican cheese. The taco was made with a corn tortilla. I really enjoyed the tacos, the corn tortilla was my favorite part, they were so soft and sweet and definitely tasted like they were made on the spot. 

To end our meal at the Mexican Restaurant, we had Flan. I am used to eating crème caramel which is French flan. Mexican flan is different than crème caramel; it is much thicker and is made almost entirely out of caramelized condensed milk where as crème caramel is made with whole milk, heavy cream and eggs. I really enjoyed the Mexican flan. I actually prefer the texture of Mexican flan over French flan. 

By the end of the food tour I was pleasantly full and excited about all of the places that I had been. City Food Tour has other tours besides Ethnic food. They have beer and cheese, beer and chocolate, taste of Philly and much more. Its a perfect activity to do as a date or as a gift. I definitely want to do more of the tours! Here is a link to their website: City Food Tours. 

Anne