L'Envie du Jour - Today's Desire!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon and evening with Chef Sergio Dias in his restaurant, L'Envie du Jour which loosely translated means, "what I desire or crave today"!  We arrived at 5pm and had the chef, his wife and his restaurant to ourselves until 9:30pm!

Together, 8 of us cooked 3 dishes: Shrimp, celery root, and orange geleé, fresh cod with confited fennel,endive and beets and lastly 2 types of crème brûleé, orange and coffee, all scrumptious.

And then, we had the pleasure of sitting down and enjoying the fruits of our labor with our talented and delightful chef, Sergio.  He is a master of everything but is especially good at cooking fish perfectly.  If you are in Paris, run on over to 106 rue Nollett and see for yourself.  At lunch, the special of the day with a glass of wine & coffee is only 16 euros!

The Many Faces & Colors of India

Meredith Mullins who was with me in India and, as you have already seen in my first four India blogs, takes fabulous photos of everything but especially people.  I really want to share with you more of the wonderful faces and colors of India, captured mostly by Meredith to whom this blog is dedicated.  You can see much more of her work on her website www.meredithmullins.artspan.com.

Enjoy & hope you can join me on the next adventure!

Udaipur : The Venice of India

We flew from Lucknow to Delhi and then onto Udaipur, a true utopia.  Our hotel was on the water with amazing vistas, especially at night from the rooftop terrace restaurant. 

Next time I will definitely stay at the Taj Lake Palace Hotel, a true paradise on earth where the James Bond movie, Octopussy was filmed!

We had another very good guide, Shakti and visited the Crystal Palace with amazing crystals from Belgium which are surprisingly all over northern India. Our final gala dinner was at the Jagmandir Island Palace in the pouring rain but nonetheless we loved (almost) every minute.

My last India blog will be …. The Faces and Colors of India captured by my good friend and photographer Meredith Mullins.

Unlucky on the way to Lucknow

The one nightmare of our 2 weeks in India was the train ride from Agra to Lucknow, which was supposed to take 5 hours and took 12!!!  It was amazing to watch how much patience the Indian people exhibit, including their children.  No one fussed until the very last hour when we were all tired and hungry.

Lucknow is not a city where you find many tourists and there are wide boulevards and lots of greenery, with beautiful parks and lovely flowers, especially dahlias and roses.

It seemed especially peaceful after all the tourists we encountered in Jaipur and Agra.  Our guide referred to his hometown as a "fresh city" not contaminated by "commissions for the guides"!

We visited several palaces and temples but were particularly moved by our visit to La Martiniere School , a top boy’s school in a building which was once the palatial home of and designed by Claude Martin, a French soldier turned architect who spent his life in Lucknow.

We were also very moved by our visit to SEWA, Self-Employed Women’s Association, an autonomous organization of Chikan artisans who make the most beautiful hand-embroidered garments.

Lucknow is a very important culinary destination, especially for Indian Kebabs of which there are 120 different kinds!  Most of these kebabs look like meat patties, the most famous and delicious of these are the Tundey Kebabs, made of lamb (or water buffalo) and raw papaya.  

We spent another special moment having tea with Newab Sahib at his home filled with antiques and great stories of his royal life in Lucknow.  We were very satisfied and ready for our final few days on the lake in Udaipur.

Jaipur, an Indian Jewel & Agra, a Magnificent Monument

Our next stop was Jaipur, in Rajasthan, the pink city of India because of the beautiful pink limestone used for the buildings.  The Johari bazaar is a world famous bazaar for precious jewelry and our group took full advantage, once again dropping more than intended on jewels including several magnificent rings.

Other highpoints in Jaipur were visiting the Amber Fort including an elephant ride to the top and a visit to the exquisite Samode Palace filled with intricate inlaid marble work.

We toured the flower market in Jaipur and had a cooking class and dinner at Shahpura House, a private royal residence.  The owner cooked his grandmother’s favorite Butter Chicken in her special pot over a very hot fire and told us stories of growing up and spending time with her cooking.  

We had a delicious dinner by candlelight and left with fireworks exploding overhead in celebration of a local wedding ( maybe for us as well ?).  We had a 2^nd cooking class outside of Jaipur at a farm where they cooked vegetables they had grown and made a very spicy chili sauce.  And, we had a 3^rd cooking class in Agra the next day with a local family who had invited an astrologer to tell our fortunes which were all good, of course!

       

Agra is the Taj Mahal, which we saw at sunrise and sunset.

Our guide, Arif, a young man who was intelligent, humorous, honest and a good listener was the best guide of our trip, which made Agra extra special.  Shopping here for inlaid marble tables was amazing and watching the artisans at work was a real treat.