Tongue-Twisting European Foods

Oh sweet life!

I am always fascinated with European dishes not because of its distinct and unique taste but because of  its incomprehensible, tongue-twisting names, I am enthralled with the very complicated pronounciation (lol!). I wonder how the Pot au feu, Coq auvin and kouign amann would be accepted with my very oriental stomach .

Well, just this morning, while searching for some ideas online with necessary information about putting up a party essential e-business, I came across with this delectable site of David Lebovits on living a sweet life in Paris (France) where he revealed so many tips on how to create scrumptious desserts, coolers and other yummy recipes, naaks!my hunger pangs suddenly strike and heaven! what's with those tongue-curling names of desserts?

First, I read about his entry how to make ice cream gelato, a specialty from Italy, then I browsed his articles about savory dishes and mouth-watering desserts, haaaay, oh so yummy!

Sweet cheese fondue, Tabbouleh, Prosciutto rolls, Caramelized Shallot, Gougeres, Rosy Pouched quince and so on. Heaven!what are these foods?How do they taste?Anyway, I saw the pictures and uhmmm, looked quite good and delicious, I wanna try it hehe.

Yesterday, I tried researching other recipes for desserts too until I landed in a site which featured the complete recipe of Chocolate Biscuit Cake served at the wedding of Prince William, hmmm, want to try it this December. 

Meanwhile, I savored the moment of daydreaming while reading the articles of David Lebovitz, so nice and appetizing ^____^

Boun Apetito!

And here is a very entertaining article I read in READER'S DIGEST about how complicated a European mode of dining is: 

The story goes:

"My wife and I went out to a dinner the other week and I swear I didn't understand a single thing described by the waiter. In fancy restaurants, European style, the waiter takes you through the evening's specials with a floridity and panache that are seldom less than breathtaking and always incomprehensible. 

"Tonight", the waiter began with enthusiasm, "We have a crepe galette of sea chortle and kelp in a rich mal de mer sauce, seasoned with disheveled herbs grown in our herbarium. This is baked in an inverted Prussian helmet for 17 minutes and four seconds then layered with steamed wattle and woozle leaves, we also offer a double rack of Rio Rocho cutlets baked in a clay oven....

And so it goes. My wife, who is more sophisticated than I am, is not fazed by the pretentious terminology. Her problem is trying to keep straight with the bewilderment of options.

"Is it the squib that's pan-seared and presented on a bed of organic spoletto?", she asked

"No, that's the baked donkling", replied the waiter. "The squib comes as a quarter-cut hank, very lightly rolled in paya-paya tossed with calamine and presented on a bed of chaffed beans and snooze noodles".

I don't know why she bothers to ask, because apart from being much too complicated to take in, none of the dishes sound like anything you would want to eat anyway, except maybe on a bit after drinking too much. 

As the waiter kept bombarding us with his ecstatic descriptions of roulades, ratatouilles, confits, phyllos and God knows what else, I am on the verge of losing my patience.

Just bring me anything that's been clubbed, I wanted to say, of course I held my tongue. Eventually, he concluded his presentation with what sounded like "an oven-baked futilite of pumpkin rind and kumquats.

"It's feuillete", my wife explained.

"What's that?", I asked unhappily.

"Something you won't like my dear", she winked.

Exasperated, I turned to the waiter with a bad facial expression, "Do you have anything that once belonged to a cow?", I asked.

He gave a stiff nod. "Certainly sir. We can offer you a 450-gram supreme de boeuf, incised by our own butcher from the fore flank of a corn-fed Holstein raised on our own ranch, then slow-grilled over palmetto and buffalo chips...."

"Are you describing a steak?!", I asked, perking up.

The waiter seemed stunned. "N-not a term we care to use here sir, but y-yes", he replied.

Of course. It was becoming clear now. There was a real food after all.

"I'll have that," I said. "And I'll have it with, shall I say, a depravite of potatoes, hand-cut and fried till golden in a medley of vegetable oils from the Imperial Valley, accompanied by a quantite de biere, flash-chilled in your own coolers and conveyed to my table in a cylinder of glass?".

The waiter hardly breath. "V-very good sir", he said then clicked his heels and walked away.

Naaks!hahaha...that's it...the next time you dine in a fancy European-styled restaurant, try to remember that foods in the menu are always presented in lengthy descriptions...all you have to do is just listen with those tongue-twisting terms...and never crack the menu code because it is highly improper.

The above conversation was condensed from Reader's Digest


Bonjour a tous! ^___^

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