mmm-yoso!!!

Honolulu - Revisits to 8 Fat Fat 8 and Agave & Vine

In case you noticed; it's been kinda quiet here the last couple of days...... We're back "home" on Oahu enroute to another destination. We're spending a few days on each leg of the trip. Usually, Cathy will take over the posting duties, but she is quite busy this time around. So, I'll try to do posts when I am able to.

We flew out on HAL again. It's a fairly long flight so we enjoy the lie flat first class seats; though the planes are looking a bit worn with chips and stains, and such.

And we do wish that HAL had a lounge at SAN, but perhaps things will change with the recent merger with Alaska.

We do like the crew on HAL, very nice and friendly. And while having a 930am flight means it's just to early to "partake" in certain liquid refreshments......though we were amazed to see others just going for it! I mean, like four mai tais going for it....and that's only what I colunted before taking my nap!

And on this flight, we enjoyed the Mushroom Frittata, which also featured tender broccoli.

And the Honey Dew Melon was so sweet and refreshing.

And since "FOY" Peter really enjoyed the photo of the "Aloha Shirt" salt and pepper packet on our last HAL post, here's what it looked like this time! This one is for you Peter!

I managed about an hour nap while the Missus got in a good 2-3 hours.

We always love the views when arriving.....

This time around we again decided to spend a couple of nights in town.....again at the Ala Moana Hotel. When I asked the Missus what She wanted for Her first meal....I had the next night's dinner planned....She said 8 Fat! So, my apologies, I realize I just recently did a post on 8 Fat Fat 8 and hope you don't mind another? I know it's pretty late on a Saturday night, so I'll keep it short.

Of course, I got my usual.

This time, in anticipation of what we were ordering; the Missus went with a Tsingtao.

As for the food; well it's been really hot and humid so we decided to skip the Crispy Gau Gee this time around. And replace it with something more refreshing. I know I've mentioned how much I enjoy Cold Ginger Chicken, which is quite similar to Kwai Fei Ji. While the Missus doesn't like those type of cold chicken dishes; She does love the sauce. There was Cold Ginger Tofu on the menu, so we decided to try that.

First off, the tofu was nice and "beany". The pungent-aromatic-"spicy" ginger was really refreshing and savory. This was quite enjoyable....the Missus has now directed me to make this when we get back home.

The other two dishes, the Ong Choi and the Fat Fat Chicken were every bit as good as on our previous visit.

It's really fun to note that after all of these years; the Missus is really enjoying the "local flavors".....it's not just about poke anymore. 

As an awesome bonus, we chatted a bit with one of the Servers and mentioned that I had been a customer from the opening of 8 Fat back in the mid-80's. It just so happened that Mary was working. She is the daughter of the original owner of 8 Fat, Sai. She took over when he passed on in 2003 and has run it ever since....now longer than even Sai did! I had spoken to her a couple of time way back when, but of course that was so long ago. We had a wonderful time chatting about her dad; the "old regulars", many iof whom have passed on or are just too old for "Pau Hana" time. She also now has a 14v year old son. These days, she usually works until 5 or 6, then has to head home, but on this evening she happened to be inhouse. She told us that a Japanese series was coming by to do a short piece on 8 Fat! That sounded so awesome.

We talked about what kept me coming to 8 Fat, the vibe, the folks, and of course the food and she left us with something her dad always told her:

"You can get Bud Light everywhere....but you cannot get good Chinese food everywhere!"

8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille
1327 S Beretania St
Honolulu, HI 96814

After dinner we walked back to the hotel....but like the last time, we decided to stop by Lanai in Ala Moana Center for a nightcap. It was Thursday, so I got $2 off the cocktail I had there the last time; the smoky - citrusy Bad Decisions ($12 - $10 on Thursdays).

We had a fun time talking to the woman who runs the place. She loves Tequila, so we chatted about our visit there!

Agave & Vine (In the Lanai - Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814

Yes, I know it's kind of a rerun...but it just goes to show how much we enjoyed things previously.

And we'd just like to let you know; because of our travels, things might be kinda sporadic here over the next few weeks! I'll try my best to get some posts done!

So, as always, thanks so much for dropping by!

Honolulu - Off the Hook Poke Market (Manoa) and Heading Home

On the way back from doing Manoa Falls, there was a poke shop I had heard about and wanted to check out. Right on East Manoa Road, across the street from the parking for Manoa Marketplace resides Off the Hook Poke Market. 

It's in the same building as a place I used to go to once in a while Andy's Sandwiches. The place looked fairly bustling when we arrived, but the line moved quickly. And like many local poke shops, you walk to the counter and order. 

Anyway we got two half pound containers of poke. We were actually going to just go to Kaimuki Park and grind; but ended up eating at Oahu Grill instead. Good thing we had a cooler with us.

We ended up having it with our last dinner (along with jiaozi of course) before leaving the islands.

We thought that the Cold Ginger Ahi was the better of the two.

The ahi was good quality and tender. The sauce, in the spirit of local kine ginger-scallion sauce; you know, to make cold ginger chicken, was pretty strong and kind of dominated the dish. 

We also got the Hawaiian Style Ahi. Basically Ahi Limu Poke.

This one was very salty; couldn't make out the inamona, and the fish, while decent, wasn't as good as what was used in the cold ginger ahi.

Well, maybe we should have just gone back to Ono Seafood or the new location of Fresh Catch in Kaimuki (where they've moved). But what the heck, still better then what we get here in SD and it's good to try, right?

Off the Hook Poke Market
2908 East Manoa Rd.
Honolulu, HI 96822

We were flying HAL First Class again. The Premier Lounge at Daniel K. Inouye Airport is nothing to write home about. There are some standard drinks and the snacks are the stuffs you get in-flight; pretzels, peanuts....you get it.

Still, we enjoyed that the seats for HAL first are lie-flat; that's the main things for us.

Dinner was an ok beef brisket.

Strangely, my favorite thing was the Rainbow Cake; which reminded me of small kid time!

So, there you go. Another trip home in the books. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Taipei - Fuzhou Ancestral Pepper Cake and Returning on EVA Airlines

After an early dinner at Kao Chi we took a round about way back to our hotel room. While walking up Chongqing South Road the Missus noticed a food stall. She had remembered how much I enjoyed the Hujiao Bing ( Pepper Bun) at the Wenhua Road Night Market and pointed out the stand to me. It is named Fuzhou Ancestral Pepper Cake. 

The pepper buns were actually made on the spot. And then cooked in a tandoor style oven.

Even though we had just finished dinner, I just had to have one!

I couldn't wait to tuck into the pepper bun. Heck, this isn't Japan, it isn't taboo to walk and eat, so I just went for it.

 The bun is thin with a slight pleasing crispness to it. The filling was scalding porky heaven, with nice hints of black pepper, mild sweetness, and savory tones. This was delici-yoso!!!

I jokingly told the Missus that I'd return to Taiwan just for the Pepper Bun and Pork Chops! Actually, I'm not really joking!

Fuzhou Ancestral Pepper Cake
No. 13, Section 1, Chongqing South Rd.
Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Well, this was it. Our flight out of Taoyuan International Airport was leaving for LA at 10am in the morning. Luckily, our accommodation was right next to the Z2 Exit for Taipei Main Station. Even though the station is still confusing for us, we found the ticket office, and got on to the Taoyuan Airport MRT Express which takes 35 minutes to get to the airport.

And since we were flying Business Class we were able to access the lounge. 

Which was quite busy....but it was a nice stop for breakfast.

And the flight back to LA was quite interesting.

It was a nice end to our trip. And it had us thinking about the next time we'll be back here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Taiwan - Taroko Gorge Part 2, Buluowan Suspension Bridge, Swallow Grotto, Eternal Spring Shrine, and the TR Bento

After our lunch and briefly walking along the Buluowan Upper Terrace we were guided to the Liwu River. There stood a impressive suspension bridge crossing over the gorge.

This is the Buluowan Suspension Bridge. A suspension bridge was first built on this site in 1914 during the Truku War. This is the fourth iteration of the bridge which was originally named the Shanyue Suspension Bridge and was opened to the public in August of 2020. It had a stunning view of the gorge and river below.

At the end of the bridge is a short trail to a wonderful viewing spot named Brawan Lookout. You really get a wonderful perspective of the bridge from here.

From here we headed back to the Upper Terrace and the car, taking time to stop at the Visitors Center and check out the Atayal Cultural Center displays.

And then we hit the road again, making a couple of stops along the way.

Until we came to a toll booth. Our driver pulled to the side and instructed the Missus to walk the trail overlooking the gorge and he would meet us at the end. This was the Yanzikou Trail overlooking the Swallow Grotto.

We ambled along thru tunnels cut out of rock with a view of the gorge and river below from ledges. We read that this was how the road used to be like for the entire gorge!

There were many places where you could look out over the river and marvel at the geological beauty.

The formations, river, and plant life made for an interesting walk.

And there was indeed some entertaining formations along the way. Can you make this one out?

While actually named the "Elder Stone" (太魯閣族長老石- 長老側臉) - this is what the sign said:

Our driver met us at the end of the short half kilometer trail and then we headed on back. There was one more stop on the way and it might be the most picturesque of them all. Stopping in the parking lot and walking to the lookout point, your eyes are immediately drawn to this.

This is Eternal Spring Shrine (Changchun Shrine).

The shrine was built in 1958 to commemorate those who died during the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway. The shrine is built above a spring which empties into the Liwu River below.

There's a short trail to the temple which we decided to take.

As you make your way up the stairs you'll encounter a cave with statues of Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness.

It was great to stop here, because boy do we need more compassion, mercy, and kindness these days!

I think the water rushing out from under the shrine really adds photogenic drama to things.

We were then driven back to our hotel. Our driver was outstanding and so very pleasant, something we'd find is the norm in Taiwan.

The Missus made sure to hit up the hotels afternoon snack buffet.

We then took a short nap, before heading downstairs for a nice evening walk.

And then, yep the evening "snack" (aka dinner at the huge buffet).

Before hitting the hay.....

The next morning, our train back to Taipei was scheduled for 1253 and was right on time. We'd had a great time visiting the Taroko Gorge and highly recommend it. 

We were taking the TR Taroko Express back to Taipei. We had stored our bags at the Sky 19 Hotel in Taipei so didn't have much to lug around.

I had noticed that on some routes/times folks are able to order a Train Bento for on board consumption. And on this route it was available. So, like the Missus said, on this trip ""you didn't meet a pork chop you didn't like." Well, guess what?

Of course I ordered some! And the prices were the same as if I'd bought them at a cart at the station; just about $2.50. Delivered to our seats.

The pork chop had hints of five spice, soy, garlic, ginger.....and was surprisingly, decently tenderized. I'm convinced that most pork outside the US tastes better! There's pickled veggies, and nicely flavored soy sauce eggs, great five spice tones, with a hint of sweetness....a Spam like mystery meat that increased my sodium level ten fold....this was just a fun meal.

Was it haute cuisine? For $2.50???? C'mon, this is food for every man/woman.....pork chop lover. For some history, here's a great post.

I love Taiwan!

Thanks for stopping by!

Los Angeles - Far Bar, the Star Alliance Lounge (LAX), and Royale Laurel Class on EVA Air

After dinner at Sushi Enya we took a stroll around Japanese Village Plaza.

And wandered in and out of some of the shops in the area.

We also passed by the now closed Sushi Komasa with brown paper taped over the windows. We felt a tinge of sadness as Komasa had always been a favorite of ours. In fact, my second post, way back in May of 2005 was on Sushi Komasa.

Little Tokyo seems to be thriving as the place was pretty busy, even on a Tuesday night.

Passing places like Kouraku, the first place I recall seeing plastic Japanese food brought a smile to our faces.

And seeing places like Fugetsu-do always bring back nice memories.

It was a bit too early to head back to our room and hit the hay, so we decided to grab a cocktail. There's a place called Far Bar that occupies the iconic location of Far East Chop Suey which has it's own long history in Little Tokyo.

Man, it's been ages since I'd been in this building! I recall the mezzanine as a place where the Missus and I saw parties taking place the two times we ate here a zillion years ago.

The folks working here are very nice and laid back. The Missus had the Jade Empire and I had the La Luna y el Sol, which featured La Luna Mezcal and Aperol. 

Not overly stiff, quite easy to drink.

We also decided to have something small to snack on and went with the Maneki Tots because, well you know we weren't going to have any rolls and it's never a bad time to have some tater tots.

 

This was actually not bad. The tots were fried nicely, the bacon crisp, the braised pork a bit too sweet, the wasabi mayo added a nice zip, but the spicy mayo was a bit of overkill. Kind of a lot going on here, but what was I to expect with stuff like various sushi rolls, pozole ramen, salmon pasta, shiitake miso burgers, among others on the menu?

We liked the folks working and had a nice, relaxing end to our day.

Far Bar
347 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

We headed back to our room to catch some shut eye. Just like the last time we stayed at the Miyako Hotel our room overlooked 1st street. And just like that time, we could see the unending line outside Daikokuya.

Our flight the next day was scheduled to leave at just past noon, the flight was going to be almost 14 hours, so we decided to fly in EVA's Royal Class, which meant we had lounge access. Which ended up being a blessing since our flight ended up being delayed.

The Star Alliance Lounge was quite empty and peaceful when we arrived.

It would fill up rather quickly soon after, but by then we were ensconced on the porch area.

Which had a view of Terminal B.

 It was basically standard breakfast fare when we arrived, so we just had some coffee, tea, and water.

What was fun was watching the robot "bus boy" do its rounds!

While walking back from the restroom a gentleman had a chat with me. Turns out it was the lounge manager, a really nice guy. I mentioned his "bus boy" and he cracked up and said, "you should hear it sing Happy Birthday in one of about a hundred different languages!"

He also mentioned that I should give the "noodle bar a try, it starts at 1030". And since the lounge staff had just announced our flight was delayed, that's what I did.

Folks rushed the bar when it opened. I got a bowl with the vegetarian pho broth.

Very salty, but I enjoyed the veggies.

Soon enough, it was time to board. The service on EVA is wonderful. The Missus loved the Jason Wu designed pajamas which can be kept and also the Ferragamo amenity kit.

I loved the lie flat seats with a decent amount of space; but wasn't quite sold on the Hello Kitty themed pillows....

Like I mentioned earlier, EVA's service is well regarded and at least based on this trip well deserved. Our meals were also among the best we've had on a flight.

I usually avoid seafood on flights, but that octopus in the salad was so tender.

And the breakfast porridge was also quite good.

Most importantly, being able to get some rest on our flight really makes a difference as we can be awake and alert when we land and can adjust to things quickly.

Our flight departed late, but the pilots made up time in the sir and we arrived at Taoyuan Airport just an half hour late. We then found the MRT to Taipei Main Station and our time in Taiwan had started!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oahu - Fresh Catch (Pearl City)

We were finally visiting "home", the four years away seemed like forty. And it wasn't without some apprehension on my part. I wondered if Covid had changed the Hawaii that I knew. How were things going to be, what had changed, had I changed? 

It was drizzling as we left San Diego.

The remnants of the "atmospheric river" that pounded San Diego for over a week. On the other hand, back home, rain is seen as a blessing.....

We flew Hawaiian Airlines and while the food wasn't stellar, unlike most domestic first class, HAL seats will lay flat, so you can actually take a nap if you want to.

But I shouldn't have worried...once we landed, it felt like "home". And like the Missus says, "once you get here you walk different and talk different". Some things never change.

Of course as soon as we landed poke was on our minds. Unfortunately, due to our schedule, we weren't able to visit two of our favorites as Tanioka's was closed the day we arrived and Ono Seafood was closed on the day we went into "town".

Still, we wanted our poke fix, so I did some searching and found that Fresh Catch had opened a location in Pearl City at the end of 2020. So, we decided to head on over to grab some poke for an afternoon "snack" of sorts.

The young man working was really friendly. While looking at the offerings, the Missus pointed at the Oio Lomi, the scraped bonefish that's really an acquired taste. She wanted to try it....well, the Missus had really enjoyed aged poi, so I thought "why not" and got a quarter pound of it.

Unfortunately, She found it much too gooey and "fishy" for Her taste.

I, on the other hand had eaten my share of this growing up and thought this was a decent version. I enjoyed he tongue coating texture...yes, it does "taste like fish". It was a bit on the salty side as was everything else we got from here.

The "Hawaiian Blend", basically Ahi Limu was really salty and the fish was on the more "chewy" side.

Too much salt, too much shoyu. Some really tough pieces with too much "tsuji" - connective tissue.

The Ahi Wasabi was a bit better.

Though again, we thought the quality of the fish wasn't quite up to what we enjoy. Still a bit overly salty which muddled the heat from wasabi, a bit too overly sauced as well.

Kind of a bummer overall as we'd enjoyed our visits to the Kaimuki location on previous visits.

Fresh Catch
98-371 Kamehameha Hwy.
Pearl City, HI 96782

Of course, we had jiaozi for dinner. We had really missed my MIL's handmade jiaozi! Over the years it's become comfort food for me. I basically ate this whole plate. In fact, when my MIL asked us what we wanted for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it was jiaozi! We can't get anything close to this in San Diego.

And then we had baozi for breakfast!

With some potstickers!

Before we headed off to the Big Island.

It was so good to be "home"!

Thanks for stopping by!

We're Back! Dinner on BA and our First Meal Back from Sizzling Pot King

Whoa...well, after spending a month in France I'm having a bit of a time of it getting adjusted to San Diego time again. And that journey home; we stayed at CDG overnight with a 7am flight to LHR, which helps as we don't have to get up early. But then there's the 5 1/2 layover at Heathrow and then the 11 hour flight home. Which is why we fly business class. Though we didn't account for the fussy baby in the seat behind us, these things happen....so even with the lie flat seats...well, I got maybe an hours sleep?

On the positive side; I'd say that the meals on BA have returned to pre-Covid quality. And it's always been much better flying back to San Diego, than flying from SD to LHR. This was pretty good.

One of the things with leaving for a month is...well, the fridge and pantry were cleaned out before we left. We arrived home at around 6pm; it was already dark. In need of something convenient with a little zip, I did a takeout order from Sizzling Pot King. Funny thing; it was in the high 20's when we left Paris, so weather here in the 40's didn't bother me much, it was basically short sleeve weather, so I got some looks when I waltzed into Sizzling Pot King; seeing all those folks bundled up looking at me like I'm some nut wearing a t-shirt. Even the young man who knows my order looked at me strangely.

Anyway, we had the usual for dinner.

It was nice and decently spicy; with a mild "numbing" from the Sichuan Peppercorns...but I'm not sure if it was all the Sichuan we had in Paris; but this seemed to be missing something. Oh well, at the least it did the job.

Sizzling Pot King
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

And I quickly reverted back to my wimpy "San Diego weather" self......though for some strange reason, I feel somewhat out of sorts with regards to manners, pacing, and such.

I'm working on getting my act together and will have posts done.

Meanwhile.....even after a month....this is still on my mind!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City (2022) - Pasillo de Humo and Tout Chocolat Revisited and Coffee from La Catrina (Coyoacan)

As we headed into fall of 2021, things were looking pretty good. The Missus and I, fully vaccinated were looking to take care of the vacancy that not being able to travel internationally had created. So, we decided to "dip our toes" into the pool so to speak and not go too crazy......and go to one of our favorite destinations; Mexico City. The Missus also had another destination in mind and I worked out the logistics. Of course, along came Omicron, but by that time we both had gotten our boosters and when it was time for our trip, we decided to go ahead with it.

In some ways, it was good to start things off with CDMX as we had felt welcome and comfortable there from the first time we set foot in the city. We'd be staying at the same accommodations as our previous trips and was familiar with the area. It would also be interesting to see if things had changed over time.

We did the CBX thing and flew out of TJ.....

 We had a morning flight and were served breakfast. I quickly noticed the new "required accessory" that came along with breakfast.

We landed and found our transport to Condesa and checked into our hotel.

Things initially felt a bit strange, but once in the comfortable and familiar confines of the area, things started feeling normal....just like in the "old days".

Having arrived late in the afternoon, I had made reservations at a place I've posted on twice, so I'm mainly just putting up photos. We had decided to have dinner at Pasillo de Humo because we've always enjoyed the food, atmosphere, and service.

There was one interesting Covid precaution when entering the restaurant which is on the second floor of a food hall. You went thru a device that misted vinegar on you! You smelled pickled before you even had your first cocktail! 

And that Memelitas de Cerdo, the pork cheek memelitas were so good, we had a second order!

   Then the Missus had Her dessert....while I had, ahem, mine.

This was of course, the place where I first had Ojo de Tigre....from the modified hand truck with like 30 bottles of Mezcal on it. These days everything is based on QR codes. I spoke to our wonderful Server about Ojo de Tigre and was told they don't serve that here anymore. The reason? 

"Too many Ojo de Tigre!"

I'm guessing that Ojo de Tigre production is hitting mainstream and is now easily available. So I had him pick something "mui fumar" (smoky) for me, which he did.

It was really good!

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

After dinner we took a short walk to another regular stop, Tout Chocolate. We've been here on every visit to CDMX; but strangely, I couldn't find a post on the place. This place has been a stop for us since our good friend "Alle" recommended it to us several years back.

Part cafe, part chocolate/confection shop....you know what the Missus was after, right?

She acquired a nice variety of chocolates.

Tout Chocolat
Amsterdam 154
6100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Then we decided to call it a night. It had been a wonderful evening for us....it just seemed so comforting.

The next morning we had tickets and reservations for Museo Frida Kahlo and decided to get there before our 10 am entrance time and grab some coffee. Uber is amazing in Mexico, very affordable and very safe since all cars are tracked. We got to Coyoacan an hour before our designated time. So we headed off to get our caffeine fix. I had initially planned on getting some coffee from Café El Jarocho a pioneer in the CDMX coffee scene, established back in 1953 eventually  spawning 8 other locations in CDMX.

But the lines were long and even though everyone (just like elsewhere in Mexico during our visit) wore masks, it was just too crowded with little seating.

We decided on the shop across the street named La Catrina.

The young lady working was very sweet. And they had al fresco tables and seating.....

And here we came across one of those "memorable" moments. A sweet young lady came up to the window. She seemed a regular customer as the folks working knew her. Her companion and "bodyguard" was a tiny, three legged Chihuahua. I say bodyguard because this little one had some personality and was quite protective of the young lady! The pooch would ignore the smaller poodles and such that walked by.....but oh, when the larger dogs passed by, be it a Rottweiler or Pit Bull, the little fellow would start growling! Which is probably how he ended up with three legs! We started calling him "Tripod".....and no one messes with Tripod, no one! I regret not taking a photo of this Bada$$! 

As often happens when enjoying oneself, time flew by. Soon it was time to head on over to Museo Frida Kahlo. I went and took our cups back to the counter which brought a smile and a "gracias" from the young lady working. Meanwhile, Tripod let me pet him and scratch his ears and his owner smiled and told us "have a fun vacation!" I guess it was obvious that we were tourists.

Such nice folks.......though you don't mess with Tripod!

La Catrina
Ignacio Allende 45
04000 Coyoacán, CDMX, Mexico

Up next Museo Frida Kahlo

Paris (2022) - Bo & Mie, Ippudo, and Getting Reacquainted

And so it came to pass.....almost two-and-a-half years since we were last in Europe, we headed back. There were so many thoughts going thru our heads as we planned and then left for our first stop; Paris. Would it still be our favorite city? Was cafe culture going to be impacted.....what kind of precautions were in place? How would traveling during these times be?

On our flight outward it seemed that the quality of the food on our flights and in the lounges seemed to have taken a hit....generous portions; but not very good eats...

That shrimp salad was surprisingly the best item we had during transit.

As for masks? Well, almost nil on our flight from San Diego to LHR and in the airport. Required on the flight from LHR to CDG and also on the RER Blue Line though very sparse in Paris as a whole.

We arrived in Paris at around 10m and since we decided to stay at the same 'ol AirBnb off Rue Montorgueil, we were familiar the RER Blue line drill, getting off at Les Halles, then the short walk for key pick-up at the Key Cafe Kiosk on Rue Marie Stuart, before heading to the apartment. We were shocked at how busy all the businesses on Rue Montorgueil were....places seemed packed to the gills! The crowd also seemed much younger than I recalled. I guess I needn't have worried too much about all the cafes going out of business as overflow customers were actually standing on the sidewalks having their drinks and socializing. I thought that perhaps this was because it was a Friday night; but it seems that on almost every night all the cafes/bars were packed until at least 10pm.

The next morning I woke early, the Missus was still sleeping off the jet lag, so I decided to head on out and grab some croissants. Rue Montorgueil seemed totally different at this time of the day.

Place Goldoni seemed so peaceful.

I headed down the rather "gritty" Rue Saint-Denis past Passage du Grand Cerf....

And at the intersection with Rue de Turbigo was Bo et Mie, a place I had in my "Croissant Files" list.

The place was quite modern and what we found on this trip was that just about everywhere in Paris now takes plastic; albeit folks instantly knew you were American once you busted out the card since most US Credit Cards will not do chip and pin and/or need a signature.

It was very easy ordering in line, paying by card, and heading out. Bo & Mie has three locations in Paris and is obviously not a Artisan Boulanger, but I had read some pretty good things about the place.

Bo & Mie
18 Rue de Turbigo
75002 Paris, France

I took a different way back; heading past Les Halles and onto Rue Montorgueil, where things were still quite peaceful this morning.

Saint Eustache looked quite lovely in the morning sun.

Once back at the apartment; the Missus made me some coffee via the "pod machine" and we had the croissants.

This was not bad....lacking in enough salt and butter, though it had a decent flakiness and the interior was light and fluffy.

By now it was time to head on out for our "morning assignments". Mine was to pick-up our pocket wifi. The company that I'd been dealing with over the years now had a splashy new store on Opera and the Missus had Her sights on Chanel Cambon; so we headed on out in that general direction. One thing we noticed is that Paris seems to be getting smaller for us. We got to Place des Victoires so very quickly.

At this pace we'd be getting to our destination before opening time; so I decided to take a detour to what I read was the longest passage in Paris; Passage Choiseul.

According to this wonderful post, Passage Choiseul has only been reopened to the public since 2013.

There seemed to be quite a number of eateries in the passage.

We took our sweet old time.....and in doing so we noticed things we had before like Place Gaillon.

We popped out on always busy Opera and picking up our pocket wifi....or as they call it here "weefee".....

And then it was time to hit up Chanel Cambon; which I've detailed in earlier posts. After which we explored the "high rent district" before deciding to head on back to the apartment.

On the way back; on Rue du 4 Septembre, we passed a Picard. Tomorrow would be May 1st, which is Labour Day in France. It is a major holiday here and many places would be closed. I had dinner reservations, but we decided to head into Picard to see if we could get something for that day's lunch.

Picard is a frozen food grocery store chain, with over 900 locations in France. It's fun checking out these shops....think of Trader Joe's frozen food section on steroids....

We bought some frozen morels and an eggplant dish for our Labour Day lunch.

On the way back we were getting a bit hungry. In spite of it being late April, things felt a bit on the chilly side. Before our trip, having been to Paris once or twice a year since 2016 (except for those Covid years) we had decided to treat Paris like a home away from home....sure, we'd indulge in a Michelin meal or two, but since we sincerely believe we'll be returning until we're not able to travel any longer, we'd just have fun, exploring, but not overdoing the sights, museums and such.

And since our last real meal in Paris was Ramen, we thought it would be fun to have some slurping for lunch! And, having been to Ippudo locations in Osaka and Kyoto, I was interested to see how the Louvre location would compare.....so why not, right?

We arrived a shade past the noon opening time and went with an outdoor table....yes, it was a bit chilly, but the ramen would cure that. We were surprised at how quickly the restaurant filled up....though no one chose an outdoor table until there were none left inside.

As we usually do at Ippudo and other ramen shops in Japan; we ordered a ramen, this time the Akamaru Special and also a rice bowl, which in the case here was a Teriyaki Pork Don.

 First off, the broth was totally Ippudo; not overly salty, nice and rich tongue coating thickness, porky, the black garlic oil adding a nice nutty, sesame flavor with a pleasant pungent-sweetness.

The tamago was a perfect orb of egginess.

The weak link was the noodles. This was a total Hakata style noodle fail as the thin noodles were very brittle and hard; lacking any "pull". 

The rice bowl was fine....

The rice was cooked decently; something that we'd find was not the norm in Paris. The pork crisp and light.....

The customers were all Parisians as far as we could tell; no other Asians in sight. This was quite interesting as we'd find Parisians had quite diverse tastes during this trip to Paris.

Ippudo
74-76 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
75001 Paris, France

As we headed back to the apartment, the sun had come out.....and with that, all of the Parisians......

Enjoying the sun and socializing. It was as if Covid never happened. Or perhaps folks were relishing and celebrating a hopeful return to normalcy? It was just a tad too crowded for us, so we decided to head on back to the apartment and rest up. We'd be headed to a favorite of ours for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris, Sort Of (Before Covid) - Staying at the Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel and Heading Home

I'm doing this pre-Covid travel post out of order since I'll probably start posts on our latest trip and this one really sets up those posts. After spending a nice night and morning in Paris following our stay in Israel and Jordan we headed to Avignon and Provence, where we had a wonderful time. Though I was monitoring a situation. And the news did come down while we were in Avignon. On December 5th, 2019 France's transit workers went on strike. The strike was set to go on until the 10th, which was the day our flight was scheduled to leave CDG. We were scheduled to return via train from Avignon to Paris on the 8th of December, but that wasn't going to happen. So, I set into action; our wonderful AirBnb Host (you are an angel Fabienne) allowed us to stay in Avignon an extra night, she even offered to drive us to Marseille! So, I quickly booked a flight from MRS to CDG. I then went ahead and used our points and booked a Club floor room at the Sheraton located right in Terminal 2. 

The downside? Well, we lost two last evenings in Paris, along with two restaurants we had reservations at, one of which had become a regular stop for us.

We found ourselves in the Air France line at the airport in Marseille, right behind the cutest passenger ever!

Once we landed, being somewhat familiar with CDG, finding the Sheraton was no problem. Several trips back, I remember getting off the RER Blue Line at terminal 2 and commenting to the Missus; "look, there's a Sheraton here!" Little did I know.

We found the hotel lounge at grabbed an afternoon snack.

At dinner time, we headed back to the lounge and I grabbed another bottle of beer, the Missus a glass of wine, a plate of food, and we headed back to our room.

Which we supplemented with stuff we had bought in Provence.

While we watched night set in over the airport......

And woke as the sun rose in the morning......

The British Airways counter and gates were all the way on the other side of Terminal 2, so we headed over, checked-in, and hit the lounge for our breakfast.

And we did make our flights. One thing I noticed are the Business Class meals pre-Covid.

Which you'll be able to compare to what we had on our latest trip.

Some other meals during our layover and flight back to San Diego.

While we missed out on those last two days, I remember telling the Missus; "well, we can just make it up during our trip next year...."

Little did I know that "next year" would be cancelled and turn into two-and-a-half years later......

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