Font and Food

I realize we have been neglecting the foodies out there with our recent climbing only posts, so here's a brief post to fill you all in on what you've been missing out on. :p

Since we have spent all day climbing pretty hard for the past 4 days, we've been brown bagging our breakfasts and lunches. For dinner, we've been pretty tired, so one night we ate at the little Indian restaurant (for the second time!), then another night we did the Belgian brasserie (for the second time!). However, these meals were definitely not throw always! I'm actually really amazed at how good the Indian restaurant is - we got an appetizer that we had never had at any other Indian restaurant we had been to before. They were essentially ground chicken beignets with some super tasty Indian seasoning. Then I had chicken korma and Ryan had the chicken tikka masala. The flavor was really good, but one thing I have noticed about getting "ethnic" food in other Western countries - they are afraid of spice. It's a shame, but I get it. Not everyone grew up with spicy Mexican food as a staple in their diet. I'm just impressed that France allows other countries to share their food with the French public!

The Belgian brasserie allowed us to experience some of the cliche French foods that we are familiar with at home, only in their original setting. I had the quiche maison,which ended up being a quiche with smoked ham and Swiss cheese. Super tasty! Then for dessert, we decided to sample some true French creme brûlée. The flavor of it was almost floral, and Ryan is convinced they added a touch of lilac to the mix. Still... pretty good, especially considering it was essentially a bar we were eating at!

Tonight we decided to venture out somewhere different, so we went to a little restaurant called L'Hibiscus. Apparently they do traditional French food here, so we decided to taste test another cliche and ordered fondue (yes, I know this is actually Swiss, but the French like to act like they invented it, so who am I to argue? Besides, I will taste test it in Switzerland one of these days and let you know who the winner is!) The fondue came with a basket of cubed breads and charcuterie (aka deli meats). Can you ever go wrong with cheese? Well, yes - but they certainly did not! I think it is literally impossible for the French to serve bad wine or bad cheese. This fondue was a particularly magical experience. I actually wish it was a little less good, because now I feel like all of the calorie burning I did climbing has been completely nullified buy pure unadulterated cheese. Damn you, cheese, and your cheesy goodness! Sigh... at least we have one more day of climbing here tomorrow to try and burn the fondue off! After that - on to Tuscany!!!