Day 2 - Lyon

On Day 2 of our trip, S and I made our way to the train station in Paris for a two hour TVG ride to Lyon, the third largest city in France, to meet up with Mr.CP and his class.   When we arrived, we checked into the Hotel Des Artistes.  The rooms were small, but clean and the bathrooms were nice.  The hotel is conveniently located and we walked everywhere.

Lyon is well known for its food and we started off our time in the city with a tasty meal at Cafe Le Sud, one of Chef Paul Bocuse's restaurants.  Cafe Le Sud specializes in cuisine from the south of France. Although slightly pricey, the food was quite good - S had a delicious stew.  We were too full to try any desserts, but the ones that we saw come out of the kitchen looked great.

Afterwards, we were within walking distance of Vieux Lyon, the oldest district of Lyon.  One of the most popular things to do when you go to Lyon is to take the funicular up to Fourvière to admire the views.  Again, it was a cloudy day, so my photos don't do the view justice. 

Also at the top of the hill is the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, a very ornate church.

Facade on the side of the church.

A mural inside the church

Stained glass windows of the Basilica

After a little more wandering through Vieux Lyon, it started to drizzle, so we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner.  The hotel was within walking distance from both Rue des Marronniers and Rue Merciere.  Both of these streets have many restaurants to choose from.  For dinner we stumbled upon a super cute and cozy place called Cafe La Menthe and were lucky enough to snag the last open table.  The daily menu is written on a chalkboard that the waiter brings to your table.  The service was good and the meal was reasonably priced.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and were surprised by Mr. CP who crashed with us instead of staying overnight at Le Corbusier's La Tourette.  We did visit the convent on the following morning though...and I'll have photos of the interesting structure in a future post.

Lemon Buttermilk Pie

For some reason, it's difficult for me to find the pint sized buttermilk.  The grocery stores around here stock either the half pint, which is too little for most recipes, or a whole quart, which is always too much.  After making buttermilk pancakes on Saturday, I was left with more than enough buttermilk to try something else new...and the opportunity to use lemon #12.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine suggested that I check out a restaurant called Green Chile Kitchen in NoPA.  I thought the dinner part of the meal was just ok, but I had their lemon buttermilk pie, which they serve with a huge scoop of strawberry ice cream.  Delicious!  It tasted so fresh and summery.  I had never heard of lemon buttermilk pie before, but have since been told that it is popular in the southern part of the country. It is super easy to make, but so rewarding.

Ingredients
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
3/4 of the juice from the lemon you grated
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ice Cream, if you are so inclined.

Directions
1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2)  Blind bake the frozen crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
3)  In a bowl whisk together the butter, the sugar, the buttermilk, the egg yolks, the flour, the vanilla, the zest, the juice, and the salt and pour the filling into the shell.  It's ok if the shell is hot.
3)  Bake the pie in the lower third of the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F, and bake the pie for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until the filling is set and golden. (I used a small toaster/convection oven.  I baked the pie at 350 degrees F for 23 minutes and then reduced the temperature to 325 degrees F for another 24 minutes.)  Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it at room temperature or chilled.

Don't forget the strawberry ice cream!  Haagen Dazs does it for me.  =)


I often cheat when it comes to pie crust.  Sometimes I use Trader Joe's frozen pie crusts and this time I used a Mrs. Smiths.  One of these days I'll master crust from scratch, but for some reason it always drops to the bottom of my priority list.  Perhaps I secretly fear it.

The pie was so tasty, that I made another for our neighbors to welcome their newborn daughter.  

40 Lemons

It was time to raid the lemon tree again...I had done a few small harvestings before, but this time, in order to avoid letting the lemons go to waste by growing too large, I picked about 40 lemons.  In total, I think I've probably only taken about 1/3 of this year's fruit!

This is our lemon tree after I picked the lemons.  It's hard to see, but there are a lot more hiding in the back and amongst the leaves.

Last month, I brought about two dozen lemons into work to share with friends and colleagues.  This month, I am going to try to use as many as possible in various types of recipes.  I also plan to freeze lemon juice into cubes.  A friend of mine told me they will keep in the freezer for about a year.

We did not spray pesticide or use fertilizer on our tree, but still use a biodegradable fruit and vegetable wash to clean them.

All clean!

As a result, you'll be seeing a lot of lemon related recipes and uses here.  =)

This morning, I made lemon ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberries.  I didn't have good lighting so I do not have any photos to share, but the recipe is below. 
Ingredients
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 handfuls of fresh blueberries 
Butter, for griddle

Directions
1)  Preheat a nonstick griddle.

2)  Combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk together the cheese, eggs, milk, blueberries, lemon juice and zest in a large bowl. Whisk the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined.

3)  Brush the hot griddle with butter.

4)  For each pancake, pour approximately 1/4 cup measure of the batter on the griddle and cook on both sides until light golden brown. 

(Adapted from Bobby Flay of the Food Network)

I served my pancakes with homemade lemon curd that I prepared with my last batch of lemons.  They also taste great with real maple syrup.  Enjoy!

Rice to Riches

This past Saturday was my birthday.  To celebrate, my sister had Rice to Riches shipped to me all the way from NYC!

{Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid}

Rice to Riches makes a variety of flavors of delicious rice pudding.  Their selection changes daily.  They have traditional rice pudding for purists, but they also have seasonal, chocolate and fruit flavors for the more adventurous.  My special delivery contained Gingerbread Joyride.  So good!

{Photo by Robyn Lee}

Rice to Riches is located at:
37 Spring Street
between Mott and Mulberry St in New York City

Dynamo Donut

Mr. CP was craving a donut on Saturday morning, so we walked down the block to Dynamo Donut.

{Photo by Jill Matsuyama}

For those of you who have never been, the selection of donuts is very unique and changes daily.  While I am not a fan of the chocolate ones (Chocolate Spice and Rosemary Chocolate were too dry for me), I really liked the lemon ones that I have tried - Lemon Pistachio and Lemon Szechuan.  The Lemon Pistachio is soft and isn't too sweet or heavy.  The Lemon Szechuan isn't as spicy as the name makes it sound.  In fact it's more of a tart lemon filling donut. 

{Photo by Pemshree Pillai}

We also tried the Maple Glazed Bacon Donut.  It was tasty, but it was very heavy.  I don't think I could eat one on my own, but sharing a bite here and there works for me.  =)

{Photo by Carlos Almendarez}

For those who like coffee with their donut, Dynamo serves Four Barrel.

Do you like spicy food?

I'm Cantonese, so hot spicy peppers and sauces were not very prevalent in the food I ate growing up.  In fact, out of all of my friends, I'm probably one of the wimpiest when it comes to spicy food.  Until about 2 years ago, I would always shy away from the heat and often wondered why people would ruin perfectly good ingredients by making it painful to eat.  I'm not really sure what has changed, but I find myself enjoying some tasty spicy Chinese dishes.  Maybe I killed off a sufficient amount of taste buds at Spices II.

{Photo by Telstar Logistics}

Spices II specializes in Szechuanese and Taiwanese style Chinese food.  The food is pretty consistent, though once in a while a little on the salty side.  The dry braised string beans and the deep fried fish with chili peppers (la zi yu) are amazing!  Another one of my favorites is the iron pot of tofu which includes four different types of tofu in a brown and slightly spicy sauce.  They're also known for stinky tofu if that's your thing.  We do ask them to bring the spice down a notch for some of the dishes so that I can try everything.  Some items on the menu are just TOO intense.

Spices II is located on 6th Avenue near Clement in the Richmond district.  There is another Spices on 8th Avenue which has a different menu.  We definitely prefer this location.

Blue Bottle Coffee

When I moved to San Francisco three years ago, Mr. CP had chosen an apartment on Linden Street in Hayes Valley.  It didn't take us long to notice the long lines on the other end of our alley every morning, particularly on weekends.

{via Yelp}

What is this magical place, we asked?  It turns out that we lived right down the block from one of the most beloved coffee roasters in San Francisco, Blue Bottle Coffee.

{Photo by Brook Peterson}

{Photo by DennisandLuba}

My favorite is their iced coffee and Mr. CP has forsaken all other types of coffee and buys their beans to make coffee at home.  It's not just SF hype either, because we've brought out of town guests there and they can't get enough of it.  Sometimes, I bring bags of beans back to NY with me for friends.

{Photo by zzi}

In the three years that I've been here, Blue Bottle has opened up additional locations around the city, including a coffee bar in the Ferry Building.  If you're in San Francisco and down for some strong caffeinated beverages, you should definitely check them out.