Paris, je t'aime

I've just returned from a week's vacation in Paris. Ahh, Paris, how I love you. I joined my parents and all of my dad's siblings, plus my uncle's wife for a week of sightseeing and delicious food.
This was my third trip to Paris. My first trip, in 1993, followed a college semester abroad in Senegal. I was largely touring by myself, my French was awesome, and I was completely broke. That meant I ate a ton of sandwiches, especially chicken sandwiches. Every bakery has a little pile of sandwiches on baguette in a case. For a couple of dollars, you could get a large chunk of bread with chicken which was delicious and filling. I never sat down to eat once during that trip. That trip also introduced me to the magical Parisian falafel...
On my second trip to Paris, in 1998, Beth and I were on a budget vacation. We ate lots of street food that time, too. We were staying on rue de la Huchette, in the Latin Quarter. The street is home to the city's many Greek restaurants and take away schwarma and falafel windows. Needless to say, we ate a great deal of those delicious falafel sandwiches, piled with lots of vegetable salads and lovely sauces. Again, why pay for a restaurant meal when the take away is so awesome?
This trip to Paris was decidely different on the food front. Since I was with my parents who actually like to (and can afford to) sit down and eat, we went to a lot of restaurants. Which means I didn't eat so many sandwiches. If 1993 was the year of chicken sandwiches and 1998 was the year of falafel, then 2009 was the year of fancy raw beef concoctions eaten at fancy restaurants.
I had seared "Aller Retour" beef tartare with herbs atop the Pompidou Center.
Then there was a lovely carpaccio plate under the grand stained glass dome of the Printemps department store.
Finally, I had classic beef tartare at Chez Francis with a view of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. Magic!
So, my news on the sandwich front is a little thin. The only sandwich I ate that I actually took a picture of was the emmental and butter sandwich at the top of the post. I purchased that atop the Musee d'Orsay and it was perfection. We did have a Sandwich Night at our apartment with bakery sandwiches and falafel but my dad took those pictures since my camera battery was dead. When I get them, I'll fill you in on Nuit de sandwich!

Fry bread fierceness

We celebrated the season finale of America's Next Top Model last week with Indian Tacos. I bet you thought that you couldn't improve upon a taco made with a delicious corn or flour tortilla. Au contraire, you can build your taco on a delicious piece of fry bread. Bread is alwasys tastier when fried, right?
I'm a total fry bread novice, though. For my first attempt, the bread turned out pretty well, even if they were a little small. Can you see the fry bread under all of the toppings? Also, does it look like the Indian Taco is menacing Kate? It's saying, "Don't leave us!!! There won't be Sandwich Nights like this when you're getting all fancy educated in Michigan! PhD, schmee aich dee!"

I used a fry bread recipe I found online that uses both powdered and regular milk. I think it made the dough rather tender and lovely. I'd add more salt next time, though. Unfortunately Angie didn't get her super top secret fry bread recipe from an unnamed source to me in time. We'll have to reprise the Indian Taco in the near future.

For toppings, I had seasoned bison meat, chili beans, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, black olives, salsa and taco sauce. As usual, everyone--that being Kate, Karen, Angie, and Katy, dove in and created their own masterpieces. Since my fry bread was small and sort of thick, you couldn't fold it around the ingredients. We had to eat the tacos tostada style, with knives and forks. All you sandwich purists can shudder all you like. We were quite content.

Limes were on sale at the store so I took that as a sign from above that we should have margaritas made from freash lime juice. I got the recipe from my cousin: 2 parts lime juice, 1 part simple syrup, 2 parts tequila, 1 part triple sec. That equals 6 parts of YUM. And of danger. We all sipped since it was a school night.
The ANTM finale was actually sort of exciting. I knew Teyona (right) would win but freaky Allison(center) made a very strong case for herself in the end. Like the contestants, I almost couldn't look at the winner's picture at the end. Anyway, here's to freaky alien looking country girls and Sandwich Nights!

Next Sandwich Night Wednesday May 13!!!

Hello, my lovies.

Sandwich Nights have been a bit infrequent of late. I am not promising anything like a normal schedule again but we do have several great reasons to have one next week:
1.) America's Next Top Model Cycle 12 finale
2.) A tipsy plan formulated at Beth's going away to celebrate this event with sandwiches
3.)A tipsy visit to the hat which produced Indian Tacos as the suggested sandwich (purists, you are out of luck with this one.)
4.) And last but not least, this will be the last Sandwich Night before our beloved Kate leaves the Twin Cities for Israel, and then Ann Arbor for grad school.

Sounds like a good reason for a party! Let me know if you coming so we make enough fry bread! Mmm...fry bread.

SIHL Travelling Correspondant Goes to Coney Island

Beth is currently in New York City. She got directions to Coney Island from the 4 year old she is staying with so she went. I am glad that she had some famous Nathan's dogs for my research purposes! This is making me hungry. Read on for her succint review."It was exactly what you would expect. Greasy goodness. Service took for fr&^king ever. Coney Island was pretty closed up. No rides open. Long subway ride."

Kickin' it old school...

Beth was home from her bike journey for a couple days this week. She brought farm stand tomatoes back from North Carolina so I thought it would be the perfect time to make BLT's. We got bacon from Everett's (of course) and Beth picked up one of my favorite local sourdoughs: St. Agnes Baking Company St. Paul Sourdough.
I had delicious hydroponic lettuce from the Seward Co-op (it's local!) and I made some spicy mayo with Rooster sauce
Angie came over to pick up some mail so we had to invite her to stay for dinner. And Heroes was on. And there we were, the three of us, eating sandwiches and watching Heroes just like an old timey (well, 2007 era, at least) Sandwich Night. It was even a good episode. Aah, how perfect.

A Sandwich Night First

We had an historic Sandwich Night last Monday. Kate's boyfriend, Rhys, was visiting and was very excited about coming to a Sandwich Night. He was so excited, in fact, that he brought the sandwich! (Now this is a trend I can endorse...)
The sandwich was inspired by a dish (correct me here, Rhys) served at the American Club in Kohler, WI. The original meal was a blackened beef tenderloin, cumin mustard sauce, twice baked potatoes and Caeser salad.For it's sandwich transformation, Rhys grilled a sirloin steak seasoned with Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Steak rub. He chose a lovely peasant bread and offered three types of cheese: smoked gouda (the best!), parmesan, and sharp cheddar. He also made the cumin mustard which was creamy and cuminy and delicious. He and Kate made a Caesar salad from scratch as an accompaniment.
I put everything except sharp cheddar on my sandwich, which was might tasty if not very photogenic.
My verdict is that we need to keep Rhys around. I'd like to see what he'll come up with next!

Reports from the Road, North Carolina edition

These are Beth's first two sandwich finds from North Carolina. Both feature pulled pork, naturally. I just have pictures and quick verbal assessments, but Beth does promise reviews in the future!
The pulled pork panini from Island Bistro in Avon, NC. She said it was strangely tasteless, except for the awesome pickles. BBQ beef (left) and Pulled Pork (right) from Currituck BBQ in Coinjock, NC. Apparently, this was the sandwich she had been looking for in North Carolina. That macaroni and cheese in making me hungry as well.
For her next assignment, she'll be driving back to Minnesota with our friend Amy. I'm going to find some places for her to try, I swear!