J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!

I grew up watching football. My Dad would take RRR & I to Giants Stadium every Sunday. We'd go to both Giants and Jets home games, since he worked at the Meadowlands and knew the security guards who'd let us in through the player's gate. Nothing like teaching your kids to be criminals, right?

Fast forward years later and when we finally got legitimate tickets for the Jets and my Dad has signed over ownership to me starting at the Jets infamous 1-15 season under Rich Kotite. Thanks Dad!

The best part of going to a football game is the tailgate. For the past few seasons, I've been tailgating with Nick and his crew in 16G. And let me tell you, these boys don't fool around.

On Friday, Nick & Billy head to the Hunts Point Market and buy whatever is fresh. Then they show up bright and early (9:30am for a 1 o'clock game; 10:30 for a 4 o'clock game) and do all the hard work of setting up and cooking while we get plastered and eat to our heart's content.

Last Sunday's game versus Detroit was an exceptional culinary feast. Menu items included: perfectly seasoned pork loin on a fresh Italian roll, chicken fingers, fries, onion rings and coconut shrimp crisp and fried in their portable deep fryer, eggplant parm (hey we're in the swamps of Jersey!), shrimp scampi, steamed clams, and some homemade rich and creamy cheesecake courtesy of the female tailgating contingent for dessert. Of course, most of the time people are too busy drinking to notice the hard work going around them but the food always seems to arrive just in time for the munchies to kick in.

I don't know what is more impressive how these guys manage to get delicious food out quickly and hot enough to feed the drunk & hungry every week or how we don't get discouraged by the Jets continual self-inflicted implosion as the season wears on... Just when you think they've got a winning team - forgettaboutit! They will make mistake after mistake to guarantee a loss. At least this week's game ended with a win - inside & outside the stadium!

France Day 14 - Au Revoir

Mitch & I were on the same flight with RRR's departure a few hours behind us so we the first to head out to catch the Air France bus to De Gaulle. We had heard horror stories about how expensive the cabs were to the airport so on my insistence we went the bus route.

Well, let me say, I was wrong. After waiting 45 minutes, we were told there was an accident on the highway and the bus was delayed if it was even going to show up at all. So Mitch and I frantically tried to flag a cab and eventually jumped in one with three other women trying to make a flight and it only cost us 10 euro each...the driver didn't even want extra for a tip! Oops! Sorry Mitch!

By the time we got to the airport, we saw the growing line at the American counter. Mitch watched the bags as I grabbed a cafe noisette at a take out counter nearby. We waited and waited and waited and watched it get closer to when our flight was supposed to take off. I have never been in a more disorganized airport in my life! And my biggest worry? That I would not have time to buy something good to eat before I got on the plane.

Unfortunately, in our haste to make a flight that wound up leaving an hour late, neither of us got to purchase food before boarding the plane and were stuck with airline fare. Nothing is more disappointing than catching up on a food journal about all the wonderful cuisine we had in France knowing there's a frozen chicken suprise dinner coming down the aisle.

I hedged my bets and chose the chicken pesto over the beef. It actually was decent, Lean Cuisine decent mind you, not Babbo decent. They served it with some absolutely vile carrot-cabbage slaw, a roll and a piece of cheesecake. What a buzzkill!

They did a bit better with the snacks that came a few hours later.
Pringles, yogurt covered fruit, Oreos, cheese and crackers. But enough about airline food - we all know it blows.

What was amazing was all the wonderful food and wine we had on our gastronomic journey through France. And while we ate in a lot of great restaurants, it was really all about the wonderful breads, cheeses, olives and other goodies we would find at the local marketplaces that made this trip something really special. I hope I was able to put this experience into words but some of the things I have seen, heard and most importantly tasted were simply
indescribable but I hope I was able to give you, my 10 loyal readers, a taste of this fantastic trip.

And truly one of my favorite things to see were pedestrians carrying baguettes the way Americans carry their containers of calorie-laden Starbucks lattes. Maybe tomorrow I'll carry a baguette through Times Square on the way to work, just for the memories....

France Day 13 - Last Day in Paris (sigh)

We had a great workout in the state of the art gym in the hotel. I'm used to pretty weak hotel gyms, but this one had 2 spin bikes, ellipticals, treadmills and new weights. Of course our petty attempts at physical fitness were not doing much to counteract our marathon eating day that started at breakfast and ends just before bedtime but we had to do something, right?

For our last full day in Paris, we headed to a market in the Latin Quarter. All I can say is WOW and let the pictures speak for themselves! Once again, we are blown away by what these markets have to offer from produce to meats, cheeses, wines, you name it; it's there and out of this world! A feast for the eyes (and the stomach of course)... the breads were amazing and I actually spent some time learning to pronounce 'pain aux almondes' thanks to one baker and much to the chagrin of the hungry patrons behind me!

We finally gathered our picnic goodies for the day and headed to Notre Dame. It was packed with tourists but it was worth it when I realized they were saying Sunday mass. It was incredibly beautiful but I still think it is second to St Peter's in Rome - at least for me. We also visited some ruins beneath the site of Notre Dame then found a small park along the Seine to have a picnic.

After stuffing ourselves, we decided to do the tourist thing ourselves and took an hour long sightseeing cruise along the Seine. It was a nice way to see more of the city and took photos through the drizzle. We also squeezed in a late afternoon trip to the Eiffel Tower but couldn't bear the long lines to take the elevators up and decided our time was better spent back in the hotel room enjoying our final bottle of wine.

When we arrived at the hotel, the concierge sadly informed me that the Spanish restaurant I wanted as my pick was booked so I furiously looked through his Zagat and picked a Vietnamese restaurant with a 27 (out of 30) rating for food. I just hope we wouldn't be disappointed!

We left a bit early to allow for time to have a glass of wine at a brassiere near the Sorbonne and finally made it to the restaurant, Coin des Gourmet. It looked super casual from the outside and if I wasn't nervous enough before I certainly was now! I didn't want our last meal to suck - the pressure was on!

We sat down, ordered a bottle of 2003 Bourgogne Cote d'Auxerre Pinot Noir from Domaine Anne Goisot Arnaud and eventually a rose' from Mas de la Dame in Les Baux de Provence and after navigating the menu and the language barrier between us and the waitstaff dinner went like this:




HaKao - dumplings... I am a dumpling junkie and have yet to find a dumpling I didn't like
Rouleaux Jardineries aux 12 legumes - veggie spring rolls
Fondue Gourmande - hot pot
Nem Nuong - pork meatballs

The hot pot was the standout item here and ordered by yours truly. We were brought a pot of steaming curry flavored broth over a sterno with a plate full of cuttlefish, beef, shrimp, rice noodles, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce. It took a minute for me to realize how the process went and once I got a system down, continued to dish out bowls of the flavorful spicy broth to Mitch & RRR. It seemed that no matter how long the meat or fish were in the broth, it was always cooked to perfection.

Mitch ordered a 3 course tasting menu but forgive me for having pretty limited notes on her dishes and the ones listed above since I was happily busy cooking up the hot pot for the table. Vietnamese was a light tasty change of pace from the exhaustive multi-course meals we've been having on our exciting journey through France and a pleasant way to end our trip.

We had a bittersweet toast to our last night in Paris - we've had a blast but we were also a bit exhausted and understandably stuffed at this point and tomorrow was the long journey home...