Happy birthday, Bargoo! I'm sorry I'm late - I was with my family and wasn't around yesterday.

So, for all the bourbon bacon brownie skeptics . . . you were right. My sister made them yesterday and I had a small piece last night.

(Tangent: My sister cut off a big hunk of brownie and handed it to me. When I asked who it was for, she replied, "For you." I said, "I'll just cut off a tiny piece to try it." She looked down at the brownie on the plate, made a puzzled face, and said, "I thought this was tiny." Is it any wonder my whole family is overweight? )

Anyway, the chocolate and bourbon, as expected, were delicious together. The bacon was just plain weird. Not a pleasant texture in the brownie, and the smokiness just didn't fit the other flavors. I also thought that it wasn't salty enough but my mom thought it was too salty.

The good news, of course, is that I won't be tempted to eat any more of those!

I hope you all have a great Sunday.

Well I'm back home, and back to reality. Paris was of both exciting and highly enjoyable though with certain caveats- the weather was horrid and the food was even more of a problem than I had feared. I attended a conference for the first 6 days, so didn't have much time to sight-see, but even doing something as mundane as listening to symposia and reading posters all day is more interesting in a novel environment. And then we rented a car and drove around Normandy and Brittany for 4 days, followed by 3 days in Paris as full-time tourists.

Some highlights were, a romantic walk along the Seine at dusk; an exciting and somewhat scary bike ride (traffic and crowds) along the Seine in the middle of the afternoon, a climb up Mt. Saint Michel, seeing the rows upon rows of upright stones in Carnac, purportedly placed there by people 4000 years ago, and walking in the drizzling rain along the scenic lanes of a 600-year-old village (Pont Aven) that Gaugin stayed in when he was learning to paint.

In case you're wondering, not only will the French not prepare your food without sauce/butter/cream/bacon, they will not even really understand why you're asking this, and are convinced that no one in their right mind would possibly want to eat the results of food that was prepared in such a way. I gave up trying about halfway through, after any number of "non Madam, ca n'est pas possible." There is NO SUCH THING as low calorie French food. If we had had access to a microwave and fridge (we didn't), I would have bought fresh foods at a market and done a little cooking, but regrettably that wasn't an option.We started eating other cuisines that were available (e.g. Moroccan, Lebanese, Laotian, Vietnamese) to avoid the high-fat fare. Conclusion: there are many, many wonderful things about a visit Paris and France, but eating restaurant food there is not a way to maintain your weight. Having said all that, I actually managed to gain only 1 pound over the 2 weeks, but only with a chronic sense of deprivation, hunger pangs and constant frustration at the impossibility of the task.

Glad you had a nice trip, Andrea. Sorry that you had to suffer from the rich foods and had to feel so deprived.

Welcome back Andrea! Sorry that you had such a hard time with the food...

Happy late birthday, Bargoo! Sounds like a fantastic day!

Oh, I am sorry, Andrea. Really sorry.

And your experience now begs the question: Where do all the Dukanistes (or Dukannistes) eat? Do they simply stay home?

You may find this article interesting & entertaining -- about French attitudes toward Americans & the role weight is currently playing in their view of us.

http://ejas.revues.org/1363

Glad you are back Andrea but I'm also sorry about your food experiences. I'm not surprised though. The little I was in Paris we had trouble just getting a coffee. They try hard not to understand Americans (in my opinion!).