The Dreaded Day Arrives...

The dreaded day has finally arrived.

Today marks a significant day in my life. As those of you who know me well, I love food. I am not so much of a connoisseur of fine and exquisite haute cuisine, as much as someone who just loves good, meaty, hearty, down-home-cooking type of cuisine. (Basically food that real people eat)

Ever since my first memories I can remember preferring meat to vegetables, dark meat (legs and thighs) to white meat (breasts), and fatty meat to lean meat. (Btw, Asians can perform the miraculous when it comes to preparing fat.) Over the years of training I have come to appreciate vegetables more and more. (First for their nutritional and health value, and now slowly for their taste. ) Eating Vegetables is like drinking wine, it's an acquired taste.

I remember in college I would eat a salad "naked", namely with only lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and no dressing, no bacon bits, nor croutons, or anything that were considered "excess". I would justify my eccentric salad eating habits to my friends by explaining that I ate salad strictly for health reasons and not for taste. I didn't enjoy it, but I needed it.

Well, to put it simply, a lot has happened since college and it culminated in what happened today. The moment I've been dreading as a kid and vowed that I would never do...

I had a salad for lunch.

I've had salad with many meals, but today against my better judgment and my primal instinct, I crossed over the threshold, I had only a salad for a meal. During my layover at O'Hare Airport, I passed on McDonald's, American Chinese food, Pizza, hot steak subs, healthier subway subs on my way to the salad bar.* What is going on?

It is a seismic event in my life; I feel the foundations of all that I've ever known shifting. My world is spinning, I need some time to process this, and I need some red meat.


*I hate to admit this, but I found my body and my mouth craving a salad today as I passed over my normal selections. Well, at least it was a chicken Caesar salad, not completely vegetarian, I loath the day when I eat a completely vegetarian salad!

To the One I Love

To the girl I fell in love with when we were both young and naive.

To the woman whom I have come to love deeply through the laughs, the fights, and the tears.

We were both in way over our heads. Our marriage and our love were far more real and raw than I could have ever imagined with my childish, romantic notions.

Thank you for loving me for whom I am with all my faults and quirks. Thank you for putting up with me and my cheesy humor, my overly-optimistic outlook, and my girly-man romantic heart.

I love you. Happy Valentine's Day, "Laopo"!

Favorite Treats: Macarons

We have never eaten as much pastries as we did while in France. (nor have we ever enjoyed eating pastries as much) Personally, I got my recommended daily allowance of at least one croissant a day plus bites of baguettes. (We learned from our friends that the prices of baguettes are regulated, so that all people can afford to buy baguettes. In other words, it is the right of every person in France to be able to eat baguettes. Don't know how true this fact is, didn't get a chance to check it out.) We quickly learned that there is nothing more Parisian than to walk down the street with a couple of baguettes in your hands. (If you really want to blend in, then start chomping on the baguettes as you are walking along.)

And when it comes to pastry, Traci discovered the Crème de la Crème of it in the Macarons. They are little hamburger looking things that have a crunchy exterior and a soft-mushy interior. (Kinda like me.) They look like this and come in many different colors and flavors:























Traci also quickly discovered her favorite place for these little treats, which also happens to be the place that invented them, the famous Ladurée.
















Traci took me to Ladurée on my first day in Paris. What an amazing place! All the vibrant colors and beautifully decorated pastries, I wanted to try them all. (My mouth is watering right now as I type this) And all these beautiful arrays of pastries are only the appetizers leading up to the main prize which most people come here to buy, the Macarons. Ladurée has been perfecting the art of making these little macarons for about a century, not too shabby!
















On top of the beautiful and tasty treats, they have impeccable packaging! The whole experience is very aesthetically pleasing. It was not only good to eat, it was pleasing to the eyes as well. (Wait a minute... this sounds vaguely familiar...what else was not only good for food, but pleasing to the eye as well?)

















The macarons were definitely Traci's favorite treat in France (I think I would still consider myself more of a croissant man). In fact, it was so good that we decided to go out of our ways for a last minute Laduree run before we left! So if you ever find yourself in Paris, make sure you drop in for one of these delectable wee-lil' hamburgers.

Best Would-Be Blogger. Bonjour!

I am convinced that I would be the world's best "Would-be" blogger, (or the worst Actual Blogger). You see I visualize and think through interesting posts, then fail to carry them through by doing the critical part of typing them down and publishing them.

In any case, I figure that I should probably put up a few entries now that I've been in Paris, France for 3 plus weeks now. (Thank you Noa for your much needed encouragement in finding my blog!)

Here are some pictures from our time in Paris:























Traci and I on top of the Arch of Triumph

















Here is the street we live on, a little studio a few windows behind those glasses on the right. There is a used book store underneath of us that promptly closes each night at midnight. (and a bar across the street which unfortunately does not close until much after midnight) Our street is quite happening at night with a lot of restaurants and hipsters.
















Traci pondering the glory of France.

















For those of you who are wondering, unfortunately, speedoes are not allowed on top of the Arch of Triumph. Wha?!?? (This public annoucement is brought to you by bobble-head Herman)


















Of course no post about Paris would be complete without the obligatory Eiffel Tower photo. (More of those to come later.)

Merci... Au Revoir! (25% of all the French words I know and I've used them every chance I get.)