One for the Road (04/10/07)

by Kelly Amabile on

It’s time to throw our first travel-inspired cookbook into the mix, which is an appropriate word for this selection — The Ethnic Cookbook: Bringing the French Melting Pot Into Your Kitchen is not your ordinary French cookbook. This recent release is a unique celebration of the diverse culinary offerings that centuries of immigrants have bestowed upon Paris. The authors selected over 100 recipes from the menus of international restaurants throughout the city, highlighting the best in taste from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Lebanon and Syria. Each regional section contains adapted recipes and stories about the chefs, shops and markets influencing the ethnic Parisian food scene.

If you’re a Slashfoodie, then you may already own a copy of this colorful cookbook, since our sister site gave away a few copies at the end of March. But any cookbook that creatively combines cuisine from such a variety of places surely deserves a mention for our traveling crew too. (We just don’t have any to give away…sorry!)

So now it’s time to get tasting. If you feel like taking a stab at recreating some of these dishes yourself, go get yourself a copy, or, even better, if you’re in NYC, stop by Labyrinth Books on April 15 at 2:30 pm to meet the authors, Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snaije. I wonder if they’ll have any samples to munch on?

France’s Mighty Fast Train

by Jamie Rhein on

If you have the urge to get from Point A to Point B very fast, France has an option. Yesterday, Train V150 went 357.2 miles per hour. (547.8 kph) This particular speedy ride was to prove that a French train can go that fast. The hope is that China and Japan may want to buy France’s technology for their own trains.

Going that fast does not seem that pleasant. If you’ve ever seen a cartoon where the character’s cheeks are flapping and eyelids are almost turning inside out, that’s what writer Ingrid Rousseau’s experience of riding on this train’s demo journey sounds like. Her ears ached even. Then there was the “green blur” of the scenery as the train sped through. The train did slow down to 194 mph at its cruising pace. Upon arrival at the Champagne-Ardennes train station, passengers were given champagne.

The AP article includes specifics about how a train is made to go that fast and details about China’s plan to build miles of railroad. It’s interesting that the Wright brothers made demo flights in France more than 100 years ago to show just how safe airplane travel is in order to get people to buy their technology. One of the demo flights in Pau, France was when their sister Katharine was the 2nd female passenger to ride in an airplane just to show the safety of air travel for females.

Video: France Breaks World Rail Speed Record

by Justin Glow on


A French train, stocked with an unreal 25,000 horsepower engine, broke the world rail speed record on Tuesday reaching 357.2 mph. The train was traveling from Strasbourg to Paris when it broke the record. It’s pretty cool, but what I don’t get is this article says that it did break the world rail speed record, it fell short of Japan’s magnetically-lifted bullet train, which went 361 mph in 2003. Perhaps it has something to do with magnetics versus real wheels (which the French train had). Regardless, the video is cool.

St. Martin and St. Maarten, Two Caribbean Paradises

by Jamie Rhein on

Adrienne Wilson’s posts about her St. Lucia trip have made me want to head to a tropical island for my own vacation-immediately. When my dad told me yesterday that he’s heading to St. Martin in May I started calculating dates to see if this jaunt might be doable. It might be, or I just might be fantasizing for awhile.

St. Martin shares an island with San Maarten. St. Martin is French; San Maarten is Dutch making this the smallest island that shares territory between two countries. The result is, visitors get two places for the price of one. Going between the two is easy and common, but each side has the flavor of its own country and particular highlights to see. St. Martin boasts the St.Martin Museum: On the Trail of the Arawaks that chronicles the history of the Arawak Indians who lived here at the time of Columbus and for 1,000 years before that.

Fort St. Louis, the fort built in 1767 is another historical landmark. The colonial architecture of the capital Marigot adds to the French ambiance. For the shopper in you, head to the Marigot open air market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

One place that also caught my attention is Grand Case, a small fishing village in St. Martin that has distinctly painted houses and great food. According to the St. Martin’s website, this is the place where some of the best restaurants are located.

If I do go to St. Martin I’m going to look into a helicopter trip. I’ve never taken a helicopter trip before and Adrienne’s shots of her ride over St. Lucia has me thinking. Plus, there are the gorgeous beaches to while away some hours. Here is a link to La Samanna, a resort on the island that has a page outlining the unique aspects of both countries.

Friday Funny: Ah, the French

by Erik Olsen on

When it comes to high-brow entertainment, there’s no place than France to get your fill of art-house film and intellectually stimulating enjoyment. I mean, there’s Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

And who can forget how much the French treasured Jerry Lewis who was, while not French, oh so very funny. And high brow. Well, let’s another name to the list. Herewith, I introduce you to one Joseph Pujol who, according to this site on Human Marvels, became one of the most unique performers ever to grace a stage. What was his secret? Apparently he was a master of flatulence. Yes, Pujol, through a complex mix of self-discipline and body control, was able to create distinct notes with his, well, to use a French term, derriere.

Pujol’s skills are obviously a part of a long lost art-form that we could use in this cynical age…a skill that earned him the title of Fartiste (a term oddly missing from my spell-checker). His, um, passing in 1942 was truly a great loss to the French and, I attest, to global culture as a whole. Let Us Now Praise a Once Famous Man.