Oh the food!

Dan and I wandered down a street just across the bridge from our apartment. There were many little restaurants- some Italian, one Tunisian, and one called "Aux 3 Cochons". I looked at the menu, understood very little, but it seemed pretty French, so I suggested we go there. We sat down inside since the terrace seating was all full, and looked around. Every free surface- walls, shelves, windows- was filled with photos, paintings, prints, and sculptures of pigs. I stared into the sweet face of a cardboard-cut out Babe that was grinning at me from over Dan's shoulder across from me, and then delved into the menu. I had my trusty French-English-French dictionary with me, but it wasn't altogether that helpful since so many terms used on the menus are really specific. For example, when a menu uses a word that my dictionary tells me means "stove", I can only assume that the menu is referring to some specific way of cooking something. Some of the things that we could find in the dictionary were frog legs, cow-tails, and calf-brain and tongue. I ended up ordering something that had potatoes in it, but that's all I really knew about it. Dan went for the salmon.

Both of our dishes came in shallow ceramic dishes (I can't remember what they're called... my mom cooks asparagus in hers). I still have no idea what I ate, and I've been meaning to go back to the restaurant and write down the name of the dish I ordered so I can look it up online, but I can definitely say it was one of the tastier things I've ever put in my mouth. The dish was filled with two thin triangles of shredded and fried potatoes- cooked almost like polenta, crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside- and a sauce that hid a ton of tiny shredded pieces of fatty meat. There was some spice that looked like mustard seed, but didn't taste like it. The sauce was fairly thick and creamy, and the meat was pretty white. I'm guessing it was some sort of pork, but I'm not sure what kind, since it was fattier than any kind I've had before. The next 15 minutes or so are just a blur in my memory since I was so enthralled with whatever it was I was eating. This was probably about a week and a half ago, and I've been thinking of very little else ever since. I Need to investigate more! I wish I had had a pen with me, or even my camera. I'll just have to go back!

For dessert I got a fondant au chocolat, which even Dan tried and said would have been delicious had it not been chocolate.

In other news, we found what is apparently Dan's new favorite place on the planet. Now, I love a crêpe just as much as the next guy, but Dan is rapidly becoming a crêpe connoisseur. We found a tiny little crêperie which we've now gone to twice. The first time we went in it was about 7pm, and the place was virtually empty. The decor is seriously eccentric- the walls are all covered in murals of goblins, trolls, fairies, and ghoulish mangled trees, and there are a few figurines of these things sitting on shelves and hanging from the ceiling. I figured that this eccentric decor might have deterred people from regularly visiting this place, but as we sat there throughout our meal every single seat in the restaurant filled up. The second time we went at about 8:30 and watched as the waiter had to turn away a total of about 15 people who came in and couldn't find seating for dinner.

The reason that Dan and I have started to really like this place isn't the odd decoration, or even the really friendly and patient waiter, but the interesting menu. Other crêperies we've been to have a variety of vegetables and cheeses that they offer on their crêpes, but this place offers many types of sausages, meats, cremes, cheeses, and vegetables in various combinations. It's been fun to order twice now, and then go home and look up what I ate. Both Dan and I have loved what we ordered each time, so the record is four for four, which is pretty solid.

All this food talk is making me hungry! Off to make some lunch!

From the delicious goblin filled crêperie

(an average crêpe at an average place- eggplant purée)

(dan's average crêpe at some average place- spinach and butter)