Dijon Days

Pre-Dijon we stopped at an interesting little town called Langres. The town was initially built as a defensive fortress and was completely encircled by walls, gates, and towers. After eating a
slightly questionable kebab (this seemed to be a very food safety be damned kind of restaurant) spent a few hours walking around the area.

Going in, all I really knew about Dijon was that we were going to have a kitchen and there was a mustard museum I was already pretty excited. Sadly, we found out that the museum closed seven years ago. The kitchen (tiny as it was) and the Tuesday/Thursday market definitely made

up for the lack of the museum, however.

Other than the kitchen, the apartment that we stayed in was very nice. The only exception being the unusually low ceilings and wooden beams scattered about. The taller members of the family (including yours truly) had the bumps and bruises to prove that France is not built for those anywhere close to, or above, six feet.
Dijon is located in the Burgundy region and on our first full day we took a tour of the area from the owner of our apartment. It was a very interesting but long day of visiting wineries, castles, and canals. Our guide also took us to a restaurant which he swore made the best coq au vin in the world. Now this was my first time having it s

o I don't really have a reference point but this dish did set the bar pretty high for any future coq au vin experiences.

The plan for day two was to visit the mustard museum until the tourism office told us the bad news. Our consolation prize was (what was supposed to be) a food tour of the city including

tastings of some of the Dijon specialties. The tour turned out to be more of a historic walking tour which was not ideal but still interesting. Nonetheless, I was most excited to taste fresh mustard at the Maille mustard store. That was until I saw the double dip. Apparently the British aren't as couth as most Americans when it comes to eating from communal bowls because this was less a double dip and more a sucking of the sampling pretzel and then a re-dipping into the next sample. That sight did a pretty good job quelling my appetite for that bowl of fresh Dijon mustard... Anyways, the problem was solved by getting a few different mustards to sample with dinner. Our tastings have led me to the conclusion that Dijon mustard tastes better when in Dijon.

Now dinner. As I mentioned before the apartment we were staying had a kitchen. I think ecstatic is a decent way to describe my feelings towards cooking for the first time in

weeks. Matthew and I had gone shopping at the market the previous day with

the intent of making

dinner after our tour but we were so full from lunch that it was pushed off a day. Anyways, this market was big enough to (easily) keep me entertained for hours. Anyways, we finally settled on , a salad with poached shrimp, radishes, and cassis (black currants) with a lemon vinaigrette and leg of duck (chicken for the less exciting and adventurous parents) with a wild mushroom wine sauce, roasted potatoes and vegetables. Now because the kitchen was a touch less equipped than we were used to (the oven was a mini toaster, if that gives you any idea) we ended up having to sauté rather than roast. Even with the small kitchen we got dinner out in a relatively reasonable time which, as some

may know, can be quite the feat for me.

Ok, so I had promised myself after I caught up with the last set of posts that I would not let myself fall behind again. Well that didn't last long because I'm plying catch up again and, while I

remember what we made for dinner the next night very well, the only other part of the day I remember is looking at waterfalls in a pretty, rural town. So, I will (yet again) tell you about dinner. That morning we went to the market with an actual plan for what we were going to make for dinner. I know, it's impressive, right? Dinner was pesto

crusted fish sautéed and finished in the broiler and served with pesto ravioli, drunken tomato sauce (made with some quality 1.14 euro wine), and sautéed zucchini (see, we learn from our past cooking snafus). Everything actually went as planned! Our

only slight confusion, not knowing exactly what fish we were cooking, was solved by wiki. If anyone ever comes across a cheap fish called pollock you should know two things. One, it's quite good when cooked properly and two, it's traditional use is in cat food. Well that last story pretty much wraps up Dijon :)