A Taste of the Cote D'Azur

I recently returned from a too brief mini-vacation to the South of France.  I friend and I traveled to Nice, with trips to Cannes, Eze and Monaco thrown in for good measure.  We had some great food while we were there, and lots and lots of Rose!  The food highlight was a trip to a three Michelin star restaurant in Monaco - Alain Ducasse's Louis XV, which is at the very ritzy Hotel de Paris right next to the Monte Carlo casino.  I have never had a Michelin star experience before and I must say this one really met, if not exceeded my expectations.  We went at lunch, which takes some of the financial pressure off, sat on the beautiful veranda, and were treated to the most attentive service and exceptional food.  I have documented most of it, in pictures after the jump.  The meal started with an adorable amuse, a mini-pan bagnant sandwich with only the best ingredients - the most perfect tiny vegetables, delicious bread, a white anchovy, olive oil poached tuna belly and a quail egg.   The Pan Bagnat is the official sandwich of the south of France - round french bread is filled with beautiful vegetables, including radishes, layered with tuna, olives, hard-boiled egg and an anchovy.  The bread is drizzled (or doused) with olive oil and pressed together vigorously.   We had a mediocre version in Eze, a beautiful medieval village on a very high cliff, but the version at Louis XV was really special and a perfect start to the meal.  My most amazing bite was dessert though, I had a Strawberry Vacherin - which included fresh strawberries, a coulis type sauce, meringue, strawberry and vanilla ice cream and a rich a vanilla flecked whipped cream.  The dish had those perfect tiny fraises du bois (strawberries of the forest or something like that) and really was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted  - it truly was the perfect ideal of what you imagine a strawberry to taste like.  OK, enough about the meal.  After the jump I will share some pictures of the trip, some food we ate, as well as my version of a Pan Bagnat. I apologize for the volume of photos, it was just too hard to narrow down!

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An Innocent Panini?

Innocent is the sequel to Scott Turow's best seller from the 1980's, "Presumed Innocent."  I had enjoyed both the book and movie with Harrison Ford immensely many years ago, but haven't read any Scott Turow in ages.  Innocent picks up many years after Presumed Innocent left off, with the murder charges against Rusty Sabich dismissed but the truth behind the murder of his mistress, Carolyn Polhemus, still haunts him.  The book starts with Sabich waking up to find his wife Barbara dead in bed beside him.  This seemingly unsuspicious death quickly turns into a potential homicide, with the man that prosecuted Sabich in Presumed Innocent, Tommy Molto, who is now District Attorney, charging Sabich for Barbara's murder.  Molto and Sabich truly hate each other and most of the book is told from one of their perspectives.  In addition, Turow uses Anna, Rusty's law clerk and his moody son Nate as narrators.   The book is like a really good episode of Law and Order, or actually, it is more like the Good Wife.  An explanation of why this panini, filled with salami, stinky cheese and red wine onion jam is relevant to the book, after the jump.

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