Paris Prep Continues

I am learning so much as I gather information for the trip. It's been nearly ten years since Mike and I have been to Europe and things have changed. Well, life has changed and technology has changed. There are so many wonderful resources out there (blogs, web sites, podcasts) and I love sifting through them.

Visas
During our road trip through Missouri, I happened upon a podcast called Budget-Minded Traveler. I loved it and listened while driving. One of the things the podcast host mentioned is the importance of checking into visas before traveling somewhere. I hadn't thought about this and, as it turns out, I don't need to. France (and a host of other countries) participate in a program that grants visas upon arrival.

Likely this means we will have to just hop in another line at the Paris airport after we get off the plane and complete some paperwork. I'm not worried, but I'm glad I heard this because Mike and I will be heading to catch a train to Normandy and I want to make sure we account for the extra time it will take to deal with the visa situation, along with luggage.

Foreign Transaction Fees
For both our Chase debit card and Bank of America credit card, there is a 3% foreign transaction fee. I didn't realize this until I called to notify them that we would be making purchases while we travel. Chase has a wonderful fraud detection program. However, we've been contacted about our accounts when we purchased something out of the ordinary or in unexpected locations. I do not want our accounts frozen while we are gone because they suspect illegal activity. What a nightmare that would be!

This extra fee wouldn't dissuade us from travel, but I do think it's something to be aware of. When you take into account the exchange rate that devalues the dollar and then high prices in a metropolitan area like Paris, then add a 3% charge to every purchase... well, it all adds up.

Speaking of currency exchange, there is a wonderful XE app that allows you to calculate the exchange rates. I downloaded it onto my phone and as I booked our hotel and tour service in Normandy, I could easily determine what the cost in American dollars would be. Ah... the year 2014. Thoroughly modern, I tell ya!

Phone Usage
I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with Verizon customer service, trying to determine if and how our iPhones would work abroad. The good news is that we have the newest version, which is has global compatibility. We can add an international service plan for $5 a month and cancel it when we get home. As long as we're on wi-fi, it's free to make calls. However, a data plan costs more money. Even that cost was not unsurmountable, but I think we're likely to sign off from e-mail and just call home to connect with the kids.

I've still got a host of other items to look into, including:
1) purchasing train tickets ahead of time
2) neck pillow of some sort for the plane
3) create a list of french pharmacy beauty supplies I want to pick up (such fun!)
4) figure out how we will wear our passports (do folks still wear them around their necks on one of those pocket things?)

What else? There are probably a million other things I should be thinking about... The good news is, I'm not stressed, I think it's fun figuring it all out. The only thing that has me a bit nervous is that I don't know one word of French. But I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve for dealing with that one...

Any advice out there that you'd like to pass on to me? Please, please, please, send it my way!

Chinon

We know nothing about wine. When I approached mike about trying out some French wines before we head to France next month, he said, "like Merlot?"

Because we seriously only know the names of the most basic and commonplace wines. I've always preferred beer and we're not big drinkers to begin with so wine knowledge was never a high priority. 

But I thought it would be fun to try a few things. I googled wine varieties near Normandy (not much wine production going on in Normandy itself). Turns out the Loire region (nearby) is known for its

Chinon. My that sounds so... French!

Guess we'll pour some in our Toby Keith beer mugs. Kidding, kidding... Though we were once given something along these lines.

I recently had a brief discussion with some friends on whether we like or get frustrated by the planning and trip prep. Personally, I enjoy it! And what better way than to drink through this bottle of "research?"

Squirmy

Lest, I forget... my kids will come to screeching halt upon the sight of a worm.

This photo was taken as we left my cousin's home in Kansas City. It had rained all night. That was one of the challenges of packing for this trip. Modern weather technology had alerted me to rain potential throughout the week. We took rain boots and tennis shoes, despite my longing to have the kids just take one pair of shoes. It's so much easier to keep track of one set...

But if we'd only taken one pair of shoes, I'd be admonishing them at that moment for getting their sneakers soaking wet rather than letting them stare at a squirmy worm for a few minutes before wet off for the day's activities.

Probably made the right call.

A quick foodie excursion

This trip seemed even more meal focused simply because we're not eating in restaurants as often these days. It's just not worth the hassle of sorting through gluten free menus, though we certainly do it when necessary.

Staying in Columbia with Kelly and Greg is like hitting the culinary jackpot. They are foodies. And I am grateful for it because we get to have delicious food when we are with them. Case in point, I've suspended my no-coffee rules during spring break. And wouldn't you know, Greg has a fancy pants coffee machine that makes cappuccinos and cafe au laits and all sorts of good strong caffeine drinks. I made myself one both mornings. Okay, I made two both mornings. It's vacation.

My kids got their first experience with TV at breakfast.
I may or may not be making myself a delicious coffee beverage.

And, we were treated to a roast with some sort of yummy raisin sauce and potato parsnip puree for dinner. I hear Evelyn doesn't always eat her dinner. Um, Butterfly/Evelyn, you can send it to me.

They told me about a new market that just opened up in Columbia. Lucky's Supermarket is a large grocery store that sells organic and natural items. Fresh produce, a deli, lots of gluten-free items, huge tea selection and a large supplement/vitamin area.

It's very well-designed. Bright, open, and intriguing. The kind of place I'm a sucker for.

Anna always asks me why I like food shopping so much. I don't know. I get as much enjoyment out of finding some little new organic small batch artisanal whatever as some folks get out of shoe shopping.  It's just the newness of it. The idea that someone took the time to dream up this little lovely food. And I get to help try it out. And support them and their craft. And perhaps stumble across the newest and best thing ever.

We decided to grab sandwiches at the deli (gluten-free bread!!) and eat them in the coffee bar/cafe area. The sandwiches were good and we added a package of dried apple rings to round it out.

If you're in the area, I recommend stopping by there. It's a great place to release your inner foodie.

St. Louis Gluten-Free

Our foray into gluten-free living is still very new. We are neither allergy experts nor are we seasoned gfree folks. We're just building habits day by day and trying to do the best we can. So when we started our recent spring break road trip, I wondered whether we could keep up with this effort without obsessing and stressing.

We don't have an allergy issue that forces us to into this. We have just seen enough benefits to know that this feels right and we want to keep exploring it. My challenge was to bring enough snacks to help distract us from readily available gluten options, and to find eating spots where we could at least attempt the gluten-free thing even if it didn't pan out.

You can imagine my excitement to discover New Day restaurant in Ellisville, a suburb of St. Louis. The restaurant is entirely gluten-free and they take it seriously. A sign posted on the door states that no one is to bring in outside food. Anyone with celiac disease will tell you that cross-contamination is a huge scary issue in places where there is no dedicated allergy work space. I love that folks can feel safe and relax when they enter the door here. It must be such a relief.

We opted for cheese pizza for the kids and grilled cheese and tomato soup for me (this is my comfort meal). My previous experience with gluten-free pizza has been pretty disappointing. It's not terrible... it's just not that great. And you want pizza to be great.

This pizza was fantastic. Thin crust, nice thick cheese. Very tasty. And by the sounds of the carry out orders coming in over the phone, everyone else loves it too.

My grilled cheese was pretty good. Gluten-free bread always tastes a little different, but I have to say if I really had a craving for grilled cheese again, I'd order this one. It's not an exact replica, but it's a fair substitute.

And perhaps the best part was the baked goods area where customers can pick up cookies, muffins, breads and all sorts of goodies. I grabbed some gooey butter cake cookies (yum) and muffins and banana bread. That's the nice excuse of a road trip, this shopping can be classified under both the "food" section of the trip and the "souvenir" section. I had wanted to bring something to share with our friends when we arrived and this fit the bill.

Perhaps one of the most heartwarming parts of this visit was reading all the reviews on the place. It is such a gift for some folks to have a gluten-free restaurant. They tell stories of having been recently diagnosed and feeling completely underwater. A restaurant like this helps them find good food when they feel like they've been asked to put it away on the shelf.

If you have any friends or relatives looking for a place like this, I would suggest New Day in a heart beat. It's not fancy, but it's safe and friendly and good. What more can we ask for?

Should you find yourself in St. Louis

St. Louis is like our second home. Family, friends, old haunts. We may live in Chicago, but we spend a lot of time in good ol' St. Louis. Though we spend the vast majority of our time with family, we've recently starting venturing into the restaurant scene. First, we had date night last year at Home Wine Kitchen. It was fantastic. We highly recommend it and I wish I had blogged about it last year because, of course, we can't remember much about the food right now.

And then on New Year's Eve, we took advantage of grandparent babysitting and headed out to Basso. This new gastropub is getting rave reviews. It's been open only a year and it's located in the basement of the Cheshire Inn bar (more on that place in a minute). 

It's dark and warm with a huge open kitchen and a large fireplace. The food is designed to be shared in small plates and we found it to be very reasonably priced (though we're probably jaded by Chicago prices). Our first course was curried orzo with pine nuts and currants and a bowl of shishido peppers (Japanese peppers, not too spicy) that you pick up and eat whole. 

We had a main course of crunchy meatballs and an order of fresh made pasta over pork cheek in a celery puree. And we might have also tried the maple bourbon cheesecake. But who can remember these things?

Mike had stumbled upon Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA at a specialty grocery store the day before and picked up some to take to a friend's house. When I saw it on the menu, I knew I wanted to try it also. Very hoppy, but good.

If you're in St. Louis and want to try something a bit more "foodie" and a bit less "White Castle" then you should consider Basso. We already want to return and try the rest of the menu. 

And, by the way, we booked a night at the Cheshire Inn. For those of you near St. Louis, did you realize the place has had a total makeover? It's a British lodge, complete with stuffed bear, roaring fireplace and English paintings. Every room is named for a British author and you can find a book by that author when you arrive in the room. 

I found myself thinking this place would be fun to take the kids to because it really does feel like an old English lodge. Don't get me wrong, the rooms themselves are quite modern and this is in no way a "kid" place. But can you imagine reading Jane Austin or Sherlock Holmes and then going to stay in that room? It could be fun for a kid who loves to read, I think. 

So should you find yourself in St. Louis with a little time to spare, consider these restaurants. We thought they were terrific.

Tea and croissant at Standard Market

My mom is visiting from Kansas City and I always struggle with little adventures that are easy for us to handle with the kids in tow. Add some Chicago snow and ice and that adds another layer of complexity. 

However, Abe's preschool nativity play was yesterday afternoon and my mom and I had a small pocket of free time after the play concluded but before we needed to pick up kids from school. I wanted to take advantage of the weather because more snow is expected on Sunday. It will definitely be a white Christmas...

We made a quick drive to Standard Market in Westmont, a neighboring suburb. This is a high end grocery store with a restaurant and I thought we could grab a cup of tea/coffee and maybe a pastry there.

Standard Market opened a couple of years ago. It's very clean and white and actually looks like a giant gray and white barn from the outside. They have all your standard grocery items but then specialty wines and cheeses and a pastry shop. It's very visually stunning. Lots of white. The colors of the food really pop against the background.

The Standard Grill restaurant has a limited but nice menu. Think organic grass-fed burgers and fancy milk shakes. We ordered pastries at the pastry shop and then just placed drink orders in the restaurant.

My mom ordered a blueberry streusel muffin and I got a chocolate croissant. I have a chocolate croissant habit developing, I fear.

My english breakfast tea came in the cutest little cup with a lid that allowed the "tag" or in this case the leaf, to stick out. It was cute enough to take a picture of. 

It was a quick outing and then we were back for school pick-up. I grabbed some Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale for Mike to try. And my mom spotted a pomegranate tart that looked good. I don't know what my Christmas Eve or Christmas meal plan is quite yet. So I may be back at Standard Market soon.

Cuz I'm totally a chef

Chocolate Croissants

Step 1:  Buy some croissants, the kind you roll up and bake yourself

Step 2:  Have a child put a dollop of this inside each one

Step 3:  Bake according to package directions

Step 4:  Feed to your favorite child(ren)

This is a regular "special" breakfast in our house. It's a cheater version of the real thing, though I am acutely aware of how much better the La Boulange ones at Starbucks are... But this will do in a pinch!