Special thanks to Claire for allowing me to use her camera for the duration of my trip!
Breakfast from Pret A Manger in London Luton Airport, Luton, England:
Snack at Chez Claire:
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| Green Goodness juice: apple, celery, cucumber, spinach, lime & ginger (Haven't slept in almost two days and as much as I wanted coffee, I knew it would make me really sick at that moment.) |
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| Asian nut candies (The French like to take their time apparently, so Claire gave me some snacks to tide me over.) |
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| Pistachios (+small glass of champagne) (I don't think I've had a several course meal in a long time. I'm all for the experience, but it's a bit awkward to sit through a conversational appetiser course when all you can understand is one word every ten minutes. Also, this was my very first glass of champagne! Eh, not a fan. I don't like bubbly drinks.) |
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| Assorted fruit/veg chips (Brought these as a thank-you-for-letting-me-into-your-house gift. If they didn't enjoy it, Claire did.) |
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| Baguette |
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| Cheese: Camembert, Comte and some other one I don't know the name of (Not a big cheese fan and originally thought I would only like the camembert, but I actually really enjoyed the comte! The orange one is a big sharper but still alright with a piece of bread. I didn't really like this camembert.) |
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| Veggie soup garnished with coriander (Tasted kind of like the water you get after you boil lentils, which I'm pretty sure was what this was - except with some veggies added in.) |
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| Lentils (This was my main course, but the actual main course was a very French roasted pork tenderloin in a red wine and onion sauce. I don't do red wine and I hate onions, so I just skipped it.) |
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| Passionfruit and lime sorbet from Berthillon (in 4ème), Paris, France (So delicious and I normally don't even like sorbets! The flavours were really potent. I'm looking forwad to when Claire takes me here.) |
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| Coffee w/a date (Annnnnd the lunch finally comes to an end.) |
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| Pain aux figues Fig bread (ate two slices) (Claire's taking me around Montmarte today since I really want to see Moulin Rouge and the area around it. Apparently this boulangerie has amazing bread so we stopped by... three times. We didn't get a baguette in the end, but this fig bread is pretty amazing! I can't remember if there were nuts in it, but it was really good!) |
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| Mi-cuit au chocolat et glace Chocolate lava cake w/salted butterscotch ice cream (shared w/Claire) (Claire and I went to the restaurant where Amélie worked! Or at least where I think she worked; regardless, it was featured in the film. I've never watched it but the score is fantastic! And this cake was equally fantastic. I took so long taking pictures that it cooled down, but the mildly warm, bittersweet chocolate cake complemented the cold, savoury ice cream perfectly! The flavours were on point, but I kind of wish the chocolate lava melted more. There wasn't enough of the melty chocolate and slightly too much ice cream.) |
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| Kouign-amann (This reminds me of a palmier cake! Claire really seemed to like this but I found it a bit overwhelming after a couple of bites. I think the amount of sugar and butter in here were just too much for me. In small amounts however, this Breton pastry was quite good. The best part was probably the texture contrasts: light yet heavy and crunchy exterior yet soft interior.) |
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| Tarte aux framboises et crème Raspberry custard tart (shared w/Claire) (This tart had coconut in the base! I've never seen a tart with coconut in the base before, unless it was a vegan dessert or something, so it was pretty shocking to take a huge bite only to be accosted by this weird texture. Even though I'm allergic, I kept on eating some of the tart because it was so good! Surprisingly light for a buttery, shortcake-esque coconut base and there was a thin raspberry filling in the base too! I really liked the tart raspberry and custard combination.) |
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| Baguette (ate about a fourth) (Probably the best baguette I've ever eaten. I can't even describe how incredible the warm, crusty shell and soft, chewy interior was. I could live off this bread and if I were rich, I might just have someone express ship me this baguette everyday. I seriously can't get over how beautiful breaking off each piece was. The crunch! The tear! The slight tug and pull! It was magic!) |
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| L'Orientale Hummus w/cumin & other spices, lentils, red cabbage, white cabbage, carrots, roasted veggies & brown rice platter (Met up with two of Claire's friends here and special thanks to Haylle who found the place! I thoroughly enjoyed my platter, even though I had to give some to Claire to finish. The plate was so simple but delicious; I don't know the exact variety of spices they used to flavour the hummus, but it was heavenly. Savoury with hints of sweetness, mm.) |
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| Pain (A small piece of bread. The French love their bread.) |
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| Claire's Le Grain de Folie Toasted bread w/a piece of goat cheese and the same sides as my platter |
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