Snowy New York City, January 27, 2011

Last night, New York City got a light dusting of snow. Still reeling back from the heavy snow storm of two days ago, maybe this would not really make much of a difference in what the locals are facing.

I, being a visitor, was just excited to see how the local scene had changed from these snowstorms, coming within days of each other in the same week. From two days ago, this is how the neighborhood looked like.

Waking up to a new pile of snow in the Big Apple last January 27 - about 12 inches, I went out early in the morning before catching the 8:00 a.m. mass around the block. 

 I was mesmerized by the beauty that the snowfall, the snow artist to me, had done.

It was winter wonderland in the city

I soon thought that  this would turn to chaosland.

This homeowner had to shovel the snow from the driveway to be able to drive away in his car.

 I saw beauty in how the snow had highlighted and given a new look to the fire-scape ladders, the metal fences, the light posts...

 the entry steps to the brownstones...

  stair ramps and ornamental window grills.

 Just when I was about to head for the church, Our Lady of Peace on 60th Street, between 3rd and 2nd Avenue, I slipped on a hard-packed, icy patch and landed on my left behind! I got up quickly and continued taking pictures, but realized that I had to bend my knees and lean forward, as though I am going skiing, to be more stable when walking on this kind of surface.

 This lattice design is a setup for a brownstone that is being worked on - perhaps undergoing cleaning or a refacing of its façade. I just loved the snow effect it had.

After mass, I was greeted by this sight. I wondered what emergencies needed to be attended to - perhaps gas and electrical, or water service was interrupted.

More sidewalks were cleared up by the homeowners, but this side street and several others remained unplowed. At the end of the block, the sun was peeking, just as it was forecasted.

 In parts of the sidewalk that were still snow-covered, it was easier to walk on fresh snow than on tracks that had been previously created by other passersby.

 This is a dugout entry to a brownstone unit. I wondered how the residents would be able to get out as the snow had blocked the doorway.

I remembered Monet, who in his series paintings had used the same theme in his paintings, which he captured in different seasons. In the last exhibition at the Grand Palais, I liked his wintry scenes. I began to imagine how beautiful some of the popular places would look like. 

 St. Patrick's Cathedral, on E. 51st Street corner 5th Avenue, looked so pretty like a painting.

The crowning glory of the work of the snow artist was in Central Park, where it looked magical, attracting people of all ages to come, as classes had been suspended and many offices were closed.  

Families came with their children, with sleds frolicking down the hills.

 The pond had frozen and was covered with snow, with only  part of the bridge showing.

 The birds came around, too, to enjoy the fresh snowfall.

 The park visitors followed the pathways cleared around the park, giving them different angles to enjoy the view or shoot pictures.

 Around the periphery of the part, the park benches were taken over by these snowy figures.

 Central Park was now a forest of  frosted, bare-branched trees.

 The side streets from Central Park West were also left unplowed, and pedestrians had to be beware of cars cruising by, splashing dirty slush.

 This is Theodore Roosevelt Park, surrounding the American Museum of Natural History.

All together, I must have walked for a total of three to fours hours that day, just marveling at the snowscapes. 

By night time, I made it to Madison Park and had dinner at Eataly.

This whole day, I wondered how I would survive living in a place like New York City, that has severe winters. For now, I am content to be a visitor who got to experience the coldest temperatures on record and the multiple snow storms in a week.

2011 NYC Winter Restaurant Week Review: Le Perigord

It's restaurant week in New York from January 24th to February 6th, and this is a good time to try out different restaurants at a reasonable price - $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for dinner. 


For our reunion of college friends, one of our friends - a local New Yorker - made reservations at a restaurant participating in the program, Le Perigord, a French restaurant located in East Midtown, Manhattan. Our date happened to have fallen on the coldest day this week, January 24, with temperatures dipping to -16°C (3.2°F).  But, the weather conditions did not deter us from arriving on time.

 Le Perigord is located at 405 East 52nd Street, New York, NY. 

According to their website, they specialize in "classic French food with contemporary accents." There was a special menu for restaurant week that was mostly written out in English, instead of in French with English translation.

There were four of us and we had ordered a variety of things. For our appetizers, we chose...

 Soupe du Jour - Butter Squash Soup

Onion Tart with Tangy Butter Sauce

Country Paté de Chef with Celery Root and Ratatouille

For our main courses, we ordered two courses from their offering of four choices, paired with white wine, Riesling...

 Bay Scallops with Tomato and Garlic and Vegetable Risotto

 Traditional Boeuf Bourguinon

For our dessert, we narrowed down our choices to two...

 Floating Island with Creme Anglaise

Fresh Fruit Tart of the Day with Grand Marnier Mousse

We talked through dinner and reminisced about our college days, laughing and enjoying each others' company. It had been some thirty plus years ago since some of us saw each other.

What did we think of the food? We never talked about it until we were about to leave. We were a bit disappointed. The food tasted good, like comfort food, but it was missing the "wow" factor. We did not feast with our eyes. The presentation of the dishes was lacking the artsy touch, typical in most French restaurants.

Their regular dinner menu looks more French and more promising at $65.00 per head. 

What is it that I look for when I dine out? In a French restaurant, I look for the creativity of the chef, which is reflected in the variety of food selections, the innovative combination of ingredients, and the artistic presentation of each dish that make dining stand out as a gastronomic experience. 

Until next time, bon appetit!

A Tradition: Sending Flowers for the Dead

I went to church to attend a weekday mass, last Thursday evening. To my delight, there were flowers all over the place, beautiful arrangements here and there. The parish priest explained to me that there had been a funeral mass earlier.

I started to wonder about the origins of sending flowers for the dead. Seeing the flowers seemed to brighten and beautify the church. These flowers were not any different from other arrangements that we may have for other occasions. This particular mass was a special occasion, to celebrate the death into life of someone dear.

These first three arrangements consisted of roses and lilies. These two flowers are considered to be among some of the very fragrant flowers. In the olden days, when there was no embalming of the dead, fragrant flowers were used to mask the odor of the decomposing corpse. This practice started some centuries ago. 

These last three arrangements - made up of daisies, mimosas, baby's breath, mums, roses, poppies, tulips, and paper roses - were more ornamental, with very little scent coming from them.

Now a days, we send flowers to express our sentiments of condolence for the passing of someone. That someone may be a relative, a close friend, or a business associate. It is a way of honoring the dead. It is also a way of expressing to the living that we share in their loss. It is an expression of our love, sympathy and support at this difficult time.

Among Catholics, sending a Mass card is now becoming a popular practice. Information is given in the card about mass offerings for the eternal repose of the soul of the deceased. Prayers and masses for the dead are also comforting to the family members as they face the reality of sending off a love one on their final journey.

Having flowers at the wake, the funeral mass or service, and at the internment add beauty and warmth to the setting. I remember the beautiful wreaths and spray arrangements that we received when my father died, and after two years my mother. My siblings and I read the cards and were touched by the messages. The flowers were beautiful to behold, and some of them brought us memories of our mother's love for plants and flowers.

Among some of the Jewish sects' members sending flowers for the dead is not customary. They have other practices and customs to show their support for the grieving party.

From looking up this tradition, I ended up reading about the religious practices of other people. It reminded me of the burial ceremony I witnessed in Varanasi, India, on the Ganges River. That was a unique experience, so different from what I am accustomed to. If you are interested, here is a link on world religions and their funeral customs.

Healing our Bodies: Part 1 - Choosing Organic Food

For most of my life, I have been eating and feeding my family with food that comes from the regular food chain, that ends in the market, whether that be a town/city market or a super market. Alarm set in in the last decade when problems arose, when food recalls became more frequent due to contamination, causing people to get sick and some dying from it.

At the beginning of the 21st century, mad cow disease made a splash in the headlines. Cows were infected from the feed that was given them, and to our shock we found out that they were eating diseased, dead animal carcass and bone meal. The spread of this disease went global, to include other animals, and the cause was mostly traceable to their feed products. Health alerts were issued, bans came into effect, and standards and guidelines  were reset about animal feed. Still, today,  this problem exist. Just early this year, Germany was caught in the midst of a toxic-animal-feed scandal that has affected the country's poultry industry.

For some, the solution is to go on a vegetarian diet. There are different types of vegetarians. Among them are the pescatarians -   fish is the only meat included in their diet; flexitarians - occasional meat eaters; lacto-ovo vegetarians - dairy products and eggs are part of the diet; vegan - the strictest form of vegetarianism where the food is free of any ingredient that may originate from any animal source; raw vegans - raw-food dieters of fresh fruits and vegetables; macrobiotic - includes unprocessd foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and eating fish from time to time, and a good deal of Asian vegetables like dikon and sea weeds.

With the onset of my diagnosed diseases - chronic-pinched sciatic nerve (causing numbness in my leg and toes), osteoarthritis ( pain from the neck down), cysts (in different parts of my body), severe allergy, plantar fasciitis and bone spurs on my achilles tendon, I went to the doctors and believed everything they said. The tradtional doctors had told me that there was no cure for them but they could be managed with pain killers, medication and vitamin/mineral supplements, and in the case of my foot problems - steroid shots. For awhile I went along with these treatment protocols, but realized I was not getting any better, for the long term.

When I heard that Shaquille O'Neal was addicted to pain killers, I stopped taking them and lived with the pain. Pain killers affect our livers and our brains. I also limited my consumption of other medications and resorted to alternative healing treatments. I was consuming supplements from A-Z, and my pain level was still increasing because of more diseases taking over my body. As my orthopedist had told me, it was all a function of aging. That was not a pleasant thing to hear, to be sentenced to a miserable life of pain and illness, just because I am aging.

My parents lived into their 90s. When I asked my mother, who was then in her seventies and I was in my forties, how she was managing her pain level, her reply shocked me - she said she had no pain. She and my father played tennis into their seventies . For half of their lives they were eating a healthier diet until the processed-food products hit the market.

My pain level started in my late twenties and escalated with each child I bore. In the last couple of years, I have been looking and trying out different means to heal myself. The most effective is the major dietary change I embarked on.  I have become a vegetarian of all types, giving major consideration to  where my food is sourced from.

How our food is produced and where they are coming from have become a major concern. With the alarming rate of so many people getting sick, even just among my family and friends, I began to question how do our bodies get weak and sick? It is the toxins that enter the food system, and eventually passed on to us - the consumers, that wreak havoc in our bodies. They affect the health of our cells and cause them to mutate. From my research, the worthwhile conclusion was to eat organic food, free of toxic substances. This conclusion was confirmed by my readings and further research about the Gerson Diet for healing cancer and other chronic diseases. The Gerson Diet is mainly a vegetarian raw-food diet.

To see how doable this was, I went to see what organic food supplies were in the market. To my surprise, I found a wide range - from fresh, dried, to processed and packaged foods. 

Here are some fresh organic produce - fruits and vegetables - they are not always perfect looking 

and they have a much shorter shelf-life. Their flavors are more intense 

and they are richer in nutrients. 

The packaged foods shown are honey, eggs, rice, beans. and oats.

The processed foods made from only organic ingredients are:  

cheese, yogurt, cookies, pasta, cookies, milk, and smoked salmon.

For the carnivores, there are special stores to get your supply of free-range chicken and beef products from grass-fed cows. They are considerably more expensive. The decision to buy organic food will be based on wether the health benefits from eating these will be all worth it to you or not.

I consider eating organic foods as an investment - investing in the present and future of my health. It is more costly, almost double in price. The end result is I will be in healthy shape in due time and will have little medical bills to worry about. I am convinced of this as I can see this happening now. I have become a mainstream organic foodie and what a difference it has made in my life. 

It is from organic fresh produce that we get the most of the much needed vitamins and minerals that have been missing from our regular diets. To make up for the depleted or low levels, juicing is a major part of my diet. Still, this may not be enough. There are supplements derived from real food to get the supplemental nutrients we need. If your vitamins have ingredients other than names of real food, those could be synthetic or chemicals and will not be as effective as the trace elements you get from food.

After months of starting on an organic food diet, I am determined to continue as I am beginning to feel much better. This is an indication that I am doing something right. This is my route to digress from developing any serious chronic disease. 

I wish that you, too, will find the health path that will be best for you. Be well. Keep healthy.

In the Kitchen: Black Olive Butter a l'Affriolé

All week I have been engaged in obsessive thinking about my recent dining experience at the l'Affriolé French Bistro.

Specifically, I was mentally savoring the taste of the black olive butter that came with the freshly baked bread. The moment I saw organic butter in the super market, my desire to make it peaked! 

INGREDIENTS:

1/8 c. black olives, chopped

1/4 c. salted butter

Baguette slices

First, seed the black olives and chop coarsely
(about 8-10 pieces to equal 1/8 c. full). 

 In a smal bowl, with a 1/2 c. capacity, assemble 1/4 c. softened butter
with the chopped olives.

 Mix with a fork.

 Transfer olive-butter mixture into a small ramekin, level the top 

and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

 In the meantime, slice some pieces from the baguette 

and toast at broil temperatures for 1 1/2 minutes or so.

Plate your olive butter with your bread pieces.

 This was my dinner last night:

Black Olive Butter with toasted baguette slices

Tomato-Avocado Salad with vinegar (ACV) and oil (EVOO)

Dynamic Trio beverage (freshly juiced green apple, broccoli, carrots)

It turned out perfect! 

How our Bodies Get Weak and Sick

What a sobering thought it is to realize how so many of us are getting sick.  What is the problem? What is the solution? Let's examine some environmental factors.

After the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, more developments came about. After the last world war, more changes or innovations took place in the developed world that brought about changes in our daily lives - in our work routine and work environment, our living conditions, and to be noted is the change in our diets, to include processed foods and fast foods. All in the name of efficiency, we welcomed these changes. We knew little of how these changes would affect our lives.

With the the growth of commercial agriculture, due to the growth and continuing expansion of the food industry, what we eat now is so different from what we used to eat before. As a child, I used to wait for the farmer who used to deliver fresh carabao milk at our front door, every morning at 7:00. Before heading for school, my mother used to crack an egg for me, and I would drink it raw. I used to go to market with our cook as she chose the live chicken that was going to be our meal in a couple of hours. These are some of the memories I have and my children and many of you did not get to experience them.

CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE

In the farming sector, the use of artificial, chemical fertilizers have brought us bigger, more perfect, and pest-free bountiful crops. This agricultural system, which started about 150 years ago,  began to damage our ecosystem and made our soil unhealthy and consequently contaminated our water tables with the introduction of agrichemicals. As the soil became weakened, pest control became the next farming problem. The solution was to use pesticides and other toxic chemicals.  These have changed the quality of the products of the fields, which in turn were eaten by animals, and then by us. At first, the agrichemicals were thought to be harmless, until we eventually heard about the studies that indicated how they had found their way into the meat, poultry, and dairy products, and even in mothers' milk. Agrichemical farming is a major factor in polluting our sources for food supply.

Sadly, the human body had no coping mechanism to deal with these ingested poisons. The tragic consequences affected fetuses, newborns, and children. All sorts of diseases started to be manifested in their weakened, developing bodies. Then, the adults, too. This is a continuing tragedy.

Now the debilitating effects of agrichemicals in the food chain are better understood. Not too long ago, genetically modified seeds were introduced to farmers,  seeds where quantities of pesticides had been added to them to make them pest resistant. In effect, we are consuming some residues of toxic substances in fruits and vegetables, and in the meat and poultry. Overtime, our bodies are no longer able to fight to stay healthy. We have been living on toxin-enriched but nutrient-deficient food. The consequences to our daily lives are experiencing more illnesses and pain more often, suffer from  infections, common colds; find difficulty in sleeping; feeling blue; and develop chronic diseases.

Even water, a natural resource, has become big business because it has to be made safer for human consumption after it is cholorinated, fluoridated, and further treated chemically, due to toxic waste products finding their way into the water ways and reservoirs. There have been reports, too, of drug-contaminated drinking water supply from Southern California to Northern New Jersey.

We need to go back to basics. We need to have nutrient-enriched food on our tables. It is a blessing that organic farming is gaining ground and organic produce is available in the stores and in the open markets, alongside the regularly sourced food supplies. Organic food, free of chemicals/pesticides, is what we are to eat to regain our optimum health.

There is an industry now that gives gardeners and farmers a healthy option: natural fertilizers. You can also make your own gardening supplies to replace chemical fertilizers.

MEDICATIONS

Drug companies have taken a major share in providing treatment for the diseases, in our time. When before "One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses NOT to take medicine" (Sir William Osler, 1849-1919, medical historian called the most influental physician of his age) there now seems to be a "pill for every ill." As time has shown, the negative side effects of many drugs can no longer be overlooked. Some are fatal, while others lead to sickly conditions. Can we, therefore, say that all "drugs are toxic"?

For our not so serious conditions, there are home remedies you can prepare instead of taking over-the-counter or prescribed medicines. For our life threatening diseases, a complete dietary change can spell the difference between being well and cured and getting by with symptoms being alleviated by medication.

FOOD ADDITIVES

Then, comes the expansion of the food industry. If you check the ingredient labels of the package food developed for us, there are words that are hard to pronounce, much less understand what they are unless we are food scientists. With over 4000 thousand developed additives, they enhance the flavor profile, make the food look good, and enhance shelf life.  We would be deceived to think that these are all good for us when they are synthetic and chemicals that have been made to mimic flavors, scents, and colors, in place of nutrients that we expect to get. Serious allergic reactions from these ingredients can cause behavioral problems, mood swings, fatigue, while long-term use can result in developing heart disease and cancer. We need to go back to the "stone-age diet...eat only foods from which nothing has been removed, to which nothing has been added, and which go bad if you didn't eat it right away." 

If what you buy has any of these ingredients, Acesulfae K, Artificial Coloring, Aspertame, BHA & BHT, Caffeine, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Nitrate and Nitrite, Olestra, Potassium Bromate, and Sulfites, it's time to research and know what their contributions to our ill-health are.

The fast foods were a welcome addition in their early days. We brought our young families to enjoy a family meal and have a fun family time. We had an idea of what we were eating, some deep fried, some pan fried, and some baked. Then the waistlines of the regular patrons started to widen. Transfat was brought into the spotlight - it was something we unknowingly ate in the fried foods, and the effects were detrimental to our health.

The advantage of preparing your meals at home is you know exactly what you will be eating. We can choose our healthy ingredients and the manner of cooking. If ever you use prepared additives like flavors and spices, be sure to check what's in them. Otherwise, seasoning your recipe with fresh onions, garlic, vegetables, sea salt and pepper, fresh herbs for cooking or garnishing work very well.

NICOTINE & ALCOHOL

Because of  big profits generated, both the tobacco industry and the alcohol-drink manufacturers are not going to be shut down any time soon. Plus, add the revenues they bring to the medical and pharmacheutical industries. 

If you are a smoker, please know that the cigarette you smoke to enjoy can kill you and others, too, as it attacks the body's whole system of natural defense. Both the smoker and the inhaler of second-hand smoke suffer. Yet, this bad, addictive habit persists. 

Alcohol is not a health food. Taken occasionally and in limited amounts may be alright. Otherwise, excessive drinking leads to alcoholism, which leads to serious, chronic diseases. 

If you are a smoker or a habitual drinker, you can do something about it. Just do it. Quit cold turkey. Save your life and the lives of others.

COSMETICS & GROOMING AIDS

Unbeknownst to the majority of women is how toxic cosmetics and lotions can be because of the use of a wide range of parabens (with anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties), primarily used as preservatives.  Aside from parabens, there are other ingredients to watch out for.  The toxins from these products are promptly adsorbed through the skin and go directly to our bloodstream, bypassing any metabolic sytem in our bodies.

One of the most common western product is the deodorant. Check what you are using. If it has aluminum, that is toxic as it is absorbed by the lymph glands in our underarm and goes straight to the lymphatic system. I suffered from inflamed lymp nodes in my underarm, once before. I am now  using sodium bicarbonate as foot and underarm deodorant, and for other things.

Take stock of what ingredients you have in your make up, lotions, toiletries, hair dye, soaps, perfumes and colognes, and other grooming aids. It's quite a bit of damage we do to our bodies when we use these products blindly. Our visits to the beauty salon for a haircut, hair-coloring treatment, manicure and pedicure, subject us to inhaling toxic fumes at very high levels, in that enclosed room. That is not good for our lungs and our brain cells. Just imagine what it does to the people who work there regularly.

My bag is feeling up and ready to be tossed out. It looks like it's time to let my grey hair show! I am about to embark on making my lotions and creams from scratch. I was happy to find some organic shampoo, facial cleanser, and hand lotion in the store. 

HOUSEHOLD CLEANING-PRODUCTS

If you have read the "WARNING" on canisters and packages of househld products and wipes - cleaning, disinfecting, bleaching agents - we are told to use them in areas with good ventilation and not to use them in combination with other products. The chemicals used to manufacture them are carcinogens and cause indoor pollution.

I am back to using vinegar to disinfect and clean counter tops and the floor, something I learned when I was very young. Make your own home-made household cleaning products. It will keep the air you breath healthy, while cleaning. Be sure to label each bottle clearly, before you store them.

IMMUNIZATION - VACCINATION

For the parents with newborn and very young kids, vaccinations can be helpful or they can be lethal. When your child is going to be immunized, research the side effects. Do not just rely on what the pediatrician says. A well-informed parent may come up with reasons not to immunize their children below two-years old.

ELECTROMAGNET FIELDS

We are a gadget-addicted generation - from the young to the old. The electromagnetic field around us is changing, increasing. It started with the invention of the incandescent light bulb, followed by lamps, television sets, radios, regular ovens and microwave ovens, computers, and many more electronic things in our homes and in the office.

Today, no one can be without a cell phone - the means to instant communication, locally and globally, at all times. The more advanced models, with computer capabilities, make us so dependent on them that they sit right next to our bodies most of the time. 

There have been no formal studies regarding the environmental impact of the increase in the electromagnetic field on our health. In areas where radio mast/towers have been put up to transmit signal, "clusters of diseases" are being reported, specifically cancer. There are also complaints of "sleep disturbance, more incidence of headaches, skin rashes, heart palpitations, and vertigo." Dr. Robert O. Becker, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize has identified the "proliferation of magnetic fields" to be " "the greatest polluting element in the earth's environment." 

There are ways to minimize the debilitating effects from the constant use of these gizmos. Turn off your units and keep them away from the bed when you go to sleep. Have indoor plants to absorb some of the radiation.

STRESS

Stress is a major factor. It is what attacks our body's defense system from within. It is our "fight or flight" response when we face dangerous threats. In our lifestyle, we face threats that are mostly "non-violent,"  related to our personal relationships, family or business. In protracted cases, where the issues do no get resolved right away, we go through the response phases of alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. How we handle our stress will spell the difference in our well being. Some face it with inappropriate means, through alcohol, smoking and drugs; acting out; unhealthy eating; taking sleep aids to fight insomnia; taking too much caffeine, etc. It is the reaction  to the stress, and not the stress itself, that is causing the downhill trend in one's emotional and mental well being. 

There are sensible ways to deal with stress, along with taking healthy nutrition. 

Do you get the big picture of how we got to this point, how our bodies have become weak and sick? You are part of the solution. We each need to take over taking care of ourselves. A lifestyle change in how we nourish and how we live in our environment should be our priority now.  We each need to redesign our meal plans; reorient our tastes to what is really good, nutritious food; make an effort to be environmentally friendly at home and out there. This entails an investment of our time and efforts.

Together, let's be healthy once again and reclaim the world we live in.

Reference:

Gerson, C. & Bishop, B. (2010) Healing the Gerson Way - Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases, (Ch. 5 Breakdown of the Body's Defenses - pp. 29-58). California: Gerson Health Media

Restaurant Review: L'Affriole, Paris

Good friends like to celebrate birthdays. For such an occasion, we were on a search for a nice restaurant. What we found turned out to be the perfect venue.

l'Affriolé  Bistro Restaurant is located on 17 rue Malar 75007, 

between the Eiffel Tower and l'Invalides.

It's a small place that seats about 35 to 40 people and 

the interior design is contemporay chic.

Two-course or three-course menus are available from Tuesday to Saturday, for lunch and dinner. There is a formule - "Special of the Day" menu (which changes everyday), and another four starters, four main courses, and four desserts to choose from if you want to mix and match. 

Moderately priced at 24€ for Entree (starter course) + Plat (main course) or Plat + Dessert; 29€ for the full course meal, at lunch time. Dinner meals are at 35€. You may opt instead for a menu de degustation (tasting menu) for 50€.

As soon as we were seated, excellent service began.

This on-the-house hor d'oeuvres was placed on the table - freshly baked bread with a black olive-butter spread, and radish to cleanse the palate. 

Each member of our party decided to design their own menu choices.

FIRST MENU

Entree: Bar Lacqué au Miel et Avocats 

(Honey glaced Bar fillet on a bed of avocado)

Plat: Joue de Bouef Brisée au Vin Rouge 

(Beef braised in red wine)

Dessert: Tourte aux Pommes Caramélisées et Spéculo 

(Caramelized apples in a crust made of spéculo cookies)

SECOND MENU

Entree: Cremeux de Chataigne Emulsion au Jambon 

(Cream of chestnuts, emulsified, with pieces of ham)

Plat: Paté Pantin de Coquelet et Foies Gras

(Encrusted Chicken and foie gras)

Dessert: Gaufre aux Poires au Caramel 

(Waffle with pear, a scoop of ice ceam and caramel sauce)

THIRD MENU: Customized Vegetarian Menu, Celiac Friendly

Entree: Velouté de Potimarron 

(Squash soup)

Plat: Vegetable platter (special order)

Dessert: Anana Victoria Poêlé au Mangue

(Skewered pineapple cooked in its own juice, mango, butter, 

and some aromatics  and served with a scoop of sorbet) 

There is a wine list to choose from or a glass of house wine to order. For us, 

because of taking various medications, we were prevented from doing this.

We were delighted with all that chef Thierry Verola prepared for us. Our food experience started with feasting with our eyes to enjoying the delicate taste of the ingredients he used. The chef's wife, Maria, was so accommodating in arranging for the special vegetarian menu.

Needless to say, everything tasted so good that a promise to return a second time, with or without any occasion to celebrate, was made. If you plan to experience the good eats at this restaurant, making reservations beforehand is a must: Tel. no. 01 44 18 31 33. 

This place is always full!