~*Date night in Paris*~

J and I have just returned from a lovely weekend in the city of love. Though it was a very quick trip, we managed to cram a lot of activities in, from The Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, to Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the breath-taking and beautiful Eiffel Tower at night.


Of course, no trip is complete without sampling the local cuisine, and we made it a mission to eat Parisian-style crepes, escargot and frogs legs during our visit to the French capital.


J, who is fairly familiar with Paris (he has visited on a number of occasions, and speaks pretty mean French too!), led us to Quartier Latin  (The Latin Quarter), where there are a number of bars and restaurants to cater for all tastes, but mainly serving French cuisine.


We decided on a quaint restaurant on the main strip called Le Symposium for our Parisian date night. At 15 euros each for a 3 course meal, we thought it was pretty reasonably priced.


The ambience of the restaurant was very French - calm, sophisticated and romantic. An ideal setting for date night with mon amour!


We started dinner with a bottle of red wine (Cotes du Rhone), which was fairly priced (for Paris!) at 18 euros.

For starters, we ordered escargot in garlic butter sauce (6 snails per person), which was amazing!! J and I both love garlic, so this was ideal. The strong flavours of the garlic mixed with the subtle taste of snail resulted in the perfect balance. For those who may be slightly uncomfortable with eating snails, don't be - they are delicious and definitely worth a go! Just don't be put off by the texture! We also had a side of frogs legs which, at 10 euros per plate, I thought was quite steep, given that the portion was pretty small. Nevertheless, they were very tasty and we polished them off with no problems.

Frogs legs!

Escargot in garlic butter sauce

For mains, J ordered a classic French Beef Bourguignon and I had steak (cooked perfectly rare, mmm!!) with peppercorn sauce. Again, absolutely delicious - we couldn't fault either dishes.

Beef Bourguignon

Steak with Peppercorn sauce

Rare is the best!

Dessert was Crème Caramel, which was a lovely way to end such a pleasant dinner.

Crème Caramel dessert

The bill came to 58 euros in total which, for Paris, is not bad at all. The food was basic but fantastic, the service was great and the dining experience as a whole was wonderful.  


We visited the Eiffel Tower after dinner (which was amazing and super romantic - the boy did very good!) and after a couple of hours there, we ended the night with a savoury crepe each, filled with ham, eggs and cheese. There are several crepe vans dotted around Paris so they are readily available. We paid 6 euros each for our crepes (near the Eiffel Tower), but you can easily get them slightly cheaper (around 5 euros) if you shop around.


To me, Paris is like a fine wine - it will take me time to truly appreciate the beauty of it. However, the memories I have of our trip are very happy ones!


If you do visit Paris (or anywhere in France), I would totally recommend that you try French cuisine (like escargot and frogs legs) - it is simply delicious. For when it happens (and I hope that it does)...Bon Appetit!! XOXO  

<3

Le Symposium

29 Rue de la Huchette

75005 Paris, France

+33 1 43 54 28 98

~*Cooking with Bae: Part 1 - Simple Paella & Guacamole*~

J and I had been hemming and hawing for a while about what to cook for our first "Cooking with Bae" sesh. Japanese, Mexican, Italian...so many great cuisines to choose from!



In the end, we settled on a Spanish/Mexican/French fusion - a simple Paella, Guacamole dip and a side of baked baguettes (which we didn't bake ourselves - yes, we cheated!), Ardennes pate and Spanish meats. This was served with a large bottle of Sangria.


Head chef J was in charge of cooking the Paella while I, sous chef MY, whipped up the Guacamole and prepped the table.


For someone who hasn't had very much experience in the kitchen, J did a brilliant job of the Paella! I was pleasantly surprised at how well he took to cooking, and he looked so cute using the spatula when mixing everything up in the frying pan...:) I'll be sure to give him a more challenging dish to cook next time...without my help!


Both dishes turned out very well, but the Paella for sure was the star of the show. J was so proud of himself that he ended up cooking the Paella for some friends when he went back down to London. I've been told that he got massive thumbs-up for his efforts too!


Anyway, here are the recipes that we followed for the Paella and Guacamole...enjoy! XOXO

Paella  (serves 2)

1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
Slice chorizo (please feel free to be generous with this!)
1/2 diced onion
1/4 tsp turmeric
300g cooked plain rice
100g cooked prawn
50g frozen peas
Lemon wedges (to serve)

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Tip in the chorizo, onion and garlic, then cook for a couple of minutes until softened. Stir through turmeric, followed by the rice, prawns and peas and 150ml of water.


2. Keep stirring until everything is warmed through and the water has been absorbed. The rice should still be wet. Decorate with lemon wedges.



Guacamole (serves 2)


2 ripe avocadoes, mashed
1 diced tomato
1/2 diced red onion (or a whole one, depending on how strong you want the bite)
Chopped coriander
1/2 lemon for the juice (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to season)


1. Place the mashed avocadoes, tomato, red onion and coriander into a bowl and mix well.


2. Take the lemon and squeeze small amounts of juice into the avocado mixture at a time. Keep adding the juice until you are happy with the taste.
3. Add salt and pepper to season.







J working his magic!



The table! Alfie the cat was "guarding" the food at the time!



Made with love