The Food

There's no way that I could stop talking about our trip to France before I did a food report. OMGosh y'all! It was all so good. And the bread...I had it at every meal. After 7 months of no bread, I couldn't get enough. 

I do not know the French names for anything I ate. But basically, this is a "Louie" salad. I love those! This one was full of shrimp. I could easily have eaten another.

This is probably the oddest thing I ate--frog legs. We had them quite a bit when I was a kid. They are pretty good. I passed on the escargot--which Butch, Steph and Nicky had many, many times. I also passed on the foie gras--which Steph and Nicky love. He must have had it at least 6 times. I did bring some home for our happy hour with the French Charcuterie! 

I forgot to get a picture before I started eating it. This was vichyssoise--cold potato soup. I do like that--and most cold soups.

We had Nutella crepes--twice! So, so good. This tiny jar was so cute. If we had little kids in the family, I would have brought it home for play food.

French onion soup--of course, I couldn't get enough! In fact, when Sandy and Greg took us out for our 50th anniversary, I had it again!

When we arrived in Paris, we had a couple days before the cruise. We stayed at the Pullman Eiffel Tower hotel. It was very nice. At breakfast, we each were given our own tongs to get our food from the buffet. I'm assuming they are disposable. If not, then I accidentally stole these!

How amazing does this look? It's a grilled ham and cheese. I've never seen anything like it, but I'm going to try it. Basically, it's a piece of bread, ham and then the cheese on top--I guess it's been broiled. So delicious. I really want to try it at home---if I remember!

I don't remember what this pastry is, but I got it for the pistachio ice cream--which was delicious. I also ate three of the little fruit berries. They looked like cherries, but were tart. One was sweet. Nicky dared me! I always say, "they cannot put anything on the plate that is not edible!" So, why not!

This was "amuse bouche"--just a little something that you don't order. This was a cucumber soup--I think. Cool and refreshing. I didn't eat the dill sprig.

These were some little cream puffs on a 4" plate. I would have loved to buy some of those plates. They would be perfect for charcuterie trays!

Prior to the trip, there were many food items that I wanted to have:

1. Crepes--sweet and savory--had both.

2. Any type of "Louie" salad--just had that little one above. I could certainly have handled a big one!

3. French onion soup--I had this at least 4 times--it was always delicious.

4. Quiche--didn't see this on any menu--maybe it's not even French.

5. Champagne--many, many, many glasses.

6. French toast--I'm proud of my self that I only had a half slice! It was so good! After making it, they dip it in to cinnamon and sugar. I didn't even need butter or syrup. That took willpower not to go back and get another slice.

7. French bread--at every meal--as reported.

8. Nicoise salad--never saw this anywhere either. I do love a good salad.

9. Monte Cristo sandwich--didn't see this anywhere, but the ham and cheese above might have been better anyway!

10. French Fries--I could have had these, but instead, I just "snitched" a few from Butch's plate.

Okay, so I went with a plan about my eating. That pretty much went out the window the very first day. After that, it was a free for all. When I got home, I was a bit scared to weigh. I didn't want to know the damage. So instead, I got right back on plan for 3 days. I weighed before we left town for Sandy's and the beach. I was so happy to find that I was exactly the same weight as when I'd gone on the trip. So I guess those three days were all I needed to get back on track! 

Honestly, I'm pretty happy where I am right now--weight-wise. Still, I'm about 8 lbs. from the goal I set for myself. I'm trying to be cocky here, because, believe me, it's not a pretty sight! I'm a little saggy and wrinkled, but I'll take it in exchange for better health. After all that's what it's all about! 70 is just right around the corner!