Lunch with a view #2 in Chamonix

Given we had proven how tough we were with our previous hike up a mountain for four hours straight, we took a lift up to do a traversing hike in search of Lac Blanc.  Here is a nice view on the way there.

Lac Blanc translates to white lake and you can see why it named that from the mountain lodge restaurant view.

I was expecting chunks of vegetables in the vegetable soup.  It was more a vegetable broth, but still hit the spot given it was chilly.

The next two dishes I don't remember specifics on.  They look too similar.  Most French Alpine cuisine is based on cheese, bread, potatoes, and bacon.  They tasted great at the time, but now that I have been eating healthy in Vienna and Turkey for two weeks, my chest hurts just thinking about the richness of the food in Chamonix!

As we hiked after lunch, Laura ventured off into the other side of an alpine lake to capture the Professor and me in the distance.

I needed a water break and saw a nice green grass field peppered with a couple streams and a waterfall.  That seemed like an ideal resting location to me.  The professor and Laura with their infinite supply of energy decided to detour closer to the waterfalls.  They got this picture.

I decided to set up a "tent" right off the hiking path to rest and tan my always white feet.

Lunch with a view #1 in Chamonix

We had been doing quite a bit of walking, cross training, and bunny hill hiking leading up to Chamonix.  Probably too much preparation as I wasn't that well rested as we started our real hiking.  For most trip logistics, I handle the planning.  I do a bunch of research to make sure we have the right mix of price, speed of transport, quality of lodging, and eats.    

For hiking, I don't like handling the details because I can't really tell the difference until I see pictures or I see the visuals on the actual hike.  All the Chamonix hiking and lift planning was expertly done by Laura and the Professor.  I just let them lead me in the direction to hike and I follow.  

On the first day there was an option to take a lift or hike four hours basically straight up.  We chose the option to hike four hours straight up.  I thought it was a great work out and just the right amount of uphill punishment to feel like an intense leg work out.  My hiking companions will claim that it looked like I was going to collapse during the last 500 meters.  

My favorite hiking snacks are potato chips, chocolate, and nuts.  On this hike, I didn't snack too much because the hiking coordinators promised me at least one dining option towards the end of the hike.  I think they were picturing sandwiches, I was picturing a hot cooked meal.  

After four hours of hiking up, there was a very rewarding payoff.  There was a mountain lodge that offered hot cooked food.  It also offered outdoor seating with mountain views.

I was confused by the flag flying whether we had somehow arrived in Switzerland.  This isn't a Swiss flag, but rather some Alp flag.

The special of the day was a skirt steak topped with some browned shallots with a side of potatoes au gratin.  The steak wasn't a gourmet steak, but the plate was plenty good enough as the alternative would have been simple sandwiches.

This is a local French Alpine dish where potatoes, bacon, cheese, and bread are baked and topped with an egg.  Very similar to an American breakfast skillet.

After the refueling mountain lodge meal we hiked up a little bit more to a second lift.  The second lift took us to one of the main viewing points in Chamonix.

Ice Cream in Turkey

Tim and I flew into Cappadocia, Turkey yesterday.

We had a layover in Istanbul, which we spent in a café with free wireless.

At the café, Mado, we ate a delicious goats-milk chocolate ice cream. The texture was slightly different from ordinary ice cream; it was slightly chewy and significantly stringy.

Mado's ice cream tastes very natural and flavorful.

I'll leave you with an entertaining description of their ice cream (taken from their company website):

The adventure of “real ice cream” is 300- year adventure of ice cream starting with Karsambac made of molasses, honey and fruit extracts added to snow. The name of ice cream combines with a city in this adventure. Kahramanmaras did not only give its name to the ice cream... With its consistency and special aroma, it gives the secret of taste in K. Maras ice -cream. The milk of goats feeding with wild orchid flowers, thymus and keven greening in plateaus close to clouds in Ahir Mountain and sahlep collecting from bulbs of these orchids gently. (Source: Mado.com)

 You may also be interested in my blog at lauradhamilton.com.

Hiking, health, and views in Chamonix

I have done several food trips with cousins, the brother, and the wife over the years.  Prior to Chamonix, I had only done one hiking trip.  That hiking trip was a lodge to lodge trek to Machu Picchu in Peru in 2012 with my brother and Laura.  We did over 30 miles over 5 days and it was more mileage than I had hiked cumulative in my life.  I do want to note per Laura, it is the elevation gain that matters more than the mileage.

I didn't always like hiking.  I didn't start liking hiking until a couple years ago.  I didn't like hiking for specific reasons that I won't mention here because they will make me seem like a wimp.  Laura methodically tried out hikes with different conditions to figure out what I liked and didn't like.  She figured out the magic formula after several hikes and a couple years.

Here is why hiking trips I go on are awesome:
-3 to 6 hours of hiking each day mean several hundred to a couple thousand marginal calories are burned.   This means I can eat like a fat a$$ and still lose weight.

-4 to 7 days of intense hiking mean I will lose 1 to 7 pounds.

-Lots of time to think on my own, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and learn from my hiking companions.

-I don't rough it.  Lodging is 3 star, if not 4 star, quality.  And meals are by most people's definition, gourmet.

After the initial hiking trip to Machu Picchu last year, I did lots of planning this year to pick Chamonix.  I wanted something in Europe and I wanted something luxury.  After looking at all the luxury travel companies, I settled on day hikes from Chamonix, hiking around Mt. Blanc from Chamonix, or the Dolomites.  I figured the simplest high end living arrangements and gourmet food would be day hikes from Chamonix.  The father-in-law, whom I will subsequently refer to as "The Professor" given that is what his blog readers call him,   seemed skeptical at first that I was actually going to plan this and go through with it.  When it became apparent I was serious, he was in.  Obviously, the wife, Laura was in.  My brother was very tentative and did not come due to lack of available vacation from work.  My brother was missed and hopefully he will make future hiking trips.

After spending a couple weeks in Paris, it was off to Normandy, through Paris to Lyon, then to Chamonix in the French Alps.

Over my years coordinating trips, I have figured out that eating trips are loved by all when they go, but it is tough to get multiple people to commit and spend their annual vacation on an eating trip.  There is probably some judging and negativity projected when they others hear they are going on an "eating trip".  It isn't as tough to get someone to join go on a hiking trip because it is a healthy activity and family/friends that like to hike don't have enough opportunity to go in their everyday lives.

The journey to Chamonix was anything but smooth.  It started out with quite a large hurdle.  The traveling started leaving our hotel in Lyon.  When we got to the Lyon train station which was only a 2 minute walk from our hotel, the train station entrance was cordoned off by police.  There was a piece of baggage left and the bomb squad was at work.  We couldn't tell much more of what was going on giving the limited language commonalities we had with the policeman.  One finger wagging back and forth and "tick tick tick" from the policeman was all the language commonality we needed.  At first, Laura and I figured the train station was shut down.  After going back to the hotel and asking, it appeared that only this entrance was shut down and the other one was open.  Seemed safe enough to me as I needed to get to Chamonix.

After a 15 minute walk around to the OTHER, safer, entrance of Lyon Part Dieux, we got to our train with plenty of time for the 2 transfer + ~4 hour ride to Chamonix.  After the efficient and relaxing train ride, we ended up with a 20 minute walk from the Chamonix train station through city center to find our apartment. We knew right away as we strolled through downtown Chamonix that the train ride was worthwhile though as one of our first views was this:

After walking around the city to figure out where our rental apartment was, we arrived at a beautiful apartment.  However, it didn't have internet working!  That was a big problem given the professor was arriving in a couple days and it was rumored that he needed internet or there would be problems.  We called the apartment rental company and they solved the problem quite splendidly.  They moved us from the ground floor, to the first floor.  The first floor had 2 balconies and thus a better view of the mountains and internet from two separate wi-fi networks.  Lucky resolution to quite a big problem.

I knew this would be a great stay when I say the view from the balcony.  I had seen this view(or similar) months before when I saw the rental apartment listing, but I thought it was a representative view from Chamonix instead of the specific view from the apartment complex.  Here is my view from the apartment balcony:

After a week of hiking, the trip to Chamonix ended on the same balcony with some talk on the US and world economies, wine, coffee flavored chocolate, and cherries.  It doesn't get better than that.

My next couple posts will be some food and views from the hikes in Chamonix.

Paris - crunchy pork foot at La Billebaude

As you would expect, we had a lot of great food in Paris.  Some of it wasn't necessarily unique though so I am not in a rush to post on it.  We'll see whether I get back around to it.  We were in Paris for over two weeks.  We did a week in the St. Germain area, a couple days in the Vendome area, and a week by the Eiffel Tower.    My favorite area was the Eiffel Tower area as it was close to lots of small food related stores and neighborhood restaurants.

As we were walking around the neighborhood looking at menus, La Billebaude caught our eye.  The place looked quite gourmet, but with a prix fixe menu for only 20-33 euros.  Sometimes when I see odd items on the menu, I run.  Sometimes, I decide to order them.  

On this menu I saw crunchy pork foot.  I was definitely going to order that.  I used to avoid the pig's foot as I thought it was too fatty, but it has grown on me over the years.  I now find pig's feet more gelatinous(a good thing) than fatty.  I was expecting a pork shank to come out (thinking there might have been a translation error) or a fried pig's foot with hoof showing.  It isn't the most pleasant thing to gnaw on something that looks like a foot, but I have seen dishes delivered that way before and if it tastes good, it tastes good.

What came instead was the French version of pig's foot.  So much more civil than the items I am used to eating.  Meat, some skin, and other crunchy parts are taken off the bone and bundled neatly together (in what I guess is stomach lining), then sauteed.  It was smooth, fatty, meaty, gelatinous, and delicious!  I don't expect everyone would like this, but I am definitely ordering it again next time I find it on a French menu!

I think it looks pretty appealing to any meat eater if you don't know what it is.

Here is a view of the stuffing which should give you an idea why it tastes so good and how the different textures and flavors are created from the pig's foot.

white asparagus browned with parmesan cheese

crawfish tails with beet vinaigrette over salad

roasted duck breast with sesame seed

bitter chocolate cake

grand marnier ice cream souffle

English version of the menu showing all the options

La Billebaude

29 Rue Exposition, 75007 Paris, France