Cata and I went straight to Medias after Paris for what I thought would be a small, low key, family party. That concept quickly changed when I walked into a kitchen filled with three Romanian women (Cata's mom plus two aunts) standing in a production line around a giant deep fryer. Nearby trays were slowly being filled with chiftele (fried meatballs), snitel de pui (breaded/fried chicken breast) and fried fish. This is serious, I thought, and then proceeded to sample their work.

The feast included a first course of the aforementioned plus Romanian cheeses, icre (fish egg dip), smoked meats (pork and salami slices), black olives, tomatoes and other veggies. Round two was a delicious pork roast with mashed potatoes, sliced bread and a salad. Lastly we finished the meal with a chocolate cake plus trays of various sweets. We were home, surrounded by family, drinking wine and eating a huge meal. It felt like a Romanian Thanksgiving.

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Ahh Paris. What can I say that has not been said before?

It is all true- beautiful, romantic, unique, charming, stylish, delicious.

 A few things that struck me about the city: the way of life, cultural diversity, and fantastic food quality. The pace at which people move and live felt like a calm river as opposed to the raging waters of say New York or Bucharest.'Parisians have got it right' I told Catalin throughout our week-long stay. Of course I realize my bias, this was a relatively short vacation although I enjoyed pretending to live in Paris for the week. No alarms set on this trip (except for the day we flew out). Usually I'd wake up first followed by Cata who would then head downstairs to the boulangerie for fresh croissants. Breakfast in Paris was one of my favorite parts of the trip; good food, the one I love, and a little balcony view of Paris to start the morning. Mmm. 

Sorry I don't have many food photographs, usually it was already eaten by the time I even thought of a picture. Thus, a couple of these are sourced from the web but they are actual pictures of the same dishes I ate at the same restaurant, only taken by someone else at a different time. Note B) & C) were my favorite meals. The Baltique salad consisted of smoked salmon, and boiled shrimp over a green salad drizzled with a cream sauce and the juice from a lemon wedge. To top it off they added a half avocado in the center. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Favorite Meals (which are not listed in any particular order):

A)Falaffel from L'As Du Fallafel in the Marais district

B)Confit de canard (pan fried duck with green salad and potatoes) Café du Marché

C)Baltique salade from an unknown restaurant in Montmartre--we were wandering.

D)Steak Frites from Restaurant Chartier

E)Banana and Nutella Crepe bought a few times in the Latin Quarter

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