my last post before jessica gets here

I had quite a day yesterday, an almost perfect day until...I sprained my left ankle...AT DINNER!!

WellI started my day out by renting a scooter (so much fun but scary at the same time) and rode 70 km to a city that is supposed to be full of foie gras...and that it is...every second store is another person selling foie gras. Now Foie gras is the fattened liver of goose and duck. The geese and duck are force fed for about 3 -4 weeks so their liver fattens up to be between 500-1000g in weight.

There are many arguments as to if its humane, and alot of the crap that peta tries to put out there,so I figured I had to go see it for myself.

Quite funny actually. So I get to Sarlat, and go to the tourism office, and they direct me to a city that is called Carsac where there is a farm that you can see the geese being fed. So I go there and the guy calmly says I can only see the 6:30 feeding. we spoke and he was very nice and told me about another farm that I can go to instead, that did the feeding earlier, as I didnt want to drive the scooter at night. ( the french drivers are bad enough during the day.)

So I go back to Sarlat for lunch, had an absolutely amazing lunch and yes of course I had foie gras for the second day in a row. then I headed back towards Perigueux to see the other farm. Well I got to a fork in the road, saw a sign of a city I recognized, but the others I didnt, and took the road. To make a long sotry short, I took the wrong road and went 25 km out of the way, thats about 1 hour driving total...it was pretty funny, especially when it started to poar. Dont forget im on a scooter, open air and i was getting soaked. The roads were slippery so I had to slow down, and people were passing me which I was ok with, but then someone ran me of the road, and didnt even slow down to mke sure I was ok!!..I was ok thankfully I didnt get hurt. But I was scared for a second. When I realized I was going the wrong way, I stopped, got out the map, in the pouring rain to try to get a feel for where I was, and still no one stopped to offer assistance, or tell me how to get to the place I wanted to go!

Anyways I turned around went to the nearest tourism office and the girl gave me a map and told me a shortcut, I got to the farm just as the farmer was finishing hte last goose. I told him who I was and why I was there, and because it usually takes 2 hours to feed the geese, and he was done in 45 minutes, he demonstrated for me how he does it. plus Foie gras is usually done in September, hes one of the very few farmers who do foie gras in the begining of the summer, before it gets too hot.

It was definitely an interesting thing to see. He told me the geese dont feel any pain since its natural for them to fatten their liver for the winter, also at this age tehy have no gag reflex, so the tube doesnt cause them any pain either.

I drove back to Perigueux, returned the scooter and went for dinner, as I walked down the steps to the patio, I tripped fell and sprained my ankle. ON MY LAST DAY HERE!! Oh well, its not broken but in a little pain. I elevated it, iced it and put a tenser bandage on it over night, and kept it elevated as much as possible. Should be easy on the train i hope I have enough space to elevate.

Anyways I leave for Madrid at 11:25 am and arrive at 10:08 pm. Going to be a loooong day, but good thing I bought a big book the other day.

Thank you everyone for all the support and emails through out the past 8.5 months. Im coming on home though in one month.

love yehuda

Perigueux...the land of Foie Gras

I rrived here in Perigueux early fternoon, and figured I would cement my plans for tomorrow, by finding a car to rent, or at least a scooter so I can drive out of town to see foie gras farms.

Well that fell apart quickly, when no rental car companies here have automatic transmission vehicles, and no one is open today because its monday and everything is closed on monday. Plus the tourisim office was extreamly unhelpfull. So I walked around the city bit and just relaxed trying to find information on the internet, but still when I ask people bout hte stuff I read they have no clue what I am talking about...kinda funny. Anyways I had an ok dinner nothing great, but I had food from the region like foie gras, duck leg and duck terrine, which tasted ok , but I know how I would like it.

anyways there is a terribel thunderstorm happening right now, the thunder is extreamly loud...(jessica would be scared by the sounds...but not hooda...lol) and im sitting here just relaxing. Its supposed to ran a lot tomorrow so im not sure what I will do but we'll see.

yehuda

about 100 km...thts messed up...or is it?

Ok...so lets start with the begining of the loire valley.

I arrived in Nantes, (the capital of the loire valley) yesterdy afternoon, and went and saw the city in the afternoon...yes I walk fast and plan everything..lol.

Its a bit of a hectic city, and I think I might have gone there for food, had I plnned things differently. That being said I am still happy with the plans I made for my trip. Anyways back on topic, I walked around, saw stuff and eventualy went for dinner, which by the way was absolutely amazing.

I figured being on the coast is would be a safe bet to order fish, only difference was I didnt say how I like it to see if it was done right...and it was definitely done right.

I actually ordered a glass of wine, but I could tell the bottle had been open for more than 24 hours, so I asked them to exchange it which they did and opened a fresh bottle...the new glass tasted great.

Anyways, So the SNCF (french train company) had a strike the other day and train times changed, and my original plans started falling apart, so I had to shuffle things round, which made me come to Angers (region of Anjou) where some of the best wines in the world are from. I got in first thing in the morning, and left my stuff at the hotel, rented a bike nd yup...I biked about 100km of the wine route or Loire a velo. Not the smartest thing to do where the tempuratures where between 35 nd 40 degrees celcius. I went through about 8 liters of water, tasted wine of course.

The sites adn views are absolutely amazing. Climbing large mountains by bike isnt easy. About 30 km in My legs gave way and tensed and I couldnt move. I was actually scared because I was in middle of nowhere. So I rested a minute, tried to regain my composure and moved on. I even ran out of water but found a small house on the side of the road and asked for water. Whever I ran out of water, at the next available place I asked for water....It was broiling hot outside. lucky for me bout 60-70 percent was relatively flat. However it was still difficult. Anywyas I came back to the hotel soaked in sweat, dehydrated, adn boiling hot. I took a nice shower, and went down to the front desk to get reccomendations for dinner. I went to one of the restaurants tht the receptionist reccomended and for 24 euros I got a 3 course meal with a different kind fo wine with each course....It was so well paired adn the wine was so delicious...I was happy...the presentation and portion size werent good. I felt a bit too much as im still recuperating from the meal.

However all in all the food was great.

Oh so on my bike ride I stopped by a lake where I saw this guy just finishing a painting, adn I said it was nice, and he was like its ugly, its bad, and then told me to go away. And during dinner there were bachelor and bachelerette parties...What they do here is the bride and groom have to dress up to gain sympathy for getting married and collect money. So this guy was walking around with his friends with a coffin, another guy was dressed up in hospital gowns and bandages wearing a diaper...it was so funny...I didnt give them money, I said do what me and my wife did for our parties and youll have a good marriage...hahaha

oh and yey 4 days left...one hand minus a pinky

finished in the north of brittany

I am in the train station in Rennes the capital of Brittany, after leaving the last place I stayed at in brittany in a small city called Saint Brieuc. While there, I visited a small island where I walked around with my host, had the classic mussles and fries dish from teh region, nd went for a hour walk. Eventully we took the ferry back to town and drove back home.

I made dinner which was fresh pasta, yes I mde it from scratch, with vegetables nd chicken in a cream sauce.

It was very good.

Later on we went for beers at an Irish puv that used to be a bakery they still have the pully system that used to lift the floru to the upper floors...really cool.

Anyways as I said im just waiting for my bus to take me to the next place. I will be staying in hotels, and according to th e plan I will be leaving my suitcase at the hotel I am staying at in Angers and biking for two days the loire valley, on Saturday and Sunday.

enjoy your weekend everyone

First part of Brittany

So my trip got better when I arrived in Meillac a small, cant even cll it village, thats how small it is...lol. Anyways, my next host picked me up from the train station and he took me back to their house. Quite a nice house in the country side, but not that much reception for my cell phone. Wht was sso good about this part of the trip? Every part of the last two days was about food, eating talking about different food, and at every meal I ate something new. Which was really enjoyable.

The first night we made crepes, which is a brittany specialty. We had galette with sausage, Crepe complet, and Cider and it was all delicious. Then yesterday morning, we packed the twins up (they are such cute kids, 8 months old) and we went out on a day trip.

We visited an oyster farm on the water. Its amazing to see hwo they breed oysters. Then we went to look for a certain spice shop, but it was closed for the day, and instead went to a cooking school nearby that my hosts (gaby adn JB) like to go to. I met the chef, and we talked, but eventually had to move on. A really nice guy though. Then JB took me to a restaurant in DInan that he and his wife like to go to thts really good and fair priced, and we had lunch in a nice midevil walled in city.

After we started heading back to their house, but we needed to get some wine, fresh oysters adn visit a farm. Yup a farm where Gaby and Jb buy their fruits and vegetables. All fresh picked and tastes out of this world. So since we couldnt use the stroller I carried one of the twins and we walked around and the farmer showed me her farm, and all the plants and it wa so amazing. A really good feeling. After the shopping we went to buy fresh oysters for dinner and went home.

So there is this french dessert called Tarte Tatin which is basically an upside down caramalized apple pie. But JB and Gaby like Boudin noir, (black sausage- you guys can look up how its made if you really want to know) and since it goes well with apples, we made a tarte tatin aux boudin noir for dinner. But for the entree we had fresh oysters. Now the taste is ok but I dont think im going to be jumping for oysters any time soon.

The food was otherwise extreamly good. I really enjoyed my time and after holding the twins for some time, this morning when i came downstairs, jb was holding his son, and he said to say goodbye to me and the kid stretched out his arms for me to hodl him again..it was really cute.

Anyways I m visiting Rennes the capital of brittany for the day before moving on this afternoon to Saint Brieuc. another city in Brittany. for tonight and tomorrow night before moving onto the loire valley, although i havent figured tht part out yet..should do something about it I think soon.

Thats about it I think.

Yehuda

Last day in normandy

I started out my day with a couchsurfing picnic. I went with my host to the market, and we bought some cheese and bread and stuff. As we past a sausage maker we saw some cured sausages adn stuff and coralie (my host) says to me have you ever eaten donkey? I said no, and now I can say yes I have eaten donkey...haha...the taste is nothing too great but its cool. Just dd it to another animal I have eaten now.

At the picnic we also celebrated the birthday of my first hosts son.

After the picnic we went to a city called Fecamp a city where the benedictine monks made the drink Benedictine...ironic eh? Well we went to see the palace of the monks, toured it and then got to taste benedictine, two different kinds. I was going to buy a bottle but its too heavy to bring back and I can buy a bottle at the LCBO if I want, but coralie bought me a tiny bottle as a souvenir.

After that we went to the beach (which wasnt really a beach since the beach was rocks) but we stayed there, for a few minutes, and relaxed.

Coralie has a cousin that lives 5 minutes from fecamp and has a small farm with goose, chickens, sheep, and some other birds, so we went to visit for teh fun of it, we sat outside drinking water and coffee (not me though I still dont like coffee), and chatted for a little bit.

Just before we went home, we made a small detour to visit another city called etretard where there are cool cliffs, that jut out into the ocean, I took pictures but I am having problems loading them on the internet...but the ones on my phone ill put on my facebook.

We then drove home, and had lamb chops for dinner...they tasted really good, the seasoning was salt, pepper, thyme and honey....thats all...but it was delicious.

Now I am on my way to meillac in Brittany for two days. Not sure what I will do since I will be staying with a family, and the schedule revolves around the two babies. But I think everything should be good.

Thats about it.

Yehuda

Claude Monet

Hi everyone.
Well so far my trip of food is going so so...today I moved on to my next place still in normandy, but with someone else. My new host (who is a femle..dont say anything gary..haha) has a very big passion for cooking, so the deal was we would each teach other dishes, and food and stuff.

We first went for a day trip to see the museum/home of the famous artist/impressionist claude monet. It was really cool to see and walk around. There are no photos allowed in the house, but the girl I am with talked up the guy (who gave her his email address and asked her to email him) and he let us take some photos. It was pretty cool.

We finally went to buy food for dinner, and came home just before 8. We cooked (mainly me) for about 2 hours, and ended up having a about 2.5 hour dinner...haha

So the menu was: Parmesan crisps, with oven dried tomatoes (she made that). Chicken gallantine stuffed with pistachio, my rattatouille and tagliatelle pasta. Then cheese course, and finally dessert which was an assortment of Tarte aux Fruite (fig, pricot and cherries) topped off with mirangue. (I made the tarts from scratch)

Anyways, that was that, really enjoyable, and fun as well.

Today we are off to some more adventures...but Ill write about them later.

yehuda

supporting our fallen heroes..and eating good food

I went today to a city called dieppe. A city not only known for the vikings, but also for the french ports which the allied forces, mainly Canadian, stormed on August 19 1942, in an attempt to test and weaken the germn defence slightly. Well we all know how that turned out, and we know the catastrophe tht occured on that day. But if I couldnt make it to Juno beach I was at least going to visit Dieppe. Which in my opinion is more important, because of the sheer amount of Canadian lives that were cut short, and lessons learned from that raid helped D-day be a sucess.

I visited the memorial for the canadian soldiers, visited the Canadian garden (funded by teh Canadin navy, and the Canadian air force. and went down to the rocky beach where the Canadians stormed teh shores of France. Its a interesting sight to see the rocks riddles with bullet holes, the german bunkers in ruins still, and the shells of the Canadin bots or tanks still on the beach as a reminder.

Now in some places on the bech where the most bullet ridden rocks are live mussels, snails, and other shell fish. I saw some normans picking mussels for tehmselves, it was cool to see.

Although most people visit The other beaches in normandy that hosted the D-day raids, I think its important to see Dieppe as well for the role that the Canadian soldiers had in the war at the time, as well as to respect our soldiers, ones that gave their lives for us in the pst and ones that continue to fight for our rights adn freedom even in our present day.

I went for lunch in a small restaurant near the beach..(not a tourist one), and had a surprisingly good meal, although for me I would have done it differently but the flavours were really good.
I had poached in wrapped in jelly and gravlax, then I had skate wing witha cream sauce. Both were spot on in flavour and as I said pleasently surprised.

Tomorrow I am going to stay with someone else for the weekend, then move on to brittany on monday morning.

Have a great weekend and welcome to Toronto Amanda
love yehuda

Visiting my brother

Ok so from the begining...

So when I left strasbourg, the wheel on one of the suitcases broke, so I had to take a cab the rest of the way to the train station. When I got to the train station I tried to fix the wheel but it didnt help much. I ended up dragging the suitcase through the terminal. When I got to Paris, my arm was in so much pain, I took a cab to my mothers friends house. The ride was going soooo slow, the driver was moving at a snails pace, and even went off course from what the gps said he should go. Anyways things took a change for the worse when he switched the fare to go up by ten cents every 6 seconds...But the light at the end of the tunnel was, he started speaking in hebrew, so we had a small conversation and told him im a student and since we are jewish cn he give me good price...he laughed. When we go to the house, and the bill was 26 euros, he only took 20 and offered me a free ride back to paris, since he had to return there anyways, but I declined.

I eventully went back to paris, got off in the middle of the city dn walked around, had a bite to eat, before heading to the airport.

The flight was 5 minutes late, and we arrived 5 minutesearly..go figure. not sure how they did it...

I get to customs, and I literally got an interegation like no other. I didnt say I was going to visit my brother since he was on a tourist visa, and I didnt want to cause trouble with him...so I said I was touring which was true. But I still go the fifth degree. Anyways it got cleared up and I was on my way. I got into a cab and luckily the guy didnt know where to go, so I called my brother who told me, he sent someone for me, so I got out fo the cab, and looked for the guy to bring me back to manchester. Once I got to my brothers place, he took me to the dorm, and I had some pizza, nad we sat and talked and laughed until almost 2 in the morning.

EArly on tuesday morning, we took a train to York(shire) and cool walled near manchester. We walked the (great) wall of Yorkshire, sat in on courtcase, saw a old fort where hundred of jews were masacered in 1190, walked around, saw a plaque of where the old jewish cemetary of york was and then uprooted by a grocery store chain so they could build a parking lot, but they moved the bones to the new jewish cemetray in manchester and paid for everything so there would be the least amount of unrest for the dead.

We eventually went home, went out for dinner, and I had one of the worst meals ever, adn I know thats harsh but there were too many things wrong. I didnt say anything but a french couple behind me did speak up.

Eventually we went home.

Yesterday we went to the largest park in europe, wlked around, sat around, ate lunch in the prk., talked, laughed and all that. Eventually I had to leave to go to the airport, which I did by myself becuase I wanted my brother to go home and go to sleep since he hadnt slept much in the past few days.

WE parted, and to be honest I had an absolutely mzing time with him, hes a great brother, (he even did my laundry nad folded it for me...nice) and it was so needed for me to see family, and just laugh and talk about old times.

Now I am on the train heading for normandy or the city of Rouen to be exact where I will be for the next four days.

On the train there isnt place for luggage so I put it with me in my seat and a bunch of americans are giving me dirty looks...its a massavie train with lots of place...although they think im french but i understand everything they are saying, and i feel like saying something but I dont want to make any problems..anyways two weeks from today ill be meeting jessica in madrid...woohoo...!!!

love yehuda

Hi Paris..again!!

I left this morning around 9:30 from my place in strasbourg for the train station, and my luggage is heavy adn the wheel on one of my suitcases broke and i was dragging at least 30 kg and it started to hurt and so I hailed a cab to take me the rest of the way to the train station. When I was at teh train station I tried to fix the wheel with tape...(too much watching mythbusters i guess) and it worked for about 5 minutes and then it just stopped turning and just dragged, then lifting the two suitcases onto the train was litterally a pain, my left arm started to hurt really badly, and I started getting bad chest pains. So I just left it at that.

The train was delayed by over a half hour, so we got an envelope to put mail it in for 33% off our next train ticket. Oh well, not sure if I can do that since I dont have a return address here.

I got to paris, and got a cab to take me to my mothers friends house in the suberbs, the guy drove so slow..like 10 km under the speed limit, and it was getting frustrating, then suddenly he asked me if i spoke hebrew, I said yeah. And we started a conversation. The guy is jewish and visits israel frequently, so I said to him cna you give me a discount? he says no. Anyways when we got to my destination he says, since I have to get back to Paris, Ill give you a free ride if you want. I said thanks but I will probably stick around here for a few minutes before leaving. I paid my fair and he only took 20 euros not the rest, he said a jew should help another jew out. So my fair costed me 6 euros less...maybe he felt bad for ripping me off..lol I actually counted it was 10 cents for every 6 seconds being in the car...EXPENSIVE!!

I put my suitcases in the garage, and then my moms friend drove me to the mall where there was a metro station that could take me into paris. I went into paris looked around but nothing really that I could use, so I had a small dinner, really a lunch to be honest. and now I am sitting in the terminal in CDG waiting for my flight to Manchester! I have some more plans for my next two weeks of travel, its really exciting. I will be staying witha family in the mountains on the coast of brittany. Should be fun.

And thats about it!! Salute!
Yehuda

last day in strasbourg

Well the day is here. Today is my official last day in Strasbourg France, as I catch a train tomorrow morning for Paris.

AS I am sure you know I am going to manchester for a few days and then coming back to france to do two weeks of eating drinking and exploring the west side of france.

As I leave I look back on my working in France and to be honest it wasnt so bad, yeah tehre were some difficult times, both here and in lyon but I still think it could have been worse.

Biggest thing though, is I will definitelly continue to grow and learn throughout my life. I will forever be thankfull to my chef in Lyon, for everything he taught me, even when giving me some tough love sometimes, the way he ran the kitchen and the thing he and the sous chef and pastry chef taught me are extreamly valuable pieces of knowledge and information.

Anyways hopefully i'll be blogging more the next two weeks as I go along my travels.

2.5 weeks left yey!!
yehuda

walking to Germany

Yeah that is what I did.... I walked to Germany today and took teh bus back becuase it was extreamly hot and I was dehydrated and couldnt find water, so I took the bus back.

However I started at my house adn about 50 minutes later I was crossing the french / german border. I brought my passport just in case there were police, but there arent and you can either drive, bike, or walk right over the border. It was a nice brisk walk to be honest.

So I phoned my mothers friend that lives just outside paris, to confirm me leaving my suticases there for a month and a half, and its all good. She told me how to get to her house, and I will stay over night in Paris as well, then heading on my two weeks long trip to discover the western coast of france....hopefully there will be tons and tons of pictures.

Anyways I am home now, doing laundry, took a shower and just relaxing. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, maybe walk to belgium...hahaha just kidding that would take over a wek of walking at least 10 hours a day...but on friday night I will do another cheese picnic with a friend of mine in a park around the corner from me..it was nice last time so do it again!!4 more days left in strasbourg, 3 weeks until jessica comes to europe.

And for those wondering.. yes I did get paid and the cheque cleared the bank so its all good.

I went out for dinner with this guy last night, who worked for a year on opening a restaurant, however in the end he felt it wasnt for him, and instead chose to stay in his profession of being a sales man for paper...(yes it reminded me of the office as well..haha) But he gave me some good advice and tips that he learned, which are good points...so I learned some new stuff..

anyways thats about it for now...sorry for the infrequent blogging but my life hasnt been that busy the last week...

Also I am looking for little flags from Canada, France, Italy and Germany, that I can sew onto the collar of my chef jacket. If anyone knows where I can get them that would be greatly appreciated, as I cant seem to find them here. I have gone into embroiderie shops, souvenir shops, and every kind that people told me to go to.

Love yehuda

keeping busy

SO as I am sure everyone (or at least the people still readingthis blog 8 months after arriving in france) knows, I love wine. Alsace is my favourite region in the world for white wine. Anyways what do you do in the best wine region in the world for your favourite wine? You go on the bike route. Now the wine route in Alsace is split into 3 parts. I for some reason started from the south and moved my way north. So The first weekend here I went to Colmar (gorgeous city and dedicated to the guy that made the statue of liberty, because that is where he was from). Then I went to Ribeauville in the centre of alsace..best wines...and then on friday I bike 25 km to Molsheim inthe north of the wine route, and biked to two more cities. I didnt go alone this time though, I went with afriend of mine and we did a total of about 40 km then took teh train back to strasbourg, because I had to return the bike before 7 pm.
So we visited about 20 wineries and tasted many wines, some of them not good and some absolutely amazing. At one of the last wineries the woman was so nice, she was explaining everything no problems and she wanted us to taste all the wines, whether we were going to buy or not, unlike a lot of others who unless we were going to buy didnt want to let us taste. I guess to yougnsters on bikes dont look like the buying type. But this last one had great wine, and I almost bought a certain bottle but then saw the price, and settled for a less expensive equally as good bottle...cant wait to open all tehse bottles with jessica...they are just amazing wines.

Ok so then yesterday, since the weather has been absolutely magnificant, I organized a picnic where eveyone brougth a different kind of cheese, wine and baguette...spread a picnic blanket out in the parc and just sat there eating cheese drinking wine nad havign some good conversation. Pretty good. Now today I am going for a dinner where everyone is bringing a different ingredient and I have to cook dinner for everyone wihtout knowing what they are bringing. Going to be fun...I will hopefully remember to take pictures.

ok 24 days left!!!
love yehuda