Go on a "Foodies Tour" Around the world with other 43 thingers.

that this will go any where quickly.. so goodbye

Sitting techniques

Many Western people are not used to sit on the floor anymore. In Japan, however, sitting upright on the floor is common in various situations. For example, meals are traditionally held sitting on the tatami floor around a low table. Also during the tea ceremony and other traditional events, one sits on the floor.

The formal way of sitting for both genders is kneeling (seiza) as shown on the picture below. People who are not used to sit in seiza style, may feel uncomfortable after a few minutes, and their legs may get numb. However, foreigners are not usually expected to be able to sit in seiza style for a long time, and an increasing number of Japanese people themselves aren’t able to do so due to a westernized lifestyle.

In casual situations, men usually sit cross-legged, while women sit on their knees laying both legs to one side. The former sitting style is considered exclusively male, while the latter is considered exclusively female.

women only
seiza
men only

Seating order
The most important guest sits on the honored seat (kamiza) which is located farthest from the entrance. If there is a tokonoma in the room, the guest should be seated in front of it. The host or least important person is supposed to sit next to the entrance (shimoza). Of course, there are more factors to be considered in every specific case.

There are rules about eating- I love it!!
Itadakimasu and Gochisosama

In Japan, you say “itadakimasu” (“I gratefully receive”) before starting to eat, and “gochisosama (deshita)” (“Thank you for the meal”) after finishing the meal.

Individual versus shared dishes

It is not uncommon in private households and in certain restaurants (e.g. izakaya) to share several dishes of food at the table rather than serving each person with his/her individual dish. In such a case, you are supposed to move some food from the shared plates onto your own plate by yourself, using the opposite end of your chopsticks (if you have used them already) or with special chopsticks that may be provided for that purpose.

Chopsticks

The proper usage of chopsticks is the most fundamental element of Japanese table manners, and therefore, we have assigned them a separate information page.

Some Table Rules

Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered bad manner.
It is considered good manner to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.
Talking about toilet related and similarly disappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people.
Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manner to burp.
After finishing eating, try to place all your dishes in the same way as they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lid of dishes which came with a lid and replacing your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or into their paper slip, if applicable.
Read more about chopstick rules.
Drinking rules

When drinking alcoholic beverages, it is a Japanese custom to serve each other, rather than pouring the beverage into one’s own glass. You are supposed to periodically check your friends’ cups, and serve them more once their cups are getting empty. Likewise, if someone wants to serve you more alcohol, you should quickly empty your glass and hold it towards that person.

While it is considered bad manner to become obviously drunk in some formal restaurants, for example in restaurants that serve kaiseki ryori (Japanese haute cuisine), the same is not true for other types of restaurants such as izakaya, as long as you do not bother other guests.

Do not start drinking until everybody at the table is served and the glasses are raised for a drinking salute, which usually is “kampai”. Avoid using “chin chin” when drinking a toast, since in Japanese this expression refers to the male genitals.

How to eat…
Take the rice bowl into one hand and the chopsticks into the other and lift it towards your mouth while eating. Do not pour soya sauce over white, cooked rice.
Pour some soya sauce into a the small plate provided. It is considered bad manner to waste soya sauce, so try not to pour more sauce into your plate than you are actually going to be using.

... Sushi:

You do not need to add wasabi into your soya sauce, because the sushi pieces usually already contain wasabi, and some sushi pieces are supposed to be eaten without wasabi. If you choose to add wasabi, nonetheless, use only a small amount, in order not to offend the sushi chef. If you do not like wasabi, you can request that none is added into your sushi.

In general, you are supposed to eat a sushi piece in one bite. Attempts to separate a piece into two, most often end in the destruction of the beautifully prepared sushi. Hands or chopsticks can be used to eat sushi.

In case of nigiri-zushi, dip the piece into the soya sauce upside-down with the fish part ahead. A few kinds of nigiri-zushi, for example, marinated pieces, should not be dipped into soya sauce.

In case of gunkan-zushi, pour a small amount of soya sauce over it, rather than dipping it into the sauce.
Give some soya sauce into a small plate provided. Put some wasabi on the sashimi piece, but do not use too much wasabi as this would overpower the taste of the raw fish and possibly offend the chef. Use the sauce for dipping the sashimi pieces. Some types of sashimi are enjoyed with ground ginger rather than wasabi.
Drink the soup out of the bowl as if it were a cup, and fish out the solid food pieces with your chopsticks.
Lead the noodles with your chopsticks step by step into your mouth, while sucking them in with a controlled slurping sound. Try to copy the slurping sound of people around you.

... Noodles:

In case of noodle soups, keep the distance between the bowl and your mouth small in order to avoid splashing. If a ceramic spoon is provided, use it to drink the soup, otherwise, lift the bowl to your mouth in order to drink the soup.
(and other dishes in which the rice is mixed with a sauce)
Kare Raisu (Japanese style curry rice) and other rice dishes, in which the rice is mixed with a sauce (for example, some domburi dishes) and may become a little bit difficult to eat with chopsticks, are often eaten with large spoons rather than chopsticks.
(e.g. prawn tempura, tofu)
Separate the piece with your chopsticks (this takes some exercise), or just bite off a piece and put the rest back onto your plate

... Big pieces of food:

Japan?

I’m a little bit obsessed with Japan and the whole Japanese culture at the moment and I’m going there, want to come join me?

I have to admit some of the food scares me but I’ll br brave and try new things. As long as we can go to Kyoto and Gion and meet the Geisha while we’re there.

My Husband is actually in the process of applying for a new job with a very well known Japanese company and if he gets that he’ll probably need to learn to speak some Japanese so I’m going to do so as well. We’ve had two Japanese exchange students and One Teacher come stay with us and they were so much fun, and I have a cute Japanese translation book….

So what do you think??

but they have lots of great seafood in Norway. Of course, it is a little pricey, but it’s not as if I am going to have the chance to go back in the near future.

I was convinced that I gained weight while away since I felt so stuffed all the time, but actually I found I managed to lose some weight. That’s great! Lose weight by going on a Foodies Tour! *

Too bad other Foodies tour members ladyofshallot and insanitypending weren’t there. Would have been a blast!

* To be fair, I didn’t have access to a scale for a couple of weeks before the trip though so it could be that I was losing weight before going on the trip and gained some back while on the trip.

Lille Restaurants
With over 2,500 restaurants ranging from those serving cheap traditional food, through to international cuisine and top gastronomic fare, Lille has something to suit everyone’s taste and budget and as a university city there is a lively nightlife. The Rue Solferino is crammed with bars and restaurants and new establishments are opening every month. The streets around the Place Sebastopol and along Rue Gambetta and Rue Puelba have some excellent Asian, Greek and African restaurants

More things to do in Lille

Lille City Breaks – French with a hint of Flemish
Lille is like two cities in one with its mixture of French and Flemish heritage and with a journey time of only 1h40 from London Waterloo International it is an ideal destination for city breaks or even a day trip. The centre of Lille, despite being the fifth-largest city in France, is small enough to walk round. This beautiful city was one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2004.

City Breaks in Lille – A shopper’s paradise
The futuristic Euralille, the regions premier shopping centre, the famous Wazemmes Sunday market and many boutiques, designer outlets and department stores means that Lille city really is fantastic for city breaks to hunt out a bargain or stock up on French delicacies.

Lille City Breaks – A great city for food lovers
Food lovers will not be disappointed in Lille as there is a wide range of restaurants, brasseries and cafes serving everything from gastronomic cuisine to moules and frites. As a university city, Lille has a lively nightlife with bars, cafes, theatres and jazz clubs most staying open until the early hours.

A sample day in gourmet Paris
Morning

To indulge your love of cafés, you can start with breakfast around 9am at Le François Coppé (1 boulevard Montparnasse, 6th/01.47.34.72.70), a lively corner café near your hotel. Settle into the wicker chairs on the sunny terrace for some great people-watching, plus croissants and café crème. From here, it’s a leisurely 10-minute walk to the Saxe-Breteuil market, surely the most beautiful in Paris with the Eiffel Tower rising up in the distance. On the way, be sure to stop in at Le Moulin de la Vierge (166 avenue de Suffren, 7th/01.47.83.45.55) to buy the bread for your picnic—baker Basile Kamir is famous for his naturally-leavened loaves, formed into baguettes and boules (round loaves).

Being in the chic 7th arondissement, the Saxe-Breteuil market along the avenue de Saxe has some of the most pristine food you’ll find in any Paris market. It’s open only on Thursdays and Saturdays from about 9am to 1pm. In June, you can expect to see the first French cherries, the last of the asparagus (slightly bitter-tasting white asparagus is the most popular French variety, but you’ll also see green, violet-tinged and perhaps wild asparagus), bouquets of Provencal artichokes, French strawberries (smaller and more flavourful than the big Spanish ones), and juicy apricots. Look out, too, for Mme Nochet, who grows dozens of apple varieties, many of them rare these days. She’ll be delighted to talk to you, in perfect English, about her favorite subject.

When buying fruit for your picnic, tell the stallholder that it’s to eat right away (“pour manger tout de suite”) and he or she will select the ripest fruit. It’s not unusual for stallholders to make a distinction between fruits which are to be eaten at noon or 4pm! I prefer to buy from market gardeners, identified with the sign “producteur” or “maraîcher,” as their products are guaranteed to be seasonal and are usually grown on a small scale, which means more flavor.

At this market, you’ll also enjoy feasting your eyes on the many fish stands, overflowing with gleaming sea creatures in shades of silver, pink and orange. Probably the most impressive is Jacky Lorenzo’s where blue-aproned fishmongers scale, gut and fillet at lightning speed to satisfy the throngs. You might want to buy some cooked shrimp, which comes in various sizes, for your picnic.

Cheese is a must for any French picnic. In June goat’s cheeses are at their best, as the animals have been munching on spring grass. Mr and Mme Joncheau sell “crottins” from their own goats in Normandy at their small stand at the Eiffel Tower end of the market. Choose from creamy, fresh goat’s cheese or potent, aged specimens that stick to the roof of your mouth. The children might enjoy some comté (similar to Swiss cheese), France’s most popular cheese—look for the label AOC (Appellation d’origine contrôlée), which guarantees quality. If you like blue cheese, why not try a bleu d’Auvergne instead of roquefort, which you can easily find outside France? It’s always a good idea to ask for recommendations from the cheesemonger, who will be happy to cut your selection into convenient slices. An other outstanding stand at this market is that of Arnaud Molard, who specializes in traditional cheeses.

You mentioned your love of pork products, known as charcuterie in French. At this market, head straight for the charcutier Michel Feltin, who works uniquely with naturally raised farmers’ pork. Try his big rounds of Lyon sausage, the viande de Grisons (similar to Italian bresaola), and his unusual quail terrine made with spice bread.

You might also drop by a stand called “Delicatessen” to samp le savory cakes with flavors such as cheddar and sausage or eggplant and olive—these could be a great addition to your picnic.

Armed with your shopping bags, you’re ready to find the perfect picnic spot—and what lawn could be better than that of the Champ de Mars facing the Eiffel Tower? First, though, it’s time for some chocolate. Jean-Paul Hévin, one of the city’s finest chocolatiers, recently opened an original chocolate shop, Hévinter (16 avenue de la Motte-Picquet, 7th/01.45.51.77.48), that brings new meaning to the term “fast food.” It’s near the rue Cler street market, which is a 15-minute walk (or five-minute cab ride) away from the avenue de Saxe. At this small but seductive boutique, Hévin has designed chocolates to be eaten on the run, such as finger-length bouchées filled with bitter ganache, raspberry or delicious pistachio paste, and chocolate “leaves” flavored with orange or cumin. He also has a more classic shop at number 23 of the same road.

All that chocolate has made you thirsty? The lively rue Cler has a couple of good spots for a pre-lunch drink—the buzzy, see-and-be-seen Café du Marché (38 rue Cler, 7th/01.47.05.51.27), or the quieter and more local Brasserie au PTT (54 rue Cler, 7th), named after the post office acros s the street, where you can order the typically French (despite the name) Americano, made with campari and red vermouth. It’s similar to the negroni you mentioned, minus the gin.

The Champ de Mars is just a short walk away. The kids will be thrilled to see the Eiffel Tower close-up, and after lunch you can treat them to a ride on the old-fashioned merry-go-round—the children are given sticks with which to catch hoops as they swing by. By now you’ll probably all be worn out from so much excitement and good food, so I suggest that you rest at your hotel until about 3:30pm (you can take the Métro from La Motte Picquet Grenelle to Vaneau). If you’re an extremely energetic family, you could go up the Eiffel Tower instead!

For your luxury meal—at a reasonable price—it would be hard to do better than the bistro Le Troquet (21 rue Franço is Bonvin, 15th/01.45.66.89.00), a few minutes’ walk from the Saxe-Breteuil market. Chef Christian Etchebest trained in the kitchens of the luxury hotel Le Crillon, and his time in haute cuisine boot camp shows in his polished takes on food from the French Basque region. Expect dishes such as a giant tureen of soup with melting foie gras, and seared tuna steak wrapped in cured ham. His lunch prix fixe menus cost 22 or 24 euros and the dining room has a laid-back family atmosphere which should appeal to th e kids.

Afternoon

The Ile St-Louis, the island behind Notre Dame where Paris was founded, is a lively spot for an afternoon walk. It’s also an ideal place to stock up on food memories of Paris. You can take cheese back to Canada if it’s vacuum-packed; staff at the picturesque cheese shop La Ferme Saint-Aubin (76 rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4th/01.43.54.74.54) will do that for you. Meat is a more complicated matter, but you might be content just to admire the old-fashioned Boucherie Gardi l (44 rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4th/01.43.54.97.15), where poulets de Bresse and gleaming rib steaks are artfully displayed in the window. Oliviers & Co. (81 ru e Saint-Louis-en-l’I le, 4th/01.40.46.89.37) nearby sells only the freshest olive oils from all over the Mediterranean, selected by an expert taster. The shop I can’t resist, though, is L’Epicerie (51 rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4th/01.43.25.20.14), with its jewel-toned bottles of vinegar and j ars of mustard and jam in every flavor imaginable, and more.

On the rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile, you’ll notice an enormous queue in front of Berthillon (31 rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4th/01.43.54.31.61), easily the best-known ice cream shop in Paris. It’s probably worth the wait, but several other cafés with smaller line-ups along this street also sell Berthillon ice cream. Among the exceptionally intense flavours are fraises des bois (wild strawberries), cocoa, passion f ruit and nougat. Your kids will never look at ice cream the same way.

From here, it’s a scenic 15-minute walk across the Seine to Izraël (30 rue François-Miron, 4th/01.42.72.66.23), an Ali Baba’s cavern of spices, dried fruits, oils and condiments, mostly from the Mediterran ean, where you can also buy a colorful, cone-shaped Moroccan tagine. The shop can get a little cramped when it’s crowded, but it’s a great place to stock up on ras-el-hanout spice mix for your couscous and tagines.

Near Izraël is a bus stop where you can catch the number 7 6 (or a taxi) to your last destination, the Jacques Mélac wine bar (42 rue Léon-Frot, 11th/01.43.70.59.27). Each fall, the colorful Jacques hosts a celebration of Parisian wine—an association of vine-growers (some with just a couple of plants on their bal cony) presses its grapes to produce a cheerful, if not prize-winning, blend. Walk through the kitchen to the non-smoking back room, ask Jacques to hack you some cheese of a giant chunk of Cantal, and choose from the wines displayed on the shelves. Paris doesn’t get much better than this.

This sample was taken from
http://www.edible-paris.com/food-tours/sample-gourmet-tour.shtml

We should make a list because we can’t just go to Paris and say done….

I’d love to go to Lille… a little medieval town up near the border of Belgium.
What’s in Lille I hear you ask??

Check out this site to find out more… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille

Coordinates 50°37′57″N, 03°03′30″E
Time Zone CET (GMT +1)
Administration
Country France
Region Nord-Pas de Calais
Department Nord (59)
Intercommunality Urban Community of
Lille Métropole
Mayor Martine Aubry (PS)
(since 2001)
City Statistics
Land area¹ 39.51 [1] km²
Population² 10th in France
– 2004 estimate 226,800 [1]
– Density 5,740/km² (2004¹)
Urban Spread
Urban Area 450 km² (1999²)
– Population 1,000,900 (1999³)
Metro Area 975 km² (1999²)
– Population 1,143,125 (1999⁴)

I read this on Google..
WINTER BLOOMS: The modeling and observational evidence on climate change is increasingly conclusive, including blossoms in Paris’s Luxembourg Garden in January.
And this : If you like flowers – and Versailles gardens are amazing. I suggest late April – between Easter and May Day. This way you avoid most tourists, but the weather is likely to be better. Early April can still be quite chilly. Get a baguette, a hunk of cheese, and a bottle of wine for a fab picnic in Versaillles gardens – you can avoid the ‘big house’ all together of you’ve already been
This too :I’ve experienced very raw weather - and precious few blossoms - in Paris in early April. May offers more warmth and flowers.

So far on our list is
InsanityPending
NorthernSpud and Jimrin
I’ve also invited my mate TG and sent invites so let’s see who we’ll get along..

Jimrin is the tours “Offical Body Guard” also see listings under the title of “Lie on the beach all night and watch the sun set and rise again” which will be combined with this goal…

Did any of that make sense??