Honeymoon: Day 3

We began day three with the same breakfast as the day before.  Warm croissants really are wonderful.  The yogurt was a bit different than what you get at the store here, but it was not bad.  The weather outside was great, and we were out for an early start looking for the RER line C train station.  This was the day we were heading to Versailles!

The RER line was not easily found.  We had a map and gps, but it took about an hour to locate the station.  The train ride was about 20 minutes.  We saw areas of Paris where people had homes and yards, and it wasn't all apartment living.

When we arrived, we spotted McDonalds across the street, and decided it was time to stop for a quick lunch.  It was our one fast food meal while we were traveling, and I must say that it was really pretty good.  Jtl went with the Royal with bacon and I had the McChicken sandwich.  We attempted to place our order using the touchscreen kiosks, but had technical difficulties.  When ordering, you get a choice of ketchup or mayonnaise with your fries.  I went with mayo.  Yum!  Before leaving, I did get yelled at by an employee.  It seems it is not possible to use the restrooms at McDonalds while they are mopping in France.  Oh well.....

The road that we followed up to Versailles was probably the most beautiful road I saw while we were travelling.  The fall leaves were absolutely beautiful, and there were wide sidewalks with little roads off to the side that were narrow and twisty.  The cars actually had room to park in this area without being bumper to bumper as well.

The palace was amazing...... so much detail and so beautiful and so BIG.  I wanted to get a picture in front of the gate, but after waiting patiently for this one girl to finish taking her gazillion pictures it became apparent that an off center picture with her in the background was the only option.

Jtl wasn't a huge fan of the crowds inside of the palace.  I would get carried away taking pictures, and then turn around to find that he had moved on to the next room.  Have I mentioned that the lack of personal space that the people we encountered on our tours allowed us?  Well, it was worse in the tiny roped off areas that you have in the different areas of the palace.

Palace chapel

ceiling of palace chapel 

Most of the areas seemed to have been restored to pre-revolution style, but some of the first ones that we walked through had some of the tackiest Brady Bunch-ish furniture I've ever seen.  The bright yellows and avocado greens just didn't have the right feel for these elaborately decorated rooms.

Detailed carvings in window arches

Us in the Hall of Mirrors

I had to throw some elbows to get this bedroom pic

Just your typical French dinner service

We finished walking through the palace, and headed through the garden towards Marie Antoinette's estate.  This was quite a distance from the main entrance, and we walked past several fountains and lovely garden areas on our way.

Game room at Marie Antoinette's estate

Fireplace in kitchen of Marie Antoinette's estate 

After we had seen all we could see, we decided to head back to the train.  On the way, we decided to look for a place to stop for a snack down one of the side streets.  We quickly abandoned this plan when a loud crazy man began following a woman and yelling at her right behind us.  Instead, we stopped at Lelyautey for an afternoon snack of Diet Coke and onion soup.

As with every afternoon, wandering back to the hotel took longer than planned.  It was our last evening in Paris, so we really didn't mind too much.  We were still soaking it all in.... there was still lots we hadn't seen.

We had dinner at Au Roi Du Cafe that evening.  I had a steak with wonderful fried potatoes.  Jtl had roasted chicken.  The restaurant was really pretty, but there were fruit flies everywhere.  I opted for a glass of white wine that evening, but the waiter brought me a red.  We were having a bit of trouble communicating with him as it was, so I stuck with what he served me...... which ended up being the most expensive red wine served by the glass.  Oops!  For dessert, we ordered "tarte coco, sauce chocolat & glace coco".  This is not a chocolate tarte.  This is coconut.  It was served warm, and it was wonderful.

After dinner, we called it a night.  The shuttle to the airport was scheduled to pick us up at 6:15 the next morning!

Honeymoon: Day 2

We woke early on Monday, November 20.  After a quick breakfast of freshly baked croissants, yogurt, cheeses, juice and coffee, we headed out to see the Louvre.

Not sure why this guy is hanging out of the window at the Louvre

I knew that the museum would be big, but I have to say that I was still surprised by the size when we got there.  There are three wings to choose from.  We chose to start with the Denon wing because that is where you will find the Mona Lisa, and you don't go to the Louvre without seeing the Mona Lisa.  Right?  It took a couple hours to wander through the crowds and see most of the art.  The first floor we came to was full of sculptures.  Next we found rooms full of Egyptian art before finally getting to the halls filled with paintings.  The main stairs led you to the Winged Victory of Samothrace.  The museum was packed.  You couldn't turn around without bumping into someone.  Frustrated by this, we decided to break for lunch downstairs.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Ceiling in one of the rooms at the Louvre

Madonna & Child pic for my mom

The ham and Swiss sandwiches were amazing.  I wish I could describe how wonderful they were.  It was probably the best ham and cheese sandwich I've ever had......perhaps we were just really hungry?  For dessert, we split a flourless chocolate torte.  Yum!

After lunch, we decided to head out and wander about a bit.  We knew Notre Dame wasn't too far away, so we headed that way.  As we walked along the river, this man walking towards us finds a gold ring on the ground.  He came over to show it to us.  Jtl told him it was a good find, and we headed on our way.  Then the guy calls out to us and rushes to where we are.  He tells Jtl that the ring is too small for him, and he would like for us to have it.  In return, he would like 2 Euros for coffee.  We told him that we couldn't possibly take it from him and had no use for it.  He pushed a bit, but ended up keeping it.  As we walked away, we talked about the entire chain of events.  Did we actually see the ring on the ground?  Or had he had it all along?  Why would he want to give us this gold ring for 2 Euros?  It was all very bizarre.

Not much further down the road, we were approached by some teenagers.  They wanted our address and some other information.  I told them that I was not interested, but Jtl was nicer and began filling in some random information.  Moments later a French woman starts yelling at the teenagers to leave us alone.  She tells us not to share any information with these kids.  She tells us that they're everywhere collecting information for the hotels.  This part is true.  We saw the kids with clipboards everywhere.

Notre Dame is beautiful.  They were working on putting the Christmas tree up in front of the church when we arrived.  I wish that we could have seen the finished result.  The tree was huge, but didn't seem so big next to the front doors of the church.  The details inside and out are amazing.  The stained glass, the art and the gargoyles.  Since this was one of the first churches that we visited on this trip, I did not take as many pictures as I wish I had.

After we left Notre Dame, we kind of just started wandering in the general direction of the hotel.  We found a little narrow street full of Greek restaurants.  I really enjoyed walking through the side streets where we saw these little restaurants and felt so far away from the main areas with the wide streets and so much traffic.  Not far from this little Greek area, we found Shakespeare & Company.  Jtl was thrilled with this find...... I had no idea we were even looking for it.

We walked for about an hour before deciding to stop at Relais Odeon Brasserie.  The sign said that it was established in 1900.  It was on another little cobblestone road that we wandered down.  (We wandered a LOT in France!)  On the corner of the street was a restaurant named Tennessee and across the street was an olive oil store.  I regret that I did not purchase anything from this shop.  It had the most amazing selection of fresh olive oils.  From our table across the street, you could see the bottles in the window waiting to be filled.  They had so many wonderful specialty oils and gift baskets.  While we were sitting at the bistro, two teenage girls walked down the street and began singing Christmas songs in the area between the shop and Tennessee. A British man joined them in singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", and then gave the girls a couple of Euros.  It was definitely an enjoyable break.

Olive Oil Shop

We decided to head in the general direction of the Pantheon as it is marked on our map as one of the tourist attractions in the area we were in.  We walked and walked before we ended up on the street that runs into our hotel.  Oops!  For the record, we did not visit the Pantheon in Rome either.

That night we dined at Les Artisans.  It was probably the best meal that we had in Paris.  I had Bavette d'aloyau and Jtl had Emince de volaille.  These were chicken and steak dishes served with the best mashed potatoes.  Yum!

Honeymoon: Day 1

We arrived in Paris at 6am on Sunday, November 20.  We were both lucky enough to sleep a bit on the plane over, so we were ready to hit the ground running.  We gathered our luggage, exchanged $80 for Euros and went looking for a cab.  It took roughly an hour to get through the line of people waiting for a cab and to get to the hotel.  


It was approximately 8am when we finally pulled up to Hôtel Lecourbe. The driver told us it that our fare was 62 Euros. This would not have been much of a problem except that $80 equals roughly 48 Euros after paying fees and such. Jtl decided to grab a couple of $20 bills from his wallet to make up the difference...... except he accidentally grabbed one $20 and a $100 bill. The driver took off before I could bring this to his attention. Guessing we might have made that guy's day.


We were happy to find out that our room was ready for us upon arrival, took our key and headed for the elevator. I think that the linen closet in most homes is larger than this elevator, but it did the job. Next stop room 26...... except it sounded like there was a baby crying in that room and our key didn't work. We checked the number scribbled on the envelope again and verified that it said 26 before I went back downstairs to tell the guy that we believe there is a baby in our room. He checks with another hotel employee, and they assure me that our room is vacant. It seems that what we read as 26 was actually 24. Guess the lack of sleep might have been hitting us a bit more than we realized.  

Hotel Elevator

view of 24 from bathroom door

Room 24 was very clean and very small, but it met our needs. After dropping our bags and grabbing scarves, we head out on foot for the Eiffel Tower. It was a fairly short walk, and even shorter once we became familiar with our hotel's location on the map we had gotten from the lobby. The tower opens at 9:30, and we lucked out to be fairly close to the start of the line...... even better was the nice guy from Washington in line in front of us. It was nice to hear what he had seen and done so far on his trip. The top of the tower was quite crowded despite arriving early, but we still managed to get some decent pictures. We did take the lift to the top, but Jtl led me to stairs that ended up taking us all the way back to the bottom.  

self portrait from top of the tower

After we left the Eiffel Tower, we walked across the river and up to the Arc de Triomphe. From there we wandered down Champs-Élysées.  We saw lots of familiar shops as we wandered, and decided that it was time to decide what we were going to have for lunch.  We decided on George V.  The day was clear and not too chilly, so we sat on the patio where we could watch everything happening.  I had a wonderful ham and cheese sandwich and Jtl had roast beef.  


After lunch, we wandered through Louis Vuitton.  I saw lots of wonderful handbags, but quickly became aggravated with the crowd.  The lack of personal space had already begun to be an issue for this claustrophobic girl.  As we continued our stroll, I spotted the ferris wheel ahead.  We decided to walk to that before altering our course, and I'm so pleased that we did.  We ended up walking through a nice little Christmas carnival area.  There were rides for the kids, trees covered in fake snow and even a crazy ice skating path for kids.  There were booths lining both sides of the street with food, gluhwein and crafts.  

By now, my feet had begun to really ache.  For the record, Uggs are quite comfy unless you're planning to walk for hours on end.   


We visited the Hotel les Invalides before heading back to our hotel for a nap.  Les Invalides was originally set up as a hospital for wounded soldiers, and was really quite beautiful.  Napoleon Boneparte is buried here, but at a price of 10 Euros per person we opted to skip visiting his grave.  Instead we wandered around a lot of crooked roads in search of our hotel. 

Around 6:30, we asked the young man at the front desk for a restaurant suggestion.  I have to say I was a bit surprised that the same guy that was at the desk when we arrived was still working ten hours later.  He suggested that we try Montparnasse 1900 which was two train stops away.  Since we had yet to take the train, we decided to walk instead.  The area where the restaurant was located was quite busy, and we opted to try Chez Bebert instead.  The food was amazing.  I had lamb with caramelized onions and grapes prepared in a tangine.  Jtl had an amazing lamb kebab with rice.  The red table wine we had with dinner was wonderful.  I personally think that we picked the perfect place for us in this area.  The atmosphere inside the restaurant was so warm and cozy.  The food was delicious.  

We stopped at Cafe Montarnasse after dinner for one more glass of wine before heading back to the hotel for much needed sleep.  We had to be well rested for day 2!

Farming: Container Style

I've begun doing something I never thought that I would do.  I am attempting to grow my own herbs.  I started with cilantro, rosemary and oregano.  These are three that I use frequently, so I thought that this plan made sense.  Everyone told me that the rosemary would grow like crazy, but it's really not taken off just yet.  My cilantro is growing like crazy though!  I'm pleased with this development as I have several recipes that I love to make, but hate to buy a whole bunch of cilantro when you only need a tablespoon or so.

Cilantro plant after a couple weeks

I've decided to keep them growing in pots through the winter, and then transfer them outdoors in the spring.  I've also decided that I would like to add to the list of things that I can grow at home.  Anyone have any ideas for easy to grow items that won't require a lot of space?  I've been gathering a few ideas online, and pinterest has provided me with a couple of interesting ideas for planting above ground.  One that I'm tempted to try describes how to grow a pineapple in your home.  (click here for more info!)  I realize that this will take quite some time, but why not give it a shot?

What I really need to hear from others is what they've tried that works and doesn't.  I realize that mint grows easily around here, but am not in need of a large supply of fresh mint so will skip this effort entirely.  Have any of you container gardened successfully?  What veggies/herbs would you suggest for a container garden?

Believe it or not, I'm Blogging Again.....

That probably should have been walking on air, but you all know that blogging again is much more appropriate for this girl.  That said, two blogs in three days..... watch out!  

Gone are the days of catchy theme songs from your favorite television shows.  What happened to them?  Do we really get that much more per episode by eliminating the opening theme song?  I don't know.  All of the shows I grew up with had songs I knew by heart. 

My younger sister posted her list of favorites yesterday over at passion tea lemonade, and I began to think about which shows would make my list of favorites.  There are so many to choose from...... but I did choose a few.  Here they are:

1) "Cheers"- Who wouldn't want to occasionally go where everybody knows your name?  And they're always glad you came.  Woody, Sam, Norm and the gang are always there.  

2) "Little House on the Prairie"- I realize that this theme has no words, but the tune is one I will never forget.  EVER.  This was one of my very first favorite shows.  I wanted to be Laura.  I always felt sorry for Carrie when she fell while running down the hill.  I hated Nelly Olsen..... Harriet too.  

3) "Moonlighting"- Dave and Maddie..... did they ever end up together?  I can't remember, but I remember buying Bruce Willis' tape "Return of Bruno" simply because I loved his character on this show so dearly.  Flirting and fighting while solving cases for the Blue Moon Agency: home of the quirkiest receptionist on television.

4) "Facts of Life"- Which version of this show do you love the most?  When they're with Mrs. Garrett at Eastland Academy, but Jo has yet to join the cast?  Once Jo arrives, and the four girls must live above the kitchen?  When the graduate high school and go onto college?  Or when they remodel the bakery after the fire and open "Over Our Heads" with George Clooney's help?  No matter which version, it was a family friendly sitcom that my sisters and I watched for years.  What happened to the family friendly sitcom??

5) "Silver Spoons"- Another one of my early faves.  Ricky Schroeder was so cute, and who wouldn't want to grow up in a house with a train, video games and race car bed?  A dad that owns his own toy factory trumps military school any day.  I should also mention that I once had a haircut very similar to the Rickster mid-80s.   What a pain it was to sit while mom curled it under with a curling iron.

6) "Laverne & Shirley"- One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Sclemeel, Schlemazel, Hasenfeffer Inc!  We're going to do it!  Make our dreams come true!  

There are so many more that should be on this list, but I think six is a nice number for now.  Those that probably could have replaced a couple of those listed are: "Growing Pains", "Sesame Street", and "Green Acres".  Which would be on your list?

Sweet! I'm gonna be rich!

I might be the worst blogger in my family, but I don't really care.  I've just gotten news that I've made $.38 from this pitiful little blog.  Imagine the possibilities if only I were to post on a regular basis.  I could retire early and live off of the earnings that my posts bring.  I think that I need to get myself a muse.  Where do you find one these days?  Maybe this plan isn't that great.  I'll have to think about it.

In other career news, the Restaurant Store will be participating in Girl's Night Out this year.  Those of you in LR should mark your calendars and plan to attend.  We'll be sampling dips and selling all kinds of stuff.  Want to learn more?  Check out this link: http://www.alice1077.com/Article.asp?id=1906780&spid=20755.

Guess that's about it for now.  I'm off to watch the CTK Bears play some volleyball.  Go Bears!

I'm going to be a better blogger ( or how I prepared pork tenderloin)

Last night I prepared a roasted pork tenderloin.  I had never cooked an entire pork tenderloin before, so I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with the one I had purchased over the weekend at Kroger.  I decided to first look around online for ideas, but nothing really sounded like anything for a beginner.  There was one recipe that involved mushrooms and blue cheese, but any recipe that involves a meat tenderizer and butcher's twine is definitely more involved than I care to attempt after being at work all day.

I finally came across one that suggested using Dijon mustard as a sauce for the roasted pork.  This still wasn't exactly what I had in mind.  While I'm a huge fan of Grey Poupon's advertising campaign from the '80's, I really don't care for their mustard.  So...... I decided to use the horseradish mustard from Kroger that I love.

I think that dinner turned out pretty well for a first attempt.  If you care to give it a try, here's what you'll need:

Pork Tenderloin

Horseradish Mustard  (amounts on all of these vary depending on size of tenderloin)

Oregano 

Basil

Rosemary

Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  (side note: I wish I knew what keys would make the little degree symbol on my keyboard!  Anyone know?!?)

2) Wash pork and pat dry.  

3)  Place on roasting pan.  I used a silicone glazed pan that is naturally nonstick, but would suggest using nonstick cooking spray if you don't have one.  This didn't produce a lot of juices, but I did end up with some baked onto the pan at the end.

4)  Brush pork on all sides with mustard.  I did not use as much as I probably should have, as some areas were not nearly as flavorful as others.  I suggest being very liberal during this step.

5)  Dust the top and sides with the oregano, basil and just a bit of rosemary, and finish with cracked black pepper.

About to go into the oven

6)  Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees, and bake pork until internal temperature at thickest part reads 145 degrees.  

7)  Let stand for five minutes before serving.

Finished Product

That's it.  I think I baked ours for about half an hour.  Mk and I had leftovers today for lunch, and it was still very tender and full of flavor after being reheated in the microwave.  

Oh yeah, the inside should be slightly pink when fully done.  Don't worry, it's ok.  The FDA says son.  Don't believe me?  Check this out: usda-on-pork-other-white-meat-can-be-a-little-pink