Gobble Gobble

I interrupt Leigh's nice little food blog with a report on our first Thanksgiving together. Yesterday was a great day for us and we were able to share it with a lot of our friends here in Paris. We hosted nine others last night, and Leigh put together quite the traditional spread.

Graham & Meredith (our good friends here in Paris) took care of ordering the turkey. You have to order a few weeks in advance from a butcher. When Graham went to pick up the 10lb bird on Wednesday there were still feathers on the sucker. The butcher plucked the last few feathers and grabbed the blow torch to clean up the skin for us. It was definitely the freshest turkey any of us had ever had and a little different (even if smaller) than the frozen Butterball's we all grew up with. Overall, I would give Leigh and myself a B+ on our first roasted turkey. If we had better knives it easily would jump up to an A-, but we lost some presentation points. Trust me, Leigh let me know about it too.

Leigh and Meredith organized the menu with all of the girls. Everything was accounted for; from stuffing to biscuits, mashed potatoes to green bean casserole Leigh and the gang had it all set up. Though, initially Leigh forgot two of my favorite menu items, corn flake-topped potato casserole and my all-time favorite, jello salad with whipped cream. You would have thought I was negotiating the Treaty of Versailles when I asked for them, but being the good wife that she is, she (eventually) accommodated them in the end. Leigh and I both overheard more than a few people ask "What is this?!" when they moved through the buffet line.

Enjoy the pictures below of our first Thanksgiving.

Buttering the biscuits

Getting to know the bird

"Jack, I know what I'm doing. I did this for a living"

The two party planners: Leigh & Meredith

The spread

Another Louis tradition: pre-meal thoughts/blessing (circa Don B. Louis)

Artsy shot of Leigh's table arrangement (flowers from the open air market)

Suz, Leigh, Meredith, Katy, and Amanda

Katy & Leigh

Post feast

We have quickly move onto Christmas, and I am certain Mrs. Louis will have a non-food related post soon to tell you more about her favorite holiday (besides her birthday of course).

photographs compliments of Suzannah Vanrooy Photgraphy

Hildebrands come to Paris

Saturday, some of Jack's friends from Texas A&M and now my friends came to Paris to see the sights. We had a nice afternoon bike ride around the city and then we all went to dinner at one of Jack's go to restaurants - Bistro 7eme. We had a great time with Joseph, Emily, Jackson and Curri. 

Curri, Jackson, Joseph & Emily in front of Tour d' Eiffel

Riding through the streets with Jack Louis as our leader.

Bonjour Hubby!

Beautiful sunset in Place de la Concorde. 

We have got to get a better camera. Christmas possibly???

Markets

The markets of Paris are always entertaining. You can go there to actually purchase your food, to see what produce is in season or to stare at the stuff that Americans would normally never dream of touching. Shopping for groceries is a whole new ball game here. You go to the store sometimes more than once in a day. Jack was sent out twice last night alone - once to pick up fresh lettuce and the other time to pick up a baguette. While, we do have a grocery store 2 blocks from our house that is amazing and affordable known as, Simply, we prefer to go to the "boulangerie" for our baguettes and other fresh bread, the "boucherie" for our fresh cuts of meat and even to a restaurant with a window that opens up to the street for raw oysters. Twice a week several farmers come to set up stands of fresh produce, homemade cheese, flowers, freshly cut meats and other goods. It is a French law to have these markets set up each week in every neighborhood throughout Paris. So, with all of that said - Yes, I am blogging about food again. Jack and my Mom pointed this out to me the other day. What can I say? I love food. I love to shop for it, cook it, eat it, read about it, talk about it and now.....write about it.

Can you spot the pig's ear? Gross. Something that I am 99% sure that Jack and I will never indulge in.

Beautiful display of seafood. I am sold.

Veggies.

Fleurs.

Rabbit anyone? Poor bunny didn't know it would soon be on display at the market in Paris. 

Beef Bourginon??....Borgignon??.....Bourguignon....that's it!

This is the real deal people...we attempted a true French dish. Beef bourguignon is a delightful, hearty beef stew that is perfect for the cold, rainy days we have been experiencing here in Paris. It has literally rained here everyday for over a week now. I don't know about you, but this makes me - A. want to stay inside and B. eat more to stay warm. Armed with our new dutch oven and Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) sound proof recipe we made the stew on Thursday night. Are there a few things that I would do differently next time??? Yes. The meat was not exactly cut with your fork tender and we both agree that it could have remained in the oven for another 30-45 minutes. I think our next attempt at this dish will be much better and we do attempt to make this dish again. 1 point beef bourguignon.....0 points Jack & Leigh. 

Olive oil, mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, pepper, fleur de sel, bacon, beeeeeef, flour, thyme, booze, butter, and a few other items that didn't make it into the pic

This entire meal took about 3 and a half hours to make ....this is somewhere between hour 1 and 2. Behold, our beautiful IKEA dutch oven. Me like. 

Jack enjoyed the idea of playing with fire and we thought a video of this would be exciting or at least it could have been if it had gone any differently. Then we would have a you tube sensation on our hands. Anyways this is a small clip of Jack adding the cognac to the stew. Watch out now! 

Can you smell that goodness? Bon appetit! 

Boeuf Filet et Pommes Frites

As most of you know, Jack and I enjoy cooking. For our 1 month anniversary we made a simple yet scrumptious meal - Steak and french fries. Don't you just love the French? Steak and fries are considered a nice meal and you can find this on the menu at most if not all French bistros.

Sante (cheers) to one month of marriage!

Steak, french fries, salad, baguette & wine....bon appetit!

Jack & Leigh Celebrate One Month of Marital Bliss

PARIS - We celebrated one month of marital bliss (for the most part) on November 9th. It has been a whirlwind of a month taking us to three countries and settling me into a new life abroad with Jack. We thought we would recap the happenings for you with some pictures, quick stories, and a little video footage.


Honeymoon
The day after our wedding we flew to Mexico for a great seven night honeymoon in Playa Mujeres. We stayed at the Excellence Resort. It was a perfect week of relaxation at a great all-inclusive resort. I did my best to start fattening Jack up again, and believe me we got our money's worth. Late night room service chicken fingers?! Only if it comes with nachos too. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

our private rooftop terrace

one of the incredible pools at the resort

where I got my bronze on

pre-dinner drinks

smoking a stoge in honor of The Bear

great Mexican food

Getting Ready for the Move
After we returned from Mexico, we only had two days to fill up four suitcases, legally change my name to Louis, and fly 4,500 miles to Paris. One of the nights in Birmingham my mom made an incredible Thanksgiving Dinner for us since we won't be able to celebrate the holiday with our families in November. It was a ton of fun and a great idea (I wish I had pictures of the dinner).


On the day we flew out for Paris, we got an email from our wedding photographer. It included an awesome slideshow of our wedding. Click here to see the slideshow.


Life in Paris
Luckily, when we got to Paris our apartment was already pretty much setup. Jack had been living in the apartment since July and hadn't messed it up too much. It didn't take me long to put my touch on things. I downsized his closet and dresser space by more than half in a matter of minutes. It's a great little home located in the 15th arrondissement just around the corner from the Eiffel Tower. Here's a video of Chez Louis that we took in August when I came to visit Jack.





Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll have more adventures up soon!

New Blog Debuts in Paris

PARIS - Welcome to the Louis Ledger, our new chronicle of our adventures and life abroad. We'll be posting occasionally with pictures, stories, and newlywed realizations that come from learning how to cope with Jack's obsession with football and Leigh's withdrawals from her parents' credit card. 


We hope you enjoy the view into our life in Paris. Check back regularly and feel free to leave a comment.


Love,


Jack & Leigh