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| Marche Presidente Wilson |
Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite parts of
traveling: FOOD! Prior to having Wilder, when we traveled, we ate out every meal, unless we saved
leftovers or something. But eating out with a baby can be challenging, and we
knew going to France and Italy that meals would be much more leisurely. If you
have kids, you know that there's an invisible timer that turns on when you
arrive at a restaurant, counting down until your child is D.O.N.E. and you will
have to leave. Most of the time, Zach and I eat at home with our kids. If we
eat restaurant food, it's usually takeout.
When you're traveling, eating out is often your only means
of getting food. But if you stay with friends, or in an
airBNB flat (more on
that in another post) you have the luxury of a kitchen and dining area. We
learned on this trip that, just like eating at local restaurants, visiting
local markets is an excellent way to get to know the region. In fact, I think I
can now say that visiting markets is my favorite way to get to know an area!
From the supermarket, with the variety of food and
interesting packaged foods (Nutella!) to small shops where you can grab a
pastry and coffee or snacks, to the incredible Marche President Wilson (market)
that we visited twice on this trip--each market offered its own special allure.
The market we visited in the 16th arrondissement (near Trocadero) was a dazzling experience for the senses: brightly
colored flowers, neatly arranged fruits, aromatic herbs, juicy rotisserie
chicken with potatoes (a MUST try), tantalizing cooked food from all over the
world, fresh meat and seafood, spices and even some clothes and such. If you're
a food lover, you really need to visit the market. So many vendors were excited
about their wares. We met a salt vendor that told us exactly which salt to use
for which dish, when to apply it and how much. I came home with several kinds
of salt with a little wooden spoon and I use it in my cooking all the time. It
always reminds me of France!
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| mushrooms! |
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| Here's the salt guy- what a character! |
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| I don't know what this is, but it sure was pretty. |
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| Crepes! |
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| Pretty flowers |
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| Hello fishie! |
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| SCALLOPS OMG |
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| Bass! |
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| The vendors will clean your fish for you. Thank goodness! |
I've been told that there is some kind of market just about
every morning, all over Paris. I actually went looking online to find the name
of the market we went to and discovered dozens, in just the neighborhood where
we were staying! Check out this
website for a list of markets. I can't
recommend visiting a market enough!
I'd say the experience of relaxing in a French flat with
friends and family, good food and good wine can rival the stress that eating
out with a baby can bring. It's good to do both, but this was really our first
trip to cook so much in-house.
Here are some of the meals the four of us cooked at the
Gulledge's flat in Paris.
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| Hazelnut crusted fish with olive oil mashed potatoes and mushrooms Stacy and Jason picked on a mushroom hunt in the country. We also had eclairs and champagne! |
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| Pork loin wrapped with bacon, haricot vert. |
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| Those scallops! |
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| The bass and more haricot vert. We had a sumptuous meal with the scallops as appetizer and more champagne! |
Next post I'll talk about our day trip to Champagne!
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