Dreaming of Falafel - Paris Edition

the weirdest thing about our honeymoon...
While we were on it, Paris seemed tough.  the whole managing the language, manipulating the city while they had a transit strike going on, stressing over the food to ensure i wasnt eating meat...  at times, it seemed like a lot of work for something that was supposed to be vacation...

But in hindsight?  everything was amazing...  speaking french was fun!  transit strike?  eh, after the first day, it was all fine (save for the oil shortage that prevented our trip to the Loire Valley), I mean, we're new yorkers - whats a little subway diversion?  and food?  was i really stressed about the food???

in hindsight, it was everything paris is supposed to be.  all the stuff that makes people declare that they love paris.  makes us say that we need to make that a frequent trip.  with dreams of one day frequenting it enough to call it our second city...

so, while i'm conjuring up another post - a regular post - i'll give you this - a moment in Paris:

L'As du Falafel.  

We knew there was a place that we were supposed to go for falafel, but we kept forgetting to look it up.  We ended up doing a self-guided walking tour (from Paris Walks, 2nd (On Foot Guides)) through the Marais and stumbled on L'As du Falafel.  We'd been walking for a while and the place was kinda nuts what with the 'salesman' on the street and the whole scam feeling of paying a person on the street before you were really on line and all the high school kids everywhere but we though, eh, we may never manage to get to *THE* place for falafel, so why not here?

When we were done, we were kinda like - 'omg, how could anywhere else be better than this???'  so, of course, we had to check and see where *THE* place was and, of course, as you've already figured out, it turns out we'd managed to find *THE* place, all on our own...

So while its cold and rainy outside, weather not so unlike that of Paris back in October, all i can think about is 'when we can go back?'

Book Review: Mad Hungry - Feeding Men & Boys

the Meat-Eater's birthday was last saturday but as of last thursday, i still didnt have any presents for him.  I tried, in vain, to get him some cool shoes but the store had closed at 645.  645!  who closes at such a random & early time???

anyway, after meeting a friend for drinks, i decided to stop at the bookstore and pick him up some books on writing - a favorite past time of his...  not the greatest present but it was something and at that point, anything was better than what i had, so...

so i mentioned drinks, right?  i know that in the rest of the country you have to worry about drinking and driving, but here in NYC, drinking & shopping is way more dangerous (cause, you know, we walk everywhere and stores?  they are everywhere and most of them are open late.  save for that stupid shoe store...)

so anyway, you are getting the picture here.  drunk girl, desperate for birthday present (and lets be honest, a bathroom at that point).   So first i headed off towards the bathrooms so that i could shop in comfort.  on my way, i happen to pass by the cook book table...  uh oh.  mental note to stop back here because, i mean, we only have like 42154 cookbooks - we TOTALLY need another one, right? 

so along with a gift card & a book on writing, i walk out with Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

When i woke up sober, i wondered if this was really an appropriate birthday present for the M-E, as it was really written for moms & wives of cavemen, but i figured what the heck, it was one more thing for him to open on his b-day and i was going to keep it either way cause the recipes looked good...

Turns out it was a GREAT birthday present!  He spent some time yesterday flipping through it looking for something that would meld with my pescatarian ways and in the end, we decided on Teriyaki Salmon & Rice Pilaf.  We added some roasted asparagus to the mix (admittedly, i over-roasted) and had one of the most 'adult' meals we've had in a long time and the whole thing, start to finish, couldnt have taken more than an hour... 

One of the great things about the book is that not only does she provide pretty easy recipes but also makes suggestions for using the leftovers...  which caused us to make a VERY large amount of that rice pilaf so that we could take her up on some of those leftover suggestions...  like, 2 quarts worth of leftovers.  oops.

We've got at least 3 more recipies on our near-future radar and i believe that last nights meal will become part of the regular rotation.

Pictures & Recipes for the Salmon & the Rice Pilaf to follow.  eventually.