Back from France!

We're just back from a great trip to France. It was a good vacation in which I got to see my family and relax before starting work on Monday.

My cousins had organized a 60 person surprise party at their place in Lyon, for their parent's 30th wedding anniversary (the dad was in on it, my aunt was not). It was a great night in the end, they had a whole series of skits prepared. Lots of eating (Lebanese food! 8 kg of pastries!) and dancing. We stayed in Lyon for a few more days, enjoy the nearby park, and eating much.

We then went to Paris for a few days, where we proceeded to walk around, eat, visit a few things, eat, etc...

There is a store in Paris that sells wines (some for quite cheap), named "Nicolas". They now have a few "bar a vins" open, where they serve food (mostly traditional French fare) and wine by the glass, for quite cheap. You can also get a bottle from their adjoining wine store and open it over food for a minimal fee. It's not a hugely impressive thing, just a small new discovery that I really enjoyed.

Another discovery I made was that brains are not very tasty. We went to a restaurant where I chose the veal head, based on a French man's suggestion, who said that the cheeks were quite tasty. Somehow it did not dawn on me that the head would include the brains... But I decided to try it anyway once it arrived. The texture is a bit of a problem, it's rather gelatinous; in the end it's edible but not that pleasant. The tongue, however, tastes better. All in all, this is good prep for next year's þorrablot.

The whole trip was very food-themed, come to think of it. In addition to all the great food in France, I got 4 kilos of Lebanese pastries from my parents (mostly for gifts), 1 kg of zaatar (dried thyme and toasted sesame), other spices, nuts, French pastries... Enough to last me for a while and give me more cooking options in Iceland.